WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:16pm EST
With the deal apparently short of needed support, Democrats are hopeful that Biden will meet with them, but have not yet received a commitment, the aide said. Some Democrats complain that Biden went too far to find common ground with McConnell. Congress and the White House face a midnight deadline (0500 GMT Tuesday) to avert the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts.
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON Dec 31 (Reuters) - A tax credit that provides incentives to produce wind energy, a financial lifeline for the wind power industry, will likely be extended if Congress approves a tentative deal between Senate Democrats and Republicans to avert the "fiscal cliff."
President Barack Obama said on Monday that a deal with Congress to stop a range of spending cuts and tax increases was "within sight," although not yet finalized.
According to the sources close to the 11th-hour negotiations, the deal would include a one-year extension for a tax credit to support the production of wind energy, which was set to expire at year-end without an extension by Congress.
The extension is based on a measure passed in August by the Senate Finance Committee, which would extend the tax credit for all wind projects that begin construction in 2013.
The American Wind Energy Association, a lobbying group, said the Senate Finance Committee extension "accommodates the 18-24 month timeline it takes to build a wind project."
"Thousands of American workers have already been laid off and without an extension of the PTC (production tax credit) soon, those job losses will accelerate until 37,000 American jobs are lost due to congressional inaction," a spokeswoman for the lobby group said.
The fate of the credit, which has spurred the expansion of wind farms and helped boost wind turbine manufacturing, has been uncertain ever since it was enacted as part of the 1992 Energy Policy Act.
The measure has been extended four times and allowed to sunset three times, contributing to a boom-bust cycle for wind energy production, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
U.S. wind farms installed a record number of turbines in 2012 but uncertainty about the future of the tax credit has prompted recent layoffs at manufacturers like Vestas Wind Systems' operation in Colorado, Siemens in Iowa and Gamesa Wind Corp's facility in Pennsylvania.
Some wind energy companies have rushed to install wind turbines before the Dec. 31 deadline for the production tax credit.
"The president and many bipartisan members of Congress have been working all year to extend the wind tax credits, with support from clean energy advocates ranging from wind companies and the United Steelworkers to faith groups and environmental advocates," said Courtney Abrams, federal clean energy advocate for Environment America, an environmental advocacy group.
"But nothing has been voted on yet, and we urge Congress to act to protect the future of wind power and a cleaner environment," she added.
The House and Senate still need to approve any deal that emerges on spending and taxes before Monday's midnight deadline.
WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:03pm EST
WASHINGTON Dec 31 (Reuters) - Democratic senators emerged from a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden late on Monday saying there was strong support for quickly passing legislation aimed at averting the fiscal cliff.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and Senator Charles Schumer, of New York, who is a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, both said the Senate would aim to pass the newly struck deal by a midnight (0500 GMT Tuesday) deadline.
If it passes the Senate, the House of Representatives would still have to approve it. A vote in that chamber could come on Tuesday.
n" readability="60">Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are close to securing another multibillion-dollar settlement with the largest banks to resolve allegations that they unlawfully cut corners when foreclosing on delinquent borrowers, a source familiar with the talks said.
The settlement with five big banks would be part of a larger deal that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency hopes will include 14 banks and total about $10 billion, the source said.
Such a settlement would address an outstanding issue that was left unsettled after the $25 billion deal that the banks reached in February with the Justice Department, housing authorities, and state attorneys general.
In 2011, the OCC had separately required the big banks to "look back" and compensate borrowers wrongfully foreclosed upon in 2009 and 2010. It appears that the case-by-case analysis is proving too cumbersome, and the banks are instead opting for a lump-sum settlement.
The top five mortgage lenders -- Bank of America Corp , Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Ally Financial Inc -- may reach a deal in the coming days, the source said.
The largest banks would pay the majority of the $10 billion target. That money would be paid out to a group of borrowers foreclosed upon during the period of time covered by the review, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The OCC and the banks are still negotiating how to calculate individual payouts, the source said, adding that regulators will give the banks credit for compensation they have already given borrowers as part of ongoing foreclosure reviews.
The New York Times first reported the pending deal.
