FOMC Minutes: "Uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook remained very elevated" - From the Fed: Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee July 28-29, 2020. A few excerpts: Participants observed that uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook remained very elevated, with the path of the economy highly dependent on the course of the virus and the public sector's response to it. Several risks to the outlook were noted, including the possibility that additional waves of virus outbreaks could result in extended economic disruptions and a protracted period of reduced economic activity. In such scenarios, banks and other lenders could tighten conditions in credit markets appreciably and restrain the availability of credit to households and businesses. Other risks cited included the possibility that fiscal support for households, businesses, and state and local governments might not provide sufficient relief of financial strains in these sectors and that some foreign economies could come under greater pressure than anticipated as a result of the spread of the pandemic abroad. Several participants noted potential longer-run effects of the pandemic associated with possible restructuring in some sectors of the economy that could slow the growth of the economy's productive capacity for some time. A number of participants commented on various potential risks to financial stability. Banks and other financial institutions could come under significant stress, particularly if one of the more adverse scenarios regarding the spread of the virus and its effects on economic activity was realized. Nonfinancial corporations had carried high levels of indebtedness into the pandemic, increasing their risk of insolvency. There were also concerns that the anticipated increase in Treasury debt over the next few years could have implications for market functioning. There was general agreement that these institutions, activities, and markets should be monitored closely, and a few participants noted that improved data would be helpful for doing so. Several participants observed that the Federal Reserve had recently taken steps to help ensure that banks remain resilient through the pandemic, including by conducting additional sensitivity analysis in conjunction with the most recent bank stress tests and imposing temporary restrictions on shareholder payouts to preserve banks' capital. A couple of participants noted that they believed that restrictions on shareholder payouts should be extended, while another judged that such a step would be premature.
Eight High Frequency Indicators for the Economy - (graphs) These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment - some of the sectors that will recover very slowly. The TSA is providing daily travel numbers. This data shows the seven day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Blue) and 2020 (Red). This data is as of August 16th. The seven day average is down 71% from last year. The second graph shows the 7 day average of the year-over-year change in diners as tabulated by OpenTable for the US and several selected cities. Thanks to OpenTable for providing this restaurant data: This data is updated through Aug 15, 2020. This data is "a sample of restaurants on the OpenTable network across all channels: online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins. For year-over-year comparisons by day, we compare to the same day of the week from the same week in the previous year." The 7 day average for New York is still off 70% YoY, and down 47% in Texas. This data shows domestic box office for each week (red) and the maximum and minimum for the previous four years. Data is from BoxOfficeMojo through August 13th. Movie ticket sales have picked up a slightly from the bottom, but are still under $1 million per week (compared to usually around $300 million per week), and ticket sales have essentially been at zero for twenty one weeks. This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. This data is through August 8th. COVID-19 crushed hotel occupancy, however the occupancy rate has increased in 16 of the last 17 weeks, and is currently down 33% year-over-year. This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline consumption compared to the same week last year of . As of August 7th, gasoline consumption was only off about 11% YoY (about 89% of normal).----- This graph is from Apple mobility. From Apple: "This data is generated by counting the number of requests made to Apple Maps for directions in select countries/regions, sub-regions, and cities." There is also some great data on mobility from the Dallas Fed Mobility and Engagement Index.This data is through August 15th for the United States and several selected cities. According to the Apple data directions requests, public transit in the 7 day average for the US is still only about 55% of the January level. It is at 50% in New York, and 56% in Houston.
Conference Board Leading Economic Index Increased in July - The latest Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for July was up 1.4% from the June final figure of 103.0.Investing.com predicted a 1.1% increase.Here's an excerpt from the technical notes.The Conference Board LEI for the U.S. increased for the third consecutive month in July. The largest positive contributions came from average weekly manufacturing hours, building permits, and initial claims for unemployment insurance (inverted). In the six-month period endin g July 2020, the leading economic index decreased 6.8 percent (about a -13.1 percent annual rate), down from no growth over the previous six months. In addition, the weaknesses among the leading indicators have remained widespread.The Conference Board CEI for the U.S., a measure of current economic activity, also increased in July. However, the coincident economic index declined 7.6 percent (about a -14.7 percent annual rate) between January and July 2020, a reversal from the growth of 0.9 percent (about a 1.9 percent annual rate) for the previous six months. Also, the weaknesses among the coincident indicators have remained very widespread, with all components declining over the past six months. The lagging economicindex continued to decline, while the CEI is improving. As a result, the coincident-to-lagging ratio has been increasing. Real GDP contracted at a 32.9 percent annual rate in the second quarter, after declining 5.0 percent (annual rate) in the first quarter.Here is a log-scale chart of the LEI series with documented recessions as identified by the NBER. The use of a log scale gives us a better sense of the relative sizes of peaks and troughs than a more conventional linear scale.
U.S. Economic Recovery Gains Steam While Others Stutter – WSJ - The U.S. economy picked up momentum this month as companies shook off the effects of the pandemic-induced downturn, though recoveries in other parts of the world slowed, according to new surveys of purchasing managers. The data released Friday suggest U.S. firms are seeing demand return as they reopen from the lockdowns imposed in the spring and early summer. They also indicate the economy has so far managed to weather July’s sharp rise in new coronavirus infections and business closures that threatened to knock the recovery off course. Data firm IHS Markit said its composite purchasing-managers index, a measure of manufacturing and services activity, rose to 54.7 from 50.3 in July, an 18-month high, with both sectors seeing a big increase. A reading above 50 is a sign of expansion while a reading below 50 is a sign of contraction. The index of manufacturing output was up to 53.6 from 50.9 in July. The services activity index rose to 54.8 from 50. A manufacturing worker in Italy. The slowdown in Europe comes as infections are again surging. “It’s solid,” said Michael Pearce, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. “We’ve had a few reasons to worry that the recovery might have lost momentum or gone into a bit of a reverse but they don’t seem to have materialized. The economy seems to be powering ahead.” In a separate report Friday, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously-owned homes surged 24.7% in July from June, propelled by low interest rates and people’s desire for more space. Economists warned that the unusual economic environment—a sharp and deep contraction in the spring caused by a global pandemic—makes it harder to interpret recent data. For instance, Mr. Pearce said, since the PMI numbers only measure month-to-month change, they don’t show how much ground the U.S. still needs to make up. U.S. output fell at an annualized rate of 32.9% in the second quarter, the worst contraction on record, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month expected an 18.3% annualized pace of increase in the third quarter. Other indicators suggest the U.S. economy remains vulnerable. New applications for jobless benefits rose last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Payroll gains slowed in July from June. More pain could be on the way as several companies, including Boeing Co., have announced job cuts. The Federal Reserve said last week that industrial production was still 8.2% below its level a year ago. Restaurant reservations are about 50% of where they were a year ago, according to OpenTable, an improvement from April and May, when they had almost completely frozen up.
Contemplating the (No Deal) Cliff - Menzie Chinn - The recovery package cliff, that is. DeutscheBank research outlines what they think is likely (baseline) and what a no-deal means for disposable personal income. Source: “Outlook for consumers,” Deutsche Bank research, August 19, 2020. What does this mean for disposable personal income? Holding constant other components (about $4021 billion SAAR), here’s what it looks like in the two scenarios. Figure 1: Disposable personal income (blue), disposable personal income assuming DB baseline of Phase IV fiscal package $1.5-$2 trn and no other changes in other components (dark blue open triangle), disposable personal income assuming no deal and no other changes in other components (solid blue triangle). Source: BEA, DB, Ryan et al., (2020), author’s calculations. What happens to consumption then depends on (1) the marginal propensity to consume out of disposable income, and (2) the sensitivity consumption to both household wealth, and to uncertainty, with the former having a positive impact, the latter a negative. Here’s the evolution of the two variables, up to the most recent data. Figure 2: Household net worth, end-of-quarter, billions of Ch.2012$ (blue, left log scale), Economic Policy Uncertainty index (brown, right scale). Household wealth deflated using personal consumption expenditure deflator. Source: Federal Reserve Flow of Funds, BEA, policyuncertainty.com, author’s calculations. What will happen to consumption, given the uncertainty regarding parameter stability (who knows what the MPC will be in the aggregate? The benefit cuts will weight on low and middle income consumers heavily, who have a higher MPC, but account for a smaller share of overall consumption), and wealth elasticity, and the impact of uncertainty — of all types, not just policy uncertainty. What we do know is that holding all else constant, a drop in household income will exert a depressing effect on consumption ceteris paribus. Note, the multiplier effect is not contained in the calculations in the table..
Who Bought the Gigantic $4.5 Trillion in US Government Debt Added in the Past 12 Months? Everyone but China? - -- Remember the ridiculous and quaint charade around the “Debt Ceiling” in Congress and the White House? Me neither. But those were the Good Times. So what we now have is the Pandemic Economy with the Incredibly Spiking US Gross National Debt, which spiked incredibly by $4.45 trillion over the past 12 months, to $26.5 trillion. WHOOSH go the trillions, flying by. But here is the thing: These are all Treasury Securities – and someone had to buy them, every single one of them. But who? With today’s release by the Treasury Department’s Treasury International Capital (TIC) data through June 30, and with other data released by the Federal Reserve, we can piece together the puzzle who bought those $4.45 trillion in Treasury Securities over the past 12 months. Foreign central banks, governments, companies, commercial banks, bond funds, other funds, and individuals, all combined added $90 billion to their holdings in June compared to May. Over the 12-month period through June, they added $413 billion. They now hold a total of $7.04 trillion, a huge record pile. But given the incredibly spiking US Treasury debt ($26.45 trillion on June 30), their share of this debt plunged to just 26.6% — the lowest since 2008. The quarterly chart shows foreign holdings in billion dollars (blue line, left scale); and the percentage of total US debt (red line, right scale): Japan and China, the two largest foreign creditors of the US, combined held 8.8% of the US debt, the lowest share going back many years. Back at the end of 2015, their combined holdings were still 12.8% of the total US debt. Japan maintained its holdings in June for the third month in a row at $1.26 trillion, but over the 12-month period increased its holdings by $138 billion. China cut its holdings in June by $9 billion, to $1.07 trillion, and over the 12-month period by $38 billion, which follows the trend since 2015, with exception of the V-shaped plunge during peak-capital flight, and the recovery afterwards: The next 10 largest foreign holders include many tax havens and financial centers, such as the UK (City of London financial center), Belgium (home to Euroclear), Ireland, the fertile breeding ground of mailbox-entities of many US corporations established there to dodge US taxes. Despite the mega-trade deficits that the US has with Mexico and Germany, their holdings of US Treasury securities are relatively small: Germany held $80 billion and Mexico $47 billion. The Social Security Trust Fund, pension funds for federal civilian employees, pension funds for the US military, and other government funds added $50 billion in June and $112 billion over the 12-month period to their holdings, which reached $5.95 trillion, or about 22.5% of total US debt. In June, the Fed added just $95 billion to its pile of Treasuries, having already cut back its purchases, after having added $1.6 trillion from March 11 through the end of May, bringing its total holdings at the end of June to $4.2 trillion. It holds about 15.9% of the US debt. Just over the month of June, US commercial banks added $121 billion in Treasury securities, to a total of $1.07 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve’s data release on bank balance sheets. This brought the 12-month increase to $220 billion. They hold about 4.0% of the total US debt.
Major General Dennis Laich: Pentagon Needs a Bad Guy – video - Yves here. Get a cup of coffee so you can give this meaty talk wth retired Major General Dennis Laich the attention it deserves, With the news dominated by Covid-19 stories, and now the Democratic Party convention, a break of sorts is in order. Aside from Bernie Sanders’ quixotic call for Pentagon belt-tightening on the order of 10%, no budget proposal calls for cutting US military spending, despite its ever-rising pork to production ratio (admittedly, Congress just had a failed budget amendments to cut spending, but I am not aware of adequate groundwork being laid). The fact that Russia, with an economy the size of South Korea’s, has war toys shown in combat in the Middle East to be able to go toe-to-toe with ours illustrates how out of control Pentagon grifting has become. Paul Jay talks to retired Major General Dennis Laich about the crude but effective means that the defense-surveillance complex uses to justify its bloated spending, namely, the embellishment of foreign threats. “We are always at war with Eurasia”.
Donald Trump vows 'snapback' over humiliating UN defeat on Iran arms embargo - Donald Trump has vowed to use a contentious provision to unilaterally reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran, following what Iran’s president said was a humiliating defeat for the US in its bid to extend an arms embargo on Tehran. A day after the UN security council overwhelmingly rejected a US resolution to extend the embargo, Trump said at a news conference at his New Jersey golf club: “We’ll be doing a snapback. You’ll be watching it next week.” The US president was referring to the contested argument that the US remains a “participant” in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – despite Trump’s withdrawal from it – and therefore can force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as being in violation of its terms. European allies have been sceptical on whether Washington can force sanctions, however, with experts saying a “snapback” threatens to plunge the council into one of its worst ever diplomatic crises. Iran’s president said earlier on Saturday that the US had suffered a humiliating defeat when the council voted on the American proposal on Friday. Russia and China voted against, while 11 members – including France, Germany and Britain – abstained. The US and the Dominican Republic were the only votes in favour. “I don’t remember the US preparing a resolution for months to strike a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it garners only one vote,” the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, said in a televised speech. “But the great success was that the US was defeated in this conspiracy with humiliation.” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, wrote: “In the 75 years of United Nations history, America has never been so isolated”, while people on the streets of Tehran had mixed reactions. The UN arms embargo on Iran is due to expire under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which allowed many international sanctions against Iran to be lifted in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme. Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018.
Pompeo Blasts European Allies As "Siding With Ayatollahs" After Rejecting Iran 'Snapback Sanctions' -- Apparently still reeling from last week's United Nations Security Council vote where the door was forever shut on the US bid to indefinitely extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Thursday remarks blasted Washington's European allies at a moment he's attempting to trigger "snapback sanctions". In a news conference from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), he charged that Germany, France and the UK are hypocritical in supposedly expressing private support for the US position, while at the UN they publicly “chose to side with Ayatollahs” against the controversial procedure to uphold the punitive action rooted in the JCPOA. It should be recalled in last Friday's initial vote which triggered what many see as but more Washington desperation while Europe largely stands by the terms of the Obama-era nuclear deal, only the tiny Dominican Republic voted "yes" to extend the weapons embargo alongside the US. What's more, Europe is now vehemently opposing Pompeo's controversial procedure to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran. He's specifically responding to the latest actions of Britain, France and Germany, all who say— The US did not have the legal right to trigger the so-called "snapback" of sanctions because it withdrew from the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018. Ironically, Pompeo is claiming authority to initiate a procedure which is ultimately based on the US still being a participant in the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) with Iran, but obviously the Trump administration withdrew in May 2018.
Iran sanctions: nearly all UN security council unites against 'unpleasant' US -- The extent of US isolation at the UNhas been driven home by formal letters from 13 of the 15 security council members opposing Trump administration attempts to extend the economic embargo on Iran.The letters by the council members were all issued in the 24 hours since the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, came to the UN’s New York headquarters to declare Iran in non-compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal.Under that deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA), comprehensive UN sanctions on Iran would be restored 30 days after the declaration. But almost every other council member has issued letters saying that the US has no standing to trigger this sanctions “snapback” because it left the JCPOA in May 2018.The US has said it is still technically a participant because it is named as one in a 2015 security council resolution endorsing the JCPOA. The argument was rejected by France, the UK and Germany even before Pompeo made his declaration.Since then, Reuters reported that it had seen letters from Russia, China, Germany, Belgium, Vietnam, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Indonesia, Estonia and Tunisia, all rejecting the US position. Only the Dominican Republic has yet to issue a formal letter on the subject. Last week the Caribbean state was the only security council member to back the USwhen it tried to extend an arms embargo on Iran. Pompeo visited the island two days after that vote.Council members who normally consider themselves US allies on most issues said they would have supported Washington if a compromise had been found, in which the arms embargo could have been extended for a limited time period. The defeat of the US resolution on the embargo led directly to Pompeo’s legal gambit to try to snap back UN sanctions.Diplomats at the UN said the depth of US isolation was in part a reflection of the abrasive style used by Pompeo, who accused Europeans of choosing to “side with the ayatollahs”, and the US ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, a political appointee. “The Americans were actually being over the top in their ridiculousness,” one diplomat said.
