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Business environmental coalition bullish on clean energy in Missouri

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A group that backs clean energy says Missouri has seen a 5% increase in green jobs over the past two years.

Business environmental coalition bullish on clean energy in Missouri

Environmental Entrepreneurs is a coalition of business owners and investors focused on the environment and the economy.  Its Clean Jobs Midwest report provides a breakdown of clean energy across a 12-state region – Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Tony Wyche, the Missouri based consultant for Environmental Entrepreneurs, says the Show-Me state performs well among its peers in the Midwest.

“Missouri has actually, usually been fairly high among Midwest states for our rate of job growth,” says Wyche.  “We’re actually seeing a lot of new generation and energy efficiency job that have been created in the state.”

According to the report, Missouri has 55,251 clean energy jobs.  About 72.5% of those positions are in the energy efficiency sector, which includes contractors who handle heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and system technicians.

Advanced transportation is the state’s second-biggest sector for clean jobs, providing 9,806 positions, accounting for 18% of the state’s total.

The advanced transportation industry includes hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles, plus those that are powered by fuel cells or alternative fuels.  Missouri’s advanced transportation sector grew faster than any other state in the Midwest.

Renewable energy generation jobs also grew quickly, increasing 14.5% in the state, although the sector accounts for only 6.7% of the clean energy positions.

Missouri is particularly dependent on coal which fueled 81% of its electricity generation in 2017.  Also, more coal is consumed for electricity generation in Missouri than in all but two other states.

In addition, a massive wind energy transmission line that would run through the state, the Grain Belt Express, is tied up in litigation in the courts.

According to Wyche, the construction and maintenance of the Grain Belt project would help boost renewable energy job numbers, as would the 39 cities in the state that have committed to purchasing wind power that would be passing through. Those communities include Columbia, Rolla, and Hannibal.

Springfield is in the process of acquiring 30% of its power from wind that’s coming from wind farms in Oklahoma.

But Wyche claims clean energy generation is actually growing very rapidly in the state, particularly in rural economies.

“What we’re seeing is that 99% of all wind generation, wind energy generation, comes from rural areas,” says Wyche.  “And here in Missouri, the wind farms that we have are all in rural parts of the state in northwest and northeast Missouri.”

Even with the increase in clean power generation coming from rural areas, the coop power companies that largely provide electric energy to the low population areas are still 80% dependent on coal-fired plants.

Still, according to the report from Environmental Entrepreneurs, renewable energy generation is the third largest clean energy job sector in Missouri with 3,707 jobs.  And like the rest of the 11 state Midwest region, Missouri renewable energy generation jobs grew the fastest of any sector, expanding by nearly 15% between 2015 and 2016 and adding 470 jobs.

Wyche thinks rural areas stand to benefits from the expansion of clean energy and believes elected office holders will play a key role in how it unfolds.

“Policymakers in Jefferson City and Washington D.C. need to remain committed to investment in policies that benefit rural Missouri and rural America through investment in green energy technology and energy efficiency.”

Wyche says two key federal programs support the development of clean energy in rural communities – the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Energy Assistance Program and the same agency’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program.

Environmental Entrepreneurs was founded in 2000 and is a partner of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is a non-profit international environmental advocacy group.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

UM System President emphasizes jobs, research and health care with governor (AUDIO)

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The UM System President says Governor Mike Parson (R) is committed to Missouri and to public higher education.

UM System President Dr. Mun Choi

System President Dr. Mun Choi accompanied Parson during the governor’s recent tour of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Choi says he and his team had a great conversation with the governor about the value the System can provide for economic development and workforce infrastructure.

“But most importantly, how we leverage the educational research into opportunities to create new businesses right here in Columbia in areas in which we can save lives,” Dr. Choi says.

He’s referring to areas like cancer and cardiovascular disease.

President Choi has said that the UM System is working to train more doctors, dentists, engineers and pharmacists in the state.

Dr. Choi says Governor Parson reached out to his office, before last week’s tour at Mizzou.

“Which goes to show that he sees the value of our university, but we have to be now accountable, we can’t take that for granted,” says Choi. “We have to really deliver on our promises of creating excellence in everything that we do.”

Dr. Choi told the governor that the UM System and its four campuses have a $5.4 billion impact on the state, and that 61,000 people have jobs either directly or indirectly because of the university system.

Governor Parson says businesses must be involved in partnerships with colleges and universities.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and UM System President Dr. Mun Choi, which was recorded at the University of Missouri-Columbia campus on June 13, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri Governor Parson meets with President Trump

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Governor Parson met with cabinet members on Capitol Hill yesterday, as well as President Donald Trump. The governor said building relationships is the key to success.