"The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is committed to ensuring the Independent Foreclosure Review proceeds efficiently and to ensuring harmed borrowers are compensated as quickly as possible," the OCC said in a statement.
Ally, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup declined to comment.
(Corrects name of environmental group to Natural Resources Defense Council from National Resources Defense Council in 10th paragraph)
* Pollution rules for power plants likely to draw challenges once finalized
* Acting administrator could continue without confirmation
* Agency has had mostly success in DC court of appeals
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Regardless of who takes the reins, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely face continued legal battles in President Barack Obama's second term as it tries to finalize pollution rules for power plants, analysts said.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who spearheaded the Obama administration's regulation of carbon emissions, said on Thursday she will step down after almost four years.
Her tenure was marked by opposition from industry groups and Republican lawmakers to the EPA's first-ever crackdown on carbon emissions, as well as other anti-pollution measures.
Analysts said whoever succeeds Jackson will probably face a spate of lawsuits to challenge rules that the EPA will finalize governing power plants, industrial sources and oil and gas production.
"This is shaping up to be four years of litigation," said Christopher Guith, vice president for policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Energy Institute.
Given the partisan divide, Guith said, legislators would struggle to draft laws that could serve as alternatives to the EPA's pending suite of carbon and air regulation.
"As we look to an even more divided Congress, the action will be in the federal courts," he said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit, which hears most challenges to federal environmental rules, is likely to be busy as industry groups and states bring their cases against the EPA's rules after they are finalized.
The court sided with the agency in most of the recent challenges, most notably upholding its decision to use the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
David Doniger, policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate and Clean Air Program, said this could bolster the EPA as it tackles rules that may be more controversial than those rolled out under Jackson.
"The agency has a very good batting record on the clean air side. Carbon and climate (regulations) have come through completely unscathed," he said.
CARETAKER ADMINISTRATOR?
After the EPA was a political lightning rod during the first Obama administration, the president is likely to seek out a safe, possibly internal choice as Jackson's successor, or to avoid the confirmation process altogether.
"There are just so many arrows pointed at this agency," said Susan Tierney, managing principal and energy and environment specialist at Boston-based Analysis Group
Bob Perciasepe, deputy EPA administrator, will take over on an interim basis and could continue in that role indefinitely.
He previously worked at the EPA during the Clinton administration, specializing in water and air quality. Before rejoining the agency, Perciasepe was a top official at the National Audubon Society, a major conservation group.
Tierney said she expects the EPA to stay the course on its current agenda, especially as the agency faces some court-ordered deadlines to finalize rules, such as for coal ash, industrial waste from coal-fired plants and ozone standards.
PRIORITY ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
Some environmentalists have criticized Obama for being too timid on climate issues during his first term. But in his acceptance speech on election night in November the president gave a nod to climate change, raising hopes for more activism.
The White House may lean on the EPA to tackle one of the largest sources of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the current fleet of power plants, said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president at the National Wildlife Federation.
"The president has made clear that climate change is one of his top three priorities for the second term, so that means EPA needs to do its job," Symons said.
This, he said, means the agency needs to finalize the rules for new power plants and the standards for limiting carbon emissions from existing power plants.
The NRDC's Doniger said once the EPA meets an April 2013 legal deadline to finalize the greenhouse gas rules for new power plants, it will then have to address standards for existing plants.
The EPA has to start promptly in the beginning of the second term, said Doniger, because the rulemaking process is "a multistep process that will take time."
The controversial task will almost certainly trigger lawsuits because the rules will target a large number of domestic power plants and could jeopardize electric reliability.
"It's high stakes litigation when you are talking about bringing 40 percent of generation under regulations. That's disastrous," the Chamber's Guith said.
Guith said that while the EPA does have the authority to regulate carbon dioxide using the Clean Air Act, its rules are too difficult for industry - forcing the litigation.
"This EPA has been so aggressive in pushing the envelope by way of the compliance timeline that it has made itself more vulnerable to lawsuits," he said.
The EPA may also face legal challenges from environmental groups and certain states. The NRDC, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club joined a group of nine states led by New York that threatened to sue the EPA last year to propose air pollution standards for oil and gas drilling.