Trump says could 'decouple' and not do business with China - (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, in a Fox News interview airing Sunday, raised the possibility of decoupling the U.S. economy from China, a major purchaser of U.S. goods. In a video excerpt, Trump initially told interviewer Steve Hilton “we don’t have to” do business with China, and then later said about decoupling: “Well it’s something that if they don’t treat us right I would certainly, I would certainly do that.” Trump entered into a high-stakes trade war with China before reaching a partial Phase 1 trade deal in January. Trump has since shut the door on Phase 2 negotiations, saying he was unhappy with Beijing’s handling of the pandemic. In June U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a decoupling of the U.S. and Chinese economies will result if U.S. companies are not allowed to compete on a fair and level basis in China’s economy.
The End Of Special Fiscal Stimulus- A week ago a two week long negotiation between Dem Congress people, Nancy Pelosi from the House and Chuck Schumer from the Senate and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who cut deals with Pelosi and Schumer three times earlier this year, but now Trump’s Chief of Staff, former Freedom Caucus leader in the House, Mark Meadows, notorious for only destroying deals and never making any. And in this case, all the reporting is that a week ago he “blew up” the negotiations, taking a hard line on orders from Trump. So, where are we at now?For starters yesterday the Senate adjourned until after Labor Day. So, the market expectations that a deal will be cut soon are a joke. There will be no deal anytime soon, and maybe never. Many things have run out, whose impact has not fully arrived: end of extra unemployment, end of PPP assistance for small businesses, end of no evictions, and several other things. Yes, there have been vague noises in the past week about restarting the negotiations, but they went nowhere. Dems indicated that they were willing to compromise on many issues. To pick a big symbolic one has to do with the total spending level. Going into this the Dems were pushing $3+ trillion and the GOP was pushing $1 trillion. Gosh, looks like $ 2 trillion would be an obvious compromise, and the Dems have publicly indicated they would be willing to go to that, but, no, Meadows held the hard-line, and, along with some other issues, such as a roughly $800 billion difference over state and local aid, which is clearly the largest chunk of this stalemate. As it is, Meadows left town and the Senate has gone on leave until after Labor Day. No deal.
South Dakota declines unemployment aid from Trump executive orders - South Dakota appeared to become the first state to decline boosted federal unemployment aid that was designated under an executive order signed by President Trump this month amid the continuing pandemic.Gov. Kristi Noem (R), a vocal ally of the White House, said South Dakota did not need the additional funds because workers in her state have been rehired and that its economy is rebounding after suffering economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. “My administration is very grateful for the additional flexibility that this effort would have provided, but South Dakota is in the fortunate position of not needing to accept it. South Dakota’s economy, having never been shut down, has recovered nearly 80% of our job losses. South Dakota is the only state in the nation that didn’t have extended benefits kick in because our insured unemployment rate has been the lowest in the nation,” she said in a statement. Trump signed an executive order earlier this month allowing the federal government to use money already allocated for disaster assistance to help unemployed Americans, adding at least $300 more to their weekly benefit amounts, with state governments expected to provide an additional $100, for a total of $400. But the order blindsided many states, some of which are still reeling from the pandemic’s economic repercussions and may not be in a position to add their part of the benefits boost. The order drew fierce criticism from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who wrote in a letter that the “convoluted and short-lived proposal” will “delay payments to unemployed Pennsylvanians and create unnecessary and costly administrative burdens for the states who must administer the funds.”
18 states committed to Trump's expanded unemployment plan: report - Eighteen states have committed to President Trump's plan for augmented temporary unemployment benefits, which would reduce the amount of individual payments and require states to contribute 25 percent of the payments. An Associated Press survey found the majority of states remain uncommitted as of Tuesday. Thirty have reportedly said they are continuing to analyze the proposal, while two, Mississippi and South Dakota, have turned it down outright. New Mexico was the first state to apply for the assistance, but the head of the state’s Department of Workforce Solutions said the logistics remain largely unclear. “People need help and they need it right now,” Bill McCamley told the AP. “These dollars are so important, not only to the claimants, but because the claimants turn that money around, sometimes immediately to pay for things like rent, child care, utilities.” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R), meanwhile, has turned the plan down, calling it too expensive. The second governor to reject it, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), called it unnecessary. "South Dakota's economy, having never been shut down, has recovered nearly 80 percent of our job losses," Noem, one of only a few governors never to impose lockdown measures, said in a statement on Friday. "South Dakota is open for business — that applies to our business owners and their employees." In contrast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), despite his frequent criticisms of the president, has announced the state will take the deal. “As I say, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” he said last week, the AP noted. An aid package passed by Congress earlier this year provided an additional $600 a week to those who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. After the extension expired, President Trump announced an executive order that extended the benefit but at a reduced rate of $400 a week, with states contributing $100.
Trump’s payroll tax holiday may haunt workers next year, business groups warn - President Donald Trump’s recent executive action creating a payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year could boomerang as a higher tax bill for American workers in 2021, the nation’s business leaders warned this week in a letter to Congress and the Treasury Department. The letter was sent Tuesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and signed by more than 30 trade groups, including manufacturers, restaurants, retailers and building contractors. The letter addressed the uncertainty of how Trump planned to compensate for the upcoming shortfall so that workers are not on the hook to pay the money back in the future, CNN reported. As it stands the president’s plan does not forgive the 6.2% in payroll tax deferment, which is meant for workers who earn less than $104,000 annually. The letter noted that workers making $50,000 a year could wind up owing nearly $1,100 in payroll taxes in 2021, while those earning the max of $104,000 could be hit with a tax bill of more than $2,200, CNN reports. “Many of our members consider it unfair to employees to make a decision that would force a big tax bill on them next year,” the letter states. Trump promised last week to permanently abolish the payroll tax — which largely funds Social Security and Medicare — days after signing an executive measure to defer the tax from September to December. “On the assumption I win, we are going to be terminating the payroll tax after the beginning of the new year,” Trump said. Trump made the unilateral moves after lawmakers on Capitol Hill failed to agree on another legislative relief package, saying he wanted to quickly put more money in the pockets of consumers as the coronavirus pandemic continues to pummel the nation’s economy. The president’s other actions included deferred student loan payments, discouraged evictions and provisions for enhanced unemployment benefits if states agree to contribute money to the program.
Internal USPS Documents Outline Plans to Hobble Mail Sorting - The United States Postal Service proposed removing 20 percent of letter sorting machines it uses around the country before revising the plan weeks later to closer to 15 percent of all machines, meaning 502 will be taken out of service, according to documents obtained by Motherboard outlining the agency’s plans. USPS workers told Motherboard this will slow their ability to sort mail.One of the documents also suggests these changes were in the works before Louis DeJoy, a top Trump donor and Republican fundraiser, became postmaster general, because it is dated May 15, a month before DeJoy assumed office and only nine days after the Board of Governorsannounced his selection. The title of the presentation, as well as language used in the notice to union officials, undermines the Postal Service’s narrative that the organization is simply “mov[ing] equipment around its network” to optimize processing, as spokesperson Dave Partenheimer told Motherboard on Thursday. The May document clearly calls the initiative an “equipment reduction.” It makes no mention of the machines being moved to other facilities. And the notice to union officials repeatedly uses the same phrase. Multiple sources within the postal service told Motherboard they have personally witnessed the machines, which cost millions of dollars, being destroyed or thrown in the dumpster. USPS did not respond to a request for comment.In May, the USPS planned to remove a total of 969 sorting machines out of the 4,926 it had in operation as of February for all types of letters and flat mail. The vast majority of them—746 out of 3,765 in use—were delivery bar code sorters (DBCS), the type that sort letters, postcards, ballots, marketing mail and other similarly sized pieces. But a subsequent document distributed to union officials in mid-June said 502 of those machines would be removed from facilities. The May document, titled “Equipment Reduction,” breaks down the exact number of machines the USPS slated to remove by region and facility. Although the document uses terms like “proposed reduction” and “reduction plan” and does not reflect the USPS’s final plan, it provides a general picture of the sweeping changes previously reported by Motherboard about mail sorting machines being removed around the country. It also shows that USPS management is undertaking a broad reduction of the agency’s ability to sort and process all types of mail, except for packages which have been steadily increasing in recent years before booming during the pandemic.
Pelosi calls for House to return this week over Postal Service crisis - Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling on House lawmakers to return from recess early this week to vote on legislation prohibiting the U.S. Postal Service from making any changes to operations it had in place starting this year. Pelosi in a statement Sunday evening said she was calling on the lower chamber to cut recess short to vote on the measure brought forth by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), called the Delivering for America Act. Pelosi also called on members of Congress to “participate in a Day of Action on Tuesday by appearing at a Post Office in their districts for a press event” in order to “save the Postal Service,” saying, “In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central. Americans should not have to choose between their health and their vote.” The move by Pelosi arrives as recent policy changes made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee and GOP donor, have led to scrutiny over widespread mail delays ahead of the coming election, which many expect will see a surge in mail-voting due to the ongoing pandemic. When introducing the Delivering for America Act earlier this week, Maloney said in a statement that the “Postal Service should not become an instrument of partisan politics” and added that “a once-in-a-century pandemic is no time to enact changes that threaten service reliability and transparency.” Maloney has also requested a hearing next week with DeJoy to examine the recent changes made at the agency and what she described earlier this month as “the need for on-time mail delivery during the ongoing pandemic and upcoming election” amid allegations from Democrats that the official is working with the president to sabotage the agency. Trump has defended DeJoy amid the increasing scrutiny, saying at a news conference on Saturday that the official “is a fantastic man” who “wants to make the Post Office great again.” Pressed about reports that the official had some mail-sorting machines decommissioned, Trump also said, “I don’t know what he’s doing. I can only tell you he is a very smart man.”Pelosi said the country is witnessing the “devastating effects” of what she called Trump’s “campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters.” She also said that DeJoy “has proven a complicit crony as he continues to push forward sweeping new operational changes that degrade postal service, delay the mail, and – according to the Postal Service itself – threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion.”
Using Koch Money, Cato Institute Has Led the Drumbeat to Denigrate and Privatize the U.S. Postal Service - By Pam Martens - The first thing you need to know about the right-wing Cato Institute is that it quietly began its life as the Charles Koch Foundation in 1974. The name was changed to the Cato Institute in 1977 according to the restated articles of incorporation. For decades, the Cato Institute enjoyed a taxpayer subsidy as a nonprofit while being secretly owned by a handful of men, two of whom were the fossil fuel billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch – libertarians with a radical agenda. The second thing to know about the Cato Institute is that over the past 35 years, Koch-related foundations have pumped more than $22 million into its coffers to help Cato get out its messaging of killing off the following: Social Security; federally-subsidized school lunches; the minimum wage; collective bargaining; and, of course, the unionized U.S. Postal Service. In 2009, the Cato Institute hired the powerful corporate lobbyist firm, Patton Boggs, to file its Amicus brief in the Citizens United case at the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing in favor of loosening restrictions on corporate spending in campaigns. The 5-4 decision in that case opened the spigots to corporate funding of political campaigns in 2010. Democracy in the U.S. has been on the skids ever since. Given that background, it’s only natural that the current attack on the U.S. Postal Service would have the dirty fingerprints of the Cato Institute all over it. Despite Gallup polls and the 2020 Pew Research poll that found that the U.S. Postal Service enjoys the approval of the vast majority of Americans, the Cato Institute has denigrated it in essays, testimony to Congress and opinion pieces in the press for decades and called for its privatization. Those efforts were stepped up in the past two years. On April 28 of this year, Cato’s Chris Edwards wrote an OpEd for the New York Daily News calling for the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service, writing that “To survive and even thrive in the changing economy, the U.S. Postal Service should be moved to the private sector.” A year earlier, Edwards was testifying before the House Oversight Committee on how “Congress should privatize the USPS” and “allow entrepreneurs to compete in the postal industry.” (It should be noted that UPS and FedEx are already major competitors.) Edwards holds a Masters in Economics from George Mason University, another outpost of massive amounts of Koch money. Cato’s unending bashing of the U.S. Postal Service and efforts to see it privatized date back at least 35 years. Before Edwards, Cato’s attack dog was James Bovard. In 1985, Bovard wrote that the Postal Service was “a dinosaur” and “probably the worst managed and one of the least honest corporations in America.” (Seriously?)
Pelosi Hints Democrats Might Pare Stimulus Plan, Seek More Later - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Democrats might be willing to make more cuts to their stimulus proposal to seal a deal with Republicans and speed Covid-19 relief, then come back after the November elections with additional agenda items. “We’re willing to cut our bill in half to meet the needs right now,” she said Tuesday at a Politico Playbook event. “We’ll take it up again in January.” Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill later said that she was referring to previous offers to meet Republicans “halfway, not cutting our bill in half.” But both sides in the stalemate over a stimulus bill appeared to be probing for openings for a break that could restart negotiations. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Pelosi’s decision to break out $25 billion in funding for the Postal Service from the original Democratic relief plan as an opening for talks. That “could open the opportunity for discussion about something smaller than what the speaker and the Democratic Senate leader were insisting on at the point of impasse,” McConnell said in an interview with the Louisville Courier Journal. He added that the Senate was unlikely to take up the Democrats’ post office bill, which the House is set to pass Saturday. Pelosi said she’s eager to get a stimulus package through Congress before lawmakers next month have to take up a bill needed to keep the government running when the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1. “We have to try to come to that agreement now,” Pelosi said.
Mnuchin Says Stimulus Talks Remain Stalled - WSJ—Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that talks remain stalled between Republicans and Democrats over another round of stimulus funding, though bipartisan appetite for a deal remains high. Mr. Mnuchin also suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) might be willing to resume negotiations this week when she reconvenes the chamber to consider legislation prohibiting the U.S. Postal Service from implementing changes that Democrats say could affect the presidential election. “Speaker Pelosi is coming back to look at Postal; hopefully she’ll be more interested in sitting down,” the Treasury secretary said in an interview on CNBC. Mr. Mnuchin has repeatedly traded barbs with Mrs. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) over the size and contents of the next major round of relief to combat the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Both sides have accused the other of being unwilling to engage in earnest negotiations. Democrats have said they are willing to move to $2 trillion on the next coronavirus bill, down from the $3.5 trillion of a bill the House passed in May. The administration has set its goal for the size of the next bill at $1 trillion but has indicated willingness to go higher. Mr. Mnuchin on Tuesday gave little indication that the battle lines have budged, saying, “I really don’t know,” when asked why a deal seems so far off. “We started with a trillion dollars. We agreed to increase that in several areas in an effort to compromise,” he said. “They didn’t come down. They never made us a proposal at two trillion; they never gave us a line-by-line counter.”
