With Nebraskans concern about a proposed oil pipeline crossing the state, a new report from the National Wildlife Federation has cataloged a “decade of serious oil spills, fires, leaks and loss of life over the last decade that they says underscores petroleum company malfeasance.”

 According to the report, NWF said “from 2000 to 2010, the oil and gas industry accounted for hundreds of deaths, explosions, fires, seeps, and spills as well as habitat and wildlife destruction in the United States.”

“ These disasters demonstrate that the BP incident is not merely an accident but an industry pattern that places profit ahead of communities, local economies, and the environment,”  according to the report.

“The oil and gas industry’s careless business approach does a clear injustice to the American people. The total cost of the status quo in lives lost and environmental damage is far too high,” said Tim Warman, executive director of the NWF’s global warming solutions program. “There is a better way to meet our energy needs with cleaner and safer energy sources. We should not delay with enacting policy solutions that reduce our addiction to fossil fuels.” 

According to Warman, the report, “Assault on America: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster, Pollution, and Profit” provides a sampling of thousands of on- and off-shore disasters of all types, large and small.

These examples, the report said, from each year shed light on how “the oil and gas industry has continued to show negligence and experience accidents all over the country.”

“While not exhaustive, the listing offers a cross-section of spills, leaks, fires, explosions, toxic emissions, water pollution, and more that have not occurred in the last decade – the post- Exxon Valdez era, the post- Oil Pollution Act of 1990 era, when the industry claimed to have mended their dangerous ways,” according to the report.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., on Thursday voted for cloture on the Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010. He said the fully paid-for bill would provide tax incentives and a $30 billion loan fund to help small businesses expand and provide jobs. The Senate’s 58-42 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward for final debate and an up or down vote on the legislation. 

“Make no mistake, partisan bickerers have delayed a bill that will help small businesses stay open and create jobs, which is very disappointing,” Nelson said. “Coming together behind this bill is exactly how Congress should work. Small business owners, community bankers and others across Nebraska have told me it will help grow our small businesses and put Nebraskans to work.”

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., voted against the bill.

Nelson said because small businesses drive our nation’s economy, “Congress should take every reasonable opportunity to improve the climate for small businesses.”

“This bill would provide useful federal aid to foster small business jobs and help push America back onto the road of economic recovery,” he said. ”It is fully paid for, won’t add to the deficit and has strong support from our Main Street businesses, bankers and community leaders.”

What puzzles Nelson is that fact that,  “I cannot think of why anyone, except to score political points and add another ‘No’ notch on their belt strangling progress, would oppose this bill.”

“Passing common sense legislation that doesn’t add to the deficit and supports Nebraska’s small businesses is what Nebraskans expect Congress to do,” Nelson said.

 The small business lending fund bill would provide $12 billion in tax incentives for small businesses, encourage investment in small businesses and provide small businesses with the vital access to capital they need to create jobs. The Senate proposal has a $30 billion Federal small business lending fund and an agriculture disaster relief provision. Current estimates are that the amendment is deficit neutral over ten years.

The Independent Community Bankers of America, and 29 state associations, including Nebraska Independent Community Bankers, strongly supported the bill in a July 21 letter to Senate leaders.

 “The SBLF (Small Business Lending Fund) is a bold, fresh proposal that would provide another capital option for community banks to leverage and expand small business credit,” their letter said. “The $30 billion fund could be leveraged to provide as much as $300 billion of credit. What’s more, the structure of the SBLF program will create a powerful incentive for community bank recipients to lend… The SBLF proposal has all of the features needed to attract broad participation by community banks.”

 In addition, the American Bankers Association supports the bill, numbered H.R. 5297. Floyd E. Stoner, an ABA executive vice president, said in a recent letter to Congress: “Even with the general economy starting to improve, there are still many areas of the United States that struggle under the weight of the severe downturn.  Since banks are a reflection of their communities, they are suffering with the communities they serve.  Yet even in areas beset by poor economic conditions there are strong borrowers. (The bill) would allow banks to avoid that result and continue meeting the needs of their communities.  With an improving economy and public investments, such as those proposed in H.R. 5297, lending can increase faster in some of the hardest hit areas of the country.  Community banks, which are the life blood of many communities, can provide the needed capital.”

