Boeing gets OK for Lockheed rocket deal

The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it has approved the joint venture between defense contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. to launch government satellites, removing a final barrier to the long-delayed proposal.

While the commission concluded that the $1.06 billion partnership between the nation’s two biggest defense firms could unfairly muscle out competitors, it said that concern was outweighed by the national security demands for a reliable and cheaper way to send military and other satellites into space.

The so-called United Launch Alliance, or ULA, was proposed in May 2005 to resolve a long-standing dispute between Lockheed and Boeing, then the two major suppliers of rockets for government launches.

It also came after Boeing was stripped of $1 billion in launch contracts and suspended for 20 months from launches by the Air Force after accusations that it used thousands of sensitive documents stolen from Lockheed to gain an edge in the bitter rivalry. Boeing later agreed to pay $615 million to end a Justice Department probe of the case.

•Two small Saskatchewan communities were struggling Tuesday with news that Weyerhaeuser Co. plans to shutter two more mills in the province.

Indefinite layoff notices effective Jan. 3 went out Monday to about 300 employees in Hudson Bay and Carrot River.

At the Carrot River mill, which produces softwood lumber studs, 116 workers were given notice, while 183 employees at the Hudson Bay plant, which produces softwood plywood, were told they would be out of a job in the new year.

Earlier this year, Federal Way, Wash.-based Weyerhaeuser closed its pulp and paper mill in Prince Albert, putting about 700 people out of work. Two other Saskatchewan mills that relied on sales of chips and other wood residue to Prince Albert were also forced to close, putting another 300 people out of work.

•BP PLC executives and its board of directors were negligent in their oversight of pipelines in the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, resulting in leaks that damaged the company’s reputation while exposing it to millions of dollars in penalties and fines, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of shareholders.

The more than 100-page lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court in Anchorage says BP executives and the board breached their fiduciary duties in running U.S. operations for the company.