Why there's still hope for second $1,200 stimulus checks despite stalled congressional talks - When it comes to a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, there's good news and bad news.The good news: Both political parties have said they want to send Americans more direct payments.The bad news: Congress needs to agree on the next coronavirus stimulus package in order for that money to come through.Talks between top Democrats and the White House broke down because they could not come to a compromise on how much to spend on that legislation. Democrats have proposed more than $3 trillion in aid, while Republicans have said their target is $1 trillion. "Neither side wants to give the other side a victory right now," said Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James.The impasse prompted President Donald Trump to sign a series of executive orders earlier this month, addressing unemployment benefits, student loans, eviction protections and payroll tax deferrals.But other areas were left untouched, including state and local funding and aid for schools.Other initiatives with more popular support, such as the stimulus checks and aid for small businesses, could help bring politicians back to the negotiating table, Mills said. The big question is how soon that could happen. Congress has a Sept. 30 deadline to come up with a budget for the next fiscal year. House Democrats are working on new legislation to provide support to the U.S. Postal Service, which some hope could help reopen stimulus talks.In the meantime, spending could slow down as household savings start to dwindle and with enhanced unemployment benefits only expected to lastseveral weeks. When lawmakers do resume talks, stimulus checks are expected to stay in the package."It's one of the only areas that truly has bipartisan support," Mills said. "The longer we go without enhanced unemployment, the longer we go with the economy still not fully reopened, the greater the economic need is for those checks."
UI claims remain historically high and the president’s sham executive memorandum is doing next to nothing: Congress must reinstate the $600 - EPI - Last week 1.4 million workers applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Breaking that down: 892,000 applied for regular state unemployment insurance (not seasonally adjusted), and 543,000 applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). Some headlines this morning are saying there were 1.1 million UI claims last week, but that’s not the right number to use. For one thing, it ignores PUA, the federal program that is serving millions of workers who are not eligible for regular UI, like the self-employed. It also uses seasonally adjusted data, which is distorted right now because of the way Department of Labor (DOL) does seasonal adjustments. Republicans in the Senate allowed the across-the-board $600 increase in weekly UI benefits to expire. Last week was the third week of unemployment in this pandemic for which recipients did not get the extra $600. That means people on UI are now are forced to get by on the meager benefits which are in place without the extra payment, which are typically around 40% of their pre-virus earnings. It goes without saying that most folks can’t exist on 40% of prior earnings without experiencing a sharp drop in living standards and enormous pain. Earlier this month, President Trump issued a sham of an executive memorandum. It was purported to give recipients an additional $300 in benefits. But in reality, even this drastically reduced benefit is only available to recipients in a handful of small states, and only for a few weeks. The executive memorandum is a false promise that actually does more harm than good because it diverts attention from the desperate need for the real relief that can only come through legislation. This is cruel, and terrible economics. The extra $600 was supporting a huge amount of spending by people who now have to make drastic cuts. The spending made possible by the $600 was supporting 5.1 million jobs. Cutting that $600 means cutting those jobs—it means the workers who were providing the goods and services that UI recipients were spending that $600 on lose their jobs. The map in Figure B of this blog postshows many jobs will be lost by state now that the $600 unemployment benefit has been allowed to expire. We remain 12.9 million jobs below where we were before the virus hit, and the unemployment rate is higher than it ever was during the Great Recession. Now isn’t the time to cut benefits that support jobs
Billions in Federal Covid-19 Testing Funds Still Unspent – WSJ - Billions of dollars in federal funds earmarked for boosting nationwide Covid-19 testing remain unspent months after Congress made the money available, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In April, Congress allocated roughly $25 billion for federal agencies and states to expand testing, develop contact-tracing initiatives and broaden disease surveillance. According to HHS data, only about 10% to 15% of that total has been drawn down, meaning the cash has been spent or committed to various efforts. The funds for various testing initiatives were part of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act. The Trump administration has taken a state-led approach to testing Americans for Covid-19, dispatching funds and helping states procure the swabs and reagents they need to facilitate testing. The strategy, federal officials say, helps states identify and cater to their specific needs. Of the $25 billion, some $10.25 billion was sent to states and U.S. territories in May to expand testing and develop contact-tracing programs at their discretion, but as of Aug. 14, just $121 million of that pool of funds had been drawn down. Reasons for the lack of spending vary. Some states are still identifying the testing and contact-tracing services they think will be the most effective. It can take time to solicit bids, award contracts and pay for services rendered. Also, states aren’t spending money on some testing materials such as reagents that the federal government helps them source, HHS spokeswoman Mia Heck said. HHS won’t know how the funds were used until the fiscal year ends Sept. 30., she said. HHS is focused on expanding testing and sending the right types of tests to the right types of settings, Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the agency, said on a call with reporters Wednesday. “There are plenty of tests and that’s growing substantially,” said Adm. Giroir, who has overseen U.S. testing efforts.
More than 200 of the US's worst-performing nursing homes received millions of dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program - According to a Business Insider review of data compiled by ProPublica, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Paycheck Protection Program, and Medicare.gov, about 220 nursing homes that have been flagged for a litany of violations benefited to the tune of millions of dollars by way of Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. This lending program is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, a $2.2 trillion bill that was passed by Congress in March in response to the pandemic's blow to the economy. In all, nursing homes cited by CMS's Special Focus Facility (SFF) Program, as well as hospitals and business entities that own and/or manage those facilities received $149 million to $427 million.* "If Chrysler provided nonfunctioning cars to the federal government, people would demand that the government not pay for them. But for some reason, we hand out billions to poorly performing nursing homes with no accountability whatsoever," Alex Lawson, the executive director of advocacy group Social Security Works, told Business Insider. Nursing homes serve the most vulnerable segments of society, which makes a yearslong history of violations particularly egregious, Brian Lee, the executive director of Families for Better Care, said. Lee said in some cases, poor quality of care has transformed nursing homes into coronavirus "killing fields." "The downplaying of infection-control infractions and the 'look-the-other-way' staffing enforcement exacerbated the invasion of COVID-19 into nursing homes," Lee said.
Dozens of public health officials are quitting during pandemic Health officials across the country are calling it quits in the midst of a global pandemic as otherwise below-the-radar public servants become the targets of anger and frustration in a hyperpartisan age. In some cases, government health officials have quit or been removed from their jobs after clashing with elected leaders. New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot resigned this month after feuding with Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). Health officials in Texas, Indiana and Montana have quit in recent weeks after politicians overrode their advice on requiring masks and prohibiting public events. In other states, health officials have been fired for data reporting errors. California’s public health director, Sonia Angell, quit suddenly this month after a software breakdown showed the state may have underreported the number of coronavirus infections. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) fired his public health commissioner, Cathy Slemp, over another reporting issue. In the most troubling cases, public health officials have left their jobs after receiving threats. In Ohio last week, Amy Acton quit her post as Gov. Mike DeWine’s chief health adviser, two months after giving up her position as director of the state’s Department of Health. Armed demonstrators protested outside her home earlier this year. A tally maintained by Kaiser Health News and The Associated Press finds that almost 50 state and local health officials have resigned, retired or been fired since April. “To see this kind of really widespread resignations from critical roles at a time of great importance for our country ought to be a source for everyone to be concerned,” National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told The Hill in an interview. “I am very troubled to see that kind of turnover.” Collins and other public health experts pinned blame on the heightened partisan atmosphere in America, one that has even infected the response to the coronavirus pandemic. “These are public servants who are trying their best to look at an unprecedented situation and make recommendations to keep people safe. Those recommendations unfortunately in our polarized society often take on some political spin, which I’m sure is not their intention, and results in a great deal of pressure upon those individuals to change their opinions,” Collins said. “Some of them are getting vicious attacks or even threats to themselves or their families. That is really heartbreaking.” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, has received so many threats that he now has a security detail. In interviews, Fauci has said people have even threatened his adult daughters. At the local level, and especially in areas controlled by Republican elected officials, health experts have quit in frustration when county executives or commissioners have refused to follow their advice. In Fishers, Ind., epidemiologist Eileen White resigned Sunday after pressure from Mayor Scott Fadness (R), who she said was pushing to open schools before the area got coronavirus infections under control. “This is a level of interference I had never seen before in a public health agency,” White told the Indianapolis Star. In Ravalli County, Mont., public health officer Carol Calderwood resigned in July after county commissioners refused to enforce a public mask mandate ordered by Gov. Steve Bullock (D). “The idea that you have to either pick to support the economy or pick public health measures is so upside down. The public health measures are going to help us get our economy going again,” . “They are a pathway towards getting our schools started up again. And yet somehow in many of these situations these are pitted against each other in a way that causes a great deal of anger and resentment and political furor to kick in.”
Trump says without proof that FDA 'deep state' slowing COVID trials - (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday accused members of the “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration, without providing evidence, of working to slow testing of COVID-19 vaccines until after the November presidential election. In a Twitter post, Trump said the deep state “or whoever” at the FDA was making it very difficult for drug companies to enroll people in clinical trials to test vaccines and therapies for the novel coronavirus. The comment came after Reuters exclusively reported on Thursday that a top FDA official said he would resign if the Trump administration approved a vaccine before it was shown to be safe and effective. “Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” Trump wrote, tagging FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in the tweet. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was a “dangerous statement” and that the president was “beyond the pale” for accusing the FDA of playing politics. The FDA could not immediately be reached for comment. Drug manufacturers in coordination with the FDA and National Institutes of Health are ramping up production while testing is underway in order to respond as soon as possible with a vaccine for COVID-19, which has killed nearly 800,000 people worldwide. Trump often uses Twitter to criticize federal agencies, sometimes accusing them of being controlled by the “deep state” in an apparent reference to long-serving staff who, in Trump’s eyes, are determined to undermine his agenda. His tweet increases the pressure on the FDA after Peter Marks, director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, last week said on a conference call with government officials, pharmaceutical executives and academics that he would resign if the agency rubber-stamped an unproven vaccine. Scientists, public health officials and lawmakers are worried that the Trump administration will push the FDA to approve a vaccine in advance of the vote, even if data from clinical trials do not support its widespread use.
Who is Scott Atlas, Trump’s new adviser on the COVID-19 pandemic? - Dr. Scott Atlas was introduced last week by Trump at the coronavirus task force press brief as a new member and adviser to the president on the pandemic. Trump declared: “The gentlemen, this is Scott Atlas … he is working with us and will be working with us on the coronavirus. He has many great ideas, and he thinks what we’ve done is really good, and now we will take it to a new level.” After butting heads with his medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci for several months and more recently upset by the warnings from Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House task force, about the consequences of the pandemic, the White House has turned to a stalwart of reaction. Dr. Scott Atlas has supported Trump’s policies on masks, opening the economy and calling for school reopening. Not to mince words, ultra-right talkshow host Rush Limbaugh said last week, “Scott Atlas is now part of the coronavirus task force meeting with the President. And he is countering Fauci.” White House sources told CNN that Dr. Atlas had been informally advising Trump for many weeks after Trump saw him speaking on Fox News, echoing the President’s position on school reopening and general skepticism toward the pandemic and the president’s medical experts. His medical credentials will now allow Trump to align his policy with “medical advice.” Dr. Atlas, who has been busy making the media circuit among conservative outlets, always prefaces his comments with remarks about strictly adhering to science and data behind the issues, before diving into a tirade against proponents of lockdowns and school closures. On Fox News, he has admitted that the goal of the administration is not to prevent infections, claiming that young people mostly have no risk of dying, and therefore whether they are infected or not is immaterial. In an interview with former Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dr. Atlas spewed many unsubstantiated facts and calling actions that attempt to contain the virus as causing more harm or deaths. In one of his inflammatory statements from April, he said, “In the absence of immunization, society needs circulation of the virus, assuming high-risk people can be isolated.” This has been the essence of the herd immunity policy that has had disastrous consequences for the population of those countries adhering to them. On May 25, in an opinion piece for the Hill, Dr. Atlas wrote, “Although well-intentioned, the lockdown was imposed without consideration of its consequences beyond those directly from the pandemic. The policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. These financial losses have been falsely portrayed as purely economic. To the contrary … we calculate that these policies will cause devastating non-economic consequences that will total millions of accumulated years of life lost in the United States, far beyond what the virus itself has caused.”
An overwhelming majority of Americans say the US response to coronavirus makes them feel embarrassed - Almost seven in 10 Americans in a new CNN poll said the US response to the coronavirus pandemic made them feel embarrassed. Sixty-eight percent said that, compared with 28% who said they were proud. Democrats overwhelmingly said they were more embarrassed than proud (93% embarrassed, 5% proud), while 61% of Republicans said they were proud. The poll found that 33% of Republicans said they were embarrassed by the US response. The US has the most reported coronavirus cases and deaths in the world. President Donald Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus despite the mounting death toll. He's taken an anti-scientific approach, repeatedly contradicting the nation's top public-health experts. The president at one point even dangerously suggested that researchers should look into injecting disinfectant as a cure, prompting companies that produce such products to forcefully warn consumers against doing so. More recently, when confronted with the staggering six-figure death toll from coronavirus in the US, Trump said: "They are dying. That's true. And you — it is what it is." Public-health experts have said the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic has been "abysmal" and has mirrored that of authoritarian governments. As of Wednesday, there had been nearly 5.5 million reported coronavirus cases in the US and more than 171,000 confirmed deaths.
Congress Votes to Block U.S.P.S. Changes - The New York Times — The House interrupted its summer recess on Saturday for a rare weekend session to approve legislation blocking cost-cutting and operational changes at the Postal Service that Democrats, civil rights advocates and some Republicans fear could jeopardize mail-in ballots this fall.The measure, put forward by Democratic leaders, would also require the Postal Service to prioritize the delivery of all election-related mail and grant the beleaguered agency a rare $25 billion infusion to cover revenue lost because of the coronavirus pandemic and ensure it has the resources to address what is expected to be the largest vote-by-mail operation in the nation’s history.Democrats were joined by 26 Republicans in voting yes, passing the legislation 257 to 150, with more than 20 Republicans not voting. But the bill, as written, appeared unlikely to move through the Republican-controlled Senate. President Trump opposed the measure in last-minute tweets, calling it a “money wasting HOAX” by Democrats.Democrats framed Saturday’s action as an emergency intervention into the affairs of an independent agency to protect vital mail and package services that have seen significant delays this summer as the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, moved swiftly to cut costs to close a yawning budget gap. They said it was also necessary to instill confidence in American voters that the agency would safeguard their ballots despite near daily attacks by Mr. Trump on mail-in voting.“This is not a partisan issue,” Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the lead author of the bill, said, as shereleased Postal Service statistics documenting the slowdown in delivery since early July. “It makes absolutely no sense to impose these kinds of dangerous cuts in the middle of a pandemic and just months before the elections in November.”Most Republicans in the House opposed it after Mr. DeJoy, facing intense backlash and with the vote looming, announced this week that he would temporarily halt the removal of blue mailboxes and sorting machines, as well as changes to post office hours and to mail delivery operations until after Nov. 3 out of an abundance of caution. In testimony before the Senate on Friday, Mr. DeJoy reiterated that pledge and said ensuring successful mail-in voting would be the agency’s “No. 1 priority.” He called Democrats’ assertion that he was working with Mr. Trump to hinder the program “outrageous” and testified that he planned to continue the agency’s practice of prioritizing election mail.
USPS Patent for SECURE VOTING SYSTEM - Abstract: A voting system can use the security of blockchain and the mail to provide a reliable voting system. A registered voter receives a computer readable code in the mail and confirms identity and confirms correct ballot information in an election. The system separates voter identification and votes to ensure vote anonymity, and stores votes on a distributed ledger in a blockchain.
Former DHS official: Trump called Puerto Rico 'dirty,' asked to trade it for Greenland -A former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said Wednesday President Trump called Puerto Rico “dirty” and asked if it could be swapped for Greenland. Miles Taylor, a former DHS official who has endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said Trump asked about trading Puerto Rico for the Danish territory amid trips officials took to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. “The president’s talked before about wanting to purchase Greenland, but one time before we went down, he told us not only did he want to purchase Greenland, he actually said he wanted to see if we could sell Puerto Rico. Could we swap Puerto Rico for Greenland,” Taylor said Wednesday on MSNBC. “Because in his words Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor.“We don't talk about our fellow Americans that way,” Taylor added. “The fact that the president of the United States wanted take a U.S. territory of Americans and swap it for a foreign country is beyond galling.” A former White House official, who was unnamed at the time, told The New York Times last year that Trump had joked about trading the American territory for Greenland. Miles told MSNBC he did not take the comment as a joke. He also said Trump expressed “deep animus toward the Puerto Rican people behind the scenes.”
