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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
14 May
Release Date: 05/02/2013Contact Information: EPA, Molly Hooven (News Media Only), hooven.molly@epa.gov, 202-564-2313, 202-564-4355, USDA, Michelle Saghafi (News Media Only), Michelle.Saghafi@oc.usda.gov, 202-720-6959
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a comprehensive scientific report on honey bee health. The report states that there are multiple factors playing a role in honey bee colony declines, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure.
"There is an important link between the health of American agriculture and the health of our honeybees for our country’s long term agricultural productivity," said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. "The forces impacting honeybee health are complex and USDA, our research partners, and key stakeholders will be engaged in addressing this challenge."
"The decline in honey bee health is a complex problem caused by a combination of stressors, and at EPA we are committed to continuing our work with USDA, researchers, beekeepers, growers and the public to address this challenge," said Acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe. "The report we’ve released today is the product of unprecedented collaboration, and our work in concert must continue. As the report makes clear, we’ve made significant progress, but there is still much work to be done to protect the honey bee population."
In October 2012, a National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health, led by federal researchers and managers, along with Pennsylvania State University, was convened to synthesize the current state of knowledge regarding the primary factors that scientists believe have the greatest impact on managed bee health.
Key findings include:
Parasites and Disease Present Risks to Honey Bees:
The parasitic Varroa mite is recognized as the major factor underlying colony loss in the U.S. and other countries. There is widespread resistance to the chemicals beekeepers use to control mites within the hive. New virus species have been found in the U.S. and several of these have been associated with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Increased Genetic Diversity is Needed:
U.S. honeybee colonies need increased genetic diversity. Genetic variation improves bees thermoregulation (the ability to keep body temperature steady even if the surrounding environment is different), disease resistance and worker productivity.
Honey bee breeding should emphasize traits such as hygienic behavior that confer improved resistance to Varroa mites and diseases (such as American foulbrood).
Poor Nutrition Among Honey Bee Colonies:
Nutrition has a major impact on individual bee and colony longevity. A nutrition-poor diet can make bees more susceptible to harm from disease and parasites. Bees need better forage and a variety of plants to support colony health.
Federal and state partners should consider actions affecting land management to maximize available nutritional forage to promote and enhance good bee health and to protect bees by keeping them away from pesticide-treated fields.
There is a Need for Improved Collaboration and Information Sharing:
Best Management Practices associated with bees and pesticide use, exist, but are not widely or systematically followed by members of the crop-producing industry. There is a need for informed and coordinated communication between growers and beekeepers and effective collaboration between stakeholders on practices to protect bees from pesticides.
Beekeepers emphasized the need for accurate and timely bee kill incident reporting, monitoring, and enforcement.
Additional Research is Needed to Determine Risks Presented by Pesticides:
The most pressing pesticide research questions relate to determining actual pesticide exposures and effects of pesticides to bees in the field and the potential for impacts on bee health and productivity of whole honey bee colonies.
Those involved in developing the report include USDA’s Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Agricultural Research Services (ARS), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) as well as the EPA and Pennsylvania State University. The report will provide important input to the Colony Collapse Disorder Steering Committee, led by the USDA, EPA and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
An estimated one-third of all food and beverages are made possible by pollination, mainly by honey bees. In the United States, pollination contributes to crop production worth $20-30 billion in agricultural production annually. A decline in managed bee colonies puts great pressure on the sectors of agriculture reliant on commercial pollination services. This is evident from reports of shortages of bees available for the pollination of many crops.
The Colony Collapse Steering Committee was formed in response to a sudden and widespread disappearance of adult honey bees from beehives, which first occurred in 2006. The Committee will consider the report’s recommendations and update the CCD Action Plan which will outline major priorities to be addressed in the next 5-10 years and serve as a reference document for policy makers, legislators and the public and will help coordinate the federal strategy in response to honey bee losses.
To view the report, which represents the consensus of the scientific community studying honey bees, please visit: http://www.usda.gov/documents/ReportHoneyBeeHealth.pdf
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Published by: United States Environmental Protection Agence (EPA) ( yosemite.epa.gov)
14 May
By Marion Douet
TOURNEMIRE, France |
Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:44am EDT
TOURNEMIRE, France (Reuters) – A long slow retreat from nuclear power in France or indecision over policy could be very risky as skilled staff retire and young people reject careers with an uncertain future, the state-funded atomic safety research institute said.
