Olympia Business Watch

AWB supports Columbia Generating Station re-licensing

The Association of Washington Business is on record supporting the new 20-years license for the Columbia Generating Station, Washington's only nuclear power plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a standard 40-year operating license to Energy Northwest's Columbia Generating Station on Dec. 20, 1983. On Jan. 19, 2010, Energy Northwest submitted an application to the NRC to renew Columbia's license for an additional 20 years.

Columbia Generating Station represents about 4% of the Washington’s total electric generating capacity, placing nuclear power fifth behind hydroelectric, natural gas, coal and wind.

For more than 25 years, Columbia has provided valuable electricity to the region and assisted in economic stability to the state by providing clean, affordable energy to more than a million Washington residents. Columbia Generating Station generates 1,150-megawatt of electricity.

As energy demand increases and climate change becomes a significant public policy issue, a diverse mix of clean energy resources will be critical to meet increasing electricity needs. For these reasons, it is imperative to maintain the vast quantity of carbon-free and baseload power Columbia Generating Station provides.

Brunell: Withdrawing new EPA rule is a good start, but there's a bigger problem

President Obama's decision to order the EPA to delay implementing new industrial ozone emission standards is a temporary reprieve that will save U.S. businesses as much as $90 billion per year, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column.

The price tag is that high because, as the EPA admits, the technology to comply with its proposed rules doesn't exist yet. Industry would have been forced to invent it within the next few years, or shut down.

But critics charge that the EPA has shown a pattern of inflating the projected environmental and economic benefits of its proposed regulations, and failing to back up the claims with scientific evidence.

"Federal regulations add hundreds of billions of dollars each year to the cost of doing business," Brunell writes. "Federal law says agencies can add to that burden only when they clearly justify the need and show there is no workable alternative. There is a disturbing pattern that the EPA is ignoring that requirement."

 

AWB president recognized for accreditation

AWB President Don Brunell, left, with Tom Donohue, president and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, receiving a plaque recognizing that AWB had, for the second time, been Accredited with Distinction

In June, AWB learned that it had been Accredited with Distinction by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The title is given to only a few chambers to recognize effective organizational procedures and community involvement.

AWB is just one of four accredited state chambers in the country.

Today, AWB President Don Brunell posed for a photo with Tom Donohue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president CEO, while he received a plaque commemorating the achievement during a U.S. Chamber event in Palm Beach, Fla.

"To be Accredited with Distinction is great news and a testament to our entire staff's hard work and professionalism," Brunell said in June. "It also underscores the value to our 7,500-plus employer members who look to us to represent their voice in the halls of Olympia, along with the U.S. Chamber back in Washington, D.C."

R&D moving offshore too

I've been reading Andrew Liveris' book: Make it in America." Liveris is the Australian-born CEO of Dow Chemical Company who believes America is not only losing manufacturing jobs, but the innovation is moving offshore as well because of several factors---costs, proximity to manufacturing facilities, R&D incentives and necessity.

Liveris, a chemical engineer, uses the case of Amazon partnering with E-Ink to develop the Kindle based on a new electronic ink that was developed in the MIT Media Lab in Boston.  But because of costs and LCD technology shifted to countries like Taiwan, the manufacturing of Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook, is located in foreign countries such as Taiwan. 

So while it was some solace that even though the manufacturing was occurring elsewhere, R&D was still in America.  Then my bubble burst when Liveris makes the point that China and India are making a strong bid to become the "innovation superpowers" as well.

To back it up, the first e-mail I opened this morning came from the National U.S. India Chamber of Commerce located in Denver citing a Deloitte report outlining the steps India is taking to become the innovation superpower.  And, it is just not India as Deloitte's report states:

"Countries, world over, attract R & D investments by providing benefits in the form of tax credits, super deductions, tax exemptions, grants, etc. Certain countries provide wage bill credits as well."

So while some prominent U.S. politicians and activists distort the real issues and rail about "corporate greed, or tax loopholes and government give aways," China and India are content to let us wallow in uncertainty and carve one another up.

In 2006, the Chinese government launched a 15-year plan to make China into an "innovation-oriented society."  To achieve that goal it needs to increase R&D investments by 85% by 2020. So it is offering incentives to U.S. companies to not only move their production, but R&D there too.  Meanwhile, our Congress and state legislature are toying with the idea of letting the modest R&D incentives simple slip off the books by not acting to reauthorize.

As Liveris states: "where the manufacturing goes, the ideas follow!"  Considering how important manufacturing is to Washington State, we ought to be thinking about what we can do to keep it here and enhancing its ability to compete.

Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)

 

 

 

Thank goodness for Sundays

Traditionally, Sunday is a day for family, rest and reflection although that tradition seems to be in hibernation these days.  But there is value in stopping to take stock.

This past week, Gov. Gregoire (D) called a special session of our state legislature.  Our revenues are dropping like a rock in a pond and additional deep cuts are needed.  She asked us, AWB members at our Policy Summit, to be flexible, look at the situation, and help her and lawmakers solve the problem----which we will.

I'm on the east coast and in church today, there was a speaker talking about the Dominican Republic mission his diocese supports.  Like many other faith-based and charitable organizations, the Dioceses of Orlando supports missions in impoverished nation such as the Dominican Republic which next to Haiti. 

