Feeling pressured: As Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy continues to beat the drum on contract reform as a way to save the state money, lawmakers are growing weary of constituents beating them up on the issue back home, the Monroe News-Star reports. “I’m getting lit up at home by people saying we should listen to Kennedy,” state Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, said during a House Appropriations Committee meeting discussing contract reform Monday. Still, members believe neither they nor the public fully understand the issue, saying many of the more than 15,000 contracts identified by Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne valued at $22.5 billion are funded with federal money and are multiyear deals. Read the full story.
Feeling low: U.S. small business confidence declined further in February as lingering concerns about sales growth and profits hurt capital spending and hiring plans, a survey shows today. CNBC reports the National Federation of Independent Business says its small business optimism index dropped one point to a reading of 92.9 last month, with none of the index’s components showing an increase. The index decreased 1.3 percentage points in January. “Spending and hiring plans weakened a bit as expectations for growth in real sales volumes fell. Earnings trends worsened a bit as owners continued to report widespread gains in worker compensation while holding the line on price increases,” the NFIB says in statement. Read the full story.
Producing: The $54 billion Gorgon LNG project off the Australian coast has started producing liquefied natural gas, Chevron announced Monday. As Fuelfix.com reports, the plant is the latest liquefaction megaproject to be christened, and the first production is a milestone for a project that faced delays and cost overruns. Chevron says it expects the first cargo full of supercooled natural gas to sail next week. The project is located on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia. Gorgon is one of a handful of large LNG plants that began operating this year. In late February, Houston’s Cheniere Energy began shipping the fuel from its Sabine Pass complex, and in January ConocoPhillips and its partners switched on the Australia Pacific LNG facility in Queensland. Read the full story.