He addressed the opioid problem, workforce development, and infrastructure while in the nation’s capital.

“We just can’t keep kicking the can down the road as far as infrastructure goes. We really have to step up ourselves and I think that’s what we’re supposed to be doing as Missourians – to try to take care of our own problems as we can and this is an opportunity to do it. So, hopefully, the people will understand that and I hope they support it,” Parson said.

Currently, the federal government contributes roughly 80% of the cost of most road improvements in Missouri.

Parson also commented on how Missouri will continue to help with the ongoing border patrol situation, saying Missouri will continue to provide resources for the sole purpose of securing the border.

The Republican governor’s statement differs from several Democratic governors in other states who have refused to accept children separated from their parents at the southern border.

The policy of separating family members from President Trump’s administration was ended Wednesday when the President signed an executive order.

Missourinet media partner KOLR-TV supplied much of the content in this story

Southeast Missouri nail company gets hammered by Trump’s tariffs

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President Trump’s tariff on steel imports that took effect June 1 has caused a southeast Missouri nail manufacturer to lose about 50% of its business in two weeks. Mid Continent Nail Corporation in Poplar Bluff – the remaining major nail producer in the country – has had to take drastic measures to make ends meet. The company employing 500 people earlier this month has laid off 60 temporary workers. It could slash 200 more jobs by the end of July and be out of business around Labor Day.

Photo courtesy of Mid Continent Nail Corp.

During a Finance Committee hearing this week on Capitol Hill, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, sounded the alarm about the company going downhill and fast.

Mid Continent is one of the largest employers in Butler County and the second largest manufacturer in Poplar Bluff. If push comes to shove, slicing the remaining 440 jobs that pay an average of $12.50 an hour would add to the Bootheel’s struggling reputation marked by several of the poorest counties in the state.

Mid Continent is owned by Mexico-based Deacero. The parent company produces steel and ships the material to its Poplar Bluff plant. Spokesperson Elizabeth Heaton tells Missourinet Deacero is being hit with the 25% tariff for importing steel to its own company.

The manufacturer’s existence in Missouri is riding on whether the federal government will grant a tariff exemption on the steel wire it gets from Mexico. The U.S. Commerce Department is holding the fate of several American companies in its hands. The agency is dealing with a backlog from its more than 20,000 exemption requests.

“Something would have to happen very fast, within days in order for us to know that things were going to improve. We’re hoping that this could get pushed through very quickly,” Heaton says.

The company has also requested a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Heaton says.

“There are only about 15 of these companies left and Mid Continent produces about 50% of the nails out of those 15. If you could imagine, if it were to go out of business and that is of course worse case scenario, we want to do everything that we can to make sure that does not happen, that would be a huge blow to that segment of the industry. It’s a big deal, not just for Missouri and for the economy there, but for the whole industry.”

Heaton says the company is currently focused on trying to keep the Missouri plant open and does not believe there have been discussions on whether to move the Poplar Bluff operation to Mexico.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri House Dem leader raises red flag over bidding for state contract, agency defends process

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The leading Democrat in the Missouri House says a contract awarded to the former employer of an operative in the governor’s office raises red flags.

Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City

House Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty wants the contract to review the state’s Medicaid program immediately placed on hold pending a review to find out if the Office of Administration is following proper rules in its granting process.

A bid costing three times more than three other submissions was awarded to Kinsley & Company, a firm that formerly employed Drew Erdmann, the state’s Chief Operating Officer (COO).  In addition, portions of Kinsley’s bid have been redacted from the public.

McCann Beatty thinks the combination of circumstances is problematic.  “It’s all of the little things that happened that led to this particular company getting this contract is what raises questions,” said McCann Batty.

Missouri COO Drew Erdmann

One of the bidding companies, Navigant, filed a protest with the Office of Administration, calling for the award to be rescinded and rebid.

Navigant said Kinsley offered pre-conditions to its bid and should have been disqualified it from the process up front.  Navigant also said the redactions in the online version of the Kinsley proposal “are so pervasive and excessive” that it’s of no value in determining Kinsley’s compliance or substance.

Office of Administration Commissioner Sarah Steelman told Missourinet the protest is being reviewed.

While talking to reporters in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton Wednesday, Governor Mike Parson offered support for the bidding procedure and expressed no concern over Erdmann’s previous ties to winning bidder Kinsley.

