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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 28, 2005

Danish Pension Funds Drop Wal-Mart Stock

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/danish-pension-funds-drop-walmart-stock/

The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen or LO) has announced that all of its pension funds will sell their shares of Wal-Mart stock in opposition to the "Walmartization" of wages and working conditions worldwide. "As the company has such a bad reputation, and a directly anti-human corporate philosophy, we see no other alternative than to disqualify Wal-Mart as an object for ethically responsible investment," said Svend Sorensen, president of one LO-affiliated pension fund. Continue reading

Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 27, 2005

Bennington, Vermont, Adopts Big-Box Ordinance

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/bennington-vermont-adopts-bigbox-ordinance/

In late January, the Select Board in Bennington, Vermont, voted unanimously to ban stores over 75,000 square feet and to require retail development projects larger than 30,000 square feet to pass a community impact review. Town officials said the measure was needed to ensure adequate review of the economic and community impacts of large-scale retail development, protect the viability of Bennington’s existing commercial areas, and maintain competition by preventing a single retailer from dominating the local market. Continue reading

Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 26, 2005

Energy Efficiency in California – A Matter of Community Control

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/energy-efficiency-california-matter-community-control/

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled to vote tomorrow (1/27/05) on who will control about $400 million in state energy efficiency funds [see CPUC proceeding R0108028] Community aggregation advocate groups including Local Power and Women’s Energy Matters are demanding that the CPUC let community choice aggregators (CCAs) control and administer their own efficiency programs rather than give all the money and co Continue reading

Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 25, 2005

Portland Investigates City Ownership of Renewable Energy Projects

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/portland-investigates-city-ownership-renewable-energy-projects/

Hundreds of communities around the country have committed financial resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency improvements and through purchases of renewable fueled electricity from their local utilities. A new trend appears to be emerging as part of these efforts – some communities are investigating direct ownership of energy projects and recent actions in Portland, Oregon illustrate this nicely.

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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 25, 2005

Thousands of Wal-Mart Workers Enrolled in Medicaid

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/thousands-walmart-workers-enrolled-medicaid/

Nearly one-quarter of Wal-Mart’s 37,000 workers in Tennessee rely on Medicaid, according to state officials who released the figures at the request of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.The data show that Wal-Mart has more employees enrolled in TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program, than any other company. Other states have also found that Wal-Mart’s labor practices are placing a heavy burden on public assistance programs. Continue reading

Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 24, 2005

Working Group Recommends Update To Interconnection Standards in California

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/working-group-recommends-update-interconnection-standards-california/

The California Energy Commission (CEC) began an investigation in April 2004 via a diverse working group to explore a variety of issues associated with the deployment of distributed generation (DG) including interconnection rules – formally referred to as Rule 21. Implementation of California’s standardized interconnection rules issued in 2000 have been an important priority for California because it eliminated a significant barrier to the safe and cost-effective deployment of DG in the State.

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 21, 2005

Distributed Generation State Legislative Update

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/distributed-generation-state-legislative-update/

Many state legislators around the country have returned to their respective capitol buildings for another year of debate. We’ve run across a few interesting proposals involving distributed generation. A Connecticut proposal would provide an increased rate of return for distribution utilities to build distributed generation projects rather than new transmission lines. Continue reading

Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 19, 2005

Think Local First

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/think-local-first/

Independent business owners in Portland, Oregon, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, have launched a multi-year educational campaigns to persuade residents to "think local first" when shopping.

"We’re looking to achieve a percentage change in behavior," said Paul Needham, a founding board member of the Sustainable Business Network of Portland (SBNP), which organized the buy-local initiative.

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 18, 2005

Groups Demand Broader Access to Energy Decisionmaking

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/groups-demand-broader-access-energy-decisionmaking/

An effort spearheaded by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance resulted in a coalition of groups petitioning the MN Public Utilities Commission requesting that they establish the rules and technological infrastructure to allow citizens to easily monitor and participate in energy decisionmaking. This is an example of Democratic Energy in action. Minnesota isn’t the only state behind the curve either. A quick survey of other state regulatory agencies that oversee energy issues indicates that groups in many states may want to replicate the petition filed in Minnesota.

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Article filed under Independent Business | Written by Stacy Mitchell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 14, 2005

Irish Government Relaxes Big-Box Ban

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/irish-government-relaxes-bigbox-ban/

Under pressure from Ikea, Wal-Mart, and Costco, the Irish government has relaxed its seven-year-old cap on the size of retail stores. The changes apply to certain areas of Dublin and eight other towns.

The cap, which was adopted on a temporary basis in 1998 and made permanent in 2001, restricted stores selling food (including hypermarkets, which sell both food and non-food merchandise) to no more than 3,500 square meters (38,000 square feet) in Dublin and 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet) throughout the rest of the country.

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