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The cost of poor company knowledge management is high and getting higher. Managing knowledge in an era of compartmentalization and specialization is more difficult when organizations face layoffs, looming retirements, and the scarcity of trained, qualified workers.

The long-awaited Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill saw more delays this week as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) abandoned efforts to work with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) on the legislation, citing frustration with reports that indicated congressional leadership and the administration were prioritizing immigration over climate and energy legislation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week sent its final so-called “Tailoring Rule” to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The move signals that the rule, which could require power plants and other entities to obtain operating permits to emit greenhouse gases, is close to finalization.

Utah is the latest state to announce that it will not participate in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) when the regional cap-and-trade program begins in January 2012. Republican governor Gary Herbert’s office told reporters that the state would not entirely quit the initiative, even though the governor disagreed with some principles favored by it.

The Australian government has reportedly shelved controversial plans for a national carbon trading program until at least 2013, citing political and public opposition to the proposal. The world’s biggest coal exporter was proposing to reduce greenhouse gases by 5% to 15% of 2000 levels via a carbon trading system similar to Europe’s within the next decade.

Last week brought news of several more proposed coal-fired plant closures from Canada, Georgia, Colorado, and Washington State.

The Department of Energy on Earth Day last week announced it would invest more than $200 million over five years to accelerate the development and commercialization of solar and water power technologies. Investments include initiatives to spur photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, to develop the PV supply chain, and to accelerate marine and hydrokinetic technologies.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) today gave its approval to the first U.S. offshore wind farm, a long-disputed and much-delayed project on federal submerged lands in Nantucket Sound. The approval comes with conditions, however, including requiring the developer of the $1 billion wind farm to agree to additional binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impact of construction and operation of the facility.

Demand for electricity in the U.S. dropped by 4.2% in 2009—the greatest decline in a single year in at least 60 years, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) found in its annual State of the Markets Report, released last week.

The scale and complexity of Duke Energy’s Edwardsport coal gasification plant under construction in southwest Indiana has added about $530 million to project costs—a 23% increase—company officials told state regulators last week. The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant slated to begin operation in 2012 is now estimated to cost $2.88 billion. The total project, […]