Mr. Manos, the former Microsoft data center chief who had pledged to operate in an environmentally sensitive way, said he was surprised by the company's response to the penalty.
Its voracious appetite for electricity would be fed by hydroelectric generators that work off the flow of the nearby Columbia River, and Microsoft officials pledged to operate their new enterprise with a focus on energy efficiency and environmental sensitivity.
These taxes also enabled the Detroit Institute to pay no taxes, fulfilling a pledge to operate as a nonprofit institution that was part of the 1919 agreement with the city.
Thomas S. Blanton, the director of the National Security Archive, which is affiliated with George Washington University, said that in making good on Mr. Obama's pledge to operate the most transparent administration in history, "agencies are talking the talk, but few are yet walking the walk".
Tech In Asia has its own ethics page which lists its investors and pledges to operate independently of them.
The L.M.D.C. agreed not to attempt to unilaterally impose a plan for the World Trade Center site, and the Port Authority, which has in the past operated with lordly independence, pledged to work with the L.M.D.C.
And he pledged to go further.
In the presence of Mr Hu and Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister, the two companies signed another deal pledging to co-operate on any similar future projects by SIIC.
Over the next three years Mazda is pledging to bolster operating margin (return on sales) to 6% from 4%, on annual unit sales (cars off the lot) rising to 1.6 million from 1.3 million.
Wolfgang Bernhard, brought in from Mercedes last year to run the VW brand, pledged to boost operating profits to €7 billion by 2008.
