Family Dollar Stores Inc. Message Board

Report Shows Dismal Start to Iowa Corn Crop

Story Created: Jun 17, 2013 at 10:56 PM CDT
(Story Updated: Jun 17, 2013 at 10:56 PM CDT)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The latest crop report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows Iowa's cornfields have been hit hard by the wet spring.

Twelve percent of the crop is in poor condition, worse among the 18 leading corn growing states. Monday's report says 4 percent is very poor while 34 percent is fair and 50 percent is good or excellent. Eleven percent of corn plants haven't emerged from the ground yet and 6 percent of the crop hasn't been planted. Normally the crop is all in by now and 99 percent emerged.

The USDA already assumes the average amount of corn expected to be harvested per acre in the U.S. to be reduced to 156.5 bushels per acre down from 158 bushels estimated a month ago.

Obama: ‘Iranian people rebuffed the hardliners and the clerics’

By Jonathan Easley - 06/17/13 11:00 PM ET

President Obama said Monday that the Iranian people have “rebuffed the hardliners and the clerics” in the country by electing a moderate president over the weekend.

“I think it says that the Iranian people want to move in a different direction,” Obama said in an interview with Charlie Rose on PBS.

“The Iranian people rebuffed the hardliners and the clerics in the election who were counseling no compromise on anything, any time, anywhere,” he added.

The Obama administration has been criticized by some for not supporting the “green revolution” that flared up in Iran in 2009 in protest of the reelection of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The protests fizzled shortly after a government crackdown.

Obama on Monday said the more peaceful election in 2013 was evidence of a “more positive atmosphere” in the country.

“You know, if you contrast this with the violence and suppression that happened in the last presidential election, obviously you have a much more positive atmosphere this time,” he said.

The president added that the election results showed “a hunger within Iran to engage with the international community in a more positive way.”

Moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani won the presidency in an upset victory on Saturday. Rouhani won more than 50 percent of the vote on the first ballot to avoid a run-off, and shortly after received the blessing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say.

Rouhani was widely viewed as the most friendly candidate toward the West, and civil rights activists are hopeful the new president will bring about greater personal freedoms in the theocratic state.

Still, Obama tempered his optimism for reform in the country, pointing out that Khamenei remains the most powerful figure.

“Mr. Rowhani, who won the election, I think indicated his interest in shifting how Iran approaches many of these international questions,

Corn 4 delivery in December lost 0.9% to $5.2825 a bushel after dropping 4.6% last week

------------------------------------------------

Imagine how inexpensive ethanol will be at the pump as of Thankgiving Day!

Soybeans Drop With Corn as Drier Weather May Boost Crops

June 17, 2013
By: Bloomberg

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans and corn tumbled for a fourth session in Chicago as drier conditions in the U.S. may speed up planting and allow crop development to accelerate. Wheat declined.

The U.S. Midwest may see only scattered rain most of this week before conditions turn wetter starting June 22, Commodity Weather Group said in a report. As of June 9, soybean planting was 71 percent finished, while corn sowing was 95 percent complete and 85 percent of plants had emerged from the soil, behind the average pace, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. The agency will update its weekly crop progress report today. Much of the central and northern U.S. had above-normal rain in the past two months, National Weather Service data show.

"Weather has been suitable for crop development in the U.S.," Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager for researcher at Nihon Unicom Inc., wrote in an e-mail today in a reply to Bloomberg questions. "With favorable growing conditions in the U.S., farmers are on course to produce a record crop."

Soybeans for delivery in November, after the U.S. harvest, fell 1 percent to $12.8575 a bushel at 6:50 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade on volume that was 37 percent above the 100-day average for that time of day. The oilseed declined 2.4 percent last week. Corn for delivery in December lost 0.9 percent to $5.2825 a bushel after dropping 4.6 percent last week.

Corn Crop

Farmers in the U.S. will harvest a record 355.7 million metric tons of corn in the year beginning Sept. 1, boosting world output to the highest ever and rebuilding inventories that declined following last year’s drought, the USDA said June 12. U.S. soybean production will reach an all-time high of 92.3 million tons, also lifting world output and inventories to records, it said.