Trump said he's considering a pardon for Edward Snowden after previously calling for his execution - A presidential pardon is not out of the question for the country’s most famous whistleblower. President Trump on Saturday said he was going to look “very strongly” at the possibility of a pardon for Edward Snowden. He told The Post exclusively earlier this week that he was open to the idea. “I’m not that aware of the Snowden situation. I’m going to start looking at it. There are many many people, it seems to be a split decision,” Trump said Saturday during a news briefing at his Bedminster club in New Jersey. “Many people think that he should be somehow treated differently and other people think he did very bad things,” the president went on. “I’m going to take a look at that very strongly.” Snowden is accused of theft of government property and espionage and has been living in Russia after leaking troves of National Security Agency information on the highly secretive agency’s mass surveillance and other intelligence programs. A pardon would be quite the change of heart for Trump, who tweeted critically of Snowden at least 45 times before he took office, calling him a “traitor” who should be executed. “Snowden is a traitor and a disgrace,” Trump tweeted back in May 2014. “Make no mistake, he is no hero. In fact he is a coward who should come back & face justice.” But Trump today said he’s heard others around him express sympathy for his situation. “There are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly. I mean, I hear that,” Trump told The Post in an Oval Office interview on Thursday.
Trump says he's considering swapping out Goodyear tires from presidential car -- President Trump doubled down on his attacks against tiremaker Goodyear over its policies on political attire, saying Wednesday he's considering replacing the company's tires on the presidential car with a different brand.“I’m not happy with Goodyear because what they’re doing is playing politics. And the funny thing is that the people who work for Goodyear, I can guarantee you I poll very well with all those great workers in Goodyear,” Trump said at a White House press conference, expanding on an earlier tweet in which he urged his supporters to boycott Goodyear over its policy restricting employees from wearing “Make America Great Again” attire and other political apparel in the workplace.
William Barr told Murdoch to 'muzzle' Fox News Trump critic, new book says -- The attorney general, William Barr, told Rupert Murdoch to “muzzle” Andrew Napolitano, a prominent Fox News personality who became a critic of Donald Trump, according to a new book about the rightwing TV network. Barr’s meeting with Murdoch, at the media mogul’s New York home in October 2019, was widely reported at the time, with speculation surrounding its subject. According to Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, by CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, subjects covered included media consolidation and criminal justice reform.“But it was also about Judge Andrew Napolitano. In early 2019 it was reported that Napolitano, a New Jersey superior court judge who joined Fox News in 1998, told friends he had been on Trump’s shortlist for the supreme court. But he broke ranks later in the year, labeling Trump’s approaches to Ukraine, seeking political dirt on rivals, “both criminal and impeachable behavior”.
VOA Urdu Chief Suspended For Covering Pro Biden Muslim American PAC - by Riaz Haq --Voice of America (VOA) Urdu language service chief Kokab Farshori and the managing editor for digital operations Tabinda Naeem have been suspended by VOA CEO Micheal Pack who was recently appointed by President Donald Trump. They are accused of violating a federal law by showing a 2-minute Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden's promotional video clip of a speech to Emgage, a pro-Biden Muslim-American Political Action Committee. The clip shows Biden promising "I will end the Muslim ban on day one". The Emgage video clip used by VOA Urdu Service has VOA Urdu logo and Urdu subtitles. Voice of America CEO Mike Pack’s office has alleged the video “can only be described as an apparent election advertisement for [the] presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.” Prior to this action against VOA Urdu staff, Pack's shake-up of senior leadership positions had raised concerns among current and former staff, press freedom groups and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle that the editorial independence of VOA and other U.S.-funded media was at risk, according to NBC News.Nearly 3.5 million people globally follow the VOA Urdu Facebook page, and the service has more than 184,000 Twitter followers, according to Voice of America. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed there were 397,500 Urdu speakers in the U.S. between 2009 and 2013.There are only 3.5 million Muslims – about 1.1% of the total US population – and there has not been a serious effort to reach out to Muslim voters in prior elections. But this election appears to be different. And this has been brought out in the revised Urdu content of the July 22 video, which triggered the probe. “The number of Muslim voters in several key US states could play a significant role in the upcoming presidential election. In the 2016 election, President Trump won Michigan with less than 11,000 votes. The number of Muslim voters in this state is 1.5 million".
Marianne Williamson: Democratic convention 'like binge watching a Marriott commercial' - Former 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson on Tuesday criticized the first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention from the day before, which she said was “like binge watching a Marriott commercial.” Williamson, who officially ended her campaign in January, bashed the convention for not discussing “actual policy on how to end systemic racism” and address other issues. She tweeted in response to Briahna Joy Gray, the former national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, who said, “Truly would love to hear about policy. Did I miss it?” “You didn’t miss anything,” Williamson replied. “Beautiful pictures of [people of color] and reference to [Black Lives Matter], but no actual policy on how to end systemic racism.”The author and spiritual adviser also responded to a tweet from actor Mark Ruffalo that praised the convention for having “so many diverse people coming together to address racism and the promise of America.” “No I’m sorry but they did not address racism,” she said. “They showed a lot of beautiful pictures of POC and made references to BLM, but there was not one mention of an actual policy to help end systemic racism. It’s like binge watching a Marriott commercial.” Williamson followed up her reply to Ruffalo in a separate tweet, saying “I wanted to like it. I really did, I promise I did.”
Former Republican CIA, FBI heads and national security officials to back Biden - (Reuters) - Over 70 former Republican national security officials including ex-CIA and FBI chiefs will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday while launching a scathing indictment of President Donald Trump, calling him corrupt and unfit to serve.The group, called Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden, includes some of the most senior Republican members of the U.S. defense and intelligence establishment to have served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump. The 73-strong group includes retired General Michael Hayden, who served as national security director and head of the CIA; William Webster, the only man to serve as both head of the CIA and FBI; John Negroponte, the first director of National Intelligence; Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center; and Mike Donley, former Air Force secretary. Their full-throated condemnation of Trump and backing of Biden will come three days before Trump’s nominating convention opens on Monday and underscores how the Republican president has alienated some members of his own party, especially among intelligence and foreign policy veterans. “Trump has demonstrated that he lacks the character and competence to lead this nation and has engaged in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as president,” the group plans to declare in a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on Friday. “We have concluded that Donald Trump has failed our country and that Vice President Joe Biden should be elected the next President of the United States,” it adds. The group is one of a number of Republican organizations opposing Trump’s re-election in the Nov. 3 election.
Jimmy Dore Blasts Biden's Lineup Of Neocon & War Hawk Endorsements At DNC Convention - Comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore on his show this week went off on the who's who of neocon war hawks that lined up to endorse Joe Biden at the Democratic National Committee convention this week. "Joe Biden's foreign policy - his entire career - is consistently imperialist," Dore began, after presenting a clip of John Kerry attacking Trump's foreign policy. Kerry, it should be noted, has long been on record as defending his 'yes' vote on the Iraq war. "Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War. Not only did he vote for it, he was one of the most vocal and active advocates for the Iraq War... Under Joe Biden we did Libya, Yemen, and Syria... he took Bush's two wars and turned them into seven wars." And then there's "Colin Powell... bona fide war criminal who intentially lied us into a war... he wasn't duped, he knew exactly what he was doing." Dore presents further clips from foreign policy thinkers featured at the DNC who claim Trump is not standing up to Russia and China. "So that's the Democratic Party encouraging Donald Trump to be more bellicose and saber-rattling," Dore concludes, underscoring the DNC foreign policy platform of US "leadership" in the world is but a resurrection of neocon assumptions.
Colin Powell at the Democratic National Convention: Democrats prepare administration of militarism and war -In the second day of its national convention, the Democratic Party officially nominated Joe Biden as its candidate for president in the 2020 election. Overall, the four-day event has been a highly scripted act of political theater, full of trite clichés and empty rhetoric. The most notable element of yesterday’s proceedings was the decision to feature remarks from former general Colin Powell and a video highlighting the “unlikely friendship” between Biden and former Republican presidential candidate and Senator John McCain. A Biden/Harris administration, the Democrats emphasized, would be prepared to wage war. In his remarks, Powell, who served as Secretary of State under the administration of George W. Bush, declared that Biden, as “commander-in-chief,” will “trust our intelligence agencies” and “stand up to our adversaries with strength and experience. They will know we mean business.” Powell will forever be associated with the lies manufactured by the Bush administration to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On February 5, 2003, Powell appeared before the United Nations to claim that the Iraqi government was stockpiling “weapons of mass destruction”—a claim that was false and he knew was false. It was the climax of the Bush administration’s campaign to justify an unprovoked invasion of Iraq, a horrific war crime that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed one of the most advanced societies in the Middle East. Powell’s remarks were preceded by a speech from John Kerry, Secretary of State under Obama, who helped oversee the 2014 regime-change operation in Ukraine, spearheaded by fascistic groups, and the US-backed civil war in Syria. Kerry denounced Trump’s foreign policy, particularly focusing on what is seen within the military-intelligence agencies as the administration’s insufficiently aggressive attitude to Russia. “Our interests,” Kerry said, “can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump.”
Biden consolidates labor support with pipe fitting union endorsement - The Washington Post -The United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters, the nation’s pipe-fitting and plumbing union, is backing Joe Biden for president.Its chief, Mark McManus, acknowledged that his union, which has 359,000 members in the United States and Canada, doesn’t see eye to eye with Biden on every issue — in particular, on the Keystone XL pipeline. But he said the presumptive Democratic nominee is a longtime labor ally who wants to invest millions of dollars in water infrastructure projects that would employ its members.“Looking at the whole gamut of what the United Association does, the many tentacles that we have, the many issues in front of us for the next four years, we strongly endorsed” Biden, McManus said in an interview. The endorsement further cements Biden’s support from labor groups, which he has heavily courted.
The CIA Democrats in the 2020 elections - In the course of the 2018 elections, a large group of former military-intelligence operatives entered capitalist politics as candidates seeking the Democratic Party nomination in 50 congressional seats—nearly half the seats where the Democrats were targeting Republican incumbents or open seats created by Republican retirements.Some 30 of these candidates won primary contests and became the Democratic candidates in the November 2018 election, and 11 of them won the general election, more than one-quarter of the 40 previously Republican-held seats captured by the Democrats as they took control of the House of Representatives.In 2020, the intervention of the CIA Democrats continues on what is arguably an equally significant scale: besides the reelection campaigns of the 11 representatives who won seats in the House in 2018, half a dozen of those who lost 2018 races are running again in 2020. Some of these are running for House seats again, while others have been promoted by the Democratic Party leadership and are running for the US Senate. And an entire new crop of military-intelligence operatives is being brought forward, some running for Republican seats targeted by the Democratic leadership as possible takeovers, others in seats not currently considered competitive. The bottom line: at least 34 Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives have a primarily military-intelligence background, up from 30 in 2018, as well as three of the party’s 35 candidates for the US Senate, compared to zero in 2018. For each branch of Congress, this represents about 10 percent of the total. As we explained in 2018, the extraordinary influx of candidates coming directly from the national-security apparatus into the Democratic Party is a two-sided process: the Democratic Party establishment welcomes such candidates as a demonstration of the party’s unshakeable devotion to the interests of American imperialism; and military-intelligence operatives are choosing the Democratic Party over the Republican Party in large numbers because they are attracted by the Democrats’ non-stop campaign against the Trump administration as too “soft” on Russia and too willing to pull out of the Middle East war zone.
Just 12 US Billionaires Now Own More Than $1 Trillion in Combined Wealth - New research published Monday by the Institute for Policy Studies shows that the dozen richest American billionaires now collectively own more than $1 trillion in wealth, a finding one analyst described as "a disturbing milestone in the U.S. history of concentrated wealth and power."According to IPS, a progressive think tank, the 12 top U.S. billionaires have seen their combined wealth soar by 40%—or $283 billion—since the coronavirus began spreading rapidly across the U.S. in mid-March, sparking widespread economic shutdowns and mass job loss. "During the first stage of the pandemic, between January 1 and March 18, the collective wealth of the Oligarchic Dozen declined by $96 billion," wrote IPS researchers Chuck Collins and Omar Ocampo. "But their wealth quickly rebounded and surpassed their September 2019 Forbes 400 wealth level. The only exception is Warren Buffett, who is still $2 billion below his September 2019 wealth, but is currently worth $80 billion."Last Thursday, the billionaires' combined wealth reached $1.015 trillion—the first time in U.S. history that the collective net worth of the top 12 American billionaires has topped the trillion-dollar mark. According to IPS, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has seen his wealth jump by $48.5 billion since mid-March, making him the "biggest pandemic profiteer" of the group."This is simply too much economic and political power in the hands of twelve people," Collins, director of IPS' Program on Inequality and the Common Good, said in a statement.The dozen wealthiest U.S. billionaires and their respective net worth as of August 13 are listed below:
- Jeff Bezos—$189.5 billion
- Bill Gates—$114.1 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg—$95.5 billion
- Warren Buffett—$80.6 billion
- Elon Musk—$73.1 billion
- Steve Ballmer—$71.5 billion
- Larry Ellison—$70.9 billion
- Larry Page—$67.4 billion
- Sergey Brin—$65.6 billion
- Alice Walton—$62.6 billion
- Jim Walton—$62.3 billion
- Rob Walton—$62.03 billion
"The total wealth of the Oligarchic Dozen is greater than the GDP of Belgium and Austria combined," said Ocampo. "Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans are unemployed or living paycheck to paycheck, and 170,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States."
Apollo’s Leon Black, Found in Serial Child Rapist Jeffrey Epstein’s Black Book, Patronized Strip Club in Russia With Trump -Yves Smith -Apollo’s Leon Black really needs to be more discriminating in his choice of friends and what he does with them. From the top of a new story in the New York Times (hat tip reader Bryan):Two decades before he ran for president, Donald J. Trump traveled to Russia, where he scouted properties, was wined and dined and, of greatest significance to Senate intelligence investigators, met a woman who was a former Miss Moscow.A Trump associate, Robert Curran, who was interviewed by the Senate investigators, said he believed Mr. Trump may have had a romantic relationship with the woman. On the same trip, another Trump associate, Leon D. Black, told investigators that he and Mr. Trump “might have been in a strip club together.” Another witness said that Mr. Trump may have been with other women in Moscow and later brought them along to a meeting with the mayor.The report contains this photo “likely taken from at the Brooke Group party” at the Kempinski Hotel in 1996, which is what Black had to ‘splain: Black describes his role in the 1996 trip as to introduce Trump around; the footnotes depict him, as the Japanese would put it, as well networked: The strip club (and going to a “discotheque”) wouldn’t amount to much if it were not part of a pattern. From a 2019 post on Black’s unseemly relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: It wasn’t just that Black’s name appeared in Epstein’s famed black book. Since 1997, Epstein served as an “original trustee” of the Leon Black Family Foundation. Black has disavowed state filings that listed Epstein as on the board through 2012, years after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to solicitation of prostitution. Black claims the state filings were inaccurate and said he asked Epstein to resign in 2007. The notion Leon Black, who has access to the best tax experts in the world, and himself is a renowned financier, would hire someone with no credentials in tax or accounting to advise on his affairs would seem nonsensical had it not actually happened. More bad news dripped out. The Wall Street Journal published a long expose, Jeffrey Epstein Burrowed Into the Lives of the Rich and Made a Fortune, Bloomberg reported Jeffrey Epstein Had a Door Into Apollo: His Deep Ties With Leon Black, with insider accounts of how Epstein was permitted to approach Apollo principals to pitch his “tax strategies”. An individual mentioned as hosting one meeting disputed that it had occurred. Black issued a denial that didn’t address a key Bloomberg claim: that Black had allowed Epstein to solicit senior executives at Apollo. Black merely said that Epstein had never done business with Apollo.2 Black first sent an e-mail to employees, then wrote his investors, then read the employee e-mail as part of Apollo’s quarterly conference call. The investor presentationfailed to address a New York Times account that a Black-controlled entity had given $10 million to an Epstein charity in 2015.
