Our friends at Inside INdiana Business ran this release from Honda, illustrating how the car company is making efforts to move toward the future — and how its Indiana production facility is playing a key role:

Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, LLC (HMIN) today marked the start of mass production of the all-new 2012 Civic Natural Gas as it moves to increase production of the alternative-fuel Civic to support an expanding network of certified Civic Natural Gas dealers across the U.S. Engines for the Civic Natural Gas will continue to be supplied by Honda’s engine plant in Anna, Ohio.

HMIN will ramp-up production of the Civic Natural Gas (formerly the Civic GX) during the 2012 model year to meet anticipated increasing demand for alternative-fuel vehicles. The added production will support Honda’s growing network of U.S. Honda dealers qualified to provide retail sales and service support for the Civic Natural Gas, expanding from 72 Honda dealers in four states to nearly 200 dealers in 36 states, including one new Honda dealer in Indiana.

The 2012 Civic Natural Gas is powered by the cleanest internal combustion engine ever certified by the U.S. EPA and is the only OEM-made natural gas vehicle available for retail purchase in America. It is part of Honda’s growing portfolio of advanced environmental technology vehicles which include three hybrid models, the world’s most advanced fuel cell electric vehicle, the FCX Clarity, and the Fit EV electric vehicle and a Honda plug-in hybrid car, both launching in 2012. The fully redesigned 2012 Civic Natural Gas model goes on-sale October 18, 2011, with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) starting at $26,155.

“We’re extremely proud Indiana is the home for this all-new Civic Natural Gas,” said Jun Nishimoto, HMIN President. “As the sole producers of the Civic Natural Gas, our associates in Greensburg are making an important contribution to Honda’s global effort to reduce CO2 emissions and advance the deployment of vehicles that can help the transition away from gasoline to cleaner and more sustainable alternative fuels.”
 

For the fourth year in a row, Eli Lilly and its employees are showing a true commitment to making their city a better place. The Indy Star reports on this year’s massive undertaking:

An army of 8,000 red-shirted volunteers will fan out across the city today, planting thousands of trees, painting at least seven large murals to brighten public spaces and generally dressing up the community.

This is the fourth annual Lilly Global Day of Service, when 24,000 employees of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. volunteer for community service projects in 39 countries around the world.

Here in the company’s hometown, volunteers from at least 30 other companies, which are providing people and donated services, will reinforce the Lilly volunteers.

Event organizers estimate the value of the 35,000 hours of volunteer labor plus the materials and supplies at nearly $2 million for the day in Indianapolis.

Last year’s Day of Service included the creation of a six mile-long linear park along the sides of I-70 on the west side of Downtown.

While that caused some traffic problems for several hours while I-70 was closed, today’s projects will have minimal impact on most motorists. The ramps of the Emerson Avenue interchange of I-70 will be closed for various periods while the cloverleaf receives new trees and other landscaping.

“We are putting more emphasis on the Eastside this year, to help the neighborhoods, where so much is going on,” said David Forsell, president of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful.

The agency is a partner with Lilly in the Day of Service, and he was referring to developments on the Eastside of the city by the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee to revitalize a neighborhood as a lasting legacy of the NFL game here in February.

Some of the work has been planned as a memorial, including development of a peace garden in a westside park, which will be created in memory of the victims of violence.

“This is a monumental day for civic service,” Forsell said. “In any community, it doesn’t come any bigger.”

The 8,000 volunteers will be focused at 46 worksites, which will be grouped in four primary zones of the city today.

Clyde Wayne Crews isn’t the best public speaker in the world. I know that because we brought him in for an Indiana Chamber board meeting a few years ago. Oh, he knew his subject area — the world of federal regulations — but audience members weren’t thrilled by his presentation style.

The most important part of that opening paragraph was the phrase "he knew his subject area." Crews, a policy vice president with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is right on target again with his latest writing as he takes Congress to task for the over-regulation that is threatening so many companies.

It might be easy to blame the agency regulators. But they’re only taking those steps because Congress is simply not doing its job. The partisan politics is preventing progress of any kind; then it becomes worse when our representatives abdicate their responsibility.