Chinese soybean imports, the world’s largest, will be 63 million tons in the year starting Oct

House GOP wants to slash renewable energy investments in half: OFA BO/Jnq9RZ The President's plan? Lead the world in clean energy

World Wind Turbines To Cross 300,000 Megawatt Mark

June 17, 2013 Cynthia Shahan

Wind turbines are here to stay. They are increasing in numbers every day, and industry figures show that the amount of energy they are able to generate has reached tremendous levels.

The 19th century belonged to coal, the 20th to oil, and the 21st century belongs to clean energy, with wind energy being one of the foundations of that.

“This is the big one, the centerpiece, the dominant source of energy in the new economy is wind,” believes Lester Brown, a world-leading environmental analyst.

Jobs are steadily improving with the wind industry as well. Here’s one uplifting example: Jeff Metz was not a Green. He was a Republican in Michigan, the state hit the hardest in the recession. But he is a clean energy hero. He re-hired someone for every job that was eliminated (during the recession) to work for his wind manufacturing company. He tuned into what the industry needed, and in doing so, brought jobs back to the jobless. Problems with energy subsidies and tax breaks in the US are still disturbing (in need of attention). The wind industry was particularly attacked by Republican congresspeople in the past year or so, despite local-level support for wind power by common Republicans. It’s worth noting that these problems turned this hardworking and enterprising entrepreneur from Republican to something else. He is voting differently now.

Let’s get to the 300,000 megawatt (MW) or 300 gigawatt (GW) story noted in the headline.

Peter Sennekamp, media officer for the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), says: “Worldwide installed wind power will exceed 300 gigawatts of power capacity this year.” The projection is based off of data collected by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

For a little more fun, the following video by Peter Sinclair and accompanying short article by Thomas Schueneman emphasize why wind is becoming an essential a

Energy secretary pledges to keep momentum behind solar power

By Zack Colman - 06/17/13 11:18 AM ET

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has vowed to shake a few things up at the Energy Department (DOE) — but the agency’s support for solar power is not one of them.

Moniz put strong faith in solar power during remarks Monday at a Washington, D.C., conference. That continues the trend set forth by his predecessor, Steven Chu, who was a staunch advocate of the renewable energy source.

“I would argue that I believe that the scale and time frame of impact of solar technology, I believe, again, is underestimated,” he said at the U.S. Energy Information Administration-hosted event. “There are many situations today when solar is in fact competitive.”

“We are aggressively pursuing this in many dimensions,” he continued. “I think that’s an example of something we will look back on in 10 years and be surprised at the scope.”

The comments come after Moniz said last week in his first congressional testimony since being sworn in that he would lead some management changes at the department. He earned plaudits from some House Republicans after that House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing.

The subpanel’s chairman, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), compared Moniz favorably with Chu, saying the new DOE chief — who served as a DOE undersecretary for former President Bill Clinton — would be more adept at navigating Congress than Chu, who had no political experience.

Maintaining Chu’s solar agenda, though, isn’t going to win him any points with the GOP.

Currently, solar provides just a small portion of U.S. power. Its share of the nation's power mix has increased in recent years thanks to a mix of state renewable energy targets, an expansion of solar on federal lands and new financing models, among other things.

But President Obama's awarding of federal stimulus dollars to individual solar firms has been the subject of much criticism from the political ri

Obama Tells Keystone Foes He Will Unveil Climate Measures

Bloomberg News
By Lisa Lerer
June 14, 2013

With his administration under pressure from environmentalists to reject the Keystone XL pipeline project, President Barack Obama plans to unveil a package of separate actions next month focused on curbing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

At closed-door fundraisers held over the past few weeks, the president has been telling Democratic party donors that he will unveil new climate proposals in July, according to people who have attended the events or been briefed.

Obama’s promise frequently comes in response to pleas from donors to reject TransCanada Corp (TRP).’s proposed Keystone XL project, a $5.3 billion pipeline that would carry tar-sands oil from Canada to U.S. refineries. Opponents of the pipeline say it would increase greenhouse-gas emissions by encouraging use of the tar sands.

While Obama has not detailed the specifics of his plan to the donors, pipeline opponents anticipate the package will include final rules from the Environmental Protection Agency to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from new power plants. In April, the EPA delayed issuing the rule after the electric-power industry said the initial proposal was unworkable. Since then, the agency has been revising the rules, and environmental groups are urging the EPA not to scale back its initial plan.

Power Plants

The White House plan may also include pledging to issue a standard for limits on existing power plants, something EPA officials have said they expect to propose in the next 18 months.

