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WONWAY...Agree...Some good stuff on the other board this afternoon...FWIW
At least one poster here won't like this:
The plot thickens as to why/how FASC got this license agreement with JP Steel Plantech Co.
Go to
the link to read some interesting stuff on KAWASAKI one of the four giants that own JP Steel Plantech Co. :
Utilization of Woody and Agricultural Biomass as Energy Source
-Research on the Utilization of Empty Fruit Bunches
of Palm as Boiler fuel-
Tasuo Ino
Koji Taniguchi kiyoto Ikeda
Tatsuya Watanabe Satoshi Hirata
Biomass is attracting high interest as one of the key solutions
for global warming, since it
does not affect carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere
and it is a renewable source.
This paper introduces technological development at Kawasaki Heavy
Industries that is aimed at
utilizing wood and agricultural biomass as an energy source, and
focuses especially on research
into the utilization of empty fruit bunches of palm, which is the
waste material from the palm
oil industry of Southeast Asia, as boiler fuel.
http://www.khi.co.jp/tech/ne153.htm
November 1, 2005
News Release 05-130
Inv. No. 332-462
Contact: Peg OLaughlin, 202-205-1819
ITC ISSUES REPORT ON RENEWABLE ENERGY SERVICES
Few barriers exist in the market for renewable energy services, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in its study Renewable Energy Services: An Examination of U.S. and Foreign Markets.
The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, conducted the investigation at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative. The report provides an overview of foreign and domestic markets for renewable energy services; examines trade and investment in renewable energy services markets, including barriers affecting such trade and investment; and discusses existing regulatory practices. Highlights of the report follow.
* The United States is the worlds largest market for biomass and geothermal power, while Germany leads the market for wind power, Japan for solar power, and France for ocean power.
* Government incentive measures designed to promote renewable energy, including those that stem from national obligations under international environmental agreements (such as the Kyoto Protocol), have played a leading role in the development of certain renewable energy sectors. Other factors such as technological advances that have improved the cost-competitiveness of renewable energy technologies, and concerns regarding the environment and energy security have also contributed to the growth of certain segments of this industry.
* Industry sources estimate that the global markets for services incidental to wind, solar, and biomass power production totaled approximately $3.8 billion, $2.8 billion, and $1.7 billion, respectively, in 2004. In that year, Germany was the largest market for wind power services, followed by the United States and Spain. Leading country markets for solar power services included Japan, Germany, and the United States. In the biomass segment, Finland led the worldwide services market in 2004, followed most closely by the United States.
* There are few barriers that specifically affect trade and investment in the wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, or ocean energy production or services sectors. However, regulatory barriers that apply to incidental sectors, such as professional licensing provisions that apply in the consulting and engineering industries, as well as investment measures, landuse provisions, and limitations on movement of persons that apply to trade and investment in all sectors, may affect trade and investment in the renewable energy industry.
* Equipment used in the renewable energy industry is subject to a wide range of tariffs in different countries, though such tariffs reportedly are not a significant impediment to trade.
Renewable Energy Services: An Examination of U.S. and Foreign Markets (Investigation No. 332-462, USITC publication 3805, October 2005) will be posted in the Publications area of the ITC Internet site at www.usitc.gov. A printed or CD-ROM copy may be requested by calling 202-205-1809 or by writing the office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW, Washington, DC, 20436. Requests may also be made by fax to 202-205-2104.
ITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs or trade and are generally conducted at the request of the U.S. Trade Representatives, the Senate Committee on Finance, or the House Committee on Ways and Means. The resulting reports convey the Commissions objective findings and independent analyses on the subject investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the ITC submits its finding and analyses to the requestor. General factfinding investigations reports are subsequently released to the public, unless they are classified by the requestor for national security reasons.
http://www.usitc.gov/ext_relations/news_release/2005/er1101cc3.htm
This little company is in here with the big dogs:
November 06, 2005
Renewable Energy Markets Show Strong Growth - REN21 Releases "Renewables 2005: Global Status Report"
* Download the report. (PDF)
* Download the notes and references for the report. (PDF)
Beijing—Global investment in renewable energy set a new record of $30 billion in 2004, according to a report released today by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Technologies such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and small hydro now provide 160 gigawatts of electricity generating capacity, about 4 percent of the world total, the report finds.
"Renewable energy has become big business," said Eric Martinot, lead author of Renewables 2005: Global Status Report. Martinot, who is a Senior Fellow at the Worldwatch Institute and a Lecturer at Tsinghua University in Beijing, notes that renewable energy is attracting some of the world's largest companies, including General Electric, Siemens, Sharp, and Royal Dutch Shell. The report estimates that nearly 40 million households worldwide heat their water with solar collectors, most of them installed in the last five years. Altogether, renewable energy industries provide 1.7 million jobs, most of them skilled and well-paying.
The Global Status Report was compiled by Martinot, working with more than 100 researchers and contributors from at least 20 countries. It provides an assessment of several renewables technologies—small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels—that are now competing with conventional fuels in four distinct markets: power generation, hot water and space heating, transportation fuels, and rural (off-grid) energy supplies.
The report finds that government support for renewable energy is growing rapidly. At least 48 countries now have some type of renewable energy promotion policy, including 14 developing countries. Most targets are for shares of electricity production, typically 5-30 percent, by the 2010-2012 timeframe. Mandates for blending biofuels into vehicle fuels have been enacted in at least 20 states and provinces worldwide as well as in three key countries—Brazil, China and India.
Government leadership provides the key to market success, according to the report. The market leaders in renewable energy in 2004 were Brazil in biofuels, China in solar hot water, Germany in solar electricity, and Spain in wind power.
Other findings in the report include:
* The fastest growing energy technology in the world is grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV), which grew in existing capacity by 60 percent per year from 2000-2004, to cover more than 400,000 rooftops in Japan, Germany, and the United States. Second is wind power capacity, which grew by 28 percent last year, led by Germany, with almost 17 gigawatts installed as of 2004.
* Production of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) exceeded 33 billion liters in 2004, when ethanol displaced about 3 percent of the 1,200 billion liters of gasoline globally.
* An estimated US $500 million goes to developing countries each year as development assistance for renewable energy projects, training, and market support, with the German Development Finance Group (KfW), the World Bank Group, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) providing the majority of these funds, and dozens of other donors and programs providing the rest.
* Over 4.5 million "green" power consumers in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan purchased renewable electricity at the retail level or via certificates in 2004.
The Global Status Report fills a gap in the international energy reporting arena, which has tended to neglect the emerging renewable energy technologies. Regular updates will be produced in the future. The report was produced and published by the Worldwatch Institute and released today at the Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference 2005, sponsored by the Government of China. This Conference brings together government and private leaders from around the world, providing a forum for international leadership on renewable energy and connects the wide variety of stakeholders that came together at the International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn, Germany, in 2004.
The creation of REN21 was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Formally established in Copenhagen in June 2005, REN21 is now supported by a steering committee of 11 governments, 5 intergovernmental organizations, 5 non-governmental organizations, and several regional, local, and private organizations.
Note to Editors: About REN 21: REN21 is a global policy network aimed at providing a forum for international leadership on renewable energy. Composed of representatives of governments as well as non-governmental organizations, REN21's goal is to support the rapid expansion of renewable energy use in developing and industrial countries by bolstering policy development and decision-making on sub-national, national, and international levels. To download a copy of the report and to access the extensive footnotes that provide supporting data and additional information, please visit www.ren21.net.
http://www.worldwatch.org/press/news/2005/11/06/
OT: Thanks...On the way...
OT: BEISCHENS...Check your email please...
OOPS....Sorry...Meant...WAITEDG.... :-]
WAITEDOG...There is a difference in bashing a stock with no facts and pointing out negative opinions of FASC with facts. IHUB doesn't allow personal attacks as your friends on the other board does. They also let you get away with spamming over there.
Just wondering if you had held your FASC until last week and sold between .05 and .06 how much better off you would be today? Have you put a figure to that? If so, I apologise as I missed your post.
Best, Will
MARKETSMART's Website:
[FASC's PR firm.]
http://www.webhead.com/marketsmart/index.html
WRAP/AYLESFORD report should be out this month:
Aylesford recycle releases
5 July 2005
Aylesford Newsprint and WRAP Explore Paper Mill Sludge Opportunities
A research project into the recyclability and re-use opportunities of paper mill sludge has just been launched at Aylesford Newsprint’s Kent plant.
Funded by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) and using state of the art technology developed in Canada, the project to assess the economic viability of processing paper mill sludge into usable materials comes on stream in July.
Paper mill sludge is the main waste product from the manufacture of white recycled papers and can represent as much as 40% of the material input in the production of higher quality paper grades. In total, UK mills generate around one million tonnes of sludge each year and end uses for this material are limited - most is either landfilled, landspread or incinerated.
“Whilst 80% of the sludge produced as a by-product of the recycling process at Aylesford Newsprint is burnt to produce 17% of the mill’s energy needs, the remaining 30,000 tonnes are either composted, landfilled or landspread,” explained Chris White, Aylesford Newsprint’s Commercial Manager. “This is a significant cost to the paper mill and so solving this problem by generating markets for this sludge would be of enormous benefit.”
Also commenting on the project, David Powlson, WRAP’s Technical Manager for Paper, said: “With higher quality requirements for paper, and rising landfill costs, the volume and cost of sludge disposal is becoming an inhibiting commercial factor for the further expansion of recycled paper manufacture”.
Central to the success of the project is a new KDS Micronex sludge processing plant developed by First American Scientific Corporation (FASC). Sited at Aylesford Newsprint’s mill, the demonstration plant is the first of its kind in Europe.
“The problem with sludge is its composition,” explained Chris White. “It is made up of 50% fibre and 50% fillers – both can be recycled individually but the task becomes more challenging when they are combined.”
The FASC equipment will dry the sludge into a fluff which allows the fibre and fillers to be separated. Initially, the moisture content of the sludge is reduced from 50% to 10% by the KDS Micronex. The resulting sludge fluff can then be split into its fibre and filler constituents using screening equipment, and the materials assessed for their recycling potential. Possible end uses for fibre include insulation, lower grade paper applications and fuel briquettes, while the filler material has potential for use in a range of products, particularly for the construction sector.
The project will run until November 2005 when results will be announced.
“This system could provide a viable use for the one million tonnes of sludge that the UK’s paper industry produces and has to dispose of,” concluded Chris White. “The environmental and economic benefits of producing fibres that could go back into paper manufacture or be used in the manufacture of other unrelated products will be enormous.”
http://www.aylesford-newsprint.co.uk/Viewrelease.asp?table=recycle&id=8&id8=2&data=85
TRCPA, Look forward to it. Not thr NR but found this:
EPA Certification
The KDS Micronex™ is registered with the United States Environmental Protection as a Pesticide Device, certifying the ability of the KDS Micronex™ to destroy pathogens.
http://www.fasc.net/kds_research.htm
TRCPA...Thanks for the post. I've lost much of my archives but did save hard drives that I may be able to retrieve. Do you still have any of the info in the RB posts when the EPA designation first come out. This might be a good time for FASC too bring Dr. Moore back on board to run interference in D.C.
