“Utilities” on The Daily Caller

A roundup of highlights and news out of the Detroit auto show on Monday: (more)

DETROIT (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Obama administration officials on Monday defended last year’s federal bailout of the auto industry, citing optimism that General Motors and Chrysler had made strides only months after exiting bankruptcy. (more)

EUREKA, Calif. (AP) — Residents of a Northern California county gingerly cleaned up Sunday after the area dodged a catastrophe, escaping a 6.5 magnitude earthquake with little more than bumps, cuts and broken glass. (more)

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Southern California’s eSolar Inc. has signed a major agreement to build a series of solar power plants in China. (more)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon confirmed Friday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for Utah governor and take on the difficult task of trying to get elected in one of the nation’s most conservative states. (more)

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — NorthWestern Energy told state lawmakers Friday that a Frenchtown, Mont., linerboard plant soon to be shuttered by Smurfit-Stone Container could make a good location for a biomass energy production facility — but no firm plans are in place. (more)

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Developers of a coal-to-liquid fuel factory proposed for western North Dakota say a decision on whether to build the $4 billion plant depends on a change in political climate. And backers are asking for a second extension of state aid to study the project. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House pitched Friday’s jobless report as the start to stabilization while President Barack Obama planned to push for another $5 billion to help create much-needed jobs. (more)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese company agreed to a request from a firm in China to procure sensitive components with nuclear uses, then shipped them to Iran, the firm’s head said Friday. Such transactions violate U.N. sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern nation. (more)

APOLLO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Frigid temperatures across Florida drove hundreds of manatees to balmy waters outside a power plant, shocked endangered sea turtles off the coast and even sent cold-blooded iguanas tumbling from trees. (more)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Business groups are fighting Gov. Jim Doyle’s clean energy plan that calls for increasing the use of renewable fuels and opens the door to nuclear power, saying the new mandates will weaken Wisconsin’s already struggling manufacturing sector. (more)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has looked inside his administration to fill top natural resource positions. (more)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority is starting the new year with its 29 hydroelectric dams running around the clock for the first time in three years. (more)

BEIJING (AP) — China has suspended power generation at a major Yellow River dam to contain diesel fuel that leaked last week from a pipeline — the latest environmental disaster to affect China’s waterways, considered among the world’s most polluted. (more)