Energy In-depth: Wal-Mart Joins Global Movement To Use 100% Renewable Energy

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WAL-MART JOINS GLOBAL MOVEMENT TO USE 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY
Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, NIKE Inc., Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and other Fortune 500 companies announced this week they have joined with the RE100 movement and pledged to source 100% of their electricity from renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions.

RE100 is the fast-grown global campaign led by The Climate Group and CDP, the Wall Street non-shareholder activist group formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project that gathers environmental data on behalf of investors. When RE100 was launched one year ago at Climate Week NYC 2014, there were 13 original corporate partners – IKEA Group, Swiss Re, BT Group, Formula E, H&M, KPN, Nestlé, Philips, RELX Group, J. Safra Sarasin, Unilever and YOOX Group – as well as Mars, Inc., the first US business on board. Now 36 major businesses from around the world have joined the campaign. To learn more about this corporate movement, click here.

U.S. INTERIOR TO AUCTION OFFSHORE ACREAGE FOR WIND ENERGY PROJECTS
As part of President Obama’s comprehensive Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop domestic clean energy resources and cut carbon pollution, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced Wednesday (July 23) that 343,833 acres of offshore New Jersey will be offered for commercial wind energy development in a competitive lease sale on Nov. 9.

BOEM has awarded nine commercial offshore wind leases, including seven through the competitive lease sale process in offshore Rhode Island-Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia. These lease sales have generated about $14.5 million in winning bids for more than 700,000 acres in federal waters, Interior Department officials said. If fully developed, the New Jersey Wind Energy Area could support at least 3,400 megawatts of commercial wind generation, enough to power an estimated 1.2 million homes.

ENTERGY ADDS OIL EXECUTIVE TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Entergy Corp. has added former ConocoPhillips executive Philip L. Frederickson to its board of directors. With his election to the board, Frederickson becomes the third new board member added this year in an effort to enhance the board’s expertise and prepare for the future, Entergy officials said.

Frederickson retired from ConocoPhillips as Executive Vice President, Planning, Strategy and Corporate Affairs in 2008 after a 30-year career in leadership roles with the company spanning corporate strategy, business development, operations and marketing. Currently, he serves as a board member for Williams Partners L.P., where he serves on the audit and conflict committees. He is a native of Borger, Texas.

“Philip brings incredible experience as an executive in a large organization, significant knowledge of the commodities markets, and a track record of successful board experience, all of which are valuable assets that will complement the current Entergy board,” said Leo Denault, Entergy’s chairman and chief executive officer.

OIL SERVICE GIANT TO PAY $18.2 MILLION TO WORKERS IN FEDERAL LABOR CASE
In one of the largest recoveries of overtime wages in recent years for the U.S. Department of Labor, oil and gas service provider, Halliburton, has agreed to pay more than $18.2 million to 1,016 employees nationwide. The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated Halliburton as part of an ongoing, multi-year compliance initiative in the oil and gas industry in the Southwest and Northeast.

Investigators found Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oil service companies with over 70,000 employees, incorrectly categorized employees in 28 job positions as exempt from overtime. The company did not pay overtime to these salaried employees – working as field service representatives, pipe recovery specialists, drilling tech advisors, perforating specialists and reliability tech specialists – when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company also failed to keep accurate records of hours worked by these employees.

LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR WOMEN IN POWER SECTOR SCHEDULED FOR EARLY NOVEMBER
The Gulf Coast Power Association is holding a two-day conference in Austin, Texas beginning Nov. 2 that is focused on leadership development for women in the electric power industry. The 2nd Annual emPOWERing Women Leadership Conference will be held at the AT&T Conference Center, where more than 400 women are expected to attend the conference.

The GCPA emPOWERing Women program was introduced in 2013 with the dual goals of offering opportunities for support, development and networking among women working in the electric power industry while also encouraging younger women pursuing technical degrees to consider careers in the electric power arena. To learn more about the conference, click here.