Final decisions about the specific policies included in the president’s package are still being made, according to a person close to the White House.

Speaking to donors in Palo Alto, California, last week, Obama called the need for action on climate change one of the “most important decisions” facing the country.

“We’re not going to be able to make those changes solely through a bunch of individual de

The week ahead: Gas exports in focus, Keystone battle heats up, and a big dose of Moniz

By Ben Geman - 06/17/13 07:48 AM ET

This week brings a flurry of activity on and off Capitol Hill — sometimes way off.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will wade into battles over proposals to expand U.S. natural gas exports.

The title of Tuesday’s hearing conveys the majority Republicans’ pro-export stance: “U.S. Energy Abundance: Regulatory, Market, and Legal Barriers to Export.”

A subcommittee will hear from senior officials with the Energy Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which share jurisdiction over liquefied natural gas exports.

The hearing arrives as new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz weighs an array of industry applications to export gas to nations that lack formal trade deals with the U.S.

The hearing will also address controversial proposals to expand U.S. coal export capacity through the Pacific Northwest.

Speaking of Moniz, he’ll give the keynote address Monday morning at the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) annual conference in Washington, D.C. The EIA is the Energy Department’s independent statistical and forecasting arm.

Other speakers at the two-day event include the CEO of utility giant Southern Co. and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Moniz will be on Capitol Hill Tuesday when he testifies before the House Science Committee, which is holding a hearing on Energy Department science and technology priorities.

Moniz, who became secretary May 22, will then hit the road. He’s visiting the Hanford nuclear site in Washington State on Wednesday.

The Energy Department oversees the years-long, multibillion-dollar cleanup of the badly polluted site, which for decades produced plutonium for nuclear weapons.

“I’m pleased that Secretary Moniz is giving Hanford the attention it deserves and visiting in his first month on the job. Hanford is one of the

Chevron’s $10 billion Angola LNG ships first gas cargo

Posted on June 17, 2013 at 6:54 am by Bloomberg

Chevron's Gorgon LNG project is about 55 percent complete as of February 2013 and is expected to be up and running in 2014. The facility will produce 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. A causeway extends 1.3 miles from the plant, located on Barrow Island off of Australia's west coast, with foundation structures for the plant's liquefied natural gas jetty (bottom left) rising from the water. (Photo: Chevron)

Chevron Corp. (CVX)’s $10 billion Angola LNG plant shipped its first cargo today after an 18-month delay prompted by fires, labor shortages and U.S. shale drilling that erased demand for African fuel in the world’s largest gas market.

The shipment of gas that was cooled to -256 degrees Fahrenheit (-160 degrees Celsius) to shrink its volume was sold to state-owned Sonangol EP for transport to Brazil aboard the ship Sonangol Sambizanga, Artur Pereira, chief executive officer of Angola LNG Marketing, said in an e-mailed statement today. A “large number” of LNG sales from the plant have been signed or are in negotiation, the London-based company said.

Chevron, the world’s third-largest energy company by market value, has made LNG a linchpin of its goal to raise its worldwide output by 20 percent through the end of 2017 to the equivalent of 3.3 million barrels of crude a day. The company is spending more than $77 billion on two LNG projects in Australia, and in December acquired a 50 percent stake in the proposed Kitimat LNG terminal on Canada’s Pacific Coast.

“First gas at Angola LNG is an important milestone in support of our strategic plan to grow our production,” George Kirkland, vice chairman of San Ramon, California-based Chevron, said in a statement distributed by Business Wire today. “This project will commercialize natural gas resources in western Africa to meet growing demand in the region and internationally.”

Shipments Planned

Production

Deepwater expects to win US offshore wind lease: CEO

Reuters 5 hours ago

Privately held Deepwater Wind expects to win a federal lease to build a wind farm of up to 1,000 megawatts (MW) in federal waters south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the company's chief executive said in an interview.

The Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold the competitive lease sale for renewable energy on July 31.

Since Rhode Island has already selected Deepwater as the state's preferred offshore wind developer, the company has an advantage in the federal lease auction. Deepwater was picked as the preferred developer in 2008 after a competitive process.

"We're going to win the lease," Deepwater CEO Jeffrey Grybowski told Reuters, noting they are the preferred developer.

As US consumers demand cleaner sources of energy, federal and state governments are encouraging power companies to build renewable sources of generation, like offshore wind farms.