They said that the drilling, transportation and distribution resulted in a significant release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is not regulated by federal rules.
Doniger said the group is trying to negotiate a timeline with the EPA to set a rule but could sue the agency if it doesn't agree a schedule by February. (Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Gary Hill)
* Sirturo uses new mechanism to fight TB
* Blocks enzyme TB bacteria need to survive
* Will carry warning about risks, including death
By Toni Clarke
Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators have approved a new Johnson & Johnson drug for patients with tuberculosis who do not respond to other treatments, the company said.
The drug is the first in 40 years to tackle the disease using a new mechanism of action, according to J&J. The drug blocks an energy-producing enzyme that tuberculosis bacteria need to survive.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, chemically known as bedaquiline and to be marketed as Sirturo, on Monday following a positive review by an advisory panel last month.
Tuberculosis is an air-spread infection that usually attacks the lungs but it can also affect the brain, the spine and the kidneys.
In 2011, nearly 9 million people around the world became sick with TB, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and there were 1.4 million TB-related deaths. The disease requires six to nine months of drug treatment.
TB is more prevalent now than at any time in history, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg wrote in a blog on the FDA website. This drug will help treat and cure patients who are putting themselves and others at serious health risk, she said.
The drug itself has significant potential risks, she wrote, and will carry a warning about an increased rate of death observed in patients who received it.
Her comments followed those of the FDA advisers who found the drug to be effective, though they noted that more deaths were seen in the group of patients who took bedaquiline in combination with standard treatments than in the group that took standard drugs alone.
Doctors Without Borders said that the drug was a "potential game changer" against drug-resistant forms of the disease and an important milestone in fighting TB.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is caused by strains of the bacterium that have become resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, the two most potent drugs for TB.
Support has not been unanimous. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen earlier this month said it had written to the FDA because of the risks of death asking it not to approve of the drug, which received a fast approval.
DETAILS FROM TRIAL
Chrispin Kambili, medical affairs leader for bedaquiline at J&J's Janssen Therapeutics unit, said in a recent interview that the company is studying the difference in death rates but has so far seen no common pattern.
Almost every death was due to a different cause, including a motor vehicle accident. What was unusual, he said, was the low rate of death in the placebo group.
Advisers to the FDA expressed concern that a greater number of patients had elevated liver enzymes, a potential sign of liver toxicity, and elongated QT levels, an electrical irregularity in the heart that can cause sudden death.
But Kambili said none of the patients died due to serious QT prolongation and there was no unifying findings in the data.
Kambili said J&J's drug is designed for a relatively small portion of patients - some 650,000 - who do not respond to existing therapies.
And while investment analysts at Cowen and Co have forecast peak annual sales of the product at a relatively modest $300 million, the drug is important from a public health standpoint, Kambili said.
J&J shares were 0.1 percent higher to $69.56 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
* Former Fox Ent. Chairman Liguori may be CEO
* New board includes former execs of Yahoo, Disney
* Co includes 23 TV stations, 8 dailies
Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. media giant Tribune Co, owner of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, emerged from bankruptcy on Monday, ending four years of Chapter 11 reorganization.
Chicago-based Tribune's said on Sunday that its portfolio would include eight major daily newspapers and 23 TV stations.
As part of the Chapter 11 exit, the company closed on a new $1.1 billion senior secured term loan and a new $300 million asset-based revolving credit facility.
The term loan will be used to fund certain payments under the plan of reorganization and the revolving credit facility will be used to fund ongoing operations, the company said.
Upon exiting bankruptcy, Tribune will have issued to former creditors a mix of about 100 million shares of new class A common stock and new class B common stock and new warrants to purchase shares of new class A or class B common stock.
Chief executive Eddy Hartenstein will remain in his role until the new board ratifies the company's executive officers.
The company announced a seven-person board that includes Hartenstein, former Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori, former Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinsohn and Peter Murphy, Walt Disney's former top strategic planning executive.
Liguori is expected to be named Tribune's new CEO.
In November, Tribune received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission to transfer its broadcast licenses to the owners who would take it over after emerging from bankruptcy.
The company's reorganization plan was confirmed by the Delaware bankruptcy court in July.
The case is In re: Tribune Co et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141.
