Remember "shovel-ready projects."
Those were construction projects in the 2009 stimulus bill that were supposed to get moving right away -- but jobs council members told Obama today that some got held up because of elaborate government regulations and permitting procedures.
"Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected," Obama said. [I've blogged about this often; one example.]
In both the jobs council meeting and in his speech later to employees at a Durham lighting company, Obama said regulatory change is a major part of his new jobs push.
Local story.
RAPID CITY, S.D., June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Hills Corp. (NYSE:BKH - News) utility subsidiary Black Hills Power indicated today that it will not proceed with a previously announced 20 megawatt wind farm near Belle Fourche, S.D., after the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission's recent decision to dismiss the utility's request for a declaratory ruling. Black Hills Power had requested commission confirmation that the proposed $38 million project was reasonable and cost effective considering other electricity alternatives and would be an appropriate generation resource addition to meet the energy needs of the utility's customers.
"Black Hills Power had a unique opportunity to use time-sensitive cost savings, including federal tax credits set to expire at the end of 2012, to reduce the cost of providing renewable generation for our customers and to support South Dakota's renewable energy objective," said Chuck Loomis, vice president of operations, Black Hills Power. "We moved quickly and efficiently to determine the most cost-effective renewable resource for our customers and to locate land with sufficient wind resources near our service territory to take advantage of that opportunity. With the commission's dismissal of our request for a declaratory ruling, we had to make a timely decision based on what is best for our customers and our shareholders. We determined it was best to discontinue the project."