Crews writes:

“Ultimately, voters need the ability to hold Congress directly accountable for regulations by requiring congressional approval of new rules. Thus, legislation that will lead to costly agency rules regulating, say, lamp ballast energy efficiency may or may not make sense to a congressman who may have to vote directly to approve the accompanying costs.

“As Congress becomes more answerable for regulation, it will face greater incentives to ensure that benefits exceed costs as determined by independent analysis, rather than by agencies’ own estimates. Greater ongoing oversight might dampen the tendency to overregulate in the future, thus creating pressure for a ‘regulatory ceiling’ to parallel the fiscal debt ceiling. Regulation does not control itself, and agencies will not apply the brakes.We have to do it, through our elected representatives.”

Read more from Crews and access his full report.

House Republicans in Congress have a plan for their quickly-approaching fall/winter session. Will it be carried out? Based on recent experiences, one has to be skeptical. But a plan to tackle relief for small businesses and specific costly regulations is a good first step.

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council says the following was included in a memo from Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia to caucus members:

The House GOP plans to repeal specific regulations, and advance broader regulatory reform bills such as the REINS Act and Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act.  In addition, there will be forthcoming action on a bill to allow small business owners to take a tax deduction equal to 20% of their income. Hopefully, the House will move quickly on this pro-growth proposal.

The House GOP will move to repeal the 3% withholding mandate on government contractors. As SBE Council and its allies have argued, this withholding tax would especially burden small business contractors by worsening cash flow conditions and putting small firms at a competitive disadvantage in the government procurement marketplace. The mandate will also raise costs for taxpayers and state and local governments.      

The "top 10 job-destroying regulations" identified by the GOP leadership, and the time-table for congressional action follows:

NLRB’s Boeing Ruling (Action: Week of September 12): H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, would take the common sense step of preventing the NLRB from restricting where an employer can create jobs in the United States.

Utility MACT and CSAPR (Action: Week of September 19): H.R. 2401, the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act would require a cumulative economic analysis for specific EPA rules, and specifically delay the final date for both the utility MACT and CSAPR rules until the full impact of the Obama Administration’s regulatory agenda has been studied.

Boiler MACT (Action: Week of October 3):  H.R. 2250, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act would provide a legislative stay of four interrelated rules issued by the EPA in March of this year.  The legislation would also provide the EPA with at least 15 months to re-propose and finalize new, achievable rules that do not destroy jobs, and provide employers with an extended compliance period.

Cement MACT (Action: Week of October 3):  H.R. 2681, the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act would provide a legislative stay of these three rules and provide EPA with at least 15 months to re-propose and finalize new, achievable rules that do not destroy jobs, and provide employers with an extended compliance period.

Coal Ash (Action: October/November): H.R. 2273, the Coals Residuals Reuse and Management Act would create an enforceable minimum standard for the regulation of coal ash by the states, allowing their use in a safe manner that protects jobs.

Grandfathered Health Plans (Action: November/December): The Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Workforce committees will soon be working on legislation to repeal these ObamaCare restrictions. Small business owners and their employees will not be able to "keep the health care plans they currently have" as promised by President Obama and supporters of the health care law.

Ozone Rule (Action: Winter): This effective ban or restriction on construction and industrial growth for much of America is possibly the most harmful of all the currently anticipated Obama Administration regulations. Consequences would reach far across the U.S. economy, resulting in an estimated cost of $1 trillion or more over a decade and millions of jobs. 

Farm Dust (Action: Winter): The EPA is expected to issue revised standards for particulate matter (PM) in the near future. The House will act on H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act. H.R. 1633 would protect American farmers and jobs by establishing a one year prohibition against revising any national ambient air quality standard applicable to coarse PM and limiting federal regulation of dust where it is already regulated under state and local laws.

Greenhouse Gas (Action: Winter): The EPA’s upcoming greenhouse gas new source performance standards (NSPS) will affect new and existing oil, natural gas, and coal-fired power plants, as well as oil refineries, nationwide. 

NLRB’s Ambush Elections (Action: Winter): This summer, the NLRB issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that could significantly alter current union representation election procedures, giving both employers and employees little time to react to union formations in the future. The result will increase labor costs and uncertainty for nearly all private employers in the U.S. The House will soon consider legislation that will bring common sense to union organizing procedures to protect the interests of both employers and their workers.

