Made In America: Obama Budget Proposes Increase For OSHA, Labor Department
by February 8, 2015 12:05 am 111 views
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OBAMA BUDGET PROPOSES INCREASE FOR OSHA, LABOR DEPARTMENT
It doesn’t have much chance of passage in a GOP-controlled Congress, but President Obama’s recent budget proposal includes $1.3 billion in new funding for the U.S. Labor Department, including millions of new money for worker regulation divisions.
Of the department’s proposed $13.2 billion funding level, $1.9 billion would be allocated to worker protection agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage and Hour Division and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA, which conducts safety inspections at worksites, would receive funding to improve its enforcement of more than 20 whistleblower protection laws. The OSHA proposal would also raise civil monetary penalties “so they would present a real deterrent to employers who fail to comply with the law.”
Penalties for improperly recording workers’ wages and hours, meanwhile, would also rise under the White House budget, with a $5,000 penalty for each violation.
ELECTRIC COOPS SIGN RENEWABLE ENERGY PACT WITH EAST CAMDEN DEFENSE CONTRACTOR
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. and East Camden defense contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne have brokered a deal to build and manage the largest solar field in Arkansas, a 12-megawatt project that will have zero carbon emissions, company officials said on Friday (Feb. 6).
AECC and Aeroject Rockedyne, a subsidiary of publicly traded GenCorp., formerly General Tire and Rubber Co., said the 100-acre facility will be built in the Highland Industrial Park in East Camden by Nashville, Tenn.-based Silicon Ranch Corp.
Under its agreement, Aerojet Rocketdyne will purchase solar power for the company’s 1,200-acre site it leases in East Camden once Silicon Ranch completes the project, expected in late 2015. The new solar plant is expected to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 2,400 single-family homes and provide clean supplemental daytime power to both AECC and Aerojet Rocketdyne.
ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES OF ARKANSAS TO SELL COMMERCIAL-GRADE SOLAR POWER UNITS
Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc.’s (AECI) new renewable energy subsidiary announced it has reached an exclusive agreement to sell commercial-grade solar photovoltaic units across its six-state distribution footprint.
The deal involves TodayPower Inc. (TPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of AECI, and Minneapolis, Minn.-based tenKsolar Inc., which owns a proprietary technology to design, manufacture and market high-efficiency rooftop photovoltaic units. Little Rock-based AECI is the utility service operation for the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., the 17-member electric distribution cooperative that provides electricity to approximately 500,000 homes, farms and businesses in Arkansas and surrounding states. Read more here.
MARSHALLTOWN TOOL COMPANY EYES MAJOR EXPANSION IN FAYETTEVILLE
Tool maker Marshalltown Company continues to invest in its growing manufacturing centers in Fayetteville. Company officials tell The City Wire that a 50,000 square-foot addition to its Industrial Drive facility is being planned, but they stopped short of saying how many jobs might be created. Read more at this link.