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WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Justice Department announced Monday that the details have been completed for establishing a $20 billion escrow account that BP has promised to fund.

The money will pay for claims to those who suffered from the effects of the Gulf Coast oil spill.

After BP (BP) announced it had made a $3 billion deposit into the account, Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli issued a statement confirming the action.

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LONDON — BP is in talks to sell up to $12 billion of assets, including its big stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in North America, The Sunday Times of London reported.

A sale would be the latest of several steps the beleaguered oil giant is taking to raise money to pay for damages from the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Times said.

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he weak U.S. economy is no match for fast-growing Five Guys Burgers and Fries, where the standard hamburger has two patties and french fries are served in a cup with an extra scoop on the side for good measure.

While most U.S. restaurants fight for every dollar, a new crop of indulgent burger chains have bucked the trend by recasting the American food standard with higher-quality ingredients and quirky toppings like fried eggs or pineapple.

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WASHINGTON – Former Labor secretary Robert Reich wants to place BP’s U.S. operations in temporary receivership. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wants the oil giant to suspend its dividend payments. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is weighing criminal charges. And lawyers in more than a hundred lawsuits want BP to pay billions of dollars in damages for harm done to people’s health, the environment and businesses.

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VENICE, La. – BP made promising strides in its latest bid to capture some of the oil spewing from its ruptured deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico, while President Barack Obama called off an overseas trip and prepared for another visit Friday to the spill-stricken U.S. Gulf Coast.

After failing days ago to plug the well, BP managed Thursday to shear away the gushing well pipe a mile below the ocean surface, then lowered a containment cap over the jagged hole left atop the crippled wellhead assembly in its latest bid to curtail the oil flow.

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — With just one more permit from the State of Colorado, Energy Fuels Resources Corporation founder and CEO George Glasier can break ground for the first new U.S. uranium mill since the Cold War.

Glasier’s Piñon Ridge Mill, in Colorado’s Paradox Valley, has been long in the making. EFR has spent nearly $9 million on development of the mill, with construction expected to cost another $130 million, possibly beginning in 2011.

CH2M Hill has designed the computerized mill to process up to 1,000 tons of uranium daily, five pounds of uranium to the ton.

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DENVER – Wind farms have no measurable effect on nearby property values, according to a government report published Wednesday.

In the latest study, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory spent three years examining nearly 7,500 sales of homes in 10 communities near two dozen wind farms in nine states.

The findings, however, are unlikely to cool the debate over the placement of massive wind turbines which to some represent progress, but to others an intrusion.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A final proposal for new fuel economy standards was unveiled Tuesday in a joint announcement by the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The regulation requires all passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States to get an overall average of 35.5 miles per gallon by model year 2016. By that year, cars will be expected to average about 39 mpg and 30 mpg for trucks.

Current fuel economy standards for new cars are 27.5 mpg for cars and 23.1 mpg for trucks.

The new standards were originally announced in May by the Obama administration, before some details were finalized.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Tesla Motors turned profitable for the first time in July, when the electric car manufacturer shipped a record 109 vehicles, the company said Friday.

A surge in sales and reduced manufacturing costs of Tesla’s Roadster 2 sports car helped boost the company to $1 million in earnings and $20 million in revenue.

“There is strong demand for a car that is unique in offering high performance with a clean conscience,” said Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, in a prepared statement. “Customers know that in buying the Roadster they are helping fund development of our mass market electric cars.”

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WASHINGTON – The House voted overwhelmingly Friday to rush $2 billion into the popular but financially strapped “cash for clunkers” car purchase program, heeding calls from consumers eager to keep taking advantage of thousands of dollars in trade-in incentives.

House members approved the measure 316-109 within hours of learning from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the program was running out of money.

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WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce Monday that his department is temporarily barring the filing of new uranium mining claims on about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, an Obama administration official said.

The land is being “segregated” for two years so that the department can study whether it should be permanently withdrawn from mining activity, said the official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The announcement comes ahead of Tuesday’s congressional hearing on a bill to set aside more than 1 million acres of federal lands north and south of the canyon. The bill’s sponsor, Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, and environmental groups had been looking to Salazar for temporary protections at the Grand Canyon while the legislation is pending.