“Right now, we believe that bid process was the right way to do it,” said Parson.  “There was no ties between Drew Erdmann and that company still that we’re aware of.”

Commissioner Steelman denies Erdmann had any influence on the bidding process, saying he “has no involvement in individual procurement evaluations or decisions regarding awards of state contracts.”

Erdman was handpicked by former Governor Eric Greitens to be Chief Operating Officer, a position the ex-head of state created.

Sarah H. Steelman -Commissioner of the Office of Administration

Under Greitens, the Office of Administration issued the original request for proposal to perform the assessment of the Medicaid program.  In it, the grading system for evaluating proposals was 40 percent based on cost, 40 percent on methodology and 20 percent on experience.

But that request for proposal was withdrawn within days, and then reissued with the importance of cost downsized to just 15 percent of the grading system.

In a letter to the Office of Administration, McCann Beatty said that change “seems designed to ensure that McKinsey’s high-dollar bid wouldn’t prove to be a large disadvantage.”

Missourinet examined the five bids on the Office of Administration’s bidding web pages.  McKinsey’s documents had redactions spread throughout 222 PDF file pages with dozens of near full-page blackouts at the end.  None of the other four bids appeared to have any redactions.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office expressed concern about the redactions.  “The attorney general’s office does not discern any basis for redaction in the bid proposal provided by the Office of Administration,” Hawley spokeswoman Mary Compton told the paper.

Of the other four bidders – Navigant, Accenture, Deloitte Consulting and KPMG – only Accenture outstripped McKinsey & Company’s $2.7 million price.

Accenture offered a bid “not to exceed” $2.8 million.  Accenture was given a marginally lower score for cost 4.0 versus 4.1 out of 15 for McKinsey.  The other three bids were all under $1 million.  Deliotte offered a price of $981,000 while Navigant’s bid was $898,000 and KPMG’s was $750,000.

For her part, Democratic leader Beatty is calling into question the Chief Operating Officer position former Governor Greitens created.  She says she has no idea what the purpose of the job is and wonders what services Erdmann is performing for the state in the post.

“Do we have any indication since he’s been here that, in fact, there has been any evidence of a more efficient government as a result of him being here, and I don’t know that there has been,” Beatty said.

Office of Administration Commissioner Steelman, who was appointed to her position by Greitens shortly after he became governor, told Missourinet she holds the Chief Operating Officer in high regard.

“Mr. Erdmann is working hard for the State of Missouri to improve state government for all Missourians,” said Steelman.  “He is a huge asset to our state and one of the most honest and ethical people I’ve ever met.”

REPORT: Former Missouri Secretary of State considering run for Kansas City mayor

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Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander is reportedly laying the groundwork to succeed Sly James as Kansas City’s mayor. Several sources have told the Kansas City Star the Democrat could officially launch his candidacy as early as next week.

Jason Kander

Kander is currently the head of Let America Vote – a national voting rights organization.

If he enters the mayor’s race, the move would ease speculation about Kander making a run for president in 2020. He’s been traveling the country since 2017 making several stops in key presidential states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

According to the Star, Kander would join a crowded field of eight other candidates who have already announced a run for mayor.

Kander, an Army veteran, served two terms in the Missouri House of Representatives and then as secretary of state. In 2016, he lost the U.S. Senate race by a tight margin to Republican incumbent Roy Blunt.

The Star says Kander has not organized an official campaign committee with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Judge tosses case over AG Hawley’s residence outside Jefferson City

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A mid-Missouri judge has decided against a plaintiff challenging the attorney general’s residence outside Jefferson City, the state’s capital.

April 2018 file photo, courtesy of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office

Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green issued a written ruling last week dismissing a case brought against Attorney General Josh Hawley by a private citizen.

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports Green told Donna Mueller she lacked legal standing to file a lawsuit on where the Attorney General lives.

He said the legal procedure can be launched only by the attorney general or a county prosecutor — and Mueller, “as a private party, has no authority to initiate an action seeking to remove the attorney general from office.”

The News-Tribune reports Mueller’s attorney, Gaylin Rich Carver, is considering whether to appeal the decision which disallowed the case from being refiled in Cole County.

Mueller brought her lawsuit last November, arguing the attorney general is required to reside at the seat of government which is defined in the Missouri Constitution as Jefferson City.

Hawley has rented an apartment in Jefferson City, but he and his family continue to live in a family home in Boone County with a Columbia address.