The USA is serious about the threat of Avian Flu. Yesterday's NR couldn't have come at a better time for FASC imo. hope David Dungate was on the phone [If not on an airplane going to D.C.] pitching the KDS to the EPA/White House. EPA approved the KDS several years ago as a pathagin killer:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051101/ap_on_he_me/bush_flu
Bush Outlines $7.1B Flu-Fighting Strategy
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer 11 minutes ago
President Bush outlined a $7.1 billion strategy Tuesday to prepare for the danger of a pandemic influenza outbreak, saying he wanted to stockpile enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans against the current strain of bird flu as a first wave of protection.
The president also said the United States must approve liability protection for the makers of lifesaving vaccines. He said the number of American vaccine manufacturers has plummeted because the industry has been hit with a flood of lawsuits.
Bush said no one knows when or where a deadly strain of flu will strike but "at some point we are likely to face another pandemic."
The president, in a speech at the National Institutes of Health, said the United States must be prepared to detect outbreaks anywhere in the world, stockpile vaccines and anti-viral drugs and be ready to respond at the federal, state and local levels in the event a pandemic reaches the United States.
Bush outlined a strategy that would cost $7.1 billion including:
_$1.2 billion for the government to buy enough doses of the vaccine against the current strain of bird flu to protect 20 million Americans; the administration wants to have sufficient vaccine for front-line emergency personnel and at-risk populations, including military personnel;
_$1 billion to stockpile more anti-viral drugs that lessen the severity of the flu symptoms;
_$2.8 billion to speed the development of vaccines as new strains emerge, a process that now takes months. The goal is to have the manufacturing capability by 2010 to brew enough vaccine for every American within six months' of a pandemic's start.
_$583 million for states and local governments to prepare emergency plans to respond to an outbreak.
Bush said a pandemic flu would be far more serious than the seasonal flu that makes hundreds of thousands of people sick ever year and sends people to their doctors for a flu shot. "I had mine," Bush said. Unlike seasonal flu, pandemic flu can kill people who are young and healthy as well as those who are frail and sick, he said.
In asking Congress for money to buy vaccine, Bush said the vaccine "would not be a perfect match to the pandemic flu because the pandemic strain would probably differ somewhat from the avian flu virus it grew from. But a vaccine against the current avian flu virus would likely offer some protection against a pandemic strain and possibly save many lives in the first critical months of an outbreak."
He also said the United States was increasing stockpiles of antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu and Relenza. Such drugs cannot prevent people from catching the flu, but they can reduce the severity of the illness when taken within 48 hours of getting sick, he said.
"At this moment there is no pandemic influenza in the United States or the world, but if history is our guide there's reason to be concerned," Bush said. "In the last century, our country and the world have been hit by three influenza pandemics, and viruses from birds contributed to all of them."
He pointed out that the 1918 pandemic killed over a half million Americans and more than 20 million people across the globe. "One-third of the U.S. population was infected, and life expectancy in our country was reduced by 13 years.
"The 1918 pandemic was followed by pandemics in 1957 and 1968, which killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions across the world," Bush said.
Bird flu has been documented in Asia and has spread to Europe but has not reached the United States, the president said. "Our country has been given fair warning of this danger to our homeland and time to prepare," he said.
Bush said the cornerstone of his strategy was to develop new technologies to produce new vaccines quickly. "If a pandemic strikes, our country must have a surge capacity in place that will allow us to bring a new vaccine online quickly and manufacture enough to immunize every American against the pandemic strain," Bush said.
The principal goal of Bush's plan, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said, "is the capacity for every American to have a vaccine in the case of a pandemic, no matter what the virus is."
"There is no reason to believe that in the next day or two or week or month that that's going to occur," Leavitt said on CBS's "The Early Show." But he added that "we do need to be ready in case it begins to mutate into a human transmissible disease."
Pandemics strike when the easy-to-mutate influenza virus shifts to a strain that people have never experienced before, something that has happened three times in the last century. While it is impossible to say when the next super-flu will strike, concern is growing that the bird flu strain known as H5N1 could trigger one if it mutates to start spreading easily among people. Since 2003, at least 62 people in Southeast Asia have died from H5N1; most regularly handled poultry.
The nation's strategy starts with attempting to spot an outbreak abroad early and working to contain it before it reaches the United States.
Today, most of the world's vaccine against regular winter flu, including much of that used by Americans each flu season, is manufactured in factories in Britain and Europe.
The government already has ordered $162.5 million worth of vaccine to be made and stockpiled against the Asian bird flu, more than half to be made in a U.S. factory.
But the administration plan, to be released in more detail on Wednesday, calls for more than stockpiling shots. It will stress a new method of manufacturing flu vaccines — growing the virus to make them in easy-to-handle cell cultures instead of today's cumbersome process that uses millions of chicken eggs — as well as incentives for new U.S.-based vaccine factories to open.
___
What I would like to see FASC do...If they aren't already:
BIGSPENDER..."The KDS Micronex kills 99.9% of pathogens. I suppose the Avian flu is a pathogen."
That is what is going to get the attention of Governments...They will cut the red tape because of the Avian Flu scare and quickly we will see MANDATES for Chicken and Turkey farmers. Hopefully FASC will speed up the process and send a copy with cover letter to every government to appropiate departments...Countries, States, Provinces and etc. Further run news stories/ads in BARRON'S, WSJ, IBD and etc. FASC WOULD NOT need to hire a HIGH PRICED PR FIRM to get the word out!!! JMHO/FWIW
And it's
F
A
S
C
OFF...Not 'BLAST OFF' :]
TR, Makes sense but something will have to give and soon. Either debt financing or share increase imo...If FASC asks for a share increase some of the longs will scream bloody-murder but I think it would be doable if the alternative is an R/S. fwtw
4tj, We are on the same wavelink. I think the possibility of a dreaded R/S [even though the company says no way.] is keeping the PPS down even if current revenues are paying the bills. I was thinking 100-200 million shares though...
FWIW: I for one would like for CAL to ask for a share increase if the revenue from sold shares would go toward JV's and licensing agreements with royalties for a continuing revenue stream...
Looks like FASC will get some of these YEN:
370 billion yen tax hike to chill global warming
10/26/2005
The Asahi Shimbun
The average household will be paying about 2,100 yen more a year in taxes to combat global warming if a plan proposed Tuesday by the Environment Ministry is approved.
The ministry wants the new tax in place by January 2007 and is forecasting annual tax revenues of about 370 billion yen.
The tax would cover coal, fuel oil, kerosene and fuel used in electric-power generation-all energy sources that produce carbon dioxide, the key ingredient in global warming.
For the time being, the tax would exempt gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel because of the current high prices for crude oil.
The basic tax rate being proposed is 2,400 yen for every ton of carbon contained in fossil fuels.
The plan will be presented to the environment committees of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. Ministry officials are seeking to include the proposal in tax system changes to be compiled at the end of the year.
The Environment Ministry put together a similar proposal last year, but it included gasoline. That plan was shot down by the government's Tax Commission even though commission members agreed a tax was needed to help the government achieve its goals in cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.(IHT/Asahi: October 26,2005)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200510260081.html
MALAYSIA:
Budget 2006: Tax incentives for conservation of energy, generation of renewable energy
Jeeva Arulampalam
The Budget 2006 proposes that the application period for pioneer status, investment tax allowance, import duty and sales tax exemption for companies providing energy conservation services be extended for another five years until Dec 31, 2010.
To encourage companies generating renewable energy, the budget proposes pioneer status with tax exemption of 70% be increased to 100% of statutory income and the incentive period be extended from five to 10 years.
An alternative proposal under renewable energy is investment tax allowance of 60% be increased to 100% on the qualifying expenditure incurred within a period of five years with the allowance to be set-off against 100% of statutory income for each year of assessment.
The proposals are effective for applications received by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) from Oct 1, 2005.
http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_a67f7b3f-cb73c03a-90fa050...
Tony Blair Pulls the Plug on Kyoto at Clinton Summit
TCS ^ | 09/16/2005 | By James Pinkerton
NEW YORK - Kyoto Treaty RIP. That's not the headline in any newspaper this morning emerging from the first day of the Clinton Global Initiative, but it could have been -- and should have been.
Onstage with former president Bill Clinton at a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was going to speak with "brutal honesty" about Kyoto and global warming, and he did. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had some blunt talk, too.
Blair, a longtime supporter of the Kyoto treaty, further prefaced his remarks by noting, "My thinking has changed in the past three or four years." So what does he think now? "No country, he declared, "is going to cut its growth." That is, no country is going to allow the Kyoto treaty, or any other such global-warming treaty, to crimp -- some say cripple -- its economy.
Looking ahead to future climate-change negotiations, Blair said of such fast-growing countries as India and China, "They're not going to start negotiating another treaty like Kyoto." India and China, of course, weren't covered by Kyoto in the first place, which was one of the fatal flaws in the treaty. But now Blair is acknowledging the obvious: that after the current Kyoto treaty -- which the US never acceded to -- expires in 2012, there's not going to be another worldwide deal like it.
So what will happen instead? Blair answered: "What countries will do is work together to develop the science and technology….There is no way that we are going to tackle this problem unless we develop the science and technology to do it." Bingo! That's what eco-realists have been saying all along, of course -- that the only feasible way to deal with the issue of greenhouse gases and global warming is through technological breakthroughs, not draconian cutbacks.
Blair concluded with a rhetorical question-and-answer: "How do we move forward, post-Kyoto? It can only be done by the major players coming together and pooling their resources, to find their way to come together."
Interestingly, these words from Blair, addressing an audience of a thousand at the Sheraton just a few blocks north of Times Square, failed to get any pickup in the media. Even The New York Times, published just down the street, ran a story that dwelt on the star power in the room, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Jesse Jackson, and George Stephanopoulos. "Isn't this awesome?" said one participant, and those words seemed to reflect fully the Times' take on the event.
For its part The Washington Post offered this bland headline: "Clinton Gathers World Leaders Nonpartisan Conference Focuses on Global Improvement," making no mention of Blair's global warming remarks. As for TV coverage, there wasn't much of that either; on CNN Headline News, Christi Paul said, admiringly, "former President Clinton is still looking to get things done," noting that Clinton garnered "more than $200 million in pledges" to address world problems.