If France does decide to pull out of atomic energy it should follow Germany’s example and do it quickly, or face operating with inadequate personnel, said Jacques Repussard, who heads the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN).
“You can’t spread the exit of nuclear over half a century. It’s very dangerous,” he said, adding that this consideration partly explained Germany’s decision to opt for a fast exit to avoid a loss of skills.
France’s state-owned utility EDF, which operates its 58 nuclear reactors, faces a wave of retirements and will have to replace half its nuclear staff by 2017-18.
While Socialist President Francois Hollande has undertaken to cut the country’s reliance on atomic energy to 50 percent of electricity consumption by 2025, from 75 percent now, he has not made clear what would happen after that date.
“If, in the next 10 years, there is no clarity on what the future of nuclear energy will be, we will inevitably see a trend in our universities of young people saying: ‘I don’t want to do that line of work’,” Repussard told Reuters in an interview at one of its research centers in the south of France.
As part of the reduction drive in France, the world’s most nuclear-reliant country, the government has announced that Fessenheim in the east, its oldest nuclear plant, will shut by the end of 2016.
While the government has allowed EDF to pursue building its first next-generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville in northwestern France, it abandoned the previous government’s project to build another reactor at Penly in Normandy.
Germany decided to shut all its nuclear reactors by 2022, in a policy reversal drafted in a rush after Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March 2011.
CONSIDERABLE RISKS
“It was criticized and we asked ourselves how they would do it… But it’s wise because doing it slowly means taking considerable risks with the last operating reactors, as finding skilled subcontractors and companies manufacturing certain parts (could become problematic),” Repussard said.
But he admitted that France, where nuclear reactors are on average 26 years old, would never consider a fast exit even though this would be the safest approach if it decided to stop building new reactors or conducting research.
Another issue for the government to consider, he said, was that generic defects would probably appear in several reactors at around the same time, leading them to stop working abruptly.
This echoed comments earlier this month by Pierre-Franck Chevet, the head of France’s nuclear safety agency, who said the country needed to ensure there was enough available electricity generation capacity to cope with the sudden outage of 5 to 10 nuclear reactors.
“One day we will see wear and tear appear in the steel of core tanks… and when we see it in one, we will probably see it in all the reactors of the same generation in a short space of time,” Repussard said.
Electrabel, the Belgian subsidiary of GDF Suez, has had to close two reactors in Belgium after finding possible cracks in the core tanks that house them.
“To be 80 percent reliant on nuclear energy exposes us to that kind of situation,” he added.
(Writing by Muriel Boselli; Editing by Anthony Barker)
13 May
A new study shows a large gap in perceptions among the sexes in who has more opportunities for advancementâmen or women.
Earlier this month, consulting firm Bain & Co. surveyed 1,834 business professionals world-wide on gender parity in the workplace. The findings, which will be presented later this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, show that 90% and 85% of men and women, respectively, believe qualified applicants of either gender have the same shot at landing a junior-level position. Yet 81% of men said opportunities to move to middle management are gender neutral, compared with just 52% of women. Similarly, 66% of men said promotions to the executive level are equally attainable by both sexes, versus 30% of women. As for appointments to leadership and governance roles, 69% of men and 31% of women said consideration is granted evenly among the sexes.
In reality, women represent a much smaller portion of leadership roles in business. A December 2009 study from New York research organization Catalyst Inc. shows 3% of chief executive officers and 13.5% of all executive-officer positions within Fortune 500 companies are women. In the boardroom, women hold only 15.2% of seats.
Men’s perceptions may be rosier than women’s because they may be considering the long-term progress women have made in the workplace, says Ellen Galinsky, president of nonprofit Families & Work Institute in New York. Men will “say women have it a lot better than they did in the past,” she says. “Women say, ‘Yes, but there are a lot fewer of us and we had to give up a lot more to get there.’ “
Perceptions may play a role in women lagging behind men in advancing their careers, says Deborah M. Kolb, a professor specializing in women and leadership at Simmons School of Management in Boston. Ms. Kolb says studies have consistently shown women are seen by bosses and colleaguesâmen and women alikeâas being less capable of serving in leadership posts than men, despite evidence to the contrary. “Women often get asked to take career detours, to go into areas like human resources, to be on the diversity committee,” she says. “Men get asked to take on strategic-development activities.”