 Also supporting the Senate bill was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Chamber President Bruce Josten said in a July 23, 2010 letter to senators: “To get the economy back on track and generating jobs, America needs a strong and vibrant small business community.  To that end, H.R. 5297 contains many provisions that would allow entrepreneurs to have more access to capital.  Additionally, the bill contains important tax code changes that would encourage investment, promote fairness, and allow small business owners to retain existing cash flow from operations in order to start, grow, and expand their enterprises.”

While Congress has yet to commit to a comprehensive national energy policy, especially as the Gulf spill has raised the national consciousness about this country’s dangerous addicition to fossil fuel. There’s a lot of good ideas for energy independence, both large and small. The key has always been diversification of the nation’s energy resources.

On Thursday, the Natural Resources Water and Power Subcommittee held a hearing on hydropower Rep. Adrian Smith  Small-Scale Hydropower Enhancement Act (H.R. 5922).  The bill is designed to encourage and promote efforts to produce more hydropower from smaller sources.

 Hydropower is a clean, renewable, non-emitting source of energy which provides low-cost electricity and helps reduce carbon emissions.  Hydropower accounts for 67 percent of America’s total renewable electricity generation.

 Smith said the thousands of miles of irrigation canals, pipes, and ditches in the West provide an opportunity for new hydropower generation.  Hydropower produced in man-made water delivery systems does not consume or disrupt water deliveries and has no environmental effect on temperature or aquatic life, Smith said.  In addition, he said many irrigators are eager to use small projects to generate much-needed revenue to repair aging facilities and reduce electricity costs.

 Federal policies imposing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permitting rules, however, have effectively stifled advancements and innovation in the small hydropower field, according to Smith. 

“One-size-fits-all federal regulations make small scale hydropower projects throughout the country financially prohibitive by imposing unnecessary and outdated rules.  My bill would help stimulate the economy of rural America, empower local irrigation districts to generate revenue, and decrease reliance on fossil fuels – all at no cost to the taxpayer,” Smith said.

 Smith’s bill would exempt any conduit-type hydropower project generating less than one and a half megawatt from FERC jurisdiction.  The bill also would require the Bureau of Reclamation to examine its facilities for more conduit generation opportunities using existing funding.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that U.S. businesses with paid employees lost almost 104,000 establishments in 2008, bringing the total number to 7.6 million.

However, the total number of people they employed rose to 121 million, with businesses adding approximately 300,000 employees to their payrolls.

According to the Census Bureau, these findings come from County Business Patterns: 2008,which provides the only detailed annual information on the number of establishments, employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries covered at the national, state and county levels.

Among states and the District of Columbia, Florida saw the largest percentage decrease in business locations, a 3.1 percent decline from 2007, representing more than 16,000 establishments.  Among Florida’s largest counties, Broward accounted for nearly 2,000 losses, followed by Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, which lost 1,900 and 1,300 businesses, respectively.

Besides Florida, the states with the largest percentage decreases in establishments were Michigan (2.6 percent), Idaho (2.5 percent) and Ohio (2.4 percent). Only four states and the District of Columbia saw increases in establishments in 2008: Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming.

Leading states and the District of Columbia with the highest percentage increases in employment from 2007 to 2008 were North Dakota (4.1 percent, adding 12,000 employees) and New Hampshire, (3.9 percent, adding 22,000 employees).

Among the 50 largest counties, only nine saw increases in the number of establishments in 2008. Ten counties had declines of more than 1,000 establishments.

Counties with the highest increases in payroll included Philadelphia, Pa., which rose 6.2 percent to an average of $48,993, and Multnomah, Ore., which rose 3.6 percent to an average of $43,952.

At the national level, the health care and social assistance sector gained more than 6,700 establishments and nearly 420,000 employees in 2008 from the previous year.

The real estate and leasing sector lost nearly 14,500 establishments, a 3.8 percent decline from the previous year.