Ironically, some of those pledges concerned global warming. The 42nd President kicked off his wonky-glitzy extravaganza by announcing that the event would be "climate neutral." That is, the CGI -- or, more precisely, a couple of fatcats who ponied up money to get some onstage face time with Clinton -- would "offset" the CO2 produced by this event by "investing in renewable energy projects in Native American lands and in rural Nigerian villages." But such eco-pious symbolism aside, the real news of the conference so far has come from Blair.
The Prime Minister, has long been pushing, of course, for a binding international treaty on climate change. It's one part of the Eurolefty agenda he has traditionally kept faith with. In a policy-setting speech in September 2004, for example, he laid out an ambitious agenda, declaring that "Kyoto is only the first step but provides a solid foundation for the next stage of climate diplomacy."
Indeed, the widely held view was that Blair would "cash in" his geopolitical chits -- that is, those he gained with George W. Bush over his support for the Iraq war, in order to get the Texan to sign on to some form of Kyoto. But even before the Gleneagles G-8 summit in July, it seemed pretty clear that Bush was not going to go along with Blair's deal; in fact, Bush rebuffed Blair. Nonetheless, as recently as a September 4 op-ed in The Financial Times, Blair still sounded optimistic, declaring, "We made substantial progress on climate change at Gleneagles." But now Blair has buried Kyoto a little bit deeper. One of these days, the press will notice.
And there was some potentially significant news from Condi Rice, who was also onstage all this time, sitting with Clinton and Blair in an Oprah-like format. Speaking of world energy policy for the future, Rice said, "Nuclear power is going to have to be part of the mix." Imagine that -- nuclear power! That's been the Bush administration view all along, of course, but the W. folks haven't gotten very far in resuscitating the industry. Yet if Blair is starting to show realism on Kyoto, he and other leaders around the world will see that nukes have to be part of the energy solution.
Indeed, Rice added, "France generates something like 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power." That's probably the first time in ages that a Bush administration official has had anything positive to say about France. Rice acknowledged "proliferation risks" from nuclear power, but made it a clear that something had to be done. "In the fast-developing world," she concluded, "we have to find a way to leverage all power [sources]."
For his part, Clinton was his usual self, declaring to Rice, "In general, I agree with you about that" -- without ever saying what he was agreeing with. And the 42nd President gave no reaction to Blair's provocative Kyoto revisionism.
In fact, nobody seems to have reacted to what Blair said. But that's OK. TCS readers have this significant scoop. And as for the rest of the world, it will soon understand that Blair has effectively pulled the plug on Kyoto.
StockGate: Is All Heck About To Break Loose?
small cap center ^ | 9/5/05 | financialwire.net via COMTEX
Aug 25, 2005 12:42:00 AM
financialwire.net via COMTEX
August 25, 2005 (FinancialWire) With JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley (NYSE: WMD) and Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER), who dominate the credit-derivatives market, reportedly among 14 banks being called on the carpet by the NY Fed over "unconfirmed trades," and a super task force of regulators reportedly auditing the top brokerages over allegations of illegal naked short selling, it could soon be "SHO and tell" time.
Regulators are smarting over allegations that they gave super hedge funds a free pass because "fails to deliver" were just too massive to reconcile in the "grandfather clause" in Regulation SHO after the FTDs couldn't be cleaned up even with a six months notice, and there is growing evidence that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the NASD and the New York Stock Exchange are not about to let some state regulator do another "Spitzer" on them.
The North American Securities Administrators Association, representing state regulators, was sharply critical of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., co-owned by the NYSE and NASDAQ, during the comment period over Regulation SHO, and FinancialWire has been aware for some time that some state regulators have been looking into why the DTCC has fails to deliver amounting to $6 billion a day.
NASDAQ may soon pull out of the DTCC and form its own clearing group, according to Traders Magazine. A break-up of the DTCC has been editorially endorsed by Investrend Information, publishers of FinancialWire.
A growing chorus has also risen from Congress to "make Regulation SHO effective," rather than what critics say it has been so far, a showcase of illegal manipulation.
TheStreet.com's (NASDAQ: TSCM) RealMoney said that the market "dived" Wednesday over the Fed letter, saying the market may be concerned this is "another Long term Capital type event in the making."
A banking industry group was quoted as saying as recently as July 27 that an "urgent" effort is needed to tackle the "serious" accumulation of trade confirmations.
At the same time, news reports say that examiners from the NASD, NYSE and SEC are "in the middle of a sweep designed to ferret out brokerages breaking rules designed to eliminate naked short selling."
A battle royale, including competing lawsuits, are being waged between Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), which alleges that Rocker Partners, a major hedge fund said by some to be the leading shorter of a large segment of the NYSE Regulation SHO "threshold list," is engaging I illegal manipulative activites.
TheStreet.com's Kevin Kelleher said the "scarcity of hard data on the illicit trading tactic so far has only polarized the debate on how serious a problem it has become."
Despite a number of semi-favorable articles in TheStreet.com, Overstock CEO Byrne has named the company as a part of the media conspiracy supporting misdeeds by hedge funds.
The hedge funds, Kelleher said, say that "most of the positions created by failed deliveries are related to options trading and not a concerted effort to drive stocks down.
"That may be the case. But without better data on stocks that failed to deliver, the rest of us will never know for sure.
"Meanwhile, what little data are available suggest that naked shorting may indeed be out of control and that a much-ballyhooed trading rule known as Regulation SHO has so far done little to rein it in."
He said that naked shorting "is in essence make-believe short-selling. In the same way kids play doctor without the medical equipment, naked shorters sell unborrowed stocks, stocks that no one has borrowed and possibly never will. The SEC allows naked shorting in two cases: to maintain liquidity in hard-to-find shares and for anyone who shorted unborrowed shares before 2005. That second exemption has generated its own share of controversy."
He said that the outcry has steadily increased. "In recent months, newsletters like CrossCurrents and Biotech Monthly have sounded alarms on naked shorting."
"I'm quite confident that this is a much larger issue than anyone cares to consider," Kelleher quotes CrossCurrents editor Alan Newman. "It's hard to find bears any harder-core than Newman, who in February 2000 put a then-unthinkable 3000 target on Nasdaq and who today expects the Dow to sink to 8500. When the uber-bears are worried about the adverse impact of shorting, it's time to start worrying."
Newman explains naked short-selling in eye-opening clarity, he notes: "Selling unborrowed shares means the buyer doesn't get delivery of the shares he bought. "There are now two actual owners of the same shares. The exact same shares now show up long in both accounts," Newman says. "Every 100 shares of a naked short is a duplication of real shares, just as if the shares had been photocopied and distributed."
Kelleher also quotes Larry Thompson, the First Deputy General Counsel at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, a central clearinghouse for trade settlement, that about 1.5% of the dollar volume of stocks traded each day fail to deliver. In a Q&A published this March on the DTCC site, "fails to deliver and receive amount to about $6 billion daily ... including both new fails and aged fails."
Overall, said TheStreet.com, "1.5% of volume may not be much of an impact. But judging from the way some stocks spend weeks and months on the threshold list of shares that face persistent delivery failures, the naked shorting is concentrated in illiquid shares known to be hedge fund targets. The bulk are traded over the counter, but some are well known, such as Netflix, Netease (NASDAQ: NTES), Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ: SNDA), and Taser International (NASDAQ: TASR).
He said that perhaps the most telling data came from a simple Freedom of Information Act filed by an individual investor who asked the SEC for aggregate data on failed deliveries on the NYSE and Nasdaq. Before Regulation SHO was passed in September 2004, an average of about 155 million shares a day failed to deliver on the two exchanges, excluding OTC and Pink Sheet stocks, TheStreet.com says the data showed.
"After Regulation SHO was passed, the delivery failures rose, averaging 205 million shares a day in December and rising as high as 259 million on Dec. 22 alone. Since the law went into effect on Jan. 3, the delivery failures have declined, but are still only about 20% below their levels of last summer.
"The SEC, wanting to avoid short-squeezes in dozens of stocks caused by the closing out of naked short positions, opted to 'grandfather in' any failed deliveries before Jan. 3. But that opened the door to another problem: In the four months between the date Regulation SHO went into effect and the date it took effect, the grandfather provision gave anyone who was so inclined a generous period of time to build up naked short positions in any stock he liked.
"Or, to use the counterfeit analogy, imagine outlawing the printing of funny money, but giving everyone four months to print up as much as they'd like. Only then would counterfeit dollars be illegal -- but only to print, not to use."
He points out that "it wasn't as if regulators weren't expecting this. The NASD, in a 2004 proposal to tighten rules on naked short-selling, wrote, "Naked short-selling ... can result in long-term failures to deliver, including aggregate failures to deliver that exceed the total float of a security. NASD believes that such extended failures to deliver can have a negative effect on the market.
"Among other things, by not having to deliver securities, naked short-sellers can take on larger short positions than would otherwise be permissible, which can facilitate manipulative activity. Further, significant failures to deliver can impact certain rights of buyers, such as the right to vote shares or the treatment of dividends."
Some 93.89% of the respondents to the Investrend Poll at http://www.investrendinformation.com said that the DTCC should be "punished" for its interferences with the media, especially FinancialWire, which has been reporting on this issue for almost two years.
The censorship has since admitted to in a letter posted at http://www.investrend.com/Admin/Topics/Articles/Resources/349_1113403487.pdf .
More than a half dozen highly-ranked Republican and Democratic U.S. Senators have weighed in that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's much-ballyhooed "Regulation SHO" has highlighted the massive extent of the illegal practice but has done nothing to stop it.
The main lists for Regulation SHO are at http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/aspx/regsho.aspx and http://www.nyse.com/Frameset.html?displayPage=/threshold .
Even the DTCC has admitted its "fails to deliver" is massive, amounting to upwards of $6 billion a day, according to DTCC Deputy General Counsel Larry Thompson.
A former U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, Robert J. Shapiro, now chair of Sonecon, LLC, a private economic advisory firm, accused Thompson of making "inaccurate or misleading" statements. Shapiro, who holds a Ph.D from Harvard University, was the principal economic advisor to former President Bill Clinton in his initial Presidential campaign.
Shapiro currently provides economic analysis to the law firms of O'Quinn, Laminack and Pirtle, Christian, Smith and Jewell, and Heard, Robins, Cloud, Lubel and Greenwood, on issues associated with naked short sales, which he noted includes "matters raised in an interview published by @DTCC with DTCC deputy general counsel Larry Thompson."
He asserted in his letter that "the extent to which [naked short selling] occurs is in dispute. While this statement may be narrowly correct, objective academic analysis has established that naked short selling has been a widespread practice and one which, when allowed to persist, can pose a threat to the integrity of equity markets. A recent study by Dr. Leslie Boni, then a visiting financial economist at the SEC, analyzed NSCC data and found that on three random days, an average of more than 700 listed stocks had failures-to-deliver of 60 million-to-120 million shares sold short ' naked shorts ' that had persisted for at least two months. In addition, over 800 unlisted stocks on any day had fails of 120 million-to-180 million shares sold short that also had persisted for at least two months. The total number of naked shorts, including those that had persisted for less than two months, was presumably considerably greater.
