The Northwest Indiana Times reports the latest on the BP Whiting Refinery project.

From the article:

When completed in 2011, the project will increase Whiting gasoline production by 1.7 million gallons a day and equip the refinery to process increased amounts of secure Canadian crude oil, the company says.

And:

"We estimate that direct local spending during construction, including salaries and wages for field craft will be in excess of $2.5 billion," said Dan Sajkowski, BP Whiting Refinery business unit leader. "Far more significant is that the project will allow us to sustain the ongoing employment base that provides a livelihood to over 2000 families and delivers huge economic benefit to communities in northwest Indiana."

West Virginia has some really nice state parks and a Greenbrier resort (and former famous congressional bunker hideaway) that is second to none. But the state certainly isn’t top of mind when it comes to economic development and innovation.

A headline that screams "W. Va. Takes Lead in Future of Fuel" will certainly draw attention. The plan: take advantage of the state’s greatest natural resource — coal — and turn it into gasoline and methanol in the first project of its kind in the United States. Incidentally, one of the partners (a Houston-based company) has already helped build a coal-to-liquids plant in China.

The $800 million project will provide security for West Virginia’s expansive coal industry, create additional jobs and potentially be part of the long-term solution to our country’s energy challenges. The president of Consol Energy, based in Pittsburgh, goes a little overboard when he terms West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin "one of the few governors in the 50 states who can spell coal."

Indiana has coal, maybe not as much as West Virginia, but ample supplies. It is crafting an entrepreneurial path of its own with Duke Energy’s coal gasification plant in Edwardsport. Can our state be a player in the coal-to-liquids game? We’re not sure.

The West Virginia project is intriguing. Read about it here.

Disco. Gratuitous sideburns. The Houston Astros’ rainbow uniforms. These are mistakes of the 1970s.

According to a report from the Heritage Foundation, these pale in comparison to the mistakes made in the United States regarding energy policy at the time. The authors outline key concerns and caution us not to relive them by overreacting to today’s energy challenges.

What do you think? Should the government get so involved in these trying times or should we let the market run its course? Let us know in the comments section.

From the "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" File:

An Ohio task force has recommended that the state provide universal health insurance. The group, which doesn’t say how to pay for the proposal, wants mandates on all residents to buy insurance and insurers to accept all who apply. Employers, naturally, would also face certain requirements.

Perhaps our eastern neighbor is hoping to mimic the resounding success of San Francisco, Massachusetts and Canada.

A new study, titled How the Disciple Became the Guru, was recently released by the Kauffman Foundation. I’ll let the experts from Duke and Harvard, who authored the report, explain:

Thousands of dollars, probably millions, have been spent on books, tapes and seminars looking for the secret of customer service. I will spell it out here. The price: A few moments of time now, followed by several years of practice.

Satisfying our basic need for acronyms, I give you ACE: Attitude, Communication, Empowerment.

Attitude:  A customer service representative needs to be predisposed to wanting to help. Their job is one of concierge, docent, problem solver, sounding board and an amalgamation of several other traits. This person cannot take anything personal, but must personalize the customer and care for them as a person. This is a hard balance to strike and not all of us are capable of it. 

Communication:  There is such a thing as too much information. There is no such thing as too much communication. Return calls, return e-mails – answer the phone when it rings. Sounds simple, because it is. Never wait to deliver bad news. Tell the customer you still don’t have the complete answer, let them know what you do know. Never avoid a chance to talk to someone.

Empowerment:  The customer service representative needs to be able to institute solutions. There cannot be any hiding behind policy. Policies are guiding lights, not the path. All customers are unique. Their situations are unique. Your staff must be able to respond accordingly and quickly. 

There you have it, for free. The true price lies in the implementation.
 

The U.S. Chamber offers an interesting post regarding education in the United States.

The author surmises:

Particularly in highly technical fields, such as computer science, private training is often tailored to the specific needs of a company or niche industry.  While earning a masters degree might provide one with a broad foundation of knowledge and skills, it is almost always necessary to have that training be finely tuned to the needs of their employers.  Regardless of where the training takes place, it becomes a marketable skill for the employee to take elsewhere … According to the 2008 Corporate Learning Factbook, the business community is subsidizing this educational enrichment to the tune of $58.5 billion each year, mirroring the federal government’s investment in education.

In related news, check out the Ready Indiana program to see how the Indiana Chamber is helping the business community make the right connections for workforce training needs.

So what do you think? Has the educational ceiling in America been reached? Is this an indictment of public education or just an inevitable paradigm shift? What, if anything, should be done to change it?