Congress has left town — and the old joke is that democracy is safe for the time being. But our representatives and senators will return in September, and you have the opportunity to join them for a day.

The Chamber’s annual D.C. Fly-in is a whirlwind 24 hours (a bit longer about 10 years ago when our large group was trapped in Washington by hurricane-force winds but that’s another story). But it’s an important period in which, for example, Indiana business leaders can tell their reps and key staff members just what they need to do to try and get our econony moving again. The message might start with "Get out of our way," but we’ll leave that up to you.

It’s always a great event. A special presenter this year (at the September 22 breakfast) will be the Canadian ambassador to the United States. The roundtable discusson is one of the few ways to hear directly from most, if not all, of our state’s delegation.

If you’ve been before, you know all about the opportunity. For all others, there are plenty of veterans to help make it a special experience. We look forward to seeing you in Washington.

A recent post of mine railed about an overabundance of acronyms. But if it’s just one acronym and it offers some (maybe a little) clarity to an important federal piece of legislation, I can live with it.

Applause is in order when Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation can be shortened to TRAIN. And I’ll translate the explanation below from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council to say it is meant to require thorough analysis before EPA regulations can be put into place.

SBE Council delivered a letter to Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah) in support of the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act of 2011, H.R. 1705.  The Act would provide valuable information by mandating analysis of the cumulative costs and benefits to consumers, businesses and the economy of a variety of regulations due to be imposed by the EPA over the coming two years.

"This is vital," said SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan in the letter, "given our weak economy and the concerns small business owners continue to express about their ability to compete, create jobs and even survive."

As Kerrigan pointed out in the letter, the costs of environmental regulation hit small businesses particularly hard.  The SBA’s Office of Advocacy reports that the per-employee costs of environmental regulations are 364 percent higher for firms with less than 20 employees compared to businesses with 500 or more workers.

The TRAIN Act proposes that the cost analysis be comprehensive, including the impact these regulations would have on U.S. competitiveness, employment, electricity prices, fuel prices, and the reliability of the power supply.  Regulatory costs can impose both direct and indirect costs on small businesses – as consumers, and as suppliers to those businesses targeted by the regulation.

Rankings, no matter the category, are subjective at best. When the topic is "green cities," you can add an exclamation point to the subjectivity.

An entity called the U.S. and Canada Green City Index, in a survey commissioned by the Seimens Corporation, evaluated 27 cities on 31 indicators. There’s no need to be upset about where Indianapolis or any other Hoosier cities ranked because they didn’t even make the list of cities being evaluated.

A few of the results:

The indicators ranged from water and energy consumption and conservation to public use of land, public transportation quality and efficiency, and even how “walkable” the city is to determine the ranking.

Although some cities were expected to top the Green list, there were some surprises, according to the researchers. For instance, the five Greenest cities in North America were the following:

1. San Francisco
2. Vancouver
3. New York City
4. Seattle
5. Denver

Some people may be surprised that New York City is listed as one of the top five Greenest cities. But New York has excellent public transportation, is considered very walkable with new “pedestrian zones,” has an efficient land-use program, and is economically strong compared to many other North American cities.

The five least Green cities in North America were:

1. Detroit
2. St. Louis
3. Cleveland
4. Phoenix
5. Pittsburg 

Some of the least Green cities are former U.S. manufacturing centers that have been on the decline for years. In many cases, the recession has amplified their decline.

“It is interesting to note that while the United States does not have a federal climate policy and no federal carbon standards, most of the Greenest cities in the index have established carbon reduction targets,” adds Stephen Ashkin, CEO of Sustainable Dashboard Tools, LLC.  
 
Overall Rankings, Greenest to Least Green:
1. San Francisco
2. Vancouver
3. New York
4. Seattle
5. Denver
6. Boston
7. Los Angeles
8. Washington, DC
9. Toronto
10. Minneapolis
11. Chicago
12. Ottawa
13. Philadelphia
14. Calgary
15. Sacramento
16. Houston
17. Dallas
18. Orlando
19. Montreal
20. Charlotte
21. Atlanta
22. Miami
23. Pittsburg, PA
24. Phoenix
25. Cleveland
26. St. Louis
27. Detroit