Menino wants full review of proposed power station

THE REGION

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is urging state environmental officials to require a full environmental-impact report for a proposed electric generating station on Chelsea Creek across from East Boston. The Chelsea Peak Energy plant, with capacity of 250 megawatts or the equivalent of 180,000 average-sized homes, would burn fuel oil to generate electricity, only during periods of peak electric demand such as summer afternoons and winter evenings. The plant's backers, which include Cape Wind proponent Jim Gordon , have argued its impacts are small enough that they do not need to undergo a full months-long environmental review. Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles this week ruled that a similar 480-megawatt "peaking unit" proposed in Billerica must complete a full environmental review. (Peter J. Howe)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. chose Novell Inc.'s Linux software for some of its computer networks in an agreement attributed to Novell's recent alliance with Microsoft Corp. Wal-Mart signed a deal with Microsoft and Waltham-based Novell to use Novell's version of Linux for some its networks, said chief technology officer Nancy Stewart. Terms weren't disclosed. Wal-Mart, already a Microsoft software customer , chose Novell "because of my relationship with Microsoft," Stewart said. (Bloomberg)

Pharmacy-benefits manager Caremark Rx Inc. sent a letter to shareholders urging them to vote for its pending merger with drugstore operator CVS Corp. Caremark wrote that the proposed $21.2 billion all-stock buyout will deliver immediate value to shareholders and has a high certainty of being completed in about a month. In the letter, Caremark chief executive Mac Crawford said the CVS deal is financially better than a proposal from pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts. Caremark rejected the rival offer, valued at $26 billion, this month. (AP)

THE NATION

Bank of America Corp. said thousands of employees will receive bonuses of up to $1,820 over the next few months as a reward for the bank's 2006 financial performance. Under its "Rewarding Success" bonus program, the number two US bank promised $500 if net income before merger and restructuring costs beat a minimum target of $20.5 billion, a bank spokeswoman said. The promised sums went higher if the company made more money. The award also increased if the stock price closed at least 8 percent or higher on the last trading day of the year. Bank of America said its 2006 net income before merger and restructuring costs was $21.6 billion and the stock price climbed nearly 16 percent over the year. (AP)

Oil prices settled above $55 a barrel after the federal government revealed plans to boost the country's emergency crude stockpile this spring at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day. Analysts said, however, the rally may only last until today's supply data from the Department of Energy. Light, sweet crude for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange leaped $2.48, or 4.7 percent, to settle at $55.04 in New York. It was the largest one-day jump since Sept. 19, 2005. (AP)

Dell Inc. opened a technical support center in Malaysia, its first outside the United States, and pledged to hire more workers in Asia after losing the number one position for global personal-computer sales to Hewlett-Packard Co. Dell, which employs 5,500 in Malaysia, will hire a further 1,000 there within five years, chief executive Kevin Rollins said as he opened the center in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. He declined to say how much Dell is spending on the facility. (Bloomberg)

The government is considering setting higher standards for birth control drugs, saying newer pills appear to be less effective at preventing pregnancy than those approved decades ago. The Food and Drug Administration asked a panel of experts whether it should require new contraceptives to meet a standard of effectiveness before they are approved for the market. The panel meets again today. (AP)