Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Miller to lead Belvidere- Boone planning department - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Miller joined the Belvidere-Boone County Planning Department in June 2007, leaving Decatur’s economic development department after 15 years.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in architectural studies and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in architecture with an emphasis on historic preservation

Miller to lead Belvidere- Boone planning department - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Mainstream Renewable Power Acquires U.S. Wind Development Projects; Announces Goal of Powering... -- CHICAGO and DUBLIN, June 15 /PRNewswire/ --

June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Mainstream Renewable Power, the global renewable energy company, today announced its first U.S. investment, purchasing a portfolio of wind farm projects in Illinois with the potential to generate 787 megawatts by 2013. The company acquired the assets from local wind farm developers Bruce and Joyce Papiech of FPC Services for an undisclosed price. The portfolio comprises three separate projects at various stages of development, located within 100 miles of Chicago, the nation's third largest metropolitan area; and will require more than $1.69 billion over a four-year period to develop fully.

Company Background:

Mainstream Renewable Power, based in Dublin, Ireland, was founded in February 2008 by Dr. Eddie O'Connor and Mr. Fintan Whelan, former chief executive and corporate finance manager of Airtricity. Its core business is to develop, build and operate wind energy, solar thermal and ocean current plants by partnering with governments, utility companies, developers and investors across North America, South America, Europe and South Africa.

Airtricity, Dr. O'Connor and Mr. Fintan Whelan's former company, is an international wind farm developer and operator and an integrated renewable electricity utility in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Airtricity was sold in 2008 to Scottish and Southern Energy, Perth, Scotland, for Euro 1.8 billion.

Since its inception, Mainstream has:

  • Actively engaged in development opportunities, onshore in Canada, the U.S., Chile, and South Africa as well as offshore in the U.K., Ireland & Germany.
  • Established offices in Berlin, Chicago, Dublin, London, Santiago and Toronto.
  • Raised Euro 72 million in equity, including EUR20 million from Barclays Capital for a 14.6% stake in the company.
  • Raised a further Euro 26 million in Loan Notes through Dolmen Corporate Finance in December 2008.
  • Signed a $1 billion joint venture to build a 400MW pipeline in Chile.
  • Signed a CAD$840 million joint venture to build a 400MW pipeline in Canada.
  • Announced a joint venture with South African wind farm developer, Genesis Eco-Energy, to build an initial pipeline of over 500MW of wind energy by 2014.
  • Awarded the exclusive right to develop a 1.1 billion offshore wind farm in Scottish territorial waters, with a potential capacity of 420MW.
  • Appointed Fintan Drury as chairman of its Board, which also comprises Sir Roy Gardner (U.K.), former head of Centrica, Chuck Watson (U.S.) of Eagle Energy Partners, Mark Brown (U.K.) of Barclays Capital, Brendan Halligan, chairman of Sustainable Energy Ireland and John Lavery of Lavery Kirby Gilmartin Solicitors.
  • Assembled a team of almost 100 managers and staff, who have a combined experience of over 250 years in the renewable energy industry.

For more information, visit http://www.mainstreamrp.com/

Mainstream Renewable Power Acquires U.S. Wind Development Projects; Announces Goal of Powering... -- CHICAGO and DUBLIN, June 15 /PRNewswire/ --

Irish firm touts wind farm plans in Boone County - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

The wind farm envisioned by Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power would stretch across 6,200 acres, mostly in LeRoy Township, said Boone County Board Vice Chairman Marshall New-
house, who discussed the project Wednesday night with fellow board members.

Company representatives met earlier Wednesday with Newhouse, County Board Chairman Bob Walberg, County Administrator Ken Terrinoni, County Engineer Rich Lundin and Belvidere-Boone County interim Planning Director Kathy Miller at Belvidere City Hall, where the city-county planning department is located.

Click on the following for more details on the Rockford Register Star article:  Irish firm touts wind farm plans in Boone County - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Other News Stories regarding:  Mainstream Renewable Power

Chicago, IL: Goldwind USA, the US arm of the world’s 5th largest wind turbine manufacturer, was informed by the Illinois Power Agency recently that it had been selected to provide energy from the 106.5 MW Shady Oaks project in Lee County, Illinois. As part of the successful bid, Goldwind will now acquire the project from Mainstream Renewable Power, the well-known global wind farm developer with whom they partnered to participate in the IPA’s competitive process.