Similarly, studies suggest that women are disproportionately assigned to oversee change within businessesâassignments that pose greater risk of failure, adds Ms. Kolb. “They get asked to clean up messes, so they might not have a track record of success and mistakes may follow them,” she says.
Research also shows that men are better at developing career advocates than women, Ms. Kolb adds. “Men are much more likely to have sponsors who put them forward,” she says. “Women are not as well connected and networked. It’s harder for them to be seen as the kind of people to be put forward.”
Achieving gender parity in the workplace is possible if business leaders take a systematic and customized approach to finding out what derails women along the way at their organizations, says Orit Gadiesh, chairman of New York-based Bain.”You need to tailor it to the companyâhow many women you have, where they drop off, and what happens with promotions,” she says. “You can’t fix what you don’t measure.”
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
13 May
Big Bang Cosmology Is Consistent With Scripture?Alex Murashko ("The Christian Post," May 8, 2013)
The scientific belief that everything in the universe came from nothing before there was a “Big Bang,” or a moment of creation, is something that all Christians and scientists can agree on, says a leading Christian apologist. Also, J. Warner Wallace argues that the primary premise of Big Bang Cosmology, that everything came from nothing, is consistent with Scripture.
“There are good scientific reasons to believe, good evidential reasons to believe that all space, time, and matter have a beginning. This idea that everything (space, time, and matter) came from nothing is the foundational premise of Big Bang Cosmology,” Wallace told The Christian Post. “It turns out that the primary proposal is absolutely consistent with what we see in Scripture â that God has created everything from nothing and that moment of Creation is something that I see as having good evidence to support such a thing from Big Bang Cosmology.”
Wallace, who recently released his book, Cold-Case Christianity, said that there are some churches that have a certain view of the earth or the Creation model and for whatever reason are hesitant to embrace even the notion of Big Bang Cosmology.
“If you boil it down to its essence, it is that everything came from nothing and I think that is a premise that most of us Christians would affirm,” he said. “A Christian view of Creation and Big Bang Cosmology do not conflict.”
Wallace explained that typically, Christians that hold onto a “young earth” model of Creation have a problem with resolving the age of the universe with Big Bang Cosmology because it implies that the universe is billions of years old.
“From my perspective that’s a separate argument,” he said.
“That the universe came from nothing is a point of agreement between Christians and scientists who embrace Big Bang Cosmology. This is one area in which both of us can agree. We may differ and argue about the age of the universe, that some Christians accept an ancient age of the universe and they would have no problem with the dating of the universe,” Wallace continued. “Other Christians would say, ‘No, I believe in a younger universe,’ and we can have that argument. But the issue about whether or not everything came from nothing is a point of agreement between what science shows us and what the Scriptures reveal.”
He also argues that simply because he acknowledges Big Bang Cosmology does not mean he is affirming all scientific “natural answers” to questions about the earth and universe.
“I am not saying that when I embrace Big Bang Cosmology that I can only find answers that are described by physical laws, physical causes,” Wallace said. “There are many causes that are supernatural. God is involved in the creative process, period.”
The question becomes, “What is sufficient to cause the beginning of all space, time, and matter?”
“It seems to me that ‘thing’ would have to be awfully powerful,” Wallace said. “What we see as the result of science looking at issues such as the second law of thermal dynamics, the cosmic background radiation that we see in the universe, ⦠These are things that point to a past and a beginning… and more and more people are willing to accept [this premise].
“That, to Christians, should sound familiar because that is what we see in Genesis 1 where God brings into existence everything from nothing.”
He adds, “It’s reasonable to say that big bangs require big bangers. What we are really saying is that the big banger here is God.”
Wallace, who is a cold-case homicide detective and once a devout atheist, is one of several Christian apologists scheduled to speak and participate in panel discussions at Stand To Reason’s 20th Anniversary Conference at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., this coming weekend. He became a Christ follower in 1996, and took an evidential approach to truth as he examined the Christian worldview. He earned a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Wallace is a “Christian case maker” at Stand to Reason.
Published by: WorldWide Religious News ( wwrn.org)
12 May
Cold War nuclear bunkers are the latest attempt to safeguard US bat populations under attack from white-nose syndrome.
The disease, first described in a cave system in the state of New York, affects hibernating species is now found in 22 US states and five Canadian provinces.
"But in a human-made structure, like a bunker, we can go into a site like that [after the bats have left] and we can actually scrub a place down."