"Regarding the extent of naked shorts, Thompson has provided closely-related additional information: 'fails to deliver and receive amount to about $6 billion daily.including both new fails and aged fails.' Thompson minimizes this total by comparing it to "just under $400 billion in trades (emphasis added) processed daily by NSCC, or about 1.5% of the dollar volume." By most people's standards, a problem involving hundreds of millions of shares valued at $6 billion every day is a very large problem. Moreover, the $6 billion total substantially underestimates the actual value of all failed-to-deliver trades measured when the trades actually occurred. Most of the $6 billion total represents uncovered or naked short sales, many of which have gone undelivered for weeks or months with their market price being marked-to-market every day. As a stock's price falls, the market price of naked shorts in that stock also declines, reducing the total value of the outstanding failures-to-deliver cited by Thompson.
"In other respects, Thompson's comparison to the '$400 billion in trades processed daily by NSCC' seems disingenuous and misleading, because that $400 billion total covers not only U.S. equity trades which can involve most of the failures-to-deliver at issue, but many other transactions also processed by the NSCC. The value of all equity transactions on U.S. markets in 2004, for example, averaged $82.3 billion/day. If Thompson is correct that the daily value of fails-to-deliver averages $6 billion, that total is equivalent to 7.2 percent of average daily equity trades or nearly five times the 1.5 percent level suggested by Thompson.
"Furthermore, the DTCC reports on its website that on a peak day, 'through its Continuous Net Settlement (CNS) system, NSCC eliminated the need to settle 96 percent of total obligations.' Assuming that CNS nets out the same proportion of trades on other days, $384 billion of the $400 billion in daily trades cited by Thompson are netted out, leaving only $16 billion in daily trades that require the actual delivery of securities. The $6 billion of fails-to-deliver securities existing on any day are equivalent to 37.5 percent of the average daily trades that require the delivery of securities, or 25 times the 1.5 percent level cited by Thompson.
"Thompson tries to explain the large numbers of shares that go undelivered ' in most cases arising from naked short sales -- by citing problems with paper certificates, inevitable human error, and the legitimate operations of market makers. This also seems misleading or disingenuous. Regarding problems with paper certificates, the DTCC estimates that 97 percent of all stock certificates are now kept in electronic form. Nor can human error or legitimate market-making operations explain the high levels of failures-to-deliver that persist for months ' on any day, an average of 180 million-to-300 million shares have gone undelivered for two months or longer ' as documented by Dr. Boni's analysis of NSCC data.
"Thompson also disparages the attorneys who represent companies that have been damaged or destroyed by massive naked short sales, and their shareholders, by claiming falsely that the cases in this matter have almost all been dismissed or withdrawn. The legal firms that I advise -- O'Quinn, Petrie and Laminack; Christian, Smith and Jewell; and Heard, Robins, Cloud, Lubel and Greenwood ' have not lost any motions against the DTCC or its affiliates and currently have one case against the DTCC pending in Nevada and another case against the DTCC pending in Arkansas. In addition, on February 24, 2005, these attorneys were granted an order by the New York Supreme Court ordering the DTCC to produce trading records involving two companies they represent, including records from the Stock Borrow program, which may establish whether large-scale naked short sales were used to manipulate and drive down the stock price of those two companies.
"Thompson also asserts that the plaintiffs suing the DTCC for damages associated with the handling of naked short sales rely on "theories [that] are not an accurate reflection of how the capital market system actually works." This assertion is inaccurate. There is no dispute about how the capital markets work -- nor any doubt that naked short sales have been used to manipulate and drive down the price of stocks, as seen in numerous death-spiral financing cases. The issue here is the DTCC's role in allowing or facilitating such stock manipulation through its treatment of extended naked short sales.
"In explaining the DTCC's role in these matters, Thompson rejects the claim that the NSCC's Stock Borrow program allows the same shares to be lent over and over again, potentially creating more shares than actually exist or 'phantom' shares. By Thompson's own account, shares borrowed by the NSCC to settle naked short sales are deducted from the lending member's DTC account and credited to the DTC account of the member to whom the shares have been sold. Therefore, those same shares become available to be re-borrowed to settle another naked short sale and, if that happens, to be re-borrowed again and again to settle a succession of naked short sales. Throughout this process, the actual short sellers may continue to fail-to-deliver the shares to cover their shorts and, as Dr. Boni's analysis of NSCC data found, the underlying failure can age for months or even years. The process which Thompson describes is one in which shares can be borrowed and lent over and over again, introducing more shares into the market than are legally registered and issued. If any ambiguity remains, Thompson can clarify it by responding to the following query: Once a share that has been borrowed through the NSCC Stock Borrow program is delivered to the purchaser, is that share restricted in any way so it cannot be lent again?
"It is important to note that the Stock Borrow program is used when continuous net settlement cannot locate the shares to settle. As a consequence, Stock Borrow is usually called into play when there are relatively few shares available for borrowing. These are propitious conditions for market manipulation: Unscrupulous short sellers undertake large-scale naked short sales involving stocks for which few shares are available for trading and lending, relying on the Stock Borrow program to borrow the limited available shares, again and again, at sufficient levels to drive down the market price of the shares.
"Thompson notes that of approximately $6 billion in outstanding failures-to-deliver existing on any day, "the Stock Borrow program is able to resolve about $1.1 billion . or about 20% [18 percent] of the total fail obligation." In this statement, Thompson raises very serious questions about the integrity and operations of the NSCC and DTCC, which he can clarify by responding to the following queries: If the Stock Borrow program "resolves" only 18 percent of total fails, what is the disposition of the remaining 82 percent of outstanding fails? When failures-to-deliver occur that are not resolved through Stock Borrow, does the NSCC credit the undelivered shares to the member representing the buyer, creating genuine "phantom shares"? Finally, how many shares do the borrowing brokers, clearing firms and other participants in the Stock Borrow program owe the NSCC on a typical day, and what is their total value?
"In a related matter, Thompson tries to distance the DTCC from charges that shares held in restricted accounts ' for example, cash accounts, retirement accounts and many institutional accounts ' are improperly lent through the Stock Borrow program by claiming that responsibility for segregating restricted shares from lendable shares falls to the "broker and bank members" of the DTCC, while responsibility for monitoring or regulating their performance in this matter falls to the stock exchanges and the SEC. As a trust company, the DTCC cannot hold that it has no role, duty or responsibility to ensure the probity of its operations. Thompson could address this issue by responding to the following queries: What procedures does the NSCC have to ensure that shares held in members' accounts for possible loan through the NSCC Stock Borrow program are unencumbered by regulatory or legal restrictions from being pledged or assigned and eligible to be borrowed? On any given day, how many participants in the Stock Borrow program have lent shares that exceed their lendable shares, in what numbers and of what value?
"Thompson also tries to distance the DTCC as far as possible from the naked short selling that generates most of the extended failures-to-deliver: 'We don't have any power or legal authority to regulate or stop short selling, naked or otherwise. We also have no power to force member firms to close out or resolve fails to deliver . we don't even see whether a sale is short or not.' In fact, the DTCC chooses to not distinguish short sales from long sales, chooses to not regulate or stop extended naked short sales, and chooses to not force member firms to resolve protracted naked short sales.
"First, Regulation SHO requires that all transactions be clearly marked short or long. If the DTCC and NSCC do not know whether sales are short or long as Thompson contends, they choose to not know. Second, the NSCC has a clear responsibility and adequate means to stop naked short sales of extended duration, with no legal barrier that would prevent them from so doing. As a trust company with an acknowledged duty to provide investors certainty in the settlement and clearance of equity transactions, the DTCC chose to carry out that duty by assuming the role of counterparty to both sides of every equity transaction, through the operations of the NSCC's CNS system and the Stock Borrow program. By allowing short sellers to fail-to-deliver shares for months or even years, the NSCC clearly fails to provide certainty in settlement to the buyers, sellers and issuers of securities. Since it is widely known that extended naked short sales have been used to manipulate stock prices in cases of death-spiral financing, and the NSCC created the Stock Borrow program to address failures-to-deliver that prominently include naked short sales, the NSCC and DTCC share a responsibility with the SEC and the stock exchanges to protect investors by resolving extended fails.
"Third, the DTCC and NSCC have the clear capacity to force member firms to resolve the extended failures-to-deliver of their customers by purchasing shares on the open market and deducting the cost from the member's account. A 2003 study by Dr. Richard Evans and others provides evidence that forced buy-ins by any party occur very rarely. They found that a major options market maker who failed to deliver all or a portion of shares sold in 69,063 transactions in 1998-1999 was bought-in only 86 times or barely one-tenth of 1 percent of the fails. Thompson can clarify investors' understanding of their operations by responding to the following query: What proportion of shares that are persistent fails-to-deliver, of one month or longer, are ever bought in?
"Thompson acknowledges that the DTCC and NSCC know precisely how many failures-to-deliver exist for each stock and the precise duration of each of these fails. Yet, the DTCC refuses to disclose this information even to the issuer of the stock in question, which Thompson justifies by citing 'NSCC rules' prohibiting such a release of data based on 'the obvious reason that the trading data we receive could be used to manipulate the market, as well as reveal trading patterns of individual firms.'
"This response is both disingenuous and revealing. We know now, for the first time, that the DTCC has full knowledge of the extent of protracted, large-scale naked short sales in all particular cases. We also know now that the DTCC has had this information for at least a decade, since Thompson also notes that 'fails, as a percentage of total trading, hasn't changed in the last 10 years.' Yet, based on the DTCC's own rules, it allowed these abuses to persist and fester. The DTCC and NSCC can change their rules at any time. Moreover, in this case, those rules are unjustified. Data documenting outstanding short sales in each stock are currently issued publicly, so further data on how many of those short sales are naked would not reveal additional information about the trading patterns of individual firms or in any way empower manipulators. In fact, the DTCC could substantially disarm manipulators by both publicly reporting naked short sales in each issue and pledging to force buy-ins of all naked short sales that persist for more than a limited period.
Surely, if large-scale, extended naked short sales have effectively created "phantom" shares, companies have a responsibility to their shareholders and the right to secure this information from the organization which manages the settlement of short sales. At a minimum, the DTCC should respond to requests by issuers for data on extended failures-to-deliver in their own stocks, both in the past and currently, so they can take steps to resist stock manipulators or bring them to account for past manipulation.
