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Rand Paul: Obama criticism of BP ‘un-American’

Associated Press | Kentucky’s Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul criticized President
Barack Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill Friday as putting “his
boot heel on the throat of BP” and “really un-American.”

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Navistar: Electric truck to FedEx by end of year

Dow Jones Newswires | U.S. truck maker Navistar International Corp. said Thursday it will deliver its first electric truck to FedEx Corp. by the end of the year, thanks, in part, to stimulus funding provided last year by the government.

Navistar’s eStar model is the first medium-duty commercial vehicle to receive the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s clean-fuel fleet vehicle certification and the California Air Resources Board’s certification as a zero-emission vehicle, the company said.

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Exelon CEO Rowe doubtful on climate bill odds

From Crain’s Chicago Business | In a speech in Washington, D.C., Exelon Corp. Chairman and CEO John W. Rowe spoke about the Senate climate change legislation proposed Wednesday. Rowe said the bill is a reasonable compromise, but he put long odds on it going anywhere this year.

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Leak from Exelon nuke reaches major NJ aquifer

Associated Press | Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power
plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking
water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief
said Friday.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster
Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated
water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to
drinking water supplies.

The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009
spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been
sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium.

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BP to try capping oil leak Thursday

Associated Press | BP’s chief executive says that a containment
dome designed to cover the Gulf oil leak will be on the seabed
Thursday, and will be hooked up to a drill ship over the weekend.

CEO Tony Hayward told reporters Tuesday that if all goes according to
plan, the principal leak could be contained by early next week. But he
stressed that this procedure has never been done before at a depth of
5,000 feet, saying “there’s no guarantees.”

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Nalco Holding’s shares rise after BP cleanup news

Dow Jones Newswires | Shares of Nalco Holding Co. leapt Monday on the news that oil giant BP is planning
to use the company’s chemicals to help clean up the massive oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nalco, which is based in Naperville, makes a dispersant chemical that will help break down the
oil. Its shares jumped 18 percent to $29.25, hitting its highest point since October 2007. Other companies with possible roles in the cleanup also climbed Monday,
including Clean Harbors Inc. BP said it will pay the costs to clean
up the spill.

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Deadline extended for Hollywood sign’s land

Hollywood-Web.jpg(Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

Associated Press | The effort to preserve the land beside the world-famous Hollywood sign
has taken a typical Tinseltown twist: “To be continued.”

The Trust for Public Land said Wednesday it has received a 16-day
extension to finish raising the $12.5 million it needs to buy and
preserve the hilltop property from private developers. The trust hopes to buy the land from its Chicago-area owners and give it
to the city so it can be incorporated into the adjacent, 4,200-acre
Griffith Park.

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BP America, other oil companies discuss drilling

From The Times Online | Lamar McKay, the chairman of Chicago-based BP America, said that he was “encouraged” by Obama’s decision to open up vast tracts of America’s coastline to exploration. “It’s a constructive step. We believe the industry has a strong track record of performance in the Gulf of Mexico and are confident that development can be done elsewhere in the same safe and environmentally sensitive manner while creating needed jobs,” he said.

Get the full story: timesonline.com.

Exelon CEO discusses nuclear waste at hearing

From Reuters | At a public hearing in Washington on Thursday, federal commissioners and business leaders, including the chief executive of Chicago-based Exelon Corp., discussed the problem of finding a home for radioactive waste in the U.S. The commissioners said that although nuclear waste does not pose an immediate threat to the U.S., a plan on its disposal must be set up to address worries Americans have about expanding nuclear power.