Would McWilliams stay on at FDIC if Biden wins? -— At the end of 2008, in the midst of a financial crisis, then-Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Sheila Bair — a Republican appointed by the George W. Bush administration — told Barack Obama's transition team that she would resign if the newly elected president wanted to choose a replacement. With U.S. banks on shaky ground following a historic housing crash, the Obama team opted to keep Bair on board. For the next two and a half years, she helped steer the agency and the industry through a wave of bank collapses, leading a bipartisan FDIC board of mostly Democratic appointees. Twelve years later, the economy has again been dealt a severe blow just ahead of a presidential election, and the FDIC — like the other bank regulators — is facing uncertainty about its post-2020 leadership. Some observers wonder whether a similar scenario might play out for current FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams — whose term lasts until mid-2023 — if the likely Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins in November. Unlike many other presidential appointees, the FDIC chief is protected from presidential firings. An incoming administration may want McWilliams to stay on to deal with financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But if McWilliams remains, she could be leading an FDIC board that looks very different. "The president does not have authority to replace the FDIC chairman. That should be clear. It is the chairman’s choice," Bair said in an interview. But she added, “At the same time, you need to take a hard look at the political landscape when you decide whether to stay and whether you can continue to be effective as a minority chair.” To date, McWilliams has been in lockstep with other Trump-appointed regulators favoring steps to reduce supervisory and compliance burdens, including supporting measures to ease capital and liquidity requirements for smaller institutions, and spearheading an FDIC plan to provide banks relief from brokered deposit restrictions. An FDIC spokesperson said McWilliams “was confirmed to a five-year term and she intends to fulfill it. Any speculation to the contrary is just that, speculation." But if Biden were to win, his administration would potentially seek to appoint new leaders for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which both hold seats on the five-member FDIC board. McWilliams would likely lose support for regulatory relief policies she tried to bring before the board. (A fourth seat is currently held by former FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg, a Democrat, and the fifth seat is vacant.) “It is not fun to chair a board if you don’t have the votes,” said Aaron Klein, policy director of the Center on Regulation and Markets at the Brookings Institution. “If Biden wins, his administration would almost immediately appoint a new comptroller and a … [CFPB] director who would presumably be more aligned with the president.” Recalling her own decision, Bair later wrote in her memoir that she “had no desire to continue serving against the president's wishes. I would be hopelessly compromised if I did not have the president's support to continue my job." But the choice would ultimately be McWilliams's to make, observers said.
States sue FDIC over 'rent-a-bank' partnerships— Seven states and the District of Columbia have sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over a rule designed to address legal ambiguity in the secondary loan market, arguing the regulation would allow predatory lenders to skirt state interest rate caps. The FDIC is the second federal bank regulator to be sued by states for finalizing a rule in June reacting in part to the Madden v. Midland Funding decision, in which a federal judge ruled that the legal principle of valid-when-made in the secondary loan market did not apply to parterships between banks and nonbanks. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was sued over its own ‘Madden’ fix by a smaller group of states in July. In the latest lawsuit — similar in structure to the one filed against the OCC — attorneys general from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and D.C. allege the core of the rulemaking “is beyond the FDIC’s power to issue, is contrary to statute, and would facilitate predatory lending through sham ‘rent-a-bank’ partnerships designed to evade state law.” The attorneys general of California, Illinois and New York were the plaintiffs in the OCC suit.The lawsuit claims the FDIC violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued its rule for failing “to follow the procedures set forth by Congress, ignored the potential for regulatory evasion, and failed to explain its rejection of evidence contrary to its proposal.” The FDIC did not comment on the lawsuit. Under federal law, banks have been allowed for decades to export interest rates across state lines when purchasing or selling loans on the secondary market. But consumer advocates have warned in recent years about the rise of so-called rent-a-bank partnerships, where expensive marketplace lenders partner with banks for the sole purpose of bypassing state interest rate caps to sell predatory products. Both the FDIC and OCC have argued they are well within their statutory authority to issue a rule that affirms valid-when-made for nonbank partnerships.
BankThink: Congress, not the OCC, decides what is and isn't a bank - The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency continues to overstep its reach by calling anything that touches money a bank. And in the process, preempt local authority that protects consumers and the entire financial system. This pattern of the OCC’s flouting congressional limits on its authority must stop. This is a federal banking regulator that should be reminded — again — that only Congress can define a bank. Congress defines a bank as an institution that takes deposits. A bank can also make loans or process payments, but the deposits function is not optional. The OCC began considering applicants for a special-purpose national bank charter built for nonbank fintech companies in 2018. But the Southern District of New York invalidated the regulation underlying the fintech charter in 2019 in a lawsuit brought by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The court determined the OCC lacks authority to issue charters to fintech companies that do not receive deposits because, under federal banking laws, the “business of banking” requires receiving deposits. And the court explicitly said that its decision applies nationwide. The OCC appealed this decision. State regulators, through the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit supporting New York’s regulator and opposing the OCC’s attempt to overturn the Southern District’s decision. Consumer groups, a national banking trade group and legal scholars have also filed briefs supporting the NYDFS. Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks recently announced the OCC’s pivot to focus the fintech charter on nonbank payments companies — a plan that the entire banking and credit union sectors have criticized. To accomplish this, Brooks claims the OCC has blanket authority under the National Bank Act to define what it means to be a bank. But to be a bank means to take deposits, and no individual federal regulator gets to declare everything that touches money to be banking. There is no difference between the OCC’s proposed fintech charter that the New York federal court invalidated and the OCC’s new payments charter proposal. Both are invalid because the OCC does not have blanket authority or power to define a bank. That is up to Congress. A federal charter — or really, the federal authorization to do business — is the exception, not the rule, under the U.S. Constitution. Congress must establish the authority to confer such a license and does so only to serve compelling public-policy goals.
Wells Fargo consumer chief may testify of 'fear' her predecessor inspired - Wells Fargo’s consumer banking head, Mary Mack, may testify against her predecessor, Carrie Tolstedt, at an upcoming civil trial that is expected to explore where the responsibility for the bank’s phony-accounts scandal lies. Mack is among four dozen current and former Wells executives and board members who were listed as potential government witnesses in a document filed early this month by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which has brought the case before an administrative law judge. The agency alleges that five former bankers at Wells Fargo, including Tolstedt, failed to perform their duties adequately, and that their missteps contributed to systemic problems at the bank. The case could expose internal rifts that would normally remain outside of public view, though most of the bankers who may be called to testify are no longer with Wells Fargo. A trial has been scheduled for next summer. When Tolstedt left the San Francisco company in 2016, shortly before the fake-accounts scandal erupted, Mack succeeded her as head of its consumer banking unit. Mack had previously led the brokerage subsidiary Wells Fargo Advisors. If Mack testifies, she is expected to speak about her communications with Tolstedt both before and after the latter executive’s departure, the OCC stated. Mack may also testify about the “fear” that Tolstedt’s team had of their onetime boss, according to the OCC. A Wells spokesman did not provide comment on Mack’s behalf, but said, “Wells Fargo continues to cooperate with the OCC regarding this historical matter.” Tolstedt’s lawyer, Enu Mainigi at Williams & Connolly, did not respond to a request for comment. The former Wells Fargo officials who may be called to testify by the government include ex-CEOs John Stumpf and Tim Sloan, ex-chief administrative officers Patricia Callahan and Hope Hardison, ex-Chief Risk Officer Michael Loughlin and ex-Board Chair Stephen Sanger. Stumpf, Hardison and Loughlin all agreed to civil settlements with the OCC in January. Sloan, Callahan and Sanger have not been charged. Many of the same former Wells executives, including Stumpf and Sloan, could also be called to testify as defense witnesses. The five defendants have also said that they may seek testimony from various current and former OCC officials, including Bradley Linskens, Kenneth Peyer, Scott Wilson and Tanya Smith, all of whom have served as the agency’s examiner-in-charge at Wells Fargo. Those individuals may be asked to testify about the OCC’s supervision and oversight of Wells Fargo’s incentive compensation plans, its cross-selling efforts and the contemporaneous understanding of alleged sales misconduct at the bank, according to a court document filed on Aug. 4.
When customers contact Wells Fargo, AI system goes to work - While many banks are stepping up their use of chatbots and virtual assistants to keep in touch with consumers during the pandemic, Wells Fargo has taken a different route. It has built a system it calls Advanced Listening that lets customers communicate through the channel of their choice — phone call, email, text, survey response, online banking interaction — and listens to or analyzes every interaction. The system uses artificial intelligence to understand what customers are saying, identify problems or needs, root out widespread issues and provide help more efficiently. This lets the bank do several things. It's starting to automate responses to high-volume, low-risk complaints. It alerts lines of business if it’s getting complaints around a certain theme. It detects potential compliance violations or systemic issues. It can guide customer service representatives to respond intelligently to customer queries. It can also be used to create useful applications, such as customer journey maps for loan officers. A customer journey map is a diagram that illustrates the steps a customer goes through to accomplish something, such as obtaining a loan. Wells Fargo is a company that has been trying to repair its relationship with customers. For about 14 years, starting in 2002, employees in the community bank division were pressured through aggressive sales goals into opening millions of unauthorized accounts and issuing millions of unauthorized cards, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The bogus accounts were uncovered by the Los Angeles Times in 2013 after it received dozens of complaints from Wells Fargo customers. The aftermath included government probes, $185 million in penalties in 2016 and a federal cap on assets that is still in place. Some customers must have complained to the bank first. If it had the ability to feed all customer communications into one AI engine, perhaps it might have caught and addressed the problem. Wells Fargo doesn’t position Advanced Listening as a reaction to the scandal. Michael Soistman, senior vice president of enterprise complaints data analytics and reporting at Wells Fargo, describes Advanced Listening as an alternative to banks’ traditional virtual assistants.
Citigroup’s $900 million loan blunder to face OCC, Fed scrutiny - Citigroup has started briefing bank regulators on how it mistakenly sent almost $900 million in payments to Revlon’s lenders amid a bitter a fight between the cosmetics company and creditors. The bank is in contact with watchdogs including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve about the situation, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private discussions. Citigroup last week told Revlon’s lenders the payments were tied to a clerical error. The roughly $900 million — an amount equal to the full principal value of the loan, plus accrued interest — landed in the lenders’ bank accounts last week. While some opted to return the funds to Citigroup, others —including Brigade Capital Management, Symphony Asset Management and HPS Investment Partners — have at least initially refused to give the money back. Bank regulators aren’t likely to settle that dispute. Rather their focus will be on making certain that any lapses at the New York-based bank can’t be repeated and that they don’t reveal deeper problems that pose a threat to its stability. Citigroup had been in the process of resigning as administrative agent on the loan prior to the blunder. Representatives for the bank and regulators declined to comment. Meanwhile, Citi asked a federal court on Monday to order Brigade to return its share of more than $900 million that the bank mistakenly wired to Revlon’s lenders, some of whom are locked in a bitter fight with the struggling cosmetics giant. In a lawsuit filed in New York, Citigroup said it was supposed to make an interest payment on Revlon’s behalf but instead sent a payment that was more than 100 times greater. Brigade has kept about $175 million of the $900 million and has refused to repay the funds “despite crystal-clear evidence that the payments were made in error,” Citigroup said in its complaint. Brigade is among a lender group also including HPS Investment Partners and Symphony Asset Management who sued Revlon over its debt-restructuring tactics.
Citigroup sues HPS, Symphony over mistaken payment on Revlon loan - Citigroup is suing companies that are refusing to return almost half of the more than $900 million it says it accidentally sent to Revlon lenders this month. The bank filed suit against HPS Investment Partners LLC and Symphony Asset Management LLC late Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. HPS has refused to return more than $127.3 million and Symphony is holding more than $109.7 million, according to the lawsuit. The suit comes just after Citigroup won a temporary court order freezing $175 million that Brigade Capital Management LP has declined to return. Citigroup sued Brigade on Monday. Representatives of HPS and Symphony declined to comment on Tuesday’s suit. Citigroup had been acting as an agent on Revlon’s loan, collecting payments from the company to distribute to the creditors. The bank said it had intended to make interest payments on Revlon’s behalf but accidentally transferred a sum more than 100 times as big from its own funds. It has begun briefing watchdogs, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, about how it mistakenly misdirected so much money, people familiar with the matter said. Neither of the two firms sued Tuesday has returned the payments after repeated emails and requests, Citigroup said in the suit. Their actions “threaten the integrity of the administrative agency function and trust in the global banking system.” Citigroup’s lawyer told a judge Tuesday that Brigade was the only one of dozens of lenders that has “flat out” refused to return the money. The two will be back in court on Wednesday as the judge determines the next steps in their legal battle, including whether to hold a hearing on the bank’s request for a preliminary injunction forcing Brigade to give the money back while the case proceeds. Brigade, which says it isn’t a Revlon lender itself, told U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in the hearing that it doesn’t have the $175 million. Citigroup wired payments to about 40 funds that use Brigade as their investment or collateral manager, it says. The case is Citibank NA v. HPS Investment Partners LLC and Symphony Asset Management LLC, 20-cv-6617, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Citigroup gets almost half of $900 million Revlon funds frozen - Citigroup scored court orders freezing almost half of the more than $900 million it says was accidentally sent to Revlon lenders this month. A federal judge Wednesday froze $127.3 million that HPS Investment Partners LLC has refused to return and $109.7 million that Symphony Asset Management LLC is holding. The same judge on Tuesday issued a temporary order freezing $174.7 million that Brigade Capital Management LP has declined to give back. Citigroup is suing all three, which together hold $411.7 million in Revlon debt. The bank had been acting as an agent on Revlon's loan, collecting payments from the company to distribute to the creditors. Citigroup said it had intended to make interest payments on Revlon's behalf but accidentally transferred a sum more than 100 times as big from its own funds. It has begun briefing watchdogs, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, about how it mistakenly misdirected so much money, people familiar with the matter have said. Representatives of HPS and Symphony declined to comment on Tuesday's suit. Benjamin Finestone, a lawyer for Brigade and HPS, told the judge the firms don't concede the transfer was a mistake, saying it appeared to be a "full payoff" of the loan. "This mistake has not been explained to date," Finestone said. "There is strong evidence, your honor, that this was in fact a payoff." For one thing, he said, the Aug. 11 date of the payment the bank says was interest on the loan was "odd," as it wasn't the usual interest payment date. Brigade, which says it isn't a Revlon lender itself, has told Furman it doesn't have the $175 million. Citigroup wired payments to about 40 funds that use Brigade as their investment or collateral manager, it said Tuesday. Neither of the two firms sued Tuesday has returned the payments after repeated emails and requests, Citigroup said in the suit. Their actions "threaten the integrity of the administrative agency function and trust in the global banking system," the bank said. "Many lenders are continuing to return Citibank's money" over the past 24 hours, and the bank is "working closely" with others who are cooperating, Matthew Ingber, a lawyer for Citigroup, told U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in a conference on Wednesday. He didn't name any of the lenders he said are returning the funds.