Thompson also claims that the DTCC did not create or manage the Stock Borrow program to serve its own financial interest, insisting that the service generates less than $2 million a year in direct fees to the DTCC and that all DTCC services are priced on a "not for profit" basis that seeks to match revenues with expenses. Without further information, these responses beg the question of whose private financial interest has been served by the Stock Borrow program, especially as the DTCC is owned by the stock markets, clearinghouses, brokerage and banking institutions that use its services. Thompson and the DTCC can clarify this serious matter by responding to the following queries: Do DTCC participant/owners receive interest or other payments through or from the Stock Borrow program for lending the shares of their customers and, if so, how much have they received for these activities over the last 10 years? Further, do DTCC participant/owners receive any dividend, interest or other payments or distributions from the DTCC or its subsidiaries?," Shapiro concluded.
Neither Thompson nor the DTCC have responded to Shapiro's wide-ranging allegations.
Recently, former SEC Attorney Peter Chepucavage, previously a staffer for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Market Regulation, and a key participant in the release of Regulation SHO, has left the SEC and is now challenging his former agency over the regulation's inability to reign in illegal market manipulations.
Chepucavage has forwarded his comments to the SEC, under File Nunber 265-23:
"I am responding to your Request for Public Comments on Summary of Proposed Committee Agenda. I wish to incorporate and expand upon the comments of Brad Smith regarding a macro or more comprehensive approach to small companies and to use his term small to medium enterprises (SME'S). A more comprehensive approach is necessary and appropriate because there is a need to review not only the small company issuers but also the markets and broker dealers involved in the raising of capital for SME's and the public perception of the regulation of those markets.
"In a recent explanation of the key points of Reg. SHO, the staff stated "Speculative stocks, such as microcap stocks, often have a high probability of declining in value and a low probability of experiencing above average gains." The committee should review the underlying data for this proposition to determine whether it is true for all low priced stocks in general or just those traded on the pink sheets and otcbb with a view to determining whether such stocks could ever be suitable for retail investors or whether they should only be sold to investors qualified by knowledge of these markets.
"In the column Washington Investing, Wash Post 5/23/05 p.1 Jerry Knight refers to the "purgatory of the Pink Sheets, a nearly unregulated neither market for trading stocks." The committee should evaluate this statement and if necessary recommend increased practical regulation such as short sale reporting and Reg SHO coverage.
"Reg. SHO excluded these stocks from its coverage and the committee should therefore review why the most speculative stocks are not included.
"The SRO short sale reporting rules exclude these stocks from their coverage. See petition of the Pink Sheets to include them as an example of a market seeking more regulation.
"The SRO'S have failed to enforce their locate requirements for short sales thereby encouraging naked shorting in these markets. Except for one case, the penalties imposed over the last 10 years include modest fines probably less than trading profits made. "These stocks are not eligible for margin or options and thus the loan supply is curtailed enabling naked shorts and the inability to hedge. See Comments of Professor Angle to Reg SHO.
"The Commission is reluctant to provide an arbitrage exemption for short sales which makes the distribution of many small company issues thru Pipes and Wt arbitrage. The committee should review the merits of such an exemption.
"The presidents and CEO'S of small broker -dealers believe they are often held responsible for their employees conduct while those of large broker dealers rarely are . They also believe penalties imposed on small bd's constitute a much larger portion of their net capital and are inherently unfair. This is an old argument but continues to resurface and should be addressed.
"The chairman of the PHLX recently noted that he worried that the Commission staff would be overwhelmed with the NYSE/ARCHIPELAGO and NASDAQ/INSTINET mergers and not have time for the rule filings of other smaller SRO's.
"Small companies are more likely to be referred to as penny stocks, unless like Lucent at $2.50 a share they are listed on the NYSE.
"There may be no reliable evidence that small bd's and small companies create more regulatory issues than the Enrons, Worldcoms, Tycos and other similar large companies that have required significant regulatory resources. The committee should review whether they do in fact create more regulatory issues.
"There is a proliferation of unregistered finders operating in the area of SME'S because of the lack of clear guidance from the Commission. It should also consider studying the role of finders in the process and might consider whether those finders should be registered as investment advisers rather than bd's.
"The Committee should not be reluctant to challenge conventional norms in its approach. The Committee should therefore recommend a special study of the regulation of SME's and small bd's to determine if the regulatory scheme is adequate and consistent and does not impose a greater burden on them especially in light of their job creating value in the U.S. It might also recommend the creation of an independent small business/small bd office at the Commission with a significant increase in staffing. While it is not the Commission's role to encourage small to medium enterprises or bd's, it is their obligation not to hinder them and to pay equal attention to them. This Committee has a rare opportunity to set a future agenda for SME'S in this country .As the markets rapidly consolidate, attention to SMEs and bd's is important whether it results in more or less regulation or more reasonable regulation," the former SEC attorney concluded.
A controversial audio of a purported conference call conducted by officials of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) contains allegations that the SEC had shared with Bear Stearns the names of hundreds of companies that it had said would be on the threshold lists but which were not on the official lists published, and that regulators had confided to Bear Stearns and others that the regulators are selectively enforcing provisions against "fails to deliver" securities according to a kind of floating set of "interpretations" rather than strictly according to the law.
The blockbuster audio is posted at http://www.investigatethesec.com/Bear080705.wma .
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-SC) recently joined U.S. Senators James Talent (R-MO), Richard Shelby (D-AL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) in questioning U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about what they call the "failure" of Regulation SHO to curtail unlawful, predatory securities trading.
The current Senate line-up carries significant heft. Senator Collins is chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, Senator Shelby is chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Durbin is Assistant Democratic Leader and Senator Bennett is Republican Whip. The Senators' letters are posted at http://www.americaneedstoknow.com
"Stockgate Today" publisher David Patch said that the Senators have 23 good reasons, citing that many companies, including Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), that remain "not settled" on the official threshold lists maintained by the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq five months later.
"Stockgate Today" is published at http://www.investigatethesec.com . The Senators' letters to shareholders and the SEC are posted at http://www.americaneedstoknow.com
Patch said that most of the 23 companies hardest-hit by unlawful stock manipulations in full sight of market regulators, including those at the SEC, such as Annette Nazareth, head of market regulation, who belittles complaints as coming from those who "want to see their stock go up," have had double-digit declines in stock valuations over the 94 days they have been on the highly-public list.
He also noted that in the March, 2005 Euromoney Magazine article on illegal naked short selling, Head of Market Regulation Annette Nazareth's assistant, James Brigagliano said that prior lawbreakers were "grandfathered" because "we were concerned about generating volatility where there were large pre-existing open positions, and we wanted to start afresh with new regulation, not re-write history."
"So does Ken Lay, but he can't," retorted Patch.
This disputed "grandfathering" has not yet been taken up by Congress, but the 23 companies on the threshhold list for over days are new transgressions, and presumably they can't be dealt with either because Nazareth and Brigagliano are concerned about "generating volatility."
Also, in a blockbuster event almost equal to the mysterious "postponement" of "Dateline NBC," the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has inexplicably given the DTC's National Securities Clearing Corp. "immunity" in the form of limited liability for willful misconduct or violations of Federal securities laws.
The Notice regarding the SEC's action is at http://www.nscc.com/impnot/notices/notice2005/a6029.pdf
Some legal experts are questioning whether the SEC, without the approval of Congress, has the authority to limit the NSCC's liability. There have been similar questions about the SEC's authority to unilaterally "grandfather" securities violations prior to Regulation SHO.
The new regulation is sure to be litigated since the DTCC and the NSCC were the subject of lawsuits claiming their "stock borrow program" is illegal counterfeiting, prior to the rule approval by the SEC.
Also, recently a stock transfer agent, Transfer Online Inc., had asked then-SEC Chair William Donaldson to put a stop to the control the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and Automatic Data Processing (NYSE: ADP) are fast gaining over the transfer business, and to demand DTCC transparency.
Excerpts from the letter, posted at http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/LettersToEditor/1012.html , states: "Over the years as the amount of shares held at DTC has increased it has become more and more difficult to determine who owns the shares, who is trading them and if the trading is proper. This trend, and the resulting problems I will detail below, continues to increase because a minority of the total number of shareholders are reflected on the books and records of the corporation, most activity takes place behind the wall of ownership that is designated as Cede & Co. and neither the company nor the transfer agent has any access to the underlying information.
"Furthermore, DTC recently managed to put through a rule change (Release No. 34-50758A; File No.S7-24-04) that prohibits a transfer agent from representing any company who seeks to withdraw from the DTC system. This change effectively leaves companies with no voice or choice in the management of their stock and their ability to have any transparency as to what is actually taking place in the market in regard to their stock.
"I receive calls from companies seeking information as they watch millions of shares trade in a single day, who watch their share price decrease in value and who have no access to information regarding who is behind the trading of these shares, or if in fact the trades are at all legitimate. As the system now operates, most companies have a large percentage of shares on their books registered to Cede & Co.
"Given the importance of shareholder voting and communication one would assume that the same requirements placed on transfer agents as to accuracy and reporting would be placed on ADP and Cede & Co. as they usually hold or service the majority of the shares owned in any given company.
"I have found; however, that when presented with the tabulation reports from ADP the share totals they report sometimes exceed the total number of shares outstanding for the company. Let me restate this because it is a very important part of my concern about a system that is more and more headed in the direction of increased control by DTC. The shares presented by ADP, that are the shares voted by the brokers on behalf of the shareholders for whom they hold accounts, EXCEED when added to the shareholders of record the total number of shares outstanding.
"Where are these extra shares coming from? Why are there no controls on the number of shares held in the nominee name Cede & Co. vs. the ownership on the books and records of the brokers and why is the company not privy to any information unless it pays whatever fees it is told it must pay by the organizations that control the data?
"In fact, as the system is evolving, DTC is de facto becoming the largest transfer agent in the industry even though it is an organization formed by and working for the interests of the brokerage community. If, ultimately, the S.E.C. is in place to protect investors then this issue can not be ignored because in the end when the market is completely under the control of the brokers and the organizations that represent them then the market can neither be transparent nor fair."
The "Important Notice" from the DTCC regarding the NSCC demonstrates that the entities are a "self-regulatory organization" under the auspices of the SEC, which ramps up the media interference to First Amendment violations.
The DTCC said that the "approved changes create a uniform standard limiting NSCC's liability to direct losses caused by the NSCC's gross negligence, willful misconduct, or violation of Federal securities laws for which there is a private right of action."
In addition, the organization stated, "the changes memorialize an appropriate commercial standard of care that will protect NSCC for undue liability, permit the resources of NSCC to be appropriately utilized for promoting the accurate clearance and settlement of securities, and are consistent with similar rules adopted by other self-regulatory organizations and approved by the Commission."
The DTCC had asked for the rule December 8, 2004. It is not known how the proposed rule slipped through the cracks on the public and Congressional levels prior to the approval.
The National Coalition Against Naked Shorting stated that the action was sought and approved hastily because "they have been willfully violating securities laws for years, know that it will come out in court, and want to have a piece of paper to fall back on," adding that it corroborates "the theory that the stock borrow program violates a host of securities laws, that the NSCC knows it, and that they have been counterfeiting stock for years and just now are starting to catch on to the idea that they will get caught."