The News-Tribune reports Judge Green concluded the court had no authority to remove Attorney General Hawley from office.  The residency requirement in Missouri law does not apply to any of the other five statewide elected offices outside of the attorney general.

Democrats had questioned the residency of Hawley, a Republican, who is the GOP front-runner against Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill in her bid for a third term in November’s election.

Republicans filed a proposal in the state Legislature this year to remove the residency requirement, but the measure failed to pass.

The bill from GOP House member Lindell Shumake of Hannibal would have eliminated what he called “the obsolete requirement” that the Attorney General “reside” in Jefferson City.

The measure did not modify the requirement for the Office of the Attorney General to be located at the Supreme Court which is in Jefferson City.

Shumake contended the residency requirement was out of date, saying it was “enacted prior to both the advent of modern telecommunication and automobile travel”.

State Treasurer Schmitt: one in ten Missourians have unclaimed property (AUDIO)

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The approximately 100,000 Missourians who have unclaimed property will soon see their name in newspapers across the state.

Missouri State Treasurer Eric Schmitt (photo courtesy of the Treasurer’s office)

State Treasurer Eric Schmitt (R) is launching the office’s annual effort to find the owners of that unclaimed property.

Schmitt’s office holds $988 million in unclaimed property for Missouri.

“Most of the time it’s bank accounts or last paycheck, that’s another thing that kind of finds its way to us, safe deposit boxes,” Schmitt says.

The names are being published in newspapers in all of Missouri’s 114 counties.

Missouri state law requires the notices to be published in newspapers annually.

You can also visit ShowMeMoney.com to see if you have unclaimed property.

Schmitt says he’s trying to reconnect Missourians with their money.

“It’s a good time for us to remind people not just to look for their name or a loved one or a friend in those newspapers but also, you know, online when they search showmemoney.com,” says Schmitt.

Schmitt’s office returned $45 million in unclaimed property in 2017.

He notes one in ten Missourians have unclaimed property, and the average return is about $300.

Schmitt says one St. Charles family last year discovered they had $3,000 in unclaimed property.

He says the average processing time for claims has dropped from 14 to eight days, since he took office in 2017.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Missouri State Treasurer Eric Schmitt, which was recorded on June 19, 2018:

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Trump tariffs blamed for potential closure of major southeast Missouri employer

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The last major U.S. nail manufacturer – located in southeast Missouri – could be out of business by Labor Day. George Skarich of Mid Continent Nail Corporation in Poplar Bluff says President Trump’s 25% tariff on steel imports is pricing the company out of the market. If it closes, about 500 workers would be in the unemployment line in a region already suffering from serious economic hardships.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri

“Cheap nail imports from China and other countries don’t face this tariff and are increasing every day. We need our wire to be excluded from this tariff or we will have to increase the layoffs we’ve already begun,” Skarich says.

Mid Continent Nail Corporation is one of the largest employers in Butler County and the second largest one in Poplar Bluff. It launched in 1987 under the direction of David Libla and Republican State Senator Doug Libla of Poplar Bluff.

In a live Missourinet interview last week, Libla indicated he was working on the tariff issue but he did not provide specifics.

During a U.S. Senate Finance committee hearing today in Washington, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, says the manufacturer has already endured severe losses.

“The company has 500 workers in a town of only 17,000. They’ve now laid off 60 of their 500 employees,” she says. “They’ve idled their most sophisticated production facility in Poplar Bluff. They are expected to cut 200 more jobs by the end of July and the company that has visited with us at length believes they’ll be out of business by Labor Day.”

A closure would be a drastic shift from the company’s 2015 expansion that included the addition of a new line, the hiring of nearly 100 workers and a $5 million investment.

According to McCaskill, the manufacturer produces about 50% of the nails made in America.

“So far, in response to the tariff, they have lost almost half of their business in one month due to price,” McCaskill says. “They went from an average of 9,000 tons of nails sold every month. In June, that dropped to 5,500 (tons). In July, the company will sell fewer than 4,000 tons. The customers can easily source nails manufactured in other countries.”

Some U.S. companies, including Mid Continent Nail Corporation, are seeking tariff exemptions from the federal government if they can’t get the goods they need from a domestic metals supplier. The U.S. Commerce Department is experiencing a huge backlog of exemption requests – leaving many of the companies in a major predicament.

During today’s hearing, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the department has so far received more than 20,000 requests for product exemptions. Of those, 98 requests have been processed, 42 exemptions have been approved and 56 have been denied. McCaskill railed against the department’s red tape.

