EPA to relax clean power regulations
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's administration is set to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's efforts to slow global warming, the Clean Power Plan that restricts greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.
A plan to be announced in coming days would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
The plan by the Environmental Protection Agency also would let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades, according to a summary of the plan and several people familiar with the full proposal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the plan publicly.
Combined with a planned rollback of car-mileage standards, the plan represents a significant retreat from Obama-era efforts to fight climate change and would reverse an Obama-era push to shift away from coal and toward less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power.
A three-page summary being circulated at the White House focuses on boosting efficiency at coal-fired power plants and allowing states to reduce "wasteful compliance costs" while focusing on improved environmental outcomes.
The Supreme Court put the Obama plan on hold in 2016 following a legal challenge by industry and coal-friendly states, an order that remains in effect.
-- The Associated Press
Trump complains about rising Fed rates
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump complained to wealthy donors at a fundraiser on Long Island, N.Y., last week that the man he chose as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, has disappointed him by raising interest rates, according to people who attended the event.
Trump said that he had expected Powell to adhere to an easy-money monetary policy, by keeping interest rates low, when he nominated Powell in November to succeed Janet Yellen. Instead, Powell has continued Yellen's pace of gradual return to historically normal rates, by raising rates twice this year.
On Monday, Trump complained about the Fed chairman publicly, telling Reuters "I'm not thrilled with his raising of interest rates, no. I'm not thrilled."
Trump previously criticized the Fed this summer, breaking with decades of presidential convention. "I don't like all of this work that we're putting into the economy and then I see rates going up," Trump told CNBC in July.
Aides have said that Trump worries that additional rate increases could slow economic growth, which is on track to reach 3 percent this year for the first time since 2005.
Fed officials, including Powell, have long said they are gradually raising interest rates in order to balance the need to support economic growth -- and the return of the economy to maximum employment -- and guard against a rapid increase in inflation.
-- The New York Times
Arby's to make growth push into Asia
Arby's is hoping its meat-heavy approach to fast food will appeal to Asian diners.
The restaurant franchisee plans to open 100 new Arby's locations in South Korea over the next decade, with the stores beginning to open next year. The move marks the biggest expansion yet for the roast-beef chain in Asia, and it could set the stage for a push into Japan as well. It currently has two restaurants apiece in South Korea and Japan, but they're on U.S. military bases.
Moving into South Korea "will open the doors to other parts of Asia," said Tim Murphy, president of the overseas business at Arby's parent Inspire Brands Inc. "We want to be a high-growth company, and international is helping us to do that."
Arby's, which has more than 3,400 restaurants globally, has staged a comeback in recent years with a menu focused on meats, including venison, brisket and Greek gyros. The question now is how well its formula will work in individual countries. Arby's already operates in Canada, Egypt, Kuwait and Turkey, and it's planning more locations in Egypt soon.
Inspire Chief Executive Officer Paul Brown also faces challenges at home. The chain's U.S. system sales last year rose just 1.3 percent, compared with growth of 4 percent or higher in each of the previous three years, according to Technomic data.
-- Bloomberg News
State considers bonds to cover fire suits
California state lawmakers abandoned an effort to change liability laws that expose utilities PG&E Corp. and Edison International to billions in potential damages from last year's wildfires.
Lawmakers don't have enough time to study and pass a bill shielding the utilities before the legislative session ends Aug. 31, Paul Payne, a spokesman for state Sen. Bill Dodd, said Saturday. Dodd, a Democrat, is co-chairman of a conference committee that was weighing the reforms.
PG&E, the state's biggest utility owner, has lobbied lawmakers to change a rule known as "inverse condemnation," which says property owners can collect compensation from utilities linked to fires even if the companies weren't negligent. PG&E could face as much as $17 billion in liabilities for the 2017 fires, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The committee is considering letting the utility issue bonds backed by customer bills to cover damages from wildfires last year that destroyed thousands of homes in Northern California wine country. Such a proposal was expected to be received positively by investors, according to Julien Dumoulin-Smith, an analyst for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
-- Bloomberg News
8 fast-food chains end 'no-poach' rules
Eight more restaurant chains have agreed to end a policy that blocks workers from switching jobs within the individual brands, becoming the latest companies to curtail a once-prevalent hiring practice that critics say depressed wages for some of the United States' lowest-paid employees.
As part of agreements with the Washington state attorney general's office Monday, Applebee's, Church's Chicken, Five Guys, IHOP, Jamba Juice, Little Caesars, Panera Bread and Sonic all agreed to remove a so-called no-poach clause from their contracts with franchisees.
Such restrictions are not unique to the restaurant industry, but until recently they were ubiquitous, particularly among fast-food chains. That began to change last year, after two prominent economists at Princeton produced a report that focused on how no-poach clauses could lock workers into low-wage jobs.
Bob Ferguson, the Washington state attorney general, began investigating the clauses after reading an article in The New York Times that examined their effect on the mobility of restaurant workers, one of the largest workforces in the country. That investigation, which began in January, led to agreements with seven fast-food companies, including Arby's, Carl's Jr., and McDonald's, to remove no-poach restrictions.
-- The New York Times
Business on 08/21/2018