In his communication to then-SEC Chair William Donaldson, Sen. Durbin also contested the claim by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., a unit ot the New York Stock Exchange and NASD, that it has no responsibilities under Regulation SHO.
Senator Durbin's letter to Donaldson appears to sharply contest the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s contention that it has no role in Regulation SHO.
"I am writing to request information regarding the August 25, 2004 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) short sale regulation, designated Regulation SHO. On March 9, 2005, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing on Regulation SHO, in which Chairman Bennett spoke with you about the regulation's effects on the illegal practice of naked short selling. I thank you for your testimony and I hope that you can follow up on some of my concerns not fully addressed by the Banking Committee hearings.
"I appreciate the efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to control abusive short selling practices. As a result of Regulation SHO, the names of firms with large amounts of unsettled shares are published on the Threshold Security List daily. This list assists individual investors in making informed decisions about potential manipulation of the market, and gives regulators and investigators a centralized list of firms with significant numbers of undelivered shares. However, it has come to my attention that Regulation SHO may not be curtailing abusive naked short selling practices.
"Several of my constituents have contacted me since the SEC introduces Regulation SHO. They have raised concerns about potential loopholes in settlement regulations. During your recent testimony before the Banking Committee, Chairman Bennett asked you about the ability of brokerage houses to shuttle unsettled shares every 13 days in order to avoid settling the borrowed shorted shares. Due to time constraints at the hearing, the committee did not receive a complete answer. This issue is worthy of a full response.
"Additionally, my constituents have expressed concern about SEC enforcement of Regulation SHO. While the Threshold Security List publicizes securities that might have been manipulated, I am concerned that some securities repeatedly appear on the list. What steps is the SEC taking to investigate trading practices that result in vast quantities of unsettled shares, and to punish those people who violate SEC naked short selling regulations? What is the SEC doing to ensure that the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is complying with Regulation SHO, and what actions does the SEC undertake when the DTCC identifies large quantities of shares that have not been delivered?
"It is important that the SEC identify abuses and prevent manipulative naked short selling practices that undermine faith in the market. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your timely response," Senator Durbin concluded.
Pink Sheets head Cromwell Coulson has asked the SEC to publish short positions on all over the counter and bulletin board stocks, and that request is currently in a comment period.
The request for rulemaking, which Coulson has told companies traded on the Pink Sheets, is needed "to make regulators turn on the lights and protect investors from the menance of hidden short selling in the OTC market," is at http://sec.gov/rules/petitions.shtml
In an email to Donaldson, Coulson had said "I believe that it is very important to require the disclosure of short positions because the lack of transparency is allowing promoters to defraud investors by blaming all selling on naked market maker short selling. Disclosure and transparency can easily remedy the issue."
In other news on the naked short-selling front known as "StockGate," adding to what TheStreet.com founder James Cramer calls the "Hedge Fund Relief Act," the termination of the Uptick Rule, is the fact that those using illegal naked short selling in the past have been granted a kind of amnesty for acts before the first of 2005. The SEC just "grandfathered" those illegally-begotten gains and resultant counterfeit shares into the system, so these windfall gains are now available to downtick with reckless abandon on downticks.
The "grandfathering" admission is at http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/keyregshoissues.htm
In the same document, the SEC has inexplicably stated that not all forms of illegal naked short selling, the equivalent of counterfeiting shares in public companies, are actually "illegal."
The DTCC actions in the StockGate mire are the most serious, if not notorious since the agent of two SROs, the New York Stock Exchange and NASD is also peopled by some 21 directors whose companies, such as Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), are unlikely to support the DTCC in its media censorship.
In a recent editorial, Investrend Information head Gayle Essary questioned whether the board and principal shareholders would "be party to shenanigans that lead to the censorship or disabling of any media" that he says is "un-American activity."
Essary said that the arrogance the DTCC expressed in its censorship efforts shows that the entity has "become too large, too encompassing, too powerful, too unresponsive to those it serves, primarily the investing public, and too unresponsive to the Congress under whose auspices it should be operating.
"First, it is time to unconflict it, with real public representations on its board," he said, and second, "it is time to break it up, with its various duties provided by smaller agencies under separate unconflicted boards."
WYO...Come on...I didn't say anything about the KDS and gasification...Since you brought it up...Processing the coal with KDS' would be doable however many KDS' it would take imo...If what FASC has posted on their website is true about processing coal. Just have to think big enough.,.Bet you have more than one computer in your office....How about telephones.
Best, Will
FWIW: COAL...Close to home...:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050825/pl_nm/energy_montana_dc;_ylt=AqtxuxYTetjOJfokciV5FpGyFz4D;_ylu=X...
Montana's governor eyes coal to solve U.S. fuel costs
By Adam TannerThu Aug 25, 1:55 PM ET
Montana's governor wants to solve America's rising energy costs using a technology discovered in Germany 80 years ago that converts coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel.
The Fischer-Tropsch technology, discovered by German researchers in 1923 and later used by the Nazis to convert coal into wartime fuels, was not economical as long as oil cost less than $30 a barrel.
But with U.S. crude oil now hitting more than double that price, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan is getting more attention across the country and some analysts are taking him very seriously.
Montana is "sitting on more energy than they have in the Middle East," Schweitzer told Reuters in an interview this week.
"I am leading this country in this desire and demand to convert coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. We can do it in Montana for $1 per gallon," he said.
"We can do it cheaper than importing oil from the sheiks, dictators, rats and crooks that we're bringing it from right now."
The governor estimated the cost of producing a barrel of oil through the Fischer-Tropsch method at $32, and said that with its 120 billion tons of coal -- a little less than a third of the U.S total -- Montana could supply the entire United States with its aviation, gas and diesel fuel for 40 years without creating environmental damage.
An entry level Fischer-Tropsch plant producing 22,000 barrels a day would cost about $1.5 billion, he said.
The Democratic governor of this Republican state said he had met with Shell president John Hofmeister, General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt, as well as officials from the Department of Defense, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to discuss his proposals.
Schweitzer added that the recently passed federal energy bill includes an 80 percent loan guarantee for a Fischer- Tropsch plant.
A former cattle rancher who lived for seven years in Saudi Arabia working on irrigation projects, Schweitzer is also seeking energy deals with other states, especially California.
California "says they need 25,000 megawatts of electricity during the next ten years," he said. "We'll give you a delivered price and we'll forward contract that for the next 20 years.
"Transmission companies from England, from Canada, from all over America are coming to my office and saying 'we'll build these transmission lines as soon as you have the contracts to build the generation."'
TRCPA...Very interesting indeed...Looks like they may be finally pursuing the largest energy market in the world...at least one side of it...although I'd prefer the coal side first but it's a welcome start...
Hope FASC will be represented here: [GE will be there.]
http://pga05.events.pennnet.com/
Best, Will
TRCPA...Thanks for that find...FASC is getting it...
SNIP: "or can be co-fired with coal"
Bird flu virus: A crisis waiting to explode
It is spreading fast and nations are stockpiling antidotes
GAURI LAKHANPAL
Posted online: Saturday, August 20, 2005 at 0229 hours IST
Health experts claim bird flu is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Initially, it was seen as a few isolated cases in South-East Asia, may now be the beginnings of a global pandemic. The virus is spreading rapidly and has already reached as far as Russia. The World Health Organisation too has warned of the possibilities of a worldwide avian influenza outbreak. With no vaccine ready for commercial use, countries across the world have started stockpiling what limited drugs are available.
The world first heard of bird flu when it hit Hong Kong in 1997. The H5N1 strain of the virus caused severe respiratory problems for 18 people of which an alarming one-third died. Rapid destruction of Hong Kong’s entire poultry population reduced the chances of further direct transmission to humans and a possible epidemic. February 2003 saw 2 more cases of H5N1 avian influenza, which resulted in one death. But it was really the outbreak that came later that year which has culminated in the state of affairs today. Between December 2003 and now, more than a hundred human cases of bird flu have been reported across four countries in Asia - Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand - the last two being among the worst hit. Fatalities have occurred in over half the infected patients. The total number of human infections seems insignificant given the time period. However, it is a series of factors related to these outbreaks that is causing concern. To date, there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission - a development that could very quickly give rise to a pandemic.
However, many experts have expressed a fear that it may only be a matter of time before the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu combines with the human influenza virus and mutates into a form that can be transmitted among people. And the H5N1 variety has already demonstrated a propensity to acquire genes from viruses infecting other animals like pigs.
Furthermore, despite the low level of human fatalities, tens of thousands of fowl have been infected. In most cases this has resulted in the relevant governments culling millions of birds to control the spread of the disease. Unfortunately, in some instances action was either delayed or not taken at all.
At the end of June this year, more than two hundred migratory geese tested positive for the H5N1 strain in Qinhai Lake in North Western China. But Beijing did not cull the infected birds claiming they were a rare and protected species and vaccinated them instead. However, birds that survive the infection excrete the virus for at least 10 days, orally and in faces, facilitating its further propagation. No more cases of bird flu have been reported in China since. But given the country’s track record, in particular its cover-up of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), it is plausible that the true extent of the problem has been kept under wraps - a potentially explosive situation.
In the following six weeks, fowl in Siberia, Kazakhstan, Tibet, and Mongolia tested positive for avian influenza. Migratory birds, possibly from China, are being cited as the culprit. But the outbreak has been steadily moving westwards. Most recently it struck Chelyabinksk a major industrial region in the Ural Mountains in Russia, which separate the European and Asian parts of the country.
These birds in Russia will soon leave to winter in warmer climates which will expose the Middle East, Africa, Australia, the West Coast of the US and of course India to the threat of bird flu. So far, human casualties have been limited both in terms of numbers and geographic scope.
But a broad geographical distribution of H5N1 increases the likelihood of dual infections leading to recombination that can produce a pandemic version of the virus that can be transmitted from human-to-human.
The situation is further complicated by the absence of a commercially viable avian influenza vaccine for humans. Currently, the only known treatment is the flu drug oseltamivir which Roche produces under the name Tamiflu. This can protect against infection but not treat those who are sick.
The fact that several Western countries have started stockpiling the drug is testament to the fact that the world is taking the threat seriously. The US has enough Tamiflu to treat 2.3 million people and is working to acquire more. Britain, France, Finland and Norway are placing orders that would cover up to 40% of their populations. The World Health Organisation is in talks to build a reserve of drugs for poorer countries.
Epidemiologists predict a flu pandemic will emerge three or four times every hundred years. Two of the last three global pandemics have originated in Asia. Outbreaks of the Asian flu in 1957-58 and the Hong Kong flu in 1968-69 killed over a million people. Spanish flu killed 40 million people world wide in 1918-1919.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=99841
TRCPA...Do you know anything about this??? Tia, Will
News
Biomass still plans huge plant
By Michael Caldwell/The Ironton Tribune
Saturday, August 13, 2005 10:05 PM CDT
SOUTH POINT - Biomass Energy LLC officials still hope to build the nations biggest and best wood-fired power plant.