The project will be governed by a 20 year renewable energy offtake agreement from ComEd through the Illinois Power Agency’s long term procurement plan and will be Goldwind’s second turbine project in the United States …For more of this story:  http://www.mainstreamrp.com/news-releases/goldwind-usa-and-mainstream-renewable-power-win-bid-for-106-5mw-shady-oaks-wind-farm-project-illinois-usa/

Bloomberg:  http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=47425941  shown below, click on photocopy to enlarge:

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Why 'Baby Doc' Jean-Claude Duvalier returned to Haiti: 5 theories - CSMonitor.com

Theory 1: 'Duvalier came back to see Haiti'

Theory 2: Visit necessary to access $6.2 million in Swiss account

Theory 3: Health problems sparked return

Theory 4: France, US orchestrated return to pressure President Préval

Theory 5: Préval engineered return to warn away Aristide

Click on the following to read the story:  Why 'Baby Doc' Jean-Claude Duvalier returned to Haiti: 5 theories - CSMonitor.com

City-County Meeting: Landfill#2 needs to be closely monitored

The following are my words and are intended to reflect the discussion from this sub-committee.  I would be please to accept any comments from committee members.

Recent readings   located on this closed landfill at Route 76 & Squaw Prairie (behind the Maple Crest Nursing Home) indicate that readings may be higher than normal levels of toxins from the ground water monitor wells.  Several reading, over several months are required to made a real determination of any problem or concern.

landfill #2

Click on photocopy to enlarge.

Wind Farm application for Northern Boone County, Coming Soon?

At the end of tonight’s Boone County board meeting Board Member District 1, Marshall Newhouse, disclosed that an “unidentified foreign firm” is attempting to negotiate  options for 6,400 acres of farmland in Northern Boone County to construct a series of wind turbines. 

Apparently Mr. Newhouse and other public officials (possibly  Chairman Walberg) attended a meeting held by the company for farmers and neighbors in Manchester and LeRoy Townships.  Discussions with Mr. Newhouse indicates that he farms a small amount of farmland in Manchester township (owned by a member of his extended family).  Both Mr. Newhouse and Mr. Walberg own sizeable farms in Bonus Township.  Bonus township is one township below Manchester/Leroy ( approximately 6 miles south). Mr. Newhouse is the Chairman of the Planning, Zoning & Building Subcommittee which would handle the zoning request for the wind farm.

Unlike previous applications new wind farm applications would be subject to the requirements of a new section of the zoning code: [ See 4.8 Wind Energy Conversion Systems Siting,  pages 4-23 thru 4-28 at:  http://www.boonecountyil.org/sites/default/files/AmendedZoningOrdinance.pdf ] No application has ever been made under this section in Boone County.

Reporters from both the Rockford Register Star and Boone County Journal interviewed Mr. Newhouse and Mr. Walberg.  I trust that an in-depth story on this wind project will be printed shortly.

House votes to repeal health-care law

 

House votes to repeal health-care law

While the repeal bill easily passed the House, it is expected to ultimately fail.

The House on Wednesday evening voted 245 to 189 to repeal the national health care overhaul, the opening argument in what promises to be a months-long discussion about that legislation's future.

To actually repeal the law, Republicans would need the approval of the Democrat-controlled Senate and President Obama, unless they have enough votes to override his veto. They are not likely to get that approval

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Wisconsin furniture store to close for NFC title game - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

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Colder's will close its four stores all day Sunday. The company says the majority of its customers will be watching the game, rather than out shopping for furniture. A competitor, Steinhafels, isn't following suit.

Click on the following for more details:  Wisconsin furniture store to close for NFC title game - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Associate Judge Candidates

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New FactCheck Article: A 'Budget Busting' Law?

A ‘Budget-Busting’ Law?

Republicans and Democrats both misrepresent the fiscal effect of the health care law.
January 19, 2011

Summary

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office states that repealing the health care law would worsen the federal deficit over the next 10 years — by $230 billion.
So how does the House Republican Leadership support its claim that the law itself is "budget-busting" and would add $701 billion to the deficit? And how does Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi justify claiming it will "save taxpayers $1.3 trillion"? Both sides are spinning shamelessly.
We judge that CBO’s projection, which is both official and nonpartisan, is the best available. But even that estimate is uncertain, as the agency itself concedes. For one thing, there is doubt about whether all of the Medicare savings in the law will actually materialize. Those reductions are supposed to offset part of the law’s new spending, but they could put too great a burden on hospitals.
Pelosi’s $1.3 trillion claim is deceptive. She’s projecting CBO’s estimate 20 years into the future, something the agency says is an imprecise and uncertain calculation. Furthermore the law raises taxes to pay for much of its new spending, so saying it "saves taxpayers" anything is misleading. Her figure is actually a reduction in the projected federal deficit.
As for the GOP’s claim that "the bill would add over $700 billion in red ink over the next decade," we judge it to be mostly bogus.
  • It rests largely on a claim that hundreds of billions of dollars in projected Medicare savings are being "double-counted." But CBO is simply not doing that.
  • The GOP’s $700 billion figure also includes more than $200 billion for a permanent "doctor fix" to prevent a cut in Medicare payments to doctors. But that is not even a part of the new law, and many Republicans endorse the "doctor fix" anyway.
  • The GOP claims the law will cost $115 billion to administer, but that isn’t true. CBO actually puts those costs at roughly $10 billion to $20 billion over the next 10 years.