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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, September 23, 2009
Policy Tracker
DOE approves 22 water power projects; businesses prep for H1N1; New Obama admin officials
MHT's Galen Moore: Charity reseller takes sting out of overpriced tickets
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Tech companies may have to wait for stimulus funds
DOE funds 22 water projects
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced 22 advanced water power projects. New England fundings included:
Ocean Renewable Power Co. ($750,000) of Portland, Maine, which will design a mooring system for hydrokinetic devices that will be moored below the surface and suspended in the water column. Another $600,000 is for Ocean Renewable Power to collect data on pre-deployment patterns of marine mammal distribution in Alaska.
Harris Miller Miller & Hanson (up to $600,000) of Burlington to deploy tidal-energy technologies near Martha’s Vineyard and collect and analyze information related to sediment transport alteration and impacts on protected species.
Free Flow Power Corp. (up to $750,000) of Gloucester to design, implement and test an electrically interconnected hydrokinetic turbine pylon installation to achieve maximum water-to-wire efficiency.
— Mass High Tech
Guide helps firms prepare for flu
The government has published a guidebook designed to help small businesses prepare for an outbreak of the H1N1 flu. The guidebook urges small businesses to develop a written plan outlining what they will do if employees contract the highly contagious virus and have to stay home. Suggestions include assigning someone to coordinate the business’s response to H1N1 flu issues, allowing workers to stay at home if they or their family members have the flu, and making sure other employees will be ready to fill in and assist with the absent employees’ jobs.
For more info, see www.sba.gov/flu.
SBA regulators on deck
The Obama administration is close to getting two key officials on board who will have a big say in how businesses are affected by new regulations. The Senate confirmed Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Sunstein’s job will be to review regulations and lead the administration’s regulatory reform effort. Meanwhile, the Senate was expected to confirm Wisconsin venture capitalist Winslow Sargeant as chief counsel of the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. One of Sargeant’s main jobs will be to ensure that federal agencies consider the impact their regulations have on small businesses.
— Kent Hoover, ACBJ Wire Service
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