“In a chaotic and frankly incompetent manner, you’re picking winners and losers on a very technical basis, according to all the reporting we have, without a great deal of training,” McCaskill says. “The regulatory burden is so extreme on small businesses. Many of these companies are filing dozens of waivers based on having to file a different one for every slightly different product. You are requiring that these waivers be filed every year.”

Ross says the Commerce Department is working through the backlog of exemption requests and disputes claims that the process is chaotic.

Mid Continent Nail Corporation is seeking 24 exemptions but McCaskill says they likely wouldn’t be granted in time to save the business.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Missouri experts weigh in on this week’s Supreme Court punt on gerrymandering

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The Supreme Court this week passed on two opportunities this term to determine when and whether states violate the Constitution by drawing electoral maps that sharply favor one political party.

The high bench declined to establish when partisan gerrymandering goes too far in cases brought by Democrats in Wisconsin and Republicans in Maryland.  Both decisions were unanimous.  The justices sent both cases back to lower federal courts on procedural grounds.

In the Maryland case, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a district court judge’s decision not to toss the state’s congressional map while litigation over its future is ongoing.  The justices decided to let that case play out.

With the Wisconsin lawsuit, they determine that the plaintiffs hadn’t proven they’d been harmed and therefore had no standing to bring the case.

There is a consensus among some experts that the Supreme Court will again be asked to decide the limits of partisan gerrymandering.  Greg Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, contends there’s nothing in the Wisconsin ruling that would discourage the plaintiffs from reformulating their case.

“There’s nothing about the court’s decision in the Wisconsin case that suggests, ‘You guys need to make a showing that nobody’s capable of making, or that even you’re not capable of making,” said Magarian.  “It’s just. ‘You blew it this time’.”

The court’s four Democratic appointees joined together in an opinion written by Justice Elena Kagan arguing that the door was still open to claims based on the statewide impact of a heavily gerrymandered map.  Magarian called the statement remarkable.

“Kagan’s opinion is basically like a manual for the plaintiffs,” Magarian said.  “If there’s any evidence that they can muster to get this right and to show standing, which there probably is, Kagan’s opinion is telling them, ‘Here’s how you do it.”

Kagan laid out a 1st Amendment “freedom of association” claim she directed toward plaintiffs in the Wisconsin case.

Jay Dow Is a political science professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia who studies voting and elections.  He differs with Magarian on the Supreme Court’s likelihood of determining gerrymandering limits.

Dow thinks the high court’s 9-0 decision to send both cases back to lower courts reflects its unwillingness to consider such litigation.

“The Court hates to get into partisan gerrymandering cases,” said Dow.  “Traditionally these cases have been considered non-judiciable.  The court has ruled in principle that they can be brought to the court, but they have never established a standard for an unconstitutional gerrymander.”

Dow contends that it’s been a longstanding principle of the court to avoid partisan political fights.  He also says the court has determined there’s no clear test for gerrymanders because of variables such as the concentration of population, quality of candidates and whether the candidates are incumbents that cloud the process of judging the legitimacy of voting districts.

The Wisconsin plaintiffs based their argument on the 2012 election in which Democrats prevailed in the popular vote but won a third fewer Assembly seats.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion noted that none of the individual Wisconsin plaintiffs claimed to be in a district that was impacted by gerrymandering tactics.

Such tactics include “packing” districts with a disproportionate number of Republicans or Democrats or “cracking” the districts by draining them of such voters.

Magarian also thinks technology has allowed for districts to be redrawn more durably to represent one party.

He would like to see discrimination laws that already cover voting districts expanded to include “partisanship” as well as race.  Magarian contends most voters would agree that electoral districts should be drawn in an impartial manner.

“I think if you put that question in a non-partisan way, the vast majority of people would say, ‘They should be drawn in an objective way (and) shouldn’t be a tool that the parties can use to aggrandize their own power in different places.”

Dow doesn’t think the Supreme Court’s can properly set limits on gerrymandering because the bench itself is subject to political whims.

“Sometimes those justices are going to be liberals, sometimes they’re going to be conservative,” Dow said.  “Once you go down that path of the court intervening in partisan gerrymanders, the process of resolving these may look more political than you want it to look.”

If laws don’t change, majority parties in states will have a chance to further the gerrymandering of districts in a couple of years.

Voting districts are redrawn every 10 years sometime after a change in decades.  In most states, the state legislature controls the process for state and congressional districts.

District lines are approved just like legislation (Legislative committees are used in Missouri) and are subject to a governor’s veto.