By being built on the ocean, a wind farm can take advantage of better wind speeds off shore versus on land, which generates more electricity. A wind farm of 1,000 MW could power about 300,000 homes.

Deepwater is in a race with Cape Wind, another privately held offshore wind farm developer, to build the first offshore wind farm in the United States.

Deepwater's most advanced site is a smaller, 30-MW project in Rhode Island state waters on the south side of Block Island, which will cost about $250 million, including a transmission link from Block Island to the mainland. The company has also proposed building wind farms offshore from New Jersey and New York City.

If all goes according to plan, Grybowski said Deepwater expects to have all permits for Block Island by late summer and start construction of the five Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) 6-MW turbines - each about 200 metres tall - or on the foundations that anchor the towers to the seabed, by the end of 2013, allowing the project to qualify for federal

Economist: Climate change a financial threat to oil companies

Posted on June 15, 2013 at 12:01 am by Zain Shauk

Energy companies are facing the prospect of physical and financial losses because of climate change, and the oil industry needs to take the threat more seriously, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency said Friday.

“When there is global warming, this will result in much more frequent cyclones, floods and storms,” Fatih Birol told FuelFix. “And this will affect the infrastructure of energy companies — we think especially for the offshore oil and gas production, in the North Sea, Western Australia, the Gulf of Mexico.”

The implications of climate change will extend beyond direct physical damage, Birol said.

“Even if there was no storm or anything happening, companies have to increase the resilience of the infrastructure, which in turn means that the cost of capital will go up,” he said. “So the energy companies, even if they don’t want to solve the problem, they cannot afford to ignore climate change being part of their decision-making for their investment strategies.”

Oil CEO: Humans are involved with climate change

Birol spoke with FuelFix following a report the Paris-based agency released this week warning that the world is not on track to prevent a dangerous increase in global temperatures — and that energy companies are key players.

“About two-thirds of the global emissions come from the energy sector, so if the energy companies and governments do not move, it will be impossible to address the problem,” Birol said.

World governments, including those of leading polluters China and the United States, have agreed that to avoid harmful env

Rick Perry Vetoes Texas Equal Pay Bill

Posted: 06/14/2013 4:43 pm EDT | Updated: 06/14/2013 8:14 pm EDT

WASHINGTON -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has vetoed a bill meant to prevent wage discrimination against women.

An aide to state Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D), who authored the equal pay bill, HB 950, said Perry's office called on Friday to say he had vetoed it. State Sen. Wendy Davis (D), who introduced the Senate version of the legislation, told the Texas Tribune that she had received the same call.

In a statement, Thompson said she was "deeply disappointed" and "heartbroken."

"Women will still have to struggle to receive their equal pay for their equal work," she said.

The bill would bring Texas state law in line with the federal Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for women to sue employers over wage discrimination. It cleared the state House in late April, and the Senate passed its version in late May.

In his veto statement posted online Friday evening, Perry said he objected to the bill because it "duplicates federal law, which already allows employees who feel they have been discriminated against through compensation to file a claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission." He also said he was concerned that it could lead to more regulations and hurt job creation.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Thompson said Perry's office objected to her legislation because it duplicated federal law. The governor's office did not return a request for comment from The Huffington Post, and a veto statement was not yet available online.

But the backers of HB 950 have pointed out that their legislation would allow parties to proceed on cases in a nearby state court, instead of having the increased expense of having to go to federal court. Lilly Ledbetter protections also do not always apply to certain state cases.

Forty-two states have passed equal pay laws similar to the one Perry vetoed. Women currently make only 77

Corn Futures Decline as Demand Eases, U.S. Crop Rebounds

By Jeff Wilson & Whitney McFerron - Jun 14, 2013 2:04 PM MT

Corn fell, capping the biggest weekly slump since April, on signs of easing global demand as farmers complete planting of a projected record crop in the U.S., the world’s top exporter. Wheat and soybeans declined.

Export sales of corn in the week ended June 6 slid to 149,460 metric tons, the lowest since January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Farmers may harvest 14.005 billion bushels, 30 percent more than a year earlier, boosting global production by 12 percent to a record, the agency said on June 12. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its price forecast yesterday, citing the U.S. recovery from last year’s drought.