TD Bank will pay $122M to settle CFPB charges of overdraft abuse - TD Bank has agreed to pay $97 million in customer restitution and a $25 million fine as part of a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of claims that the Cherry Hill, N.J., bank deceptively charged overdraft fees for certain ATM and one-time debit card transactions. TD Bank, the $383 billion-asset U.S. arm of TD Bank Group in Toronto, deceptively marketed its so-called Debit Card Advance service as “free” when in fact the bank charged customers $35 for each overdraft transaction, the CFPB said in a consent order filed Thursday. The bank also claimed the debit card came with a new consumer checking account, which the CFPB found was untrue, according to the order. The consent order states that from 2014 to 2018, TD Bank did not obtain customers' affirmative consent, or “opt-in,” to its overdraft policy at branches and off-site events, the CFPB said. The CFPB said in the consent order that bank managers instructed employees to orally present Debit Card Advance as a free service “while downplaying the fees and disclosures associated with the service.” The bureau said TD Bank marketed the product as a feature that comes with all new consumer checking accounts, “rather than as an option that new customers must opt in to.” “In some instances, TD Bank engaged in abusive acts or practices by materially interfering with consumers’ ability to understand [Debit Card Advance’s] terms and conditions,” the CFPB said in a press release. The bank, in a separate release, said that it did not admit to any wrongdoing under the civil settlement. Greg Braca, the president and CEO of TD Bank, said in its release that the bank had already voluntarily and proactively made changes to its disclosure and enrollment processes beginning in 2014. "Although we disagree with the CFPB's conclusions, we have cooperated fully to resolve this matter," Braca said.
Online lenders reach landmark settlement with Colorado - Authorities in Colorado have reached a settlement with two online lenders and their partner banks, ending years of legal wrangling and offering a way forward for fintechs that have been hesitant to do business in the state. Under the agreement, which was announced Tuesday, the companies can qualify for a legal safe harbor in Colorado if they comply with a detailed new regime that includes a ban on loans with annual percentage rates in excess of 36%. The state’s settlement with online lenders Avant and Marlette Funding, as well as WebBank and Cross River Bank, marks a milestone in the legal fight over which company is the so-called true lender in consumer transactions. The Colorado attorney general’s office sued the four companies in 2017. The suit argued that Avant and Marlette, which offers personal loans under the Best Egg brand, were charging interest and some fees in excess of those allowed under state law.Though the loans were made by Utah-based WebBank and New Jersey-based Cross River, which are allowed to export their home states’ interest rate caps, Colorado authorities contended that Avant and Marlette were the true lenders because they held the predominant economic interest.The settlement offers a potential solution to a problem that has long vexed online lenders — the state-by-state patchwork of interest rate caps. Online lenders often work with banks that have the authority to export their home states’ rules, but some of those partnerships have been challenged in court under the same theory that Colorado used.Just last week, a federal court in Colorado ruled that a small-business borrower deserved the opportunity to conduct discovery on whether its loan came from a Wisconsin-based bank or the bank’s partner.Technically, only four companies are bound by the terms of the settlement. But the agreement could have wider implications, both in Colorado and across the country. In the Centennial State, other online lenders could decide to structure their businesses in a way that aligns with the settlement’s requirements for a legal safe harbor.“This agreement protects Colorado consumers and creates a model for how other lenders can comply with Colorado law and treat consumers fairly,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a press release.
3-Time Felon JPMorgan Chase Wants to Burnish Its Image by Co-Branding with the U.S. Postal Service’s 91 Percent Approval Rating - Pam Martens - We have a marketing suggestion for the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors if it is nutty enough to accept JPMorgan Chase’s overture to place its ATM machines on the premises of U.S. post offices. The marketing idea goes like this: place a big red, white and blue sign over each JPMorgan Chase ATM machine that reads: “From the wonderful folks who were Bernie Madoff’s bankers.”Business media was abuzz yesterday with the news that JPMorgan Chase has had conversations with the U.S. Postal Service regarding placing the bank’s ATM machines in post office branches. CNBC quoted Trish Wexler, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, confirming the talks and making the following statement:“We had very preliminary conversations with the U.S. Postal Service several months ago about what it might look like to lease a small number of spaces to place ATMs to better serve some historically underserved communities.”As we reported yesterday, the right wing Cato Institute, heavily funded by the foundations related to the fossil fuels billionaires Charles Koch and the late David Koch, has been pushing to privatize the U.S. Postal Service for decades. We note in the article that the effort has been stepped up by Cato’s Chris Edwards in the past two years. CNBC writes in its report that if the U.S. Postal Service were to be privatized, JPMorgan Chase “could be in line for exclusive rights to solicit postal customers, according to Washington D.C.-based newsletter Capitol Forum.”Co-branding with JPMorgan Chase would be the dumbest move in the 245-year history of the U.S. Postal Service. According to Pew Research, the Postal Service “consistently tops the favorability list in Pew Research Center’s periodic surveys of public views of government agencies.” This year’s Pew Research poll shows 91 percent of both Republicans and Democrats “had a favorable view of the agency.”
Banks prevail in first court decision over PPP fees for agents -- Four Southeast banks have prevailed in the first major court decision following a wave of lawsuits filed by accountants, lawyers and consultants who helped small-business owners apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans.The plaintiffs in the cases contend that they are entitled to fees from the banks that processed PPP loans. Banks argue that they are not obligated to make those payments unless they reached upfront agreements with people who were acting as the agents of small-business applicants.In an opinion issued Monday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II sided with the lenders. He wrote that banks were not required to make the payments under either the March 2020 law that established the Paycheck Program Program or a subsequent regulation from the Small Business Administration. Instead, the regulation explains that if the borrower’s agent is to be paid a fee, that money must come from the fee that the SBA pays to the bank, the judge found. The lawsuit was filed in April by Sport & Wheat, a Florida-based certified public accounting firm. It sought a total of $4,526 from ServisFirst Bank in Birmingham, Ala.; Truist Financial in Charlotte, N.C.; Synovus Financial in Columbus, Ga.; and The First in Hattiesburg, Miss. Though the dollar amounts sought from those four banks were small, the plaintiffs were seeking class-action status on behalf of other Florida-based companies that helped prepare PPP loan applications.The judge’s ruling also has implications for a slew of related lawsuits. Graham Ryan, a partner at Jones Walker, a law firm that has been tracking PPP litigation, said several dozen similar cases have been filed across the country in recent months.“It’s quickly become the fastest-growing chunk of litigation,” Ryan said.The plaintiffs in one of the cases argued that an estimated $3.85 billion was at stake in these suits, though lawyers for banks have said that number is inflated. As of the program's Aug. 8 expiration, lenders had made 5.2 million loans totaling $525 billion, according to the SBA.The defense lawyers argue that the plaintiffs’ calculation assumes that every PPP borrower got assistance with its application, and note that the math was based on the maximum fee that could be paid, rather than on how much work the lawyers and accountants actually performed.The SBA has said that the total amount a borrower’s agent may collect from a PPP lender may not exceed 1% of the loan amount on loans of $350,000 or less. The maximum percentages are smaller for larger loans and may not exceed 0.25% on loans of $2 million or more. Wetherell, a federal judge in the northern district of Florida, told the accounting firm that it could either appeal his ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals or amend its complaint, though he wrote that he finds it “highly unlikely” that the plaintiff will be able to state a valid claim against the banks.
Small banks are dominating the Fed's Main Street Lending Program - Recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that community banks have been far more eager to participate in the central bank's Main Street Lending Program aimed at stemming losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that is likely to continue even as the middle-market business rescue program gains steam. The Fed started purchasing majority stakes in loans made under the Main Street Lending Program in early July, and although the program has been slow to start, recent data has shown that more lenders are beginning to originate loans. As of last week, the Fed had purchased participations in 32 loans amounting to about $250 million, with another 55 loans totaling $574 million under review, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is administering the program. But the Fed’s data shows all the banks behind those loans have less than $16 billion of assets. “The loans that we've seen through our portal on the Main Street facility are disproportionately community banks and those banks under $10 billion, which highlights that they're adapting very quickly,” said Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, speaking Aug. 12 to the South Shore Chamber of Commerce in Massachusetts. The $600 billion Main Street Lending Program, which is being funded by the Fed and the Treasury Department through congressional appropriations in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, is available to businesses with fewer than 15,000 employees or less than $5 billion in annual revenue. Eligible companies can receive a loan of between $250,000 and $300 million through the program. Under the terms of the program, the Fed will purchase a 95% stake in Main Street loans, while the lender retains 5% of the loan on its books. The program was intended to cater to businesses that may have been too large to tap into the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which offered forgivable loans to businesses with up to 500 employees. Many bankers anticipated that the PPP was better suited to larger banks serving larger customers than smaller banks serving smaller ones. “You'd almost think would be the other way around: the larger, more leveraged banks are able to take on this risk rather than the small ones," But that has not proved to be the case. The $16 billion-asset City National Bank of Florida in Miami is the largest lender by far of the five the Fed has disclosed in its loan-level transaction data.
Fed Economists Finger Monopoly Concentration as Underlying Driver of Neoliberal Economic Restructuring; Barry Lynn in Harpers and Fortnite Lawsuit Put Hot Light on Tech Monopoly Power - Yves Smith - American policymakers are giving more and more credence to the role of monopoly concentration in the economic restructuring that started in 1980, in the Reagan/Thatcher era, that shifted power and rewards from labor to capital. Importantly, these experts don’t just see monopoly as a problem; even basic economic courses show in toy models that they increase prices and decrease output. They also acknowledge that stagnant wages, rising profit share of GDP and escalating wealth concentration are bad outcomes economically and societally. A new paper by Fed economists Isabel Cair ́o and Jae Sim describes how they developed a model to simulate the impact of companies’ rising market power, in conjunction with the assumption that the owners of capital liked to hold financial assets (here, bonds) as a sign of social status. They wanted to see it it would explain six developments over the last forty years:
- Real wage growth stagnating and lagging productivity growth
- Pre-tax corporate profits rising rapidly relative to GDP
- Increasing income inequality
- Increasing wealth inequality
- Higher household leverage
- Increased financial instability
And it did! For a model to have pretty decent fit for so many variables is not trivial. The first are what the model coughed up, the second, in parenthesis, are the real world data: We’ve embedded this readable paper at the end of the post. The authors did quite a few sensitivity test and also modeled some alternative explanations, as well as showing panels that compared model outputs over time to real economy outcomes. They also recommend wealth distribution as a way to dampen financial crises, or even just taxing dividends at a healthy level. Bloomberg wrote up the paper, an early indicator that it might get traction in official circles, and quoted Matt Stoller: The anti-monopolists are on a roll. Matt’s colleague, the founder and head of Open Markets, Barry Lynn, wrote the cover story in the current Harpers Magazine, The Big Tech Extortion Racket: How Google, Amazon, and Facebook control our lives. I strongly urge you to read the article in full. Lynn describes how America first grappled with monopoly power with the development of railroads and the telegraph. Their answer was regulation:
Earlier Fed Survey: Banks reported Tighter Standards, Weaker Demand for Loans except Residential Real Estate - This was released in early August, and is worth a note. From the Federal Reserve: The July 2020 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices: Regarding loans to businesses, respondents to the July survey indicated that, on balance, they tightened their standards and terms on commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to firms of all sizes. Banks reported weaker demand for C&I loans from firms of all sizes. Meanwhile, banks tightened standards and reported weaker demand across all three major commercial real estate (CRE) loan categories—construction and land development loans, nonfarm nonresidential loans, and multifamily loans—over the second quarter of 2020. For loans to households, banks tightened standards across all categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans and across all three consumer loan categories—credit card loans, auto loans, and other consumer loans—over the second quarter of 2020 on net. Banks reported stronger demand for all categories of RRE loans and weaker demand for all categories of consumer loans.Banks also responded to a set of special questions inquiring about the current level of lending standards relative to the midpoint of the range over which banks’ standards have varied since 2005. Banks, on balance, reported that their lending standards across all loan categories are currently at the tighter end of the range of standards between 2005 and the present. This graph on Commercial Real Estate lending is from the Senior Loan Officer Survey Charts. This shows that banks have tightened standards, and that there is weak demand for CRE loans.
CFPB proposes a new category of 'seasoned' qualified mortgages - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing the creation of an entirely new category of loans known as “seasoned” qualified mortgages that would protect lenders from legal liability for making risky loans. The CFPB said Tuesday in a 130-page notice of proposed rulemaking that first-lien, fixed-rate loans that have been held on a lender’s balance sheet for over 36 months could become eligible for so-called QM status — the current gold standard for home loans — based in part on a borrower’s past three years of payment history. Consumer advocates immediately criticized the plan, saying it would permit lenders to make high-cost loans with no consequences and that it contradicts the Dodd-Frank Act's requirement that lenders make a good faith determination of a borrower’s ability to repay a loan. The CFPB said loans could gain "seasoned" QM status even if they have two, 30-day delinquencies at the end of a roughly three-year seasoning period. Loans in forbearance plans whereby the borrower can forgo mortgage payments for up to a year due to the coronavirus pandemic could ultimately become eligible for seasoned QM status as well, the CFPB said, as long as certain conditions are met. The bureau said that a disaster or pandemic-related national emergency would not disqualify a loan from becoming a seasoned QM loan if the borrower received a temporary payment accommodation and made full contractual payments. “Today’s proposal continues the Bureau’s work to encourage safe and responsible innovation in the mortgage origination market,” CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said in a press release. “Our goal through our very deliberative rulemaking process is to protect, promote and preserve the financial well-being of American consumers while at the same time offering access to responsible, affordable mortgage credit.” The CFPB is asking for comments within 30 days. The CFPB has two other proposed rulemakings on QM loans in the works that deal with the competitive advantages given to loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The CFPB in June said it planned to revise the definition of what constitutes a “qualified mortgage,” by replacing a 43% debt-to-income ratio limit with a price-based approach. The CFPB also has extended an exemption given to the government-sponsored enterprises known as the GSE patch until mid-2021. Consumer advocates said the proposal would be subject to a challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how agencies issue regulations.
CFPB extends comment period on overhaul of redlining law - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is extending the comment period for potential changes to its rules related to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination in credit and lending decisions. The comment period will be extended by 60 days to Dec. 1, the CFPB said Wednesday, after a coalition of banking trade groups, consumer advocates and civil rights groups asked the bureau this month for more time. The CFPB issued a request for information on July 28 asking about how it might change the 1974 law and Regulation B. The request covered 10 complex topics on fair-lending enforcement and compliance, including whether the act should be overhauled in light of two separate Supreme Court decisions on gender identity discrimination and “disparate impact,” under which borrowers can allege discrimination even if a lender did not show discriminatory intent. The CFPB’s request also seeks comment on how lenders use artificial intelligence and machine learning in their underwriting and how the ECOA might support the credit needs of small businesses, particularly those that are minority- and women-owned. Other topics covered in the request include how the CFPB could encourage lenders to use "affirmative advertising" to cater to disadvantaged groups; the extent to which federal ECOA rules preempt state laws; how to incentivize lender outreach to consumers with limited English proficiency; and whether the agency should provide more clarity "regarding when all or part of the applicant’s income derives from any public assistance program." The bureau has described its inquiry into the ECOA as “how best to create a regulatory environment that expands access to credit and ensures that all consumers and communities are protected from discrimination in all aspects of a credit transaction.”
Refi fee will wipe out millions in mortgage profits - Banks, mortgage lenders and brokers could easily end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars on refinanced loans whose fixed rates have already been locked in to bolster the finances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A plan by Fannie and Freddie to charge lenders an extra 0.5% on most purchases of refinanced loans comes with an unexpected price tag for lenders, mortgage experts say. Lenders face the prospect of millions of dollars in lower profits, and potentially losses, for an extended period because the fee will be collected on loans in which interest rates already have been locked in and cannot be adjusted. Lenders typically lock in interest rates for 45 or 60 days to ensure a borrower gets a rate that does not change during the closing process, meaning the fee couldn't be passed along to consumers for at least a month or two. The fee, approved without prior notice by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, is set to be collected starting Sept. 1. "The way they did this is very, very damaging to banks and other mortgage bankers and brokers who have loans in the pipeline,” said Scott Buchta, head of fixed-income strategy at Brean Capital. "In the first month, the bulk of the fee will come out of the pockets of bankers and brokers that locked in a lot of loans.” The so-called adverse market fee will cost originators an additional $1,400 or so for a $280,000 loan. The fee is likely to reduce profits for mortgage lenders given that the net profit per loan in the first quarter was $1,600, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Still, ultralow interest rates have led to a wave of refinancing that has sent loan officer commissions skyrocketing. Retail loan officers earned an average of $24,200 a month in commissions in the second quarter, according to LBA Ware, a Macon, Ga., mortgage software firm that tracks loan officer compensation. By contrast, retail loan officers' monthly commissions in the second quarter of 2019 was $15,190 a month. Loan officer compensation plans are created annually or semiannually and cannot be changed on a per-loan or per-month basis, said Lori Brewer, LBA Ware's chief executive.
