Taylor English Duma LLP attorney Greg Sanderson recently advised a Washington state-based manufacturer in successfully obtaining a Treasury §1603 cash grant in excess of $17 million for a 55 megawatt biomass power plant. Sanderson is part of the Renewable Energy Finance team at the firm.

The client manufactures bleached and unbleached kraft pulp and linerboard at its mill in the Tacoma, Washington area. The mill employs some of the most advanced paper recycling techniques available, and recycles some 500 tons of waste paper and boxes every day, turning it into high-quality packaging paper while improving the environment. The new power plant is fueled with biomass residues from mill operations and other regional sources. The plant co-generates green power that is sold into the public electrical power grid and steam that is used for paper manufacturing.

For the last two years, Sanderson has worked to obtain incentives for this biomass power project. The grant will cover 30 percent of the cost of the project. "Biomass" is any organic material obtained from terrestrial and aquatic crops, including wood and paper residue. The biomass material is a renewable fuel used by the power plant as an alternative to coal or petroleum products.

"The 2009 Recovery Act has made billions available to companies trying to build renewable energy facilities," Sanderson says. "The policy is to promote domestic and renewable sources of energy."

Sanderson is a member of the Taylor English Duma LLP renewable energy team. Taylor English lawyers represent renewable energy developers and investors to help them qualify for tax incentives and obtain project financing in debt and capital markets. Sanderson has been involved in more than 100 similar tax credit transactions supporting renewable energy.

"It is great to be able to complete a project like this and see it work," Sanderson says. "It is rewarding because we are helping to produce electricity from renewable resources. Renewable biomass energy is produced locally, carbon neutral, and environmentally friendly. Our nation needs to develop more renewable sources to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil."

Joseph Lieberman's decision to vote against Obamacare makes it nearly certain that the measure will not get the 60 votes required to end debate. 

The President will pay a steep political price if his healthcare bill fails to pass Congress.  On the right he has already taken a hit for pushing the legislation in the face of substantial public opposition.  On the left, he will suffer not only for failing to get the legislation approved but for all of the opportunities he has lost along the way as the debate over health care has dominated the legislative calendar so far.

Other democratic priorities, like energy and climate change have taken a back seat during the health care debate. 

In a blow to the administration's hopes of adopting health care legislation, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I. CT) indicated that he will vote against the health care legislation currently pending in the Senate. 

The bill's supporters had said earlier that they thought they had secured Lieberman's vote as they sought to avoid an impasse within the Democratic Party.  On Sunday, however, Lieberman told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to scrap the idea of expanding Medicare and to abandon any new government insurance plan or else lose his support. 

The RasmussenReports Presidential Approval Index hit another new low today, falling to -19.  This is the second day in a row that the index has set a record low.  In today's results, only 23% polled strongly approve, while 42% strongly disapprove.

The President's approval rating took another step downward, hitting a new low as 41% polled "strongly disapprove" of the President's performance in contrast to only 25% who "strongly approve" for a net of -16. 

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a case which challenges the constitutionality of Congress' delegation of power to the PCAOB to develop accounting rules for public companies under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

If the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs, it could mean years of painful unraveling for public companies and the SEC as they try to determine which parts of SOX are applicable and which are not.

The reaction to Obama's Tuesday night speech on Afghanistan from West Point: "Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan.  It . . . left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught."

That opinion, voiced by Der Spiegel, sums up the reaction of many this Wednesday morning.  (By the way, weren't the Europeans supposed to love us against after Obama was elected?)

The President proposes a troop surge of 30,000 during 2010, but a drawn down only 18 months later.  (Memo to Taliban: Hold on to 2011 and you're good to go).

Obama has tried to split the baby with his Afghanistan policy and it will make neither the left nor the right happy.  Obama campaigned as a dove and his liberal supporters won't like the surge.  Conservatives have never been happy with Obama and his announcement of a deadline for withdrawing troops will disappoint those who think we are giving aid and comfort to the enemy by forecasting the date when we will no longer be committed to the effort.