“Global supplies are on the rise, and that has reduced demand for U.S. corn,” Greg Grow, the director of agribusiness for Archer Financial Services Inc. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “The weather forecasts for warm temperatures and regular rains should improve U.S. crop potential. We are shifting to a more plentiful supply outlook.”

Corn futures for delivery in December fell 0.4 percent to close at $5.33 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. This week, the price dropped 4.6 percent, the most since the five days ended April 5.

Goldman cut its price forecasts for corn to $4.75 and $11 a bushel for soybeans in three, six and 12 months. The previous estimates for the latter two periods were $5.25 for the grain and $12.50 for the oilseed.

Soybean futures for delivery in November slipped 0.2 percent to $12.9825. This week, the price dropped 2.4 percent. The U.S. harvest will surge 12 percent this year to a record 3.39 billion bushels, according to the USDA.

Corn and soybeans for July delivery rose as farmers withheld remaining supplies from last year’s harvest that was reduced by drought, Grow said.

For July, corn advanced 1.8 percent to $6.55 and soybeans gained 0.4 percent to $15.165.

Ryan Koronowski on Jun 14, 2013 at 5:17 pm

Yesterday, new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz sat before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to discuss the Department’s proposed budget and ended up explaining basic climate science to a member of the majority party.

In an exchange with former committee chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) reported by E&E Daily, Moniz was blunt:

“It’s indisputable that we are experiencing warming, and that the pattern of consequences that has long been expected, in fact, are appearing around us, unfortunately — typically at the higher end of the predicted ranges,” Moniz said, pointing to melting ice caps, intensified storms, droughts and wildfires.

In recent years, the subcommittee has been used to push false talking points about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and to hold hearings just to throw climate denier talking points at real climate scientists.

Last year, Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) sponsored a raft of bills that would dismantle key public health and clean air provisions and undermine landmark environmental legislation. Last week, the committee marked up Rep. McKinley’s bill that would prevent the EPA from regulating toxic coal ash.

Unsurprisingly, McKinley’s asked Secretary Moniz if global warming was “primarly man-made, or natural and cyclical.”

The conversation that followed was educational, hopefully for all parties. Watch the exchange here, courtesy of Forecast the Facts:

VIDEO

Here’s the transcript:

MONIZ: I believe, in my view, there is no question that a major component is anthropogenic. And that comes from–

MCKINLEY: Interesting. Is that from a consensus?

MONIZ: It is practically, I would say 98 percent of scientists involved in this area–

MCKINLEY: But you’re well aware the petition project has 32,000 scientists and physicists who’ve disagreed!

MONIZ: But sir–

MCKINLEY: They say it’s contributing, I think it

How Green Groups Make the EPA Issue New Rules

National Journal By Coral Davenport | National Journal – 5 hrs ago

Environmental groups have a tough time getting Congress to do what they want. Case in point: In the early months of 2010, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Defense Fund waged an all-out campaign urging the Senate to pass a sweeping climate-change bill backed by President Obama and leaders in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The measure crashed and burned that summer.

But the green groups—and Obama’s top environmental officials—knew they could resort to a different tactic: lawsuits to compel executive action. Toward the end of George W. Bush’s administration, the three big environmental organizations and 11 states sued to force the Environmental Protection Agency to issue new regulations reining in carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants and oil refineries. The Bush EPA fought the suit, but the Obama EPA, full of top officials who had worked in these very nonprofits, took a different tack. By December 2010, after the failure of the climate-change legislation, Obama’s first-term EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, settled the lawsuit—on the advocates’ terms. The settlement obliged the agency to begin regulating carbon pollution from coal plants and oil refineries, an outcome with profound environmental and economic implications. And in April 2012, EPA proposed a historic new rule to regulate global-warming pollution from coal plants. As Obama’s second term unfolds, the agency is expected to finalize more rules that, thanks to lawsuits, will give the green groups what they want.

The climate-change settlement is just one in a series of recent so-called sue-and-settle agreements since Obama took office. Between 2009 and 2012, EPA has settled at least 60 lawsuits from outside groups, leading to dozens of new environmental regulations. A 2010 deal in another Sierra Club lawsuit led to a 2012 regulation on mercu

a new tool from the US Department of Energy showing that fueling an electric car is about 3 times cheaper than fueling a gasmobile.

Electric Cars Much Cheaper Than You Think, Cheaper Than Gasmobiles (Charts)