However, she said that even if the vast resources – financial and technical – needed to build a network of refuges for bats were available, the process of hibernation still held secrets waiting to be unlocked by science.
"Hibernation is something we are getting a lot better handle on but we do not really understand all of the things that are going on," she told BBC News.
"It is tough to hibernate bats and make sure we have all the right conditions – there are a lot of challenges."
The challenges facing attempts to extend this possible solution across the country were highlighted when biologists found that only nine bats – less than a third of the artificial colony – survived the winter.
Steve Agius observed: "While some of the bats survived the capture, transportation, and hibernation, it is clear that increasing the overwinter survival rate is essential when considering the value of further developing artificial hibernacula."
WNS has been described by some biologists as the worst wildlife health crisis in the US in living memory.
It is named after a white fungal infection that appears on the muzzle and/or wings of infected animals.
Researchers say the fungus (Geomyces destructans) thrives in the dark, damp conditions – such as caves and mines.
Studies suggest the fungus arrived in the US after it was somehow transported (probably via humans) from Europe or possibly Asia.
No turning back
Ms Froschauer said frontline efforts were focused on biosecurity in the guise of decontamination and restricting access to places where the disease was known to be present.
She explained US Geological Survey scientists had been able to cultivate viable fungal spores from tiny samples of soil, raising fears of a nightmare scenario of WNS being transported by humans or freight to western US states.
"A tiny chuck of soil – smaller than a US Dime – could easily be stuck in the tread of your shoe could easily be moved, especially if you were to jump on an aeroplane and not even be aware of it," she observed.
In order to minimise the risk of the disease being transported to unaffected areas, the USFWS and other agencies have produce decontamination documents for cavers, researchers and other groups that could come into contact with the fungus.
Even though efforts are being made to stop the disease spreading rapidly, WNS is still extending its range. In its recent update, the US FWS said the disease had been confirmed in Quebec, Canada – the most northerly case to date.
This suggests that the pathogen has not yet reached its limits in terms of how far it can spread geographically, meaning that bat experts and conservationists in these areas have to be on alert for signs of the disease.
Ms Froschauer said experts were resigned to the notion that strategies would have to focus on how to manage the disease, rather than eradicate it from the landscape.
"I expect to see over the next few years the spread continuing in those areas that are just getting the disease," she observed.
"We appear to be observing some sort of timeline between when the disease arrives to when we start to see these population level effects.
"To date, it is not slowing down, it is not stopping its spread."
She said evidence seemed to suggest that there was about a two to three year period between the disease first arriving in an area and signs that it was having an impact at a population level.
"We are getting a lot better at detecting the presence of the fungus earlier, we are finding the fungus in advance of seeing the disease manifest itself.
"A couple of years ago, the only way we knew there were affected bats was because we saw bats with the visible fungus growing on them and observing the behavioural changes."
Ms Froschauer explained that the scientific consensus was that this disease was here to stay and it was not going to be possible to "unpick what had been done".
"We will never see bat populations in the eastern US and Canada at pre-WNS levels in our lifetimes, or for generations afterwards," she warned.
"Our best bet now is to work towards how we can contain the disease while we are working on the science side of things and the other things that could interrupt the cycle of the disease and allow us to work towards the conservation of bats."
12 May
Published by: United States Environmental Protection Agence (EPA) ( yosemite.epa.gov)
12 May
If you’ve been laid off and your former employer is hiring again, you might see the news as a chance to get back to work at your old firm. But first it’s important to consider whether it’s a good ideaâand whether the skills you bring are what the company needs now.
The odds of getting an old job back are good if you were let go simply for budgetary reasons and the company outlook has been improving.
But before you get too excited about trying to return, do a self-assessmentâand be honest. “Sometimes there is some selectivity in who is laid off,” says Jerald Jellison, a professor of social psychology at the University of Southern California who specializes in the workplace. He recommends asking yourself whether you created any bad feelings when you left or while you were working at the company. Was your work up to par? Was your role valued in better economic times?
You also should consider whether or not you feel a renewed commitment to the work you’d be doing, says Mr. Jellison. “I liken it to returning to an old flame. Is it really a good idea? Do you really want to be there?”
What the Company Needs
Next, consider what the company will need as conditions improve. If you were a marketing manager, figure out how you could return with a new angle of attack that could help make the company more competitive. If you’ve enrolled in any courses or have time to sign up for a webinar that will bump up your skills, highlight these efforts in a cover letter.