If approved by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, new proposals would increase the cost of the project to between $200 and $300 million and double the number of jobs created to a total of 100.
Last year, the Nicholasville, Ky.-based company announced its plans to renovate the former South Point Ethanol facility into an operating electricity plant.
Modifications to the plan now require the company to again host an another EPA public hearing as part of the requirements for a new draft air permit to allow Biomass to burn wood waste to generate the power. But those same changes from 2004 have greatly increased the value of the project, said Mark Harris, CEO of Biomass, a company that has had an up and down relationship with the community and local leaders.
Feeling that the company has gotten a bad rap, Harris said Biomass intends to be a good corporate citizen and invest into Lawrence County.
"You don't dedicate $250 or $300 million to a project without it being a very positive impact on the community," Harris said. "This will be a project the community and the whole nation can be proud of.
"It will be the premier wood-power plant in North America. It will be the biggest and cleanest and a facility embraced by those concerned about the environment."
The plant would generate about 200 megawatts of electricity - enough to supply 250,000 households - selling electricity to utility investors in Ohio, Pennsylvania and possibly tenants within The Point industrial park.
As part of the renovation, Biomass would modify its seven coal and oil fired boilers to burn 100 percent wood waste - mostly sawdust and small wood chips from across the Tri-State.
If the permit process goes well, construction is projected to begin before the end of the year and be completed in 24 months.
The plant will be powered up and rolling by late 2007. The project will create as many as 100 permanent jobs, 400 ancillary jobs across the Tri-State and 250 to 400 construction jobs during construction.
"They will all be high-paying jobs," Harris said, though he said it was too soon to nail down an exact amount. "They will certainly be competing to the grade of the highest industrial standard rates in that area."
Dr. Bill Dingus, executive director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation, which oversee Biomass' neighbor - The Point industrial Park, said he hopes to see the project move towards reality.
"We want to be as helpful as appropriate. We do see potential for quite a number of jobs and investment into the community," he said. "We are very hopeful that this can work out."
The recently adopted federal energy bill may help pave the way for the project, Dingus said. The plan allows for federal tax credits for "green energy" sources.
Tax credits are a common way to make new energy producing methods more financially feasible while they are being developed, Dingus said, adding that without similar tax credits South Point Ethanol would not have been able to operate.
The Ohio EPA public hearing to discuss the draft air permit will be at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 23 at the South Point Community Center, 404 Second St.
Written comments can be sent through Aug. 26 to Portsmouth Local Air Agency, Attn: Anne Chamberlin, 605 Washington St., Portsmouth, OH 45662.
Biomass ran into some problems in 2003 ago when it tried to burn surplus tobacco. The Ohio EPA halted those plans and Biomass eventually removed all of the tobacco.
The company has also been criticized for fires on the property and for not paying its taxes in a timely manner.
http://www.irontontribune.com/articles/2005/08/14/news/news442.txt
FWIW: Wouldn't be surprised to learn FASCM is the private company...If not...It should be:
15 August 2005
Philippines: dispute stalls 1st biomass power plant
A dispute between the state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) and its private sector partner, Sukhin Energy Inc. (SEI), an organization backed by American, British and Ukrainian investors, is causing the delay in the construction of the country’s first biomass-fired power plant, a lawmaker from Bicol said in a press release yesterday.
The 5-megawatt plant, which would run on coconut husks, rice hulls and other agricultural waste that could readily be converted into fuel, was planned to be jointly put up by Napocor and SEI in the island-province of Masbate.
Biomass is one of the six renewable energy sources—the five others being hydro, wind, geothermal, tidal and solar.
Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago revealed that Napocor and SEI were currently locked in dispute that was an offshoot of Napocor’s decision to involve another private firm in the project after it had inked an agreement with SEI.
He said the SEI had already completed all the groundwork to get the project started, including the important social preparation.
“We want the dispute settled posthaste so that the Bicolanos can start reaping the direct and indirect benefits of the project,” Santiago said.
He added that apart from energizing communities in Masbate, the project promises to offer more income for thousands of small farmers throughout the Bicol region.
Since the facility will use plant matter waste, growers will have a ready lucrative market for their coconut husks and rice hulls, Santiago said.
The National Economic and Development Authority has declared the Bicol region as the second poorest region and Masbate province as the third poorest province in the country.
According to the Department of Energy, Masbate province only has 56 percent of its barangays with power.
Santiago urged Malacañang to step into the dispute to try to save the pioneering power plant.
“If necessary, the President should get involved so that the dispute may be settled quickly, and the project can be implemented without further needless delays,” he said.
The project would give more meaning to Ms Arroyo’s program to quickly develop energy solutions and alternatives based on locally available resources in order to reduce the country’s dependence on costly imported crude oil, Santiago added.
http://www.freshplaza.com/2005/15aug/n2_ph_biopowerplant.htm
Gary, Who's interest is being looked after by keeping it secret? It isn't mine as a shareholder...What makes me so angry is suggesting to friends and relatives to invest in FASC. I'm praying it all works out though w/o making a change at the top. FWIW/JMHO.
Best, Will
FWIW: I sent this one to FASC:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16219671%255E664,00.html
Alternative energy
Terry McCrann
11aug05
THE interface between alternative – and more 'intelligent' – energy and money is clearly going to provide huge and varied opportunity in the years ahead.
This is already the case with oil at $US64. It would become urgent and indeed spectacular if oil went to $US100. To say nothing, of points higher.
So it was interesting to catch up with one of three guys running a private equity firm focused on high-growth investments in the energy technology sector.
What made it particularly interesting is that the firm -- Angeleno Group -- operates out of Los Angeles. But I caught up with Zeb Rice in Melbourne.
His group seeks to package investments for clients across the energy industry. But focuses on renewables and to making energy 'work better' -- with storage, transmission and intelligent management and so on.
So what's his interest in Australia? At the micro level, the full spectrum of any opportunities.
But at the big picture level, what's happening with renewables, with coal, and with China.
This is underpinned by the sort of start-ups in AG's investment portfolio. A company developing and commercialising emission control for coal-fired plants. A company making photovoltaic plastic-based materials. A technology for powering diesel engines on natural gas.
Greenspan delivers
TALKING of the US, Alan Greenspan delivered on his 10th straight 0.25 per cent rate rise. With more to come.
The gap to our official rate is now down to 2 per cent. With no prospect of a rate rise here any time soon, it should be down to 1.5 per cent or less by Christmas.
That's one 'collision' point. The other is with $US64 oil.
FWIW: RENEWABLE ENERGY – PRESENT SCENARIO AND CHALLENGES AHEAD
M. Gokhale*
16:43 IST
Energy security, as an issue of national strategic importance, came to take the centre stage of the planning process against the backdrop of frequent rises in global crude oil price. The possibility of a downward trend in global oil prices in the long-term now seems bleak. Our dependence on fossil fuels might continue for most part of the 21st century. But our oil reserves may not last longer than 2025 and coal reserves which were earlier expected to last for another 200 years may now not last that long. Energy security has an important bearing on the achievement of national economic development goals and raising quality of life. The level of per capita energy consumption has for long been considered as one of the key indicators of development. Dependence on crude oil in a situation where its price is volatile and availability finite has to be shaken off. India needs to develop alternate fuels to counter the problem. There seems to be no alternative but to develop and deploy alternative sources of energy. India’s search for alternative fuels that would ensure energy self-sufficiency began in the 1970s itself. Consequently, it saw the emergence of new and renewable sources of energy. The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources continues to support development and deployment through broad-spectrum programmes covering the entire gamut of new and renewable energies. These programmes broadly sought, inter alia, to supplement fossil-fuel-based grid power; reach renewable energy to remote rural areas, urban conglomerates, industrial enterprises and commercial establishments. In addition, exploitation of new energies and development of alternate fuels for transport was envisaged. The Ministry has nine Regional Offices, three specialised Technical Institutions and one non-banking financial company under its administrative control to promote its policy and programme initiatives. States have been advised to promote commercial development in this sector. In addition, the Electricity Act, 2003 contains several provisions to promote accelerated development of power generation from non-conventional sources. The Common Minimum Programme of the Government envisages electrification of all households by 2009. It has been decided to take up electrification of villages, where grid extension is not likely, through distributed renewable power systems. Under the Remote Village Electrification Programme, the number of remote villages identified so far stands at 24,418. As on 31.3.2005, 1944 remote villages and 594 remote hamlets have been electrified in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Manipur, Orissa, Tripura, Uttaranchal and West Bengal. In addition, projects are under implementation in 1349 villages and 724 hamlets in 19 States/ UTs. These projects mainly use solar photovoltaic systems and power plants. Biomass gasifiers and small hydro power plants have also been installed in some villages.
Village Energy Security To free the villager from the energy insecurity s/he faces, a Village Energy Security Programme (VESP) has been conceived. It aims at demonstrating the technological viability of biomass gasification, biomethanation and biofuel based systems for providing the entire village energy needs of cooking, lighting and power. 24 pilot projects in States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal have initially been taken up to demonstrate the concept, provide operational experience and test different institutional structures. The first project has successfully commissioned at village Kasai in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. The objective is “AKSHYAY URJA SE DESHI VIKAS, GAON GAON BIJLI GHAR GHAR PRAKASH”. Exploitation of solar energy continues to be a major thrust area of the Ministry. Systems deployed include solar water heating systems with a total collector area of 1,000,000 sqm, over half a million box type solar cookers and around 2100 solar concentrating/ dish type cookers. SPV systems such as portable lanterns, home / street lighting systems, water pumping systems and stand-alone power plants are an option for meeting electrical energy needs of remote areas where grid electricity has not yet reached. More than 1.2 million such systems with an aggregate capacity of over 86 MW have been deployed so far. However, high initial cost continues to constrain the spread of SPV technology.
The Ministry’s efforts to increase the share of renewables in the total power generation capacity of the country have started bearing fruit. Renewables presently contribute about 5700 MW, which represents about 4.99 per cent of the total installed power generating capacity from all sources. Wind power contributes about 2980 MW, while biomass power and cogeneration account for 727 MW and the share of small hydro power 1693 MW. Most of this capacity has come through commercial projects.
