Chamber of Commerce

Congress Reconvenes After Midterm Elections

According to a Bloomberg BNA report, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, one of the plaintiffs in National Association of Manufacturers, Inc. v. SEC, the conflict minerals case currently pending in the DC Circuit, claims that the litigation “is sparking new interest by Congress in the requirements.”

International Ice Patrol Searches Atlantic For Icebergs

The US is the only country with an Arctic coastline that has not yet ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty, which could put it at a disadvantage in laying claim to what could be substantial resources on its outer continental shelf. The Law of the Sea Treaty – or more formally, the United Nations… Keep reading →


On September 19th, Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent a letter to the CEO of each Fortune 500 company requesting detailed information on his/her company’s cybersecurity practices. Given the particular importance of the energy sector to overall U.S. cybersecurity readiness, Senator Rockefeller’s expectations as to energy sector responses will undoubtedly be high.

The introductory message of the Rockefeller letter is emphatically simple: [we paraphrase] “In the face of an unprecedented national security challenge, The Chamber of Commerce and other inside-the-Beltway lobbyists have thwarted the passage of The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 which was supported by the President and the country’s top military officers. I now call on each of you as business leaders and Americans to express your support for the legislative efforts necessary to protect our economy and country.” Punchy perhaps, but on a stand-alone basis it would not be more than one would expect to get from a Ranking Democrat on a hotly debated issue in an election year. It does not, however, stand-alone. Keep reading →


Production tax credits for wind are creating distortions in power markets, and after 20 years of subsidies it may be time to let the credits expire, experts told an Energy Policy Forum in Washington June 5.

“We are not anti-wind,” said Mayo Shattuck, Executive Chairman, Exelon Corp. “But there comes a time when we need free-market price signals,” so businesses can make decisions on investments for the next 20 to 60 years. Keep reading →


The US “is on the cusp of an energy boom that is already creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, revitalizing entire communities, and reinvigorating American manufacturing,” said US Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue as he laid out the Chamber’s priorities for 2012.

In his annual “State of American Business” report, delivered Thursday in the Italianate Hall of Flags in the Chamber’s Lafayette Square headquarters, Donohue highlighted energy first as a sector offering vast promise in jobs and revenue to help revitalize the US economy, but only if domestic resources are developed. Keep reading →


The White House gathered the heads of 60 business, labor, municipal, and academic organizations on Friday to announce plans to invest $4 billion in building energy efficiency over the next 24 months, and none of that will be taxpayer money.

The investments will come in what’s called performance contracting, by which companies specializing in building efficiency retrofit buildings and are paid from the energy savings that result. Up-front investment is financed by banks based on contractor-guaranteed annual savings. Once the loan is repaid, the building owner gets the savings. Keep reading →