The Haitian government this week presented to international donors at a special United Nations conference in New York a $3.9-billion plan to rebuild the country, which was devastated by a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people. The plan calls for shifting economic development away from the Haitian capital of Port au Prince to a series of new economic development zones linked to new roads, a ...

Very competitive labor costs along with moderately-low office/industrial leasing and sales tax costs help make Tampa the least-costly place to do business among 22 U.S. cities/locations with populations exceeding 2 million, according to a study by KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm. Atlanta was the second most cost-competitive location in the large-cities category, followed by Miami and Baltimore, r ...

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has authorized the use of eminent domain to take some of the U.S. government-owned land in the state and turn it over to economic developers. Federal-owned land accounts for more than 60 percent of the acreage in Utah. Herbert has signed a pair of bills into law intended to level the playing filed for economic development on energy-rich parcels that currently are owned by the federal ...

New York State’s Public Service Commission has approved a $279-million funding package for small-scale renewable energy projects over the next five years. The plan approved yesterday will help thousands of homeowners and businesses to install solar panels, fuel cells, wind turbines and other renewable energy devices, the Commission said. The $279 million funding package will come from the state’s Renewable ...

Lithium battery-maker EnerDel is planning a new manufacturing plant at the Mount Comfort Business Park in Hancock County, IN. The company says it expects to employ 1,100 people at the facility over the next five years. The company expects to invest $277 million in the plant. EnerDel also is seeking a $480 million federal loan from the Department of Energy to underwrite its expansion. EnerDel will receive st ...

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has signed a bill mandating that the state generate 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Ritter said the bill, which also requires that at least 3 percent of electric power come from solar projects, would create “thousands” of new jobs and 100,000 new solar rooftops over the next decade. “Today we continue to chart a new course for Colorado’s New Energy Eco ...

Business and elected leaders in Clarksville-Montgomery County, TN were presented this week with Business Facilities’ 2009 Economic Development Deal of the Year Silver Award ...

  The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it. -- Confucius A long-simmering dispute between Google and the government of the People’s Republic of China appears to be coming to a head this week, as the Internet search giant began re-directing traffic from its google.cn Chinese-language search engine to its google.com.hk site, based in Hong Kong. With thi ...

The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) has approved agreements that  will allow two wind energy developers to construct up to 227 wind turbines in the Hardin County, OH the Ada Herald reports. Up to 348 megawatts will be generated from the turbines, which will make the Hardin Wind Energy Farm the largest in the state. Construction is projected to begin later this year on the developments, undertaken by JW Great ...

Chevron Corp. has unveiled a huge solar energy test facility in California, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The oil giant  has revealed that it filled an 8-acre site in Bakersfield, CA  with 7,700 solar panels to test low-cost energy systems for its operations. The panels, in various sizes, represent seven cutting-edge photovoltaic technologies from seven companies that Chevron reportedly is ...