Keep in mind that even if your old firm is starting to rebuild and your positionâsomething like itâis resurrected, you might not get the job. Approach the application process and interview as if you were a new candidate. Fine-tune your résumé, do research that shows you haven’t fallen behind on what the company has been doing, prepare for the interview and be ready to answer tough questions.
And before you apply, contact former co-workers who have kept their jobs to assess how things are now relative to when you were there. Get up to speed on any other news that can help you understand key personnel changes or staffing needs, says Ruth K. Liebermann, managing director of HR Insourcing in Boston. “Contact your former boss and let him [or her] know that you’re interested,” says Ms. Liebermann. “Tell your boss what new initiatives you plan to bring, with the benefit of hindsight, and what new energy you have coming back.”
No Grudges
When you contact your former boss or human-resources department, assure them that you harbor no bad feelings about being laid off and are eager to return to work. If you’re trying to persuade a new boss to bring you back, focus on your accomplishments and get references to back up your claims.
If there are no full-time positions available, consider asking to work on a contract basis. The pay is often higher and, though there are no benefits, the job may eventually transition into a full-time position.
Don’t be discouraged if you get through the interview process and find out the job now pays less than you earned before. “You have to consider the market conditions,” says Paul Glen, a management consultant in Los Angeles. “Everybody is taking pay cuts and losing benefits. That will change as the economy improves.”
Write to Dennis Nishi at cjeditor@dowjones.com
12 May
Release Date: 03/26/2013Contact Information: James Leventis, AUSA, James.Leventis@usdoj.gov, (803) 929-3172
Dawn Harris-Young, Harris-Young.Dawn@epa.gov, (404) 562-8421
COLUMBIA – U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that United States District Court Judge Cameron Currie approved a consent decree with Weylchem US, Inc. to resolve alleged violations of federal and state air, water, and solid waste pollution laws at Weylchem’s specialty chemical manufacturing facility in Elgin and its wastewater treatment plant in Lugoff. Under the consent decree, Weylchem agreed to perform corrective action measures and to pay a civil penalty of $500,000, of which $175,000 will be paid to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The facility has operated in Elgin since 1967 under various names including Elgin Fine Chemicals, Clariant LSM (America) Inc., and Archimica Inc. The facility produces chemicals for use in pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other products.
The consent decree addresses alleged violations including the mismanagement of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and South Carolina regulations, and standards for hazardous air pollutant emissions under the Clean Air Act. Alleged violations at the Lugoff facility include discharges to the Wateree River that exceeded permitted limits for many of the contaminants of concern under the Clean Water Act. Contaminants of concern include benzene, benzoyl chloride, chlorine, ethyl chloride, ethylene glycol, methanol, methylene chloride, phenol, toluene, and xylene.
U.S. Attorney Nettles expressed his satisfaction with the consent decree, “After years of negotiations, this consent decree is good news for the Lugoff and Elgin communities and the people of South Carolina. Of particular significance is the fact that this consent decree requires Weylchem U.S. to eliminate the discharge to the Wateree River and to stop trucking the waste from Elgin to Lugoff, which of course means that there is no opportunity for a spill on our highways.”
“This agreement will result in better management practices that will ultimately lead to greater protection of public health and the environment for the citizens of South Carolina,” said Gwen Keyes Fleming, Regional Administrator for EPA.
Under the terms of the settlement, Weylchem will no longer be allowed to send wastewater from the Elgin facility to the Lugoff facility and by the end of 2013 will be prohibited from discharging any wastewater into the Wateree River at the Lugoff facility. In addition to eliminating discharge into the Wateree River, the settlement will also result in the elimination of noise and pollution from approximately 30 tanker truck trips per day over public roads and the potential for spills of industrial wastewater during transport.
The facility has already completed a project to reduce its air emissions by improving its air pollution control equipment. The settlement also requires Weylchem to make significant changes to the current operations at the Elgin facility. The corrective actions include addressing fugitive air emissions by implementing an enhanced leak testing and repair regime based on the results of a third-party audit. Weylchem will also test its waste tanks and basins, and sample wastewater and sediment at the Elgin facility, and, if the tests show that tanks or basins are leaking, will make necessary repairs and address potential impacts to the environment. Furthermore, Weylchem has agreed to investigate possible soil or groundwater contamination at the Lugoff site and, if contamination is discovered, to develop and implement a cleanup plan.