BankThink: GSEs' new refi fee will hurt borrowers most -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently announced a surprise 0.5% price hike on most refinance mortgages purchased by the government-sponsored enterprises. Unfortunately for Americans dealing with the pandemic-induced economic downturn, this misguided rate increase will raise the cost of mortgage credit and hamper efforts to support consumers and the economy. Announced late Aug. 13 after financial markets closed, and blessed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the new “adverse market refinance fee” is designed to shore up the GSEs' finances in preparation for higher defaults and loan losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the fee increase comes at a significant cost to homeowners at precisely the wrong time. The new fee is effective for nearly all refinance mortgage loans delivered to the GSEs starting Sept. 1. Meaning, it will apply to anyone who has not yet refinanced their mortgage at current record-low interest rates or locked in their interest rate on pending refinance applications. Because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy most conventional U.S. mortgage loans — and because 2020 will likely be a $3 trillion mortgage-origination year — the new fee will affect many homeowners now and for years to come. Applying the fee retroactively also will impose financial losses on lenders already struggling to comply with government-mandated forbearance, loan workouts and modifications on all forms of credit in response to the pandemic. This will pose increased risks to the financial system and to the lenders that have implemented much of the federal relief to support struggling small businesses. Further, housing is one of the U.S. economy's few bright spots, raising questions over whether it is an “adverse market.” The number of loans in forbearance is declining. And unlike with the housing crisis of 2008, these loans were properly underwritten and should perform better through the current recession. With Fannie and Freddie returning more than $300 billion to the U.S. Treasury since 2013 and posting $4.3 billion in second-quarter earnings, they hardly need an emergency bake sale to cover their operations. Defenders of the fee increase argue that it is merely 50 basis points, equating to a $1,400 price hike on a $280,000 mortgage loan, which is the GSE average. But an additional $1,400 is a big deal for U.S. families amid a global pandemic. In real dollars, that amount could otherwise cover up to 10 weeks of groceries, a year of electric bills, an average monthly mortgage payment or several laptops for homeschooling. Because the new fee will likely be covered by lenders raising the interest rate, the resulting loan payment will be higher than homeowners had originally planned, offsetting much of the savings of refinancing mortgage loans. This will directly affect families' monthly budgets, especially with many dealing with job losses and reduced hours at work. For many Americans, $1,400 means a lot. Congress and the Trump administration have approved more than $3 trillion in aid to help Americans through the economic crisis, and they are locked in a debate over the next round of support. Now is not the time for one segment of the economy to lay claim to some of that relief. Fannie, Freddie and the FHFA should immediately rescind this costly and unnecessary tax on U.S. homeowners.
Delinquent FHA Mortgages Soar By Record 60% To All Time High, As Homeowner Budgets Implode - Last month we quoted from Wolf Richter to remind readers of something we discussed several months ago when we went over the details of the forbearance process and why so many banks have chosen to use it instead of rushing to admit their balance sheets are hammered with a record surge in delinquencies and defaults. As a reminder, "mortgages that are in forbearance and have not missed a payment before going into forbearance don’t count as delinquent. They’re reported as “current.” And 8.2% of all mortgages in the US, some 4.1 million loans, are currently in forbearance according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But if they did not miss a payment before entering forbearance, they don’t count in the suddenly spiking delinquency data."Everything changed in April when there was a sudden onslaught of delinquencies according to CoreLogic, which came after 27 months in a row of declining delinquency rates. These delinquency rates move in stages – and the early stages are now getting hit, with the Transition from “Current” to 30-days past due suddenly soaring. To wit, in April, the share of all mortgages that were past due, but less than 30 days, soared to 3.4% of all mortgages, the highest in the data going back to 1999. This was up from 0.7% in April last year. During the Housing Bust, this rate peaked in November 2008 at 2% (chart via CoreLogic):Fast forward to today, when the dam of pent up mortgage delinquencies cracked some more, with the Federal Housing Administration reporting that its mortgages which represent the affordable path to homeownership for many first-time buyers, minorities and low-income Americans, now have the highest delinquency rate in at least four decades.The share of delinquent FHA loans rose to 15.7% in the second quarter, up a whopping 60% from about 9.7% in the previous three months and the highest level in records dating back to 1979, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Monday. The delinquency rate for conventional loans, by comparison, was 6.7%.With million of Americans losing their jobs due to the covid shutdowns, they have become reliant on government stimulus checks which continue thanks to Trump's executive orders but were notably slashed. It is those Americans on the lower end of the income scale are most likely to have FHA loans, which allow borrowers with shaky credit to buy homes with small down payments. Still, despite their inability to pay, most remain protected from foreclosure by the federal forbearance program, in which borrowers with pandemic-related hardships can delay payments for as much as a year without penalty. What happens when the program ends finally ends and when several months of payments (or more) are due at once is a world which few want to even imagine.
MBA: "Mortgage Delinquencies Spike in the Second Quarter of 2020" From the MBA: Mortgage Delinquencies Spike in the Second Quarter of 2020 The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.22 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter of 2020, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) National Delinquency Survey.The delinquency rate increased 386 basis points from the first quarter of 2020 and was up 369 basis points from one year ago. For the purposes of the survey, MBA asks servicers to report loans in forbearance as delinquent if the payment was not made based on the original terms of the mortgage."The COVID-19 pandemic's effects on some homeowners' ability to make their mortgage payments could not be more apparent. The nearly 4 percentage point jump in the delinquency rate was the biggest quarterly rise in the history of MBA's survey," said Marina Walsh, MBA's Vice President of Industry Analysis. "The second quarter results also mark the highest overall delinquency rate in nine years, and a survey-high delinquency rate for FHA loans."Added Walsh, "There was also a movement of loans to later stages of delinquency, with the 60-day delinquency rate reaching a new survey-high, and the 90+-day delinquency rate climbing to its highest level since the third quarter of 2010. On a more positive note, 30-day delinquencies dropped in the second quarter, which is an indication that the flood of new delinquencies may be dissipating." This graph shows the percent of loans delinquent by days past due. Delinquencies increased sharply in Q2.The increase was mostly in the 60 and day buckets. From the MBA: "the 60-day delinquency rate increased 138 basis points to 2.15 percent - the highest rate since the survey began in 1979 - and the 90-day delinquency bucket increased 279 basis points to 3.72 percent - the highest rate since the third quarter of 2010."This sharp increase was due to loans in forbearance (included as delinquent, but not reported to the credit bureaus). The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined further, and was at the lowest level since at least 1985.
Mortgage Delinquencies Jump by Most Ever. 60-Day Delinquencies Hit Highest Level Ever. Record 16% of FHA Mortgages Delinquent. What a Mess - Wolf Richter - The mortgage delinquency-and-forbearance mess keeps getting messier – in record-setting ways. At the same time, the record-low mortgage rates continue to push certain other segments of the housing industry toward ever greater exuberance. That contradiction became humorously obvious on the Bloomberg News Economics front page, where side-by-side these two headlines appeared: The overall delinquency rate for mortgages on one-to-four-unit residential properties soared by nearly 4 percentage points (386 basis points) during the second quarter, and by June 30 reached 8.22% (seasonally adjusted), the highest in nine years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey. This nearly 4-percentage point jump in the overall delinquency rate was the largest in the history of MBA’s survey going back to 1979. Delinquencies started soaring in April. A month ago, CoreLogic had reported that the percentage of mortgages entering the early stages of delinquencies — from 0 days to 30 days delinquent —had spiked phenomenally in April beyond all prior records. What we’re seeing now is that many of these mortgages are becoming more seriously delinquent. This shows up in the stages of delinquencies, according to the MBA today. At the end of June:
- The 30-day delinquency rate fell by 33 basis points to 2.34%
- The 60-day delinquency rate rose by 138 basis points to 2.15%, the highest since the survey began in 1979.
- The 90-day delinquency rate jumped by 279 basis points to 3.72%, the highest since Q3 2010
The delinquency rate of FHA mortgages jumped by nearly 6 percentage points (596 basis points), the biggest jump in survey history (since 1979), to a delinquency rate of 15.65%, the highest delinquency rate in survey history. The delinquency rate of VA mortgages jumped by 340 basis points to 8.05%, the highest since Q3 2009. The delinquency rate of conventional mortgages jumped by 352 basis points, to 6.68%, the highest rate since Q2 2012. Delinquency rates here include mortgages that were already at least one month delinquent before they entered into a forbearance program. So these mortgages are still delinquent, and the borrower has stopped making payments before entering into forbearance, but the lender has agreed to not pursue its legal rights for the agreed-upon period of forbearance. Instead of the borrower either catching up, or the mortgage going into foreclosure, the mortgage is put on ice during forbearance. The borrower doesn’t need to make payments. And the lender, after putting the delinquent mortgage into forbearance, may no longer consider the mortgage delinquent, and may therefore still show the mortgages as “performing,” and may still show interest income from it, though no one is making payments. There are now 4.2 million mortgages in forbearance, according to estimates by the MBA. Meaning 4.2 million homeowners have stopped making payments, in addition to the homeowners that have stopped making payments but are not in forbearance programs. The delinquency rates here do not include mortgages that have undertaken the final steps: moving into foreclosure. But the current trend for lenders is to move mortgages into forbearance and put them on ice for as long as possible – “extend and pretend” – rather than foreclosing on the property.
MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases for the Ninth Straight Week to 7.21%" --Note: This is as of August 9th. From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases for the Ninth Straight Week to 7.21% - The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 23 basis points from 7.44% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 7.21% as of August 9, 2020. According to MBA’s estimate, 3.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans....“More homeowners exited forbearance last week, leading to the ninth straight drop in the share of loans in forbearance. However, the decline in Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance was again because of buyouts of delinquent loans from Ginnie Mae pools, which result in these FHA and VA loans being reported in the portfolio category,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “In a sign that more FHA and VA borrowers are struggling with a very tough job market, more Ginnie Mae borrowers requested than exited forbearance.”By stage, 38.80% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage, while 60.49% are in a forbearance extension. The remaining 0.70% are forbearance re-entries.. This graph shows the percent of portfolio in forbearance by investor type over time. Most of the increase was in late March and early April, and has been trending down for the last nine weeks.The MBA notes: "Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) decreased relative to the prior week from 0.12% to 0.11%." There hasn't been a pickup in forbearance activity related to the end of the extra unemployment benefits.
Hotels Are Headed For An "Unprecedented Wave Of Foreclosures", Lodging Group Warns - Payments on nearly one-fourth of all loans backed by hotel real estate are delinquent by at least 30 days, signaling an imminent and unprecedented wave of foreclosures, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA). It notes that the $20.6 billion in delinquent payments on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)—23.4% of all CMBS loans extended to hotels—compares with overdue payments of $1.15 billion at the end of 2019, or 1.3% of outstanding CMBS loans at the time. The current level of delinquencies even surpasses the $13.5 billion that lenders were owed during the Great Recession that started in 2008, according to the association. The report, compiled for the AH&LA by a research company called Trepp, is the latest in a torrent of bad news from the association about the state of its industry. Its release was accompanied by the announcement that 4,000 lodging executives have signed a letter to Congress, urging lawmakers to save the business by pushing through a federal relief package aimed specifically at the lodging trade. Similar industry-specific measures are being pushed by the restaurant industry, with lobbying from both the National Restaurant Association and the Independent Restaurants Coalition. The measure supported by the AH&LA, a bill known as the HOPE Act, would create an emergency fund to help hotels repay their CMBS loans. “With record low travel demand, thousands of hotels can’t afford to pay their commercial mortgages and are facing foreclosure with the harsh reality of having to close their doors permanently,” Chip Rogers, CEO of the AH&LA, said in a statement. “Tens of thousands of hotel employees will lose their jobs and small business industries that depend on these hotels to drive local tourism and economic activity will likely face a similar fate.” The industry has been stung by the sheer drop-off in travel that followed the implementation of stay-at-home policies in nearly every state at the start of the pandemic.
NMHC: Rent Payment Tracker Finds Decline in People Paying Rent in August - From the NMHC: NMHC Rent Payment Tracker Finds 86.9 Percent of Apartment Households Paid Rent as of August 13: The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC)’s Rent Payment Tracker found 86.9 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by August 13 in its survey of 11.4 million units of professionally managed apartment units across the country. This is a 2.0-percentage point, or 222,543 -household decrease from the share who paid rent through August 13, 2019 and compares to 87.6 percent that had paid by July 13, 2020. These data encompass a wide variety of market-rate rental properties across the United States, which can vary by size, type and average rental price. “At a time when the country is continuing to face a pandemic and suffering from a recession, lawmakers in Congress and the Trump administration must come back to the table and work together on passing comprehensive legislation in the next COVID-19 relief package,” said Doug Bibby, NMHC President. “While NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker continues to show that many residents have continued to meet their monthly housing obligations, that is due in large part to the relief enacted under the CARES Act. With that support now having expired more than two weeks ago, households across the country are grappling with even greater financial distress. We strongly urge Congressional leaders and administration officials to extend critical unemployment benefits and create a rental assistance fund so that America’s tens of millions of apartment residents can remain safely and securely housed.” CR Note: This is mostly for large, professionally managed properties. It appears fewer people are paying their rent this year compared to last year (down 2.0 percentage points from a year ago). But this hasn't fallen off a cliff - yet. People were still receiving the extra unemployment benefits for most of July, and were able to make their August rent payment. Without more disaster relief, I expect more people will miss their September rent payment.
250,000 Las Vegans Face Eviction Next Month - Las Vegas is expected to become one of the focal points of the eviction crisis as nearly a quarter-million people could be removed from their homes in the coming weeks, reported AP News. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports a perfect storm of factors in Clark County including high unemployment, a high percentage of renters, collapsed travel and tourism industry, expiration of the state's eviction mortarium, and the end of federal unemployment benefits could result in an eviction wave beginning as early as next month. Las Vegas research group Guinn Center and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project in Denver estimates about 250,000 people in Clark County, or approximately 10% of the population, are at risk of eviction in September. Nancy Brune, Guinn Center executive director, called the situation "a bad confluence of events." Brune said the virus-induced downturn had severely damaged Las Vegas as fewer people are coming to gamble at casinos. Brune said 47% of households in the county are renters, of the renters, about 38% are currently unemployed. The bust cycle of Las Vegas could linger for a couple of years as the city must shrink to survive. Las Vegas economic analyst Jeremy Aguero recently warned, an economic recovery in the town could take upward of three years.
