BMW adding 300 jobs to plant in South Carolina

What may become the second-largest BMW plant in production in the world isn't in Germany. It's in South Carolina. In a big economic boost for it's biggest world market, the USA, BMW announced today that it will invest nearly $900 million and add 300 new jobs in 2012 in its Spartanburg plant. The announcement came at a ceremony to note that the plant has built 2 million vehicles since it opened in 1994.

The plant makes BMW's line of crossovers for the globe. The is going to be expanded starting with an X4 -- a sport activity sedan based on the X3 SUV and similar in concept to the X6 sedan. The plant also makes the X5 SUV.

Continue »

Weatherized Homes Saving Money for Families Across the U.S.

If you’re anything like me, these winter months have you thinking more about your utility bills than usual. And for good reason: As we turn up our thermostats to make up for the cold weather, most Americans tend to see an uptick in home energy use, raising the cost of utility bills during the coldest months of the year (which we’re unfortunately experiencing now here in the Northern Hemisphere).

It's reasons like these that we’re always thinking about energy efficiency here at the Energy Department -- and constantly working to find ways to help families save money by saving energy. That’s why we’re proud to announce the Department’s Weatherization Assistance
 Program has supported the  weatherization of over 750 thousand homes, including more than 600 thousand homes through the Recovery Act, over the past three years.

Continue »

‘Job-Killing’ EPA Regulations for Chesapeake Bay Will Create 35 Times as Many Jobs as Keystone XL Pipeline

If rhetoric from the Republican Presidential candidates is to be believed, the Environmental Protection Agency is “a tool to crush the private enterprise system” (Mitt Romney), “a cemetery for jobs” (Rick Perry), and “should be re-named the job-killing organization of America” (Michele Bachmann). But it’s a safe bet the tens of thousands of people who may soon find jobs implementing EPA regulations aimed at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay would disagree with those assertions.

A new report released today by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation highlights the job creation numbers — 240,000 full-time jobs — expected to come from achieving new pollution goals set by the EPA’s “Total Maximum Daily Load” restrictions. Finalized in December 2010, these rules require a 25 percent reduction of pollution flowing into the Bay by 2025 and have already spurred state and federal investment in stormwater mitigation projects, upgrades at sewage treatment facilities, addition of power plant smokestack scrubbers, and improvements to management of agricultural runoff and livestock waste management.

Continue »