LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Maybe access to market-ready electric vehicles is going to be the big news in Paris.”
Carlos Da Silva,
a senior market analyst at industry forecasters IHS Global Insight, talking about this week’s Paris Auto Show Article, 1DSWEPCO case final briefs due Oct. 12
Attorneys in two federal lawsuits seeking a preliminary injunction in the construction of Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s $2.1 billion coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County have until Oct. 12 to file final briefs in the case.
The Hempstead County Hunting Club and environmental groups sued SWEPCO and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in two lawsuits this year, seeking to halt construction of the plant, which is about one-third complete.
Hearings in the cases concluded Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson gave attorneys until Oct. 12 to prepare a proposed order supporting their side of the issues and until Oct. 18 to rebut arguments by the opposing side.
The Public Service Commission approved construction of the plant in 2007, but the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in May that the commission erred.
NanoMech gets $1 million U.S. grant
NanoMech, a technology company based in Springdale, won a $1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to develop and test a pilot-scale production facility to make its NanoGlide product.
NanoGlide is an “extreme pressure condition” lubricant used in heavy machinery, helicopters and automobiles. The business said wind turbines were a targeted application.
Ajay P. Malshe, NanoMech’s chief technology officer and a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville professor, guided the creation of NanoGlide based on UA research.
NanoMech has an exclusive license to commercialize NanoGlide’s patent-pending technology.
The September grant follows a $150,000 grant given in May from the Office of Science in the U.S. Department of Energy to further NanoGlide’s commercialization.
NanoMech, founded in 2002, develops and manufactures nanoparticle additives, nanoparticle-based coatings and nano-enabled products.
JPMorgan halts some foreclosures
SAN FRANCISCO - JPMorgan Chase & Co. spokesman Thomas Kelly said Wednesday that the bank’s Chase unit is stopping some foreclosures to review how employees in its mortgage-foreclosure operations sign affidavits about loan documents.
The news comes about a week after GMAC Mortgage, a unit of Ally Financial, stopped foreclosures in 23 states to deal with a similar problem.
At the center of the controversy are employees of mortgage lenders or servicers who sign affidavits supporting foreclosures, which have to be cleared by judges in many states.
With so many foreclosures to process, there’s concern that such affidavits are signed without verifying whether loan documents and other records have the correct information. The integrity of the process is a key component in how judges decide that people’s houses can be taken and given back to the bank.
Dustin Zacks, an attorney at Ice Legal PA - a firm based in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., that handles foreclosure defense - is representing some homeowners who are trying to stop their houses being seized through foreclosure.
Zacks said he deposed a Chase document signer who said she and eight others in her department signed about 18,000 foreclosure-related documents a month, including affidavits of indebtedness.
Treasury selling Citigroup shares
WASHINGTON- The government said Wednesday it is starting to sell $2.2 billion in trust-preferred shares that it holds in Citigroup, another move to recoup the costs incurred in the $700 billion financial bailout.
The Treasury Department said the pace of the sales would be determined by market conditions.
The $2.2 billion in trust-preferred shares were received by the government as part of Treasury’s agreement in January 2009 to share potential losses on a pool of $301 billion of assets held by Citigroup.
The loss-sharing arrangement also involved the Federal Deposit Insurance Co. and the Federal Reserve. Citigroup paid the Treasury and the FDIC a premium in the form of securities for their willingness to share potential losses over a 5- to 10-year period.
The loss-sharing arrangement was terminated in December 2009 at the request of Citigroup.
Citigroup received $45 billion in taxpayer support in one of the largest bank rescues by the government in addition to the insurance provided against losses on the pool of $301 billion in assets.
Of the $45 billion, $24 billion was converted to a government ownership stake that the government began selling off last spring. The bank repaid the other $20 billion in December 2009.
Township OKs Hershey expansion plan
HERSHEY, Pa. - Chocolate maker Hershey has gained township approval for a $200 million expansion project that would shift production from a century-old plant to a modern facility nearby.
Derry Township supervisors on Tuesday approved the final land development plans for the 243,000-square-foot expansion at a plant in West Hershey.
After construction is complete, production would shift to the expanded facility from the original plant built by company founder Milton Hershey.
Company officials say the existing 105-year-old plant has low ceilings and a troublesome layout. The building on Chocolate Avenue would be converted to office space after the move.
Japanese tell of Chinese export move
TOKYO - China’s government has apparently told Chinese companies they can resume exports to Japan of rare earth minerals used in high-tech products but is holding up shipments with tighter customs inspections, two Japanese trading firms said Wednesday.
Traders said China had stopped shipments of rare earths since last week. Many speculated the move was linked to tensions between Japan and China over Japan’s detention of a Chinese captain whose fishing boat collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels on Sept. 7 near disputed islands.
Japan released the Chinese captain last week. On Monday, China started allowing Japan-bound exports of the exotic metals, said the two officials from two Japanese trading firms.
Business, Pages 28 on 09/30/2010