Wind Power The gross potential of the wind power sector has been assessed as 45,000 MW. The technical potential, at 20 per cent grid penetration, is estimated at 13,400 MW. India has the fourth largest wind power capacity in the world, largely created on account of an enabling and conducive policy framework for commercial wind power projects. Master Plans have been prepared for 97 potential sites taking into account the zone of influence around each mast. Master plans for some more potential sites are likely to be completed shortly. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat are the leading States in establishing wind power projects. The potential for power production from captive and field-based biomass resources is currently assessed at 19,500 MW including 3,500 of exportable surplus power from bagasse-based cogeneration in sugar mills. Against this potential, the total installed capacity of commissioned projects is 727 MW and projects aggregating to 600 MW capacity are under various stages of installation. Gasifiers using biomass and wood chips have also been deployed for industrial thermal applications, water pumping and decentralized power generation in kilowatt range. The country has a small hydro power (projects of up to 25 MW capacity) potential of about 15,000 MW. So far, 514 projects with an aggregate installed capacity of 1,693 MW have been installed. Besides, 159 projects with a capacity of 488 MW are under implementation. The database of SHP projects created by the Ministry now includes 4,233 potential sites with an aggregate capacity of 10,324 MW. An average capacity addition of about 100 MW per year from SHP projects is being achieved.
Biodegradable Wastes The urban areas of the country annually generate an estimated 30 million tonnes of solid waste and 4,400 million cum. of liquid waste. Several industries also produce biodegradable wastes. A power generation potential of about 2,700 MW from these wastes been estimated. The Ministry is promoting setting up of projects for utilization of this potential. Twenty-six ‘waste-to-energy’ projects for generation of biogas/ power for captive use/ sale to grid, aggregating to 45.5 MWe capacity have been set up so far. These include 6 projects of 19.5MWe capacity based on municipal solid waste and 20 projects of around 26MWe capacity based on wastes such as rice husk, pulp & paper industry effluents, tapioca & starch industry effluents, distillery effluents, palm oil industry waste, slaughter house/ tannery waste, poultry droppings and cow dung.
Hydrogen Power There have been significant advances in developing new and emerging renewable sources of energy. Hydrogen is receiving worldwide attention as a clean and efficient energy carrier with a potential to replace liquid fossil fuels. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are emerging as a clean and efficient alternative for stationary, portable and transport applications. Research and development projects on different aspects of these technologies are underway at premier institutions and industries. Hydrogen powered two wheelers, three wheelers, catalytic combustors, and power-generating sets have been developed and demonstrated. A National Hydrogen Energy Board set up by the Ministry in October 2003 is in the process of preparation of the National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap and an action plan for accelerating development of these technologies. With a view of developing biofuel applications for rural areas, a demonstration project in one village each in four States has been taken up for implementation. The Ministry is also supporting research and demonstration programme on electric and hybrid electric vehicles.
Manufacture of Equipment A number of small scale and medium sector units are engaged in the manufacture of non-conventional energy equipment. More than 100 companies are involved in the manufacturer of solar thermal systems and devices. There are ten manufacturers of equipment for small hydro power projects and another around ten manufacturers of biomass gasifier systems. More than 50 companies are involved in production of SPV cells/ modules/ systems. The cumulative capacity of SPV modules produced in the country till March 31, 2005 reached 191 MW. The annual production of wind turbine industry is about 1,000 MW. Local production of wind turbines of 1.25 MW, 1.65 MW and 2.00 MW capacity has been taken up. The vibrant industrial infrastructure promoted by the Ministry in the country has developed over the last two decades to not only cater to the demand for renewable energy equipment, systems and devices within the country, but also meet export demand. Products, which are being exported, include mainly solar photovoltaic modules and systems, exports of which have reached an aggregate capacity of around 105 MWp. Wind turbines components have been exported to Europe, Australia and the USA.
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=11158
And another thing...CAL and BRIAN will be gone before I am...I've got to much time and money invested to fold and take a loss as some would like imo for the long time longs to get frustrated and fold...I'm frustrated but ready to fight not fold...
Best, Will
TRCPA...I'm 'issed...No updates on anything...That's the least they could do...They could post a shareholder's letter on the website to update and let us know what's going on at FASC if nothing else but to tell us what demonstrations they processed this week and etc....CAL was disingeneous when he wanted the 100 million extra shares and promised if we gave it to him he would keep us informed...It's time the shareholders had a say imo...Would we be any worse off if we put Jack back in charge? At least he sounds knowledgeable and willing to communicate.
It's frustrating...I can't even get an answer from the PR consultant at Ayleford project asking is the KDS installed and running?
Best, Will
FASC strikes again imo...They do everything they can to help the MM's drive the PPS down...Makes one wonder who CAL's working for imo. I apologise in advance if it was the excercise of options. fwiw
FWIW...Gold spiked to over $442 This morning:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
Wonder what they have planned for the Palm Waste?
Biofuel stations in the pipeline
By Doreen Leong
The government has urged oil companies to cooperate with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to set up pioneer biofuel petrol stations to encourage the use of biofuel by the public on a trial basis.
In unveiling the National Biofuel Policy on Aug 10 night, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said for a start, the government intended to implement various measures such as fixing the biofuel mix at 5% processed palm oil and 95% diesel (B5 blend).
The policy also included the development of standards for the “new diesel” by the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim) and the setting up of a commercial palm oil biofuel plant in Labu, Negri Sembilan for export, he said at the Commodities Industry Awards 2005 in Petaling Jaya.
Abdullah said in the medium term, the biofuel policy would also include the drawing up of the National Biofuel Industry Act and the creation of various incentives.
Another step was the construction of a demonstration plant for producing biofuel that would be suitable for use in cold climate countries, he added.
It would also spell out the appointment of plantation companies to supply palm oil to ensure the consistent production of biofuel.
The government also proposed that engine makers issue warranties for their products using palm biofuel, he said.
Abdullah said the government was taking proactive measures to encourage the production of biofuel as demand for biofuel was expected to increase by 25% annually.
In 2004, the world demand for biofuel stood at 2.5 million tonnes, according to him.
He said the national policy would be anchored on three core strategies, namely the production and usage of biofuel for the transportation and industrial sectors; production of biofuel for export purposes, especially for the European market; and commercialisation of biofuel technology as a home-grown technology by MPOB.
He said the policy was also expected to stabilise palm oil prices at high levels through the increased usage of palm oil.
http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_a1031f6f-cb73c03a-bdc9b30...
TRCPA...Sure hope it's up and running...I liked this part of the NR: [Shows they are expanding their horizon.]
SNIP: "As a result of the product development work, a number of the other product applications are underway, i.e., a silica fume alternative. Field applications have and are being made with ZeoFume replacing silica fume in the shot crete markets. These other cementacious applications are being developed carefully and are dependent on the ability to supply from Princeton."
Bill, Like the way you think...Maybe something is in here to help you:
Power Production from Renewable Energy Aided by Energy Act
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes a number of provisions to increase the use of renewable energy as a source of electricity. The energy act extends the production tax credit through 2007 for electricity produced from wind power, geothermal power, biomass, landfill gas, small irrigation power, and trash combustion facilities. The credit would have expired at the end of this year. The act also extends the credit to include the hydropower generated from new facilities added to existing dams or conduits, and the additional hydropower generated because of efficiency improvements at existing hydropower stations. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the National Hydropower Association (NHA) hailed the credit extension. See the AWEA press release, the NHA fact sheet (PDF 31 KB), and pages 1222 to 1227 of the energy act (PDF 2.6 MB). Download Adobe Reader.
By 2013, the act requires the federal government to buy at least 7.5 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, biomass, landfill gas, ocean, geothermal, municipal solid waste, and new hydroelectric generation achieved through efficiency improvements or capacity additions at existing hydroelectric plants. The act doubles the credit for power generated on-site or on federal or tribal lands.
The act updates the Geothermal Steam Act to require competitive lease sales at least every two years in states with geothermal resources. Land tracts offered for competitive leases but not bid upon can then be offered for non-competitive leases. Fees will be charged based on power production, and only nominal fees will be charged for geothermal resources not used to generate power. The act also reforms the hydropower licensing process. To help assess the availability of renewable energy, the energy act also requires an annual assessment of all renewable energy resources, including solar, wind, biomass, ocean, geothermal, and hydroelectric energy sources. See pages 161 to 251 of the energy act (PDF 2.6 MB).
I didn't see this posted:
Press Release Source: Zeo-Tech Enviro Corp.
ZEO-Tech Reports Mine Production
Wednesday August 10, 12:35 pm ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 10, 2005--ZEO-Tech (TSX VENTURE:ZEO - News) extends its appreciation to T & A Drilling & Blasting Corp. of Kelowna, BC, and Cantex Okanagan Construction Ltd., for their outstanding performance in the June 30, 2005 completion of the drilling, blasting, and crushing of 10,000 tonnes of zeolite from the company's mine, located 10.3 kilometers southwest of Princeton, BC.
ZEO-Tech's zeolite is specified in a new lighter weight cementing system for Halliburton Energy Services Inc. ZEO-Tech commenced servicing the initial Halliburton requirements in November, 2002. On April 6, 2004 the Company announced the signing of a $5,000,000 contract to supply micronized zeolite to Halliburton Group Canada through a joint venture company United Zeolite Products (UZP). Halliburton Group Canada agreed to purchase specialty zeolite to service its cementing activities in Western Canada. This inventory of 10,000 tonnes has been prepared to service its bulk zeolite order for Halliburton Group Canada.
The zeolite business is in its infancy in North America. Zeolites are chemically complex materials, and all zeolite deposits are different physically and chemically. The largest potential market for zeolites in North America is in the construction cementing industries. When a specific particular and appropriate zeolite is specified into a product or formulation, the competitive edge beyond the intellectual property rights secures the market.
The utilization of the zeolite technologies into cementacious systems requires adherence to specified codes of use. To appropriately classify the zeolites into the codes, a two-year program was initiated with the Metals and Materials Engineering Department Ceramic Group of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC. The program was initiated in 1999 and completed in 2001. This program included classifying zeolite performance according to 14 ASTM/Can/Csa trials as well as physical freeze thaw inter-grinding, examination of accelerators, retarders, water retention aids etc. This program was conducted on three BC zeolite occurrences. The best performing zeolite for application in cementacious systems was the Zeo-Tech zeolite from Princeton.
In July of 2001, ZEO-Tech's industry partner, C2C, entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Halliburton Energy Services Inc. for the purpose of developing a new lightweight cementing system for oil and gas-well completions. Extensive applications work was conducted in Canada and the United States culminating in the first well being completed in western Canada in December, 2002. The zeolite specified in this application is Zeo-Tech's Princeton zeolite.
As a result of the product development work, a number of the other product applications are underway, i.e., a silica fume alternative. Field applications have and are being made with ZeoFume replacing silica fume in the shot crete markets. These other cementacious applications are being developed carefully and are dependent on the ability to supply from Princeton.
ZEO-Tech is an operating mining & exploration company whose primary focus is the extraction of zeolite from its Princeton deposit, known as Bromley-Creek/Zeo-Tech group of claims, for industrial applications.
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Zeo-Tech Enviro Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ZEO - News)
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