Gov. Easley Announces Green Business Grant Program For Small Businesses

$1 Million Fund Will Help Companies Develop Cutting-Edge Green Technologies

Gov. Mike Easley announced that small business owners and entrepreneurs can apply today for the new North Carolina Green Business Fund grants. These competitive grants will help small businesses develop promising green and alternative energy technologies to bring cutting-edge, environmentally-friendly products and services to the marketplace.

“The Green Business Fund helps encourage the growth of North Carolina’s clean energy economy,” Easley said. “These grants will tap our state’s entrepreneurial talent and help North Carolina’s small businesses develop innovative technologies that are critical to our future growth.”

The General Assembly approved creation of the Green Business Fund last year and directed $1 million for the first round of grants. North Carolina-based small businesses with 100 or fewer employees can apply for grants to pursue original, pioneering ideas that are both good for the environment and good for the economy. A company can receive a maximum of $100,000 per grant. Deadline for grant applications is April 30, 2008.

The N.C. Board of Science and Technology, a division of the state Department of Commerce, administers the Green Business Fund. Detailed information on applying for grants, requests for grant proposals, eligibility criteria and other guidelines are available at the Board of Science and Technology’s website: http://www.ncscienceandtechnology.com.

Hog Lagoons Bill Passes the General Assembly This Week

From the Associated Press:
Legislators have given final approval to a measure that would phase out hog lagoons used by swine farmers to manage waste. The open pits, where waste is typically flushed from barns to be later sprayed on fields as fertilizer, have long been considered a menace by environmentalists and neighbors. The Senate voted unanimously to accept House changes to the bill sponsored by Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin. The measure needs only Gov. Mike Easley's signature to become law. Most of its requirements will become effective Sept. 1.

The bill, which was among several introduced this year to offer a permanent answer to the long-running fight over lagoons, blocks permits for the construction of any new anaerobic lagoon and sprayfield. It orders the state Environmental Management Commission to issue permits only for waste systems that meet high standards governing the elimination of contaminants into water, soil and air. The measure allows a new lagoon to be built to replace an existing one that is in imminent danger of failure, though state regulators insist the parameters are too narrow to allow cheating by farmers who simply want to replace an aging system on the cheap. Hog lagoons have an effective life of about 25 to 30 years.

The bill also allows up to 50 farms to take part in an experimental program to generate electricity by capturing methane emissions from the lagoons. The measure acknowledges the expense of new waste systems with a cost-sharing program for farms that agree to convert to the new technologies.

For the next five years, the state will cover 90 percent of the cost, up to $500,000 for each applicant. The state share drops to 80 percent in 2012 and to 75 percent in 2017. The hope is that, once some farms have the systems in place, the cost will drop as the systems are improved and demand for them grows. North Carolina is second only to Iowa in hog farming, with close to $7 billion in annual sales and 10 million animals.

Read More at News & Observer 07/26/07 New limits are likely for hog-waste lagoons

Bush’s Greenhouse Gas Proposal Is Hazy (Rep. G.K. Butterfield)

While it’s encouraging that President Bush may finally be accepting the seriousness of greenhouse gas emissions, his vague plans for technology transfers and voluntary emissions targets will not resolve the issue. There’s a pressing need to address the issue of global warming, and the solution must recognize the urgency.

President Bush’s proposal duplicates and could undermine the ongoing efforts to build on the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is unlikely that a parallel effort would result in a new international agreement that truly addresses global warming.

As the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases, we have an obligation to convincingly lead the way forward. If the United States fails to limit its own pollution, it is unrealistic to believe that India or China would do so. To resolve this crisis, we must work with the rest of the world to agree on binding goals and a protocol for international enforcement.

By N.C. Dem. Rep. G.K. Butterfield
Visit Blog the Hill

Support Stem Cell Research

For too long, Americans have been denied hope because this President and Republicans in Congress put ideology over sound science and have refused to act.

The House takes up SB 5, Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act OF 2007, a bill to "to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct and support research that utilizes human embryonic stem cells, regardless of the date on which the stem cells were derived from a human embryo." The Senate passed this bill already. President Bush is expected to veto the bill. Tell the House and President Bush your views on this bill and this issue by visiting:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=9837926

I Support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act
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