They dig wells, purify water, build houses and schools, and help the poor find ways out of poverty.  Their site is high in the mountains and very remote.  The photos reminded me of Huaylas which is high in the Peruvian Andes where our daughter spent the last two years in the Peace Corp with no running hot water, no refrigerators or freezers, no washers or dryers, or ovens.

The Sunday reflection is in America we spend hundreds of billions on education and too much money is necessary to keep our schools safe.  We spend billions trying to encourage our students to learn and not  be disruptive.   Basic education doesn't seem to be valued in America like it is in places such as Peru, the Dominican Republic and other places around the world where it is not readily available. Yet part of the Governor and legislator's job is to find enough tax revenue to fund the K-12 system---a system by our state's constitution must be funded and that is where more than half our taxes are spent. 

So when lawmakers convene in Olympia after the November elections, it is education that will be the primary issue of focus.  Hopefully, after all of this consternation, students and parents will value education as much as those in impoverished parts of our world and we will focus more attention on learning. 

P.S. The same goes for the water, electricity and other essentials we, in America, enjoy each day and often overlook until those services are disrupted.  We just need to appreciate all of what we have in our country.

Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)

Rasmussen: America is in the midst of major change

Americans are deeply frustrated with their government and they're driving the country slowly but surely toward fundamental change.

That was the message Scott Rasmussen, founder and president of Rasmussen Reports, delivered Wednesday during AWB's annual Policy Summit.

It's unclear where things will end up. And it's unsettling, Rasmussen admitted. But he believes it's also a healthy part of American democracy.

Rasmussen, who is one of the nation's leading pollsters, has earned a reputation as someone who knows where the country is heading because he gauges the mood of average Americans rather than the so-called political class.

Americans today are frustrated with the economy and no longer view the downturn as a normal business cycle, he said. Rather they see it as a sign that something has gone fundamentally wrong.

In fact, they distrust the whole economic and political system to the extent that his polling shows most Americans not only think Congress is corrupt, but their own congressman or congresswoman is corrupt, he said.

Gregoire: Now more than ever, we must work together

Gov. Chris Gregoire blasted Congress for "failing to do what needed to be done in August," and she called on Washingtonians to work together to solve the state's budget problems during her luncheon address Wednesday to AWB members.

"Now more than ever, we can only get through the challenges ahead if we work together," Gregoire said during AWB's annual Policy Summit.

Her comments came after last week's news that state revenue projection dropped another $1.4 billion, raising the estimated budget shortfall to nearly $2 billion.

The forecast brought immediate talk of a possible special session of the Legislature, but Gregoire said she doesn't intend to call lawmakers to Olympia before the next forecast in November. Later in the afternoon came confirmation that Gregoire will call lawmakers back to Olympia in November for a 30-day special session.

"It's not a small, supplemental budget where you tinker, it is a new budget," she said.

Richland's PNNL is a big advantage for business

More efficient diesel engines. Scanners that check cars at the U.S.-Canada border for nuclear material.  And eventually, a smarter electric grid.

Those are a few of the ways that research from Richland-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is contributing to the community, Mike Kluse, the lab director, told AWB members Wednesday during the annual Policy Summit.

The lab, one of just 10 national labs in the country, is working on groundbreaking research on everything from national security to energy. It's important for the business community to work with researchers to make sure their discoveries make it into the marketplace, Kluse said.

"Having a national lab in your backyard is a rare and valuable advantage," he said. "We want to help you."

The lab is a unique public-private partnership. It's been run by Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle since 1965 under a contract from the federal government. It employs more than, 4,900 people, and it's been growing fast in recent years, adding staff and buildings to its Richland campus.

Kluse offered AWB members a glimpse into the kind of research being done at the lab to develop a smarter electric grid and better batteries for electric vehicles. The goal, he said, is to develop game-changing science that is linked to the marketplace.

"Partner with us," he implored the audience. "Help commercialize our technology. Bring jobs to all corners of Washington. We clearly are a resource for every one of you."

Like other speakers at the Policy Summit, Kluse was bullish about Washington.

"This state is well-positioned for the future," he said. "The question is whether we have the collective will to make it happen."

Rosensweig: Exports will be economy's locomotive

There is about a one-third chance that the economy will enter a "double dip" recession, so business leaders should prepare for that possibility, Jeffrey Rosensweig told AWB members Wednesday at the start of the 22nd annual Policy Summit.

But Rosensweig, director of the Global Perspectives Program at Emory University in Atlanta, said economists believe it's more likely that it will grow at about a 2 percent or 2.5 percent annual rate.

And he added that all of the grim economic news misses some fundamental strengths going forward, including America's growing population and predictions that the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio will stabilize or decline in the next few years.

Rosensweig noted that America's population is growing about 2.5 million per year and it's the only wealthy country in the world with a growing population. That makes it harder to lower the unemployment rate. Even if the economy grows 2 percent per year, it's just absorbing new workers -- and not bringing the unemployment rate down.

Live blogging Policy Summit - Where will the money come from?

Live blogging from the 10:30 a.m. panel at AWB's Policy Summit: Where Will the Money Come From? Panelists include:

• Moderator: Richard Davis, president, Washington Research Council
• Phyllis Campbell, chairman, Pacific Northwest Region, JPMorgan Chase
• Gregory Seibly, CEO, Sterling Financial Corporation
• Tim Porter, partner, Madrona Venture Group