Marketplace: News Archives

Wednesday, December 6, 2000

Cuba, MO, Features Index

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It's December 6th. I'm David Brancaccio, and we're in Cuba, Missouri, this week. We're looking for evidence that the so-called global economy really resonates in Middle America. Our search continues after a look at today's top stories with Sara Gardner in Los Angeles...

Stock market forecasters like to say that Wall Street is obsessed with 2 things: interest rates and corporate earnings. If it was the prospect of lower interest rates that inspired a record-setting rally yesterday, it was the prospect of wilting earnings that brought the market back to earth today. The Dow fell 233 points, and the Nasdaq composite slid 92 points, which is more than 3 percent. Investors were caught off-guard by Apple Computer's admission yesterday that it'll lose money in the current quarter. Ted Weisberg at the New York stock exchange…

Weisberg: "That clearly put a cloud over yesterday's performance. At around 150 today, Bank of America came out and preannounced their earnings, which were well below the street expectations. That's what really did the damage today. They were sort of in trouble prior to that, but that really took a quick 150 points out of the Dow."

When California Governor Gray Davis lit the state Christmas tree last night, he turned it off after five minutes. Power industry officials in the state declared a Stage 2 power emergency today, the third in as many days. From the technology desk, Marketplace's Laura Sydell reports...

Sydell: "Today, California's power industry officials warned industrial customers to cut electrical use in the morning. These customers buy power at a reduced rate, knowing they may have to curtail use. And, for the third day in a row, residents have been warned of severe problems. The situation was so serious last night, almost reaching a state three alert, that there was the threat of rolling blackouts The Independent System Operator, or ISO, says the problem is caused by an ever burgeoning state population, a growing high tech industry overpowering the state's electricity grid, and no new power plant construction. The spokesman for the agency overseeing most of the state's energy grid, Patrick Dorenson, explains:"

Dorenson: "You can't continue to add population, the houses new residents live in, and the businesses that they work in and not add to your energy system over the same period of time and not expect to have some problems."

Sydell: "One of the problems that demand for power this summer was so great that repairs could not be made. And a third of the plants currently are closed for maintenance. There is no end in sight to California's energy woes. With an anticipated colder winter in the Northwest and higher fuel costs, the problems will continue. From the technology desk, I'm Laura Sydell for Marketplace."

Brier: "The Environmental Protection Agency says that the best way to clean up the Hudson and protect public health is to remove 2.6 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the river bottom. For decades, General Electric dumped the chemicals into the river until PCBS were outlawed in 1977.

EPA administrator Carol Browner says years of scientific study backs her agency's aggressive plan to dredge the river…"

Browner: "This river needs to be cleaned - it will not clean itself. The PCBS are not being buried in the river sediment as some have suggested but continue to move, continue to contribute to the pollution of this river. So, my strong suggestion is we not just study this river to death."

Brier: "Under the federal Superfund law, GE could be forced to pay the 460-million dollar price of the EPA's plan. GE spokesperson Beth Comstock called the proposal unreasonable and wrong..."

Comstock: " Basically the EPA wants to come in and rip the heart of this river out to save it. It makes no sense. The river is cleaner than it's been in generations, natural recovery and some clean up operations that have been going on are working. We think the EPA has charted a course of environmental devastation."

Brier: "GE plans to fight the proposal. The EPA plans several public hearings before a final decision is made in June. If approved, dredging would take 5 years to complete. In New York, I'm Michelle Brier for Marketplace."

The U.S. Army's Inspector General today says an investigation confirms charges that the Army Corps of Engineers rigged the data in order to push through a billion-dollar project on the Mississippi River. Marketplace's John Dimsdale has more...

Dimsdale: Farmers and barge operators in the Midwest have been pushing for navigational improvements in the upper Mississippi to help them get exports to market more quickly. Based on 1993 projections of increased barge traffic, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended a billion dollars worth of new dam and lock construction. But a Corps economist, Donald Sweeney, accused his bosses of manipulating the numbers to make it look like there'd be more economic benefits than would actually result from the improvements. Today's inspector general report backs up Sweeney's whistle-blowing. Environmental groups, which oppose the project because of ecological harm to the river, are pleased. Jeff Stein is the Mississippi River regional representative for the environmental group American Rivers."

Stein: "Corps leadership created an atmosphere in which they altered those numbers to get to a particular outcome, because they felt it was their job to listen to their clients, the industry, to get the answer that the clients wanted. And that's improper."

Dimsdale: "The Army Corps of Engineers wasn't talking today, but has been ordered to give whistle-blower Sweeney his old job, with back pay and benefits. They must also take what's called "appropriate" action against the three military officers who cooked the books, and spend another year re-doing the numbers on the costs and benefits of the dam and lock improvements.

In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace."