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Geek Wire
3 hours ago
- Business
- Geek Wire
Aquagga takes top prize at PNW Climate Week event for its battle against ‘forever chemicals'
Sustainability: News about the rapidly growing climate tech sector and other areas of innovation to protect our planet. SEE MORE Aquagga CEO Dhileep Sivam makes his winning pitch at a PNW Climate Week contest held in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Brent Roraback) Six early-stage climate and deep-tech startups faced off at a pitch contest and happy hour in Seattle as part of PNW Climate Week. Entrepreneurs, investors and climate tech enthusiasts packed the Thursday evening event at Stoup Brewing on Capitol Hill. The competing companies are tackling a variety of sustainability challenges, including solar panel recycling, deployment of residential heat pumps and AI-assisted ocean floor surveys. The panel of judges and the crowd both crowned Aquagga as the winner, awarding the startup $1,500 in prize money. The company is developing portable, modular units for destroying PFAS 'forever chemicals' that for years have been used in food packaging, carpets and fabrics, water-repellent clothing and non-stick pans. The chemicals are used to repel water, stains and grease, but they escape from products and contaminate drinking water across the U.S. and are even detected in breast milk. In his presentation, CEO Dhileep Sivam showcased how his startup's technology directly addresses customer pain points. Aquagga eliminates all forms of PFAS while treating wastewater contaminated with additional pollutants, offering a cost-effective onsite alternative to expensive transportation and incineration processes. The crowd and judges consider the top pitch at a PNW Climate Week event at Stoup Brewing. (GeekWire Photo / Brent Roraback) 'We're building something that's going to be really attractive for our customers,' Sivam said. The CEO noted that Aquagga, which launched in 2019, is scaling operations for bigger cleanup projects. The company has secured new contracts with 3M and landed a three-year Colorado deal to process unwanted firefighting foam containing PFAS. The contest's judges were Rodrigo Prudencio, managing partner at Propeller VC; Gabriel Scheer, senior director of innovation for the investment nonprofit Elemental Impact; Dana Robinson, a member of the climate-focused, angel investment group E8; and Alex Young, senior associate at Energy Impact Partners. The event was hosted by E8 and Gliding Ant Ventures, an organization supporting startups pursuing low-carbon technologies. PNW Climate Week is a 10-day regional conference focused on the clean-energy transition with events held in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Portland, Vancouver, B.C., and Bellingham. It runs until Friday. Read on to learn more about the startups, and find more of GeekWire's sustainability tech coverage here. The CEO of startups competing in a PNW Climate Week pitch contest from left: Heather Alvis of Electra; Dhileep Sivam of Aquagga; Alexander Gutierrez of L5 Automation; Jason Puracal of ZILA BioWorks; Victoria Price-Doucet of StrateSea; and Robert Benjamin of Aris Hydronics. On the right are Virginia Emery and Jared Silvia of Gliding Ant Ventures and co-hosts of the event. (GeekWire Photo / Brent Roraback) Business: Building devices that destroy costly, hard-to-treat PFAS chemicals. HQ: Tacoma, Wash. Leadership: CEO Sivam has held leadership roles at Intellectual Ventures and Breakthrough Energy, and served as entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Washington's Clean Energy Institute. Business: Providing sustainable heating and cooling systems and water heaters in residential settings. The startup designs, sells and installs the systems and provides follow-up data and support. HQ: Milwaukie, Ore. Leadership: Robert Benjamin, founder and CEO, has been a startup advisor, a director and founder in marketing and film production, and studied mechanical engineering. Business: Offering solar panel recycling that includes partnerships with collection centers, transportation to certified recyclers, repurposing with nonprofits where possible, and tracking. HQ: Bellingham, Wash. Leadership: Heather Alvis, founder and CEO, was an operations specialist at Renew Solar, a California company offering solar panel recycling, and held leadership roles overseeing software engineers and business operations at multiple companies. Business: Developing agricultural robots as a service that can provide crop data from in the field and harvest produce, beginning with strawberries. HQ: Los Angeles area Leadership: Alexander Gutierrez, founder and CEO, co-founded the space robotics company Astrobotic Technology and was a research engineer at Lockheed Martin for nine years with a focus on robotics and process automation. Business: Engineering technology using AI to analyze vast quantities of undersea videos collected for offshore construction of wind power and laying cables, and naval surveys for detecting mines and other anomalies. HQ: Portland, Ore. Leadership: Victoria Price-Doucet, co-founder and CEO, was director of data and AI for Slalom; a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and private companies; and global supply chain director with Nike. Business: Developing plant-based resins and epoxies to replace high-carbon alternatives with an initial focus on equipment for skiing and snowboarding. HQ: Renton, Wash. Leadership: Jason Puracal, co-founder and CEO, was a leader in real estate and sustainable infrastructure in Nicaragua, and executive director of the East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue, Wash.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Dem lawmaker admits people might actually mean it when they say ‘globalize the intifada'
Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., acknowledged this week that some people might literally mean the phrase "globalize the Intifada," and deflected on why New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has been reluctant in fully condemning it. According to the American Jewish Committee, the phrase "calls for people from around the globe to participate in rising up against Israel." The Second Intifada against Israel in the early 2000s was marked by Palestinian terrorism, including suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. "Speak to people who might still be on the fence here, especially on the 'globalize the intifada' phrase, because that, you know, really did not go over well with some folks out there," Fox News national correspondent Aishah Hasnie asked Carson as Mamdani visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday. "Sure," Carson responded. "What does he need to do besides, I mean, do you think he needs to just come out and condemn the phrase?" Hasnie asked. "Well, I think he'll speak to it. I mean, some people mean it literally, some people have repurposed the phrase, they mean it symbolically, and I think he can speak to it better than I can," Carson said. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Mamdani said he would not use the phrase and would "discourage" the use of it during remarks he gave to over 100 business executives during a private meeting in Rockefeller Center at the offices of Tishman Speyer. Mamdani had repeatedly dodged questions about the phrase "globalize the intifada," which is widely seen as a call for violence against Jewish people. During an event Monday with a New York City musicians' union celebrating its endorsement of Mamdani, the Democratic Party's nominee for mayor avoided answering questions about the controversial rhetoric and whether he supports the phrase. After Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral nomination in a political upset, he came under fire from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., during an interview in June on ABC. "Globalizing the intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrase, and he's going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward," Jeffries said. Mamdani originally declined to condemn the rhetoric during an interview last month with The Bulwark podcast. During a "Meet the Press" interview with host Kristen Welker where she asked Mamdani to condemn the rhetoric three times during an interview, he refused.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate works overnight in bid to pass Trump's DOGE cuts package as deadline looms
The Senate is working overnight into the early hours of Thursday morning as it weighs whether to claw back $9 billion in federal funds already congressionally approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting programs as a deadline to act on the White House priority looms. A 'vote-a-rama' on the administration's request – known as a 'rescission package' on Capitol Hill – began Wednesday afternoon after senators narrowly cleared two procedural hurdles late Tuesday to move closer to a final vote. If passed, the GOP effort would effectively codify a small portion of the Department of Government Efficiency's spending cuts. The Senate and House must pass the legislation by Friday, under an obscure presidential budget law used to circumvent the filibuster, or be forced to start over at a later date. It was not immediately clear when a final vote would take place, but it appeared poised Wednesday afternoon to pass with a potential tie-breaking vote from the vice president. The effort appeared to get a boost Tuesday when Senate Republicans signaled resolution on sticking points related to a key global health initiative and rural radio access. Despite that progress, three GOP senators joined Democrats in voting against the measure later that night, forcing party leadership to once again summon Vice President JD Vance to the Capitol to help advance it. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who along with top Senate appropriator Susan Collins and former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell voted against the package Tuesday, defended her vote in the face of a threat from President Donald Trump to withhold support from any Republican who opposes the bill. The Alaska Republican said she took the legislative power of the purse 'personally,' adding, 'So I'm going to execute on it. The president can say what he's going to say, but that's fine. I'm going to do what I'm going to do.' Murkowski declined to say how she would vote after the marathon voting session on amendments. Unlike in other vote-a-ramas, the amendments offered to the rescissions package must be 'germane' to the bill, which limits the kinds of amendments lawmakers can offer. Still, the process allows Republicans to make changes to the legislation and provides Democrats an opportunity to force their Republican colleagues to vote on politically difficult issues. Sticking points Among the changes Republicans are expected to make to the bill is the removal of a controversial $400 million cut that senators believed would impact the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Gavi, an organization focused on providing vaccinations for children around the world, would also not face cuts in the package, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters. 'We were reassured by the [White House Office of Management and Budget] director that would not be affected in this process,' he said. On another front, Sen. Mike Rounds announced he would back the measure after working out an agreement that would keep funds flowing to rural radio stations in his state of South Dakota, an issue he's been working for weeks to resolve. Rounds said of his negotiations on X: 'We wanted to make sure tribal broadcast services in South Dakota continued to operate which provide potentially lifesaving emergency alerts,' and said that he worked with the Trump administration to find 'money that could be reallocated to continue grants to tribal radio stations without interruption.' The OMB director projected confidence about the package, despite the expected changes to it. 'We're fine with adjustments. This is still a great package,' Russ Vought told reporters after a closed-door meeting with GOP senators Tuesday. The Senate, he added at the time, 'has to work its will and we've appreciated the work along the way to get to a place where they think they've got the votes.' Despite the OMB director's visit to the Senate GOP lunch, Collins and Murkowski, in explaining their votes, argued they had not received specific information from the administration on how the cuts could affect global health programs and public broadcasting. Murkowski also argued that the rescissions package from the White House sets a harmful precedent undermining Congressional authority. 'We're lawmakers. We should be legislating. What we're getting now is a direction from the White House and being told, 'This is the priority. We want you to execute on it. We'll be back with you with another round,'' she said ahead of the procedural votes on the package. 'I don't accept that. I'm going to be voting no.' Thune on Wednesday acknowledged concerns from the three Republican senators over how specific cuts would be carried out, saying they made a 'fair point.' 'The administration needs to be more specific. I think that's a fair point. But this is an area of the law historically where it isn't as specific. In most cases, when it comes to the State Department, grant a good deal of flexibility about how to allocate some of the resources that Congress appropriates. But I don't disagree. I think that more specificity would be a good thing,' the Republican leader said. Thune said despite the lack of details, he and most members of his conference felt like they had enough information to advance the bill that's expected to pass Wednesday or Thursday. House test on the horizon Since senators are planning to make changes to the bill, it is expected to have to return to the House for final passage – marking the second time this month the Senate GOP would be jamming the House on a Trump priority. House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier in the day encouraged the Senate to send the package back to his chamber 'as is' due to the House Republicans' narrow majority. The Louisiana Republican said he's urged the Senate 'as I always do, to please keep the product unamended, because we have a narrow margin and we got to pass it.' 'We're going to process whatever they send us, whenever they send us. I'm hopeful that it will be soon,' Johnson said Tuesday. This headline and story have been updated with additional developments. CNN's Lauren Fox, Alison Main, Manu Raju, Casey Riddle, Veronica Stracqaulursi, Maggie McCabe and Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.
