Sierra Club backs K.C.-made Mariner

The Sierra Club, a longtime foe of Ford Motor Co., applauded the automaker Monday for releasing its second hybrid vehicle and said the club would market the sport utility vehicle to its members.

Ford plans to produce 2,000 Mercury Mariner Hybrids (above) at its Kansas City, Mo., plant for the 2006 model year. The company expects volume to grow to 4,000 vehicles annually.

The company, which is selling Mariners almost exclusively online, said customers could order vehicles through Mercury’s Web site for pick up through local deales.

The San Francisco-based Sierra Club said it would tell its members about the Mariner and offer test drives at its annual summit in September – a change of pace for the environmental group, which ran ads two years ago criticizing Ford’s environmental record.

Agriculture

Report: Soybeans, corn looking good

With virtually all of the state’s wheat in the bin, Kansas agriculture officials are turning their attention to corn, soybeans and other crops.

In its latest crop weather update, Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that about 52 percent of corn in the state was silking. The service rated the crop’s condition as 10 percent excellent, 57 percent good, 27 percent fair and 6 percent poor or very poor.

Soybeans, which are starting to bloom, are rated as 8 percent excellent, 52 percent good, 34 percent fair, 5 percent poor and 1 percent very poor, the service said.

Soybeans and corn as the top two crops in Douglas County.

Natural gas

AIG Highstar selling gas pipeline to GE

AIG Highstar Capital LP, a private equity fund sponsored by insurance firm American International Group Inc., said Monday it agreed to sell the Southern Star Central gas pipeline system for $362 million to General Electric Co. and Canada’s largest institutional investor.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

Southern Star owns an interstate natural-gas pipeline spanning more than 6,000 miles in Kansas, Missouri and five other states. Customers include gas distribution companies in Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield in Missouri, and Kansas City and Wichita in Kansas.

Leadership

Visa USA hires CEO

Visa USA named John Philip Coghlan as its new chief executive Monday, ushering in a leader from outside the credit card industry as the banking association tries to defuse a merchant rebellion against its rising transaction fees.

Coghlan, 54, joins San Francisco-based Visa after spending 17 years at discount brokerage pioneer Charles Schwab Corp., where he held a variety of top-level jobs.