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Published by: United States Environmental Protection Agence (EPA) ( yosemite.epa.gov)
11 May
Iran Says Nuclear Sites Safe From Earthquakes And Cyber Threat
11 May
Tire maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
is scheduled to cut the ribbon Thursday on a glassy new headquarters in Akron, Ohio, after nearly a century at a sprawling complex about a half-mile away.
Now, a California-based developer is trying to make sense of what the company is leaving behind. Stuart Lichter, the developer of Goodyear’s new building, as part of the deal got the company’s aging corporate palace, which includes a 1,786-seat theater, a 5,000-seat basketball arena and a “mahogany row” of wood-framed executive offices.
Ross Mantle for the Wall Street Journal
The former Goodyear headquarters, which had a theater and arena
Mr. Lichter, president of Industrial Realty Group LLC, is planning to convert the 1.7 million-square-foot hodgepodge of brick and concrete buildings into hotel rooms, housing, modern office space and other uses. He is planning to start this summer on a 130-room hotel, about 100 rental apartments, a theater and other work with a total price tag of $148 million.
But full realization of the vision is some time off. It isn’t clear how much demand there would be for his planned 800,000 square feet of office space in the Rust Belt city that has seen its population fall to 198,000 from its peak of 290,000 in 1960.
“It’s going to take us some time,” Mr. Lichter said. “I don’t think we’re going to fill 800,000 square feet in a year.”
The project marks the latest attempt to repurpose large corporate headquarters that have grown obsolete. They are sprinkled throughout the country, particularly in the East and Midwest, left behind by companies that have gone out of business, were acquired or moved as they adapted to change.
Some have proved a challenge. For example, the boxy yearslong home of Bell Laboratories in Holmdel Township, N.J., has been empty since 2007, although it now is being targeted for redevelopment as a mix of retail, restaurants, housing and a spa, among other uses.
But other old corporate facilities have found new life. The 1,600-acre former Bethlehem Steel plant in Pennsylvania now hosts a casino, distribution centers and an outdoor theater. In Rochester, N.Y., a community college is slated to move into a chunk of Eastman Kodak Co.’s
corporate campus.
“The challenges are enormous,” said Joseph Seneca, a professor of economics at Rutgers University, who in December published a paper on the rise of empty suburban campuses in New Jersey. “The ability to reinvent several million square feet of existing space is limited.”
In Akron, plans for redevelopment first came more than six years ago, when Goodyear decided its headquarters had become too old in appearance and feeling, as well as inefficient. The complex is a patchwork of various connected buildings added over the years, filled with a warren of hallways and quirky features such as the World of Rubber museum, conveyor belt-like “speed ramps” that were Goodyear-made hybrids of escalators and moving walkways, and a room filled with models of Goodyear plants.
“It wasn’t saying, ‘we’re a top innovative company,’ ” said Gary Vanderlind, vice president of human resources for Goodyear. “It was just time for a refresh.”
The company struck a deal with Mr. Lichter in which he would build a headquarters that Goodyear would leaseâwith modern, sunlight-filled officesâand he would get the rights to the old headquarters. After an initial delay by the recession, Goodyear began moving into the new offices earlier this year.
Mr. Lichter, who in the late 1980s redeveloped B.F. Goodrich Co.’s former headquarters less than 3 miles away into a mix of office, industrial and storage space, said he was wowed by the scale of the Goodyear complex when he first toured it.
“It was like, ‘This is so overwhelming and so hugeâis this actually something I can pull off?’ ” he recalled.
The bulk of the space is set to be office space, where Mr. Lichter plans to make a single grand entrance. Multiple smaller entrances existed before. He also is planning to convert part of the complex into indoor parking.
Mr. Lichter said the work he is starting this summer is being financed with his own equity in addition to tax credits, local subsidies and about $35 million from foreign investors who under the EB-5 visa program hope to receive green cards if the project is successful.
Filling the offices will require more money, he said, and that isn’t likely to be easy. The vacancy rate in the Akron area was 18.2% at the end of 2012, according to CBRE Group Inc.
Mr. Lichter acknowledged filling the office space would be a challenge but said Akron has benefited recently from growth in the natural-gas sector, which is expanding drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” nearby.
“The fracking world has created a whole new economic outlook for this part of Ohio,” he said.
Write to Eliot Brown at eliot.brown@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared May 8, 2013, on page C8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Where the Rubber Meets the Headquarters.
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