Home prices climb to record in coronavirus pandemic as buyers seek space — A renter most of his adult life, Clarence Swann became fearful that landlords would use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to gouge their tenants. So, with a desire to move near family, the retired veteran bought his first home last month at the age of 74. Swann is one of tens of thousands of buyers who dove into the housing market this spring and summer even as the coronavirus upended the U.S. economy. The presence of these buyers, plus a sharp drop in the numbers of homes on the market, drove home prices to record highs in most parts of the United States, according to an analysis of housing price data by The Associated Press and Core Logic. The average home price in the U.S. in May rose 4.2% compared to a year ago. The data shows that prices for cheaper homes — those found in the lower third of prices in metropolitan areas and a typical target for first-time buyers — grew faster than the rest of the market, rising 6.7% from a year ago. The coronavirus pandemic helped shape the housing market by influencing everything from the direction of mortgage rates to the inventory of homes on the market to the types of homes in demand and the desired locations. The pandemic pushed the U.S. economy into a deep recession as many businesses shut down, which in turn forced the hand of the Federal Reserve to dramatically lower interest rates. The average mortgage rate fell from around 3.75% at the beginning of the year to under 3% in a matter of weeks after the pandemic struck the U.S. That sudden drop in mortgage rates was an instant boon to home affordability, economists said, allowing many buyers to afford much more expensive homes while keeping the same monthly payments. “A 0.75 percentage point drop may not seem like a lot, but it’s like handing $40,000 to a buyer of a $475,000 home, who is able to get more house for the same monthly payment,” said Taylor Marr, senior economist at Redfin. The pandemic also caused sellers to delay putting their homes on the market. Sellers, who are typically older than buyers, were either concerned about the economy, worried about their jobs, generally reluctant to have strangers enter their homes, or some combination of all three. The supply of homes available for sale in May dropped nearly 30% from a year earlier. The lack of foreclosed properties for sale was also a minor factor, as states and the federal government-imposed moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures. “Supply and demand is all out of whack. I have less than a month’s supply of homes in my area,” said Jay Rinehart, a real estate agent in the Charlotte, N.C. metropolitan area.
Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey MBA - Mortgage applications decreased 3.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 14, 2020. ... The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week and was 38 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 27 percent higher than the same week one year ago. “Positive economic data reported last week on retail sales, as well as a large U.S. Treasury auction, drove mortgage rates to their highest level in two weeks. The rise in rates dampened refinance activity, but purchase applications continued their strong run and were 27 percent higher than a year ago – the third straight month of year-over-year increases,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Conventional purchase applications drove last week’s increase, while applications for government loans decreased. The housing market remains a bright spot in the current economic recovery and these results, combined with July data on housing starts and homebuilder optimism, suggest that housing supply could be increasing to better meet the strong demand for buying a home.” ... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($510,400 or less) increased to 3.13 percent from 3.06 percent, with points increasing to 0.36 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans
CAR on California July Housing: Sales up 6% YoY, Active Listings down 48% YoY The CAR reported: California housing recovery continues in July as median home price sets another record high, C.A.R. reports California’s housing market continued to recover as home sales climbed to their highest level in more than two and a half years in July, while setting another record-high median home price, Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 437,890 units in July, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2020 if sales maintained the July pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.July’s sales total climbed above the 400,000 level for the first time since February 2020, before the COVID-19 crisis depressed the housing market, and was the highest level in more than two and a half years. July sales rose 28.8 percent from 339,910 in June and were up 6.4 percent from a year ago, when 411,630 homes were sold on an annualized basis. July marked the first time in five months that home sales posted an annual gain.Housing inventory continued to trend downward on a year-over-year basis, with active listings falling more than 25 percent for the eighth consecutive month. The year-over-year 48 percent decline was the biggest drop in active listings since January 2013. The continued recovery in closed escrow sales, combined with a sharp drop in active listings, led to a plunge in the Unsold Inventory Index (UII) to 2.1 months in July, down from 3.2 months a year ago. The index indicates the number of months it would take to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current rate of sales. The July UII was the lowest level since November 2004.CR Note: Existing home sales are reported when the transaction closes, so this was mostly for contracts signed in May and June. Sales-to-date, through July, are down 10% compared to the same period in 2019.
U.S. Existing-Home Sales Rose Nearly 25% in July – WSJ - U.S. home sales soared in July as homeowners sought more space to work from home and renters took advantage of low interest rates to become homeowners. Home shoppers who didn’t venture out much in March and April when the coronavirus exploded are returning to the market. With lockdowns easing, summer has replaced spring this year as the strongest buying season. The pandemic also spurred some households to move closer to family or into bigger homes farther from cities now that many workers aren’t commuting every day. “The housing market is actually past the recovery phase and is now in a booming stage,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. “New demand has been created because of the pandemic, with the work-from-home flexibility.” A strong housing market could help boost the economy, as consumers spend more on home goods and renovations and home builders ramp up activity. But the strong demand and a shortage of supply has pushed the median home price to a record high, which could make houses less affordable for first-time buyers. Sales of previously owned homes jumped 24.7% in July from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million, the highest rate since December 2006, NAR said Friday. The July sales marked a 8.7% increase from a year earlier. The market has fully rebounded from the spring, when sales dropped for three straight months as the pandemic spooked sellers and kept potential buyers at home. Homes typically go under contract a month or two before the contract closes, so the July figures largely reflect purchase decisions made in May or June, when many states were lifting lockdowns and house shoppers felt more comfortable touring houses. About 40% of home buyers surveyed by Realtor.com in June said they are looking to buy a home sooner because of Covid-19, while 15% said the pandemic slowed down their timeline. ( News Corp, parent of The Wall Street Journal, operates Realtor.com.) Brittani Baynard and Sam Krueger decided to spend the money they had saved for their wedding to buy a four-bedroom home in Madison, Wis., in June. They had planned to buy a house in the next two years, but the pandemic made them want to move sooner out of their apartment into a house with more space for Ms. Baynard’s 8-year-old daughter, Ms. Baynard said. “The next time this happens, because it will, or when phase 2 [of the pandemic] comes, because it is, I want us all to be comfortable,” she said. Economists say the current housing boom doesn’t yet have the hallmarks of a bubble. Compared to the last time sales were this high, in 2006, lending standards are tighter and the supply of homes for sale is much lower, Mr. Yun said. Demand is so robust that 68% of the houses that sold in July were on the market for less than a month, NAR said. Brokerage Redfin Corp. said more than half of its offers in July faced at least one competing bid.
Existing Home Sales Soar By Record To Highest In 14 Years; Median Price Breaches $300K For First Time - As we noted earlier, existing home sales are expected to surge in July (the latest data), playing catch up to the huge rebound in new- and pending-home sales in June. After a 20.7% MoM surge in June, July's existing home sales were up a stunning 24.7% MoM (crushing expectations of a 14.6% MoM) and sending home sales up 8.72% YoY graphs: Bloomberg The SAAR rose from 4.70mm to 5.86mm in July, the highest since Dec 2006... “The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “With the sizable shift in remote work, current homeowners are looking for larger homes and this will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021.” The median existing-home price for all housing types in July was $304,100, up 8.5% from July 2019 ($280,400), as prices rose in every region. July’s national price increase marks 101 straight months of year-over-year gains. For the first time ever, national median home prices breached the $300,000 level.
Comments on July Existing Home Sales – McBride - Earlier: NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 5.86 million in July - A few key points:1) This was the highest sales rate since 2006. Existing home sales are counted at the close of escrow, so the July report was mostly for contracts signed in May and June - when the economy was much more open than in the previous months. Some of the increase over the last two months was probably related to pent up demand from the shutdowns in March and April. However, with the high unemployment rate, the high rate of COVID infections, the increase in mortgage rates (still low, but up from recent lows) housing might be under some pressure later this year. That is difficult to predict and depends on the course of the pandemic.
2) Inventory is very low, and was down 21.1% year-over-year (YoY) in July. This is the lowest level of inventory for July since at least the early 1990s.
3) As usual, housing economist Tom Lawler was much closer to the actual NAR report than the consensus forecast. For July, Lawler forecast the NAR would report 5.85 million, and the NAR reported 5.86 million (almost exact). The consensus was 5.39 million. .
This graph shows existing home sales by month for 2019 and 2020.Note that existing home sales picked up somewhat in the second half of 2019 as interest rates declined.Even with weak sales in April, May, and June, sales to date are only down about 5% compared to the same period in 2019. The second graph shows existing home sales Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) by month (Red dashes are 2020), and the minimum and maximum for 2005 through 2019. Sales NSA in July (597,000) were 10.6% above sales last year in July (540,000).
Is the pandemic causing an exodus from big cities? - Today, many big-city dwellers appear to be seeking refuge in less crowded towns and rural landscapes. The wealthy, at least, are seeking "bugout" homes away from major cities as places to ride out the pandemic, the economic downturn and the civil unrest that are gripping the world. Beyond news reports, I've heard from friends that homes are being snapped up in eastern Washington state and New York's Hudson Valley by coastal city dwellers looking for a refuge in turbulent times. It's not just residents who are leaving. The New York Times reports that retail restaurant and merchandise chains are exiting Manhattan because it is "unsustainable." New York City no longer teams with tourists, and its office towers are largely empty. That makes for empty streets with few customers for the city's many retail establishments. This story is being repeated in other major cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver,Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Louis. In an op-ed appearing in The Globe and Mail, Homer-Dixon explained the underlying structural problems that have opened our global society to increasing risk: The relatively new science of complex systems shows that such tipping events are made more likely by the unprecedented connectivity in the networks that humanity has laid down in a dense web across Earth’s surface – air traffic, financial, energy, manufacturing, food distribution, shipping and communication networks, to name just a few. This science also shows that until we manage this connectivity better – which could mean, among other changes, reducing our international travel, simplifying global supply chains and bringing some production processes closer to home – we’re likely to experience more frequent tipping events of ever-higher destructive force. The idea that we are going to return to the world of 2019 seems increasingly unlikely. That world was highly fragile which is why it shattered in so many pieces with so many casualties when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Returning to that world would mean, in Homer-Dixon's words, "more frequent tipping events of ever-higher destructive force." That hardly seems like the destination we should seek.
Housing Starts increased to 1.496 Million Annual Rate in July - From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions: Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,496,000. This is 22.6 percent above the revised June estimate of 1,220,000 and is 23.4 percent above the July 2019 rate of 1,212,000. Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 940,000; this is 8.2 percent above the revised June figure of 869,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 547,000. Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,495,000. This is 18.8 percent above the revised June rate of 1,258,000 and is 9.4 percent (±1.5 percent) above the July 2019 rate of 1,366,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 983,000; this is 17.0 percent above the revised June figure of 840,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 467,000 in July. The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years. Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) were up in July compared to June. Multi-family starts were up solidly year-over-year in July. Single-family starts (blue) increased in July, and were up 7.4% year-over-year. Total Housing Starts and Single Family Housing Starts The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968. The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then eventual recovery (but still historically low). Total housing starts in July were above expectations, and starts in May and June were revised up.
Housing roars back -- As I wrote yesterday, the background longer term fundamental factors for the economy, most importantly all-time low interest rates, are very positive. In particular I wrote, this “has already made an impact on the housing market ....Lower mortgage rates cause more people to buy houses. Housing permits have already made back about half of their pandemic losses as a result.” Well, with this morning’s report on July housing permits and starts, I can amend that to read that housing permits [and starts] have now made back almost *all* of their pandemic losses. To cut to the chase, here is a graph of the past 3 years of housing permits (blue), starts (green), and the least volatile of all the metrics, single family permits (red, right scale): Permits are within 3% of their expansion highs from January, and are only exceeded by that month plus October and November of 2019. Starts, which tend to lag permits by a month or so, and are much more volatile, are within 8% of their January expansion high, and above every other expansion reading except for November and December 2019. Single family permits were only exceeded in one month - this past February - during the last expansion, and are only 1.1% below that peak. Since housing tends to help power the economy for the next 12 to 18 months, this is a very positive sign over the longer term once we have competent political leadership in Washington, and especially if a workable vaccine is available as well.
Comments on July Housing Starts -As expected, housing starts increased further in July, and were up solidly year-over-year, but are still below the pre-recession level. Earlier: Housing Starts increased to 1.496 Million Annual Rate in July Total housing starts in July were above expectations, and revisions to prior months were positive. Low mortgage rates and limited existing home inventory is giving a boost to housing starts.The housing starts report showed starts were up 22.6% in July compared to June, and starts were up 23.4% year-over-year compared to July 2019 (easy comparison).Single family starts were up 7.4% year-over-year.This first graph shows the month to month comparison for total starts between 2019 (blue) and 2020 (red). Starts were up 22.6% in July compared to July 2019.Last year, in 2019, starts picked up towards the end of the year, so the comparisons were easy in the first seven months of the year... This is below my forecast for 2020, but I didn't expect a pandemic!I expect a further increase in starts in August, but the growth rate will slow.Below is an update to the graph comparing multi-family starts and completions. Since it usually takes over a year on average to complete a multi-family project, there is a lag between multi-family starts and completions. Completions are important because that is new supply added to the market, and starts are important because that is future new supply (units under construction is also important for employment). These graphs use a 12 month rolling total for NSA starts and completions. The blue line is for multifamily starts and the red line is for multifamily completions. The rolling 12 month total for starts (blue line) increased steadily for several years following the great recession - then mostly moved sideways. Completions (red line) had lagged behind - then completions caught up with starts- although starts picked up a little again lately. The second graph shows single family starts and completions. It usually only takes about 6 months between starting a single family home and completion - so the lines are much closer. The blue line is for single family starts and the red line is for single family completions. Note the relatively low level of single family starts and completions. The "wide bottom" was what I was forecasting following the recession, and now I expect some further increases in single family starts and completions once the crisis abates.
New Residential Building Permits: 1.5M in July - The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have now published their findings for July new residential building permits. The latest reading of 1.495M was an increase from 1.258M in June and above the Investing.com forecast of 1.320M.Here is the opening of this morning's monthly report, including a note regarding revisions:Statement Regarding COVID‐19 Impact: Due to recent events surrounding COVID‐19, many governments and businesses are operating on a limited capacity or have ceased operations completely. The Census Bureau has monitored response and data quality and determined estimates in this release meet publication standards. Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,495,000. This is 18.8 percent (±1.1 percent) above the revised June rate of 1,258,000 and is 9.4 percent (±1.5 percent) above the July 2019 rate of 1,366,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 983,000; this is 17.0 percent (±1.2 percent) above the revised June figure of 840,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 467,000 in July. [link to report] Here is the complete historical series, which dates from 1960. Because of the extreme volatility of the monthly data points, a 6-month moving average has been included.
NAHB: Builder Confidence Increased to 78 in August, Ties Record High - The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 78, up from 72 in July. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. Note: This was released early. This graph show the NAHB index since Jan 1985. This was above the consensus forecast. Housing and homebuilding have been one of the best performing sectors during the pandemic.
U.S. homebuilder confidence matches record high - (Reuters) - U.S. home builder confidence rose for a third straight month in August to match a record high as record-low interest rates spur a surge in customer traffic, especially in suburban markets that are growing in appeal as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, data released on Monday showed. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose 6 points to 78, matching a series record set in 1998. The median expectation among 30 economists in a Reuters poll was for a rise to 73 from July’s reading of 72. NAHB’s measures of both current and future home sales improved. “Housing has clearly been a bright spot during the pandemic and the sharp rebound in builder confidence over the summer has led NAHB to upgrade its forecast for single-family starts, which are now projected to show only a slight decline for 2020,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Single-family construction is benefiting from low interest rates and a noticeable suburban shift in housing demand to suburbs, exurbs and rural markets as renters and buyers seek out more affordable, lower density markets.” The U.S. Census Bureau will report July’s housing starts data on Tuesday, and economists polled by Reuters are looking for an increase to 1.24 million units on an annualized basis from 1.186 million in June. Housing starts plunged this spring during widespread lockdown orders issued to try to contain the virus, but have rebounded sharply from a six-year low hit in April. The economy fell into recession in February as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A separate report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank on Monday showed the pace of growth in manufacturing activity slowing much more than expected in August from a 14-month high in July. The New York Fed’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey index dropped to 3.7 from 17.2. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 15, with a reading above zero indicating expansion. The survey’s measures of new orders and shipments both pulled back after three straight months of increases.
AIA: "July architectural billings remained stalled" - Note: This index is a leading indicator primarily for new Commercial Real Estate (CRE) investment. From the AIA: July architectural billings remained stalled Architectural billings failed to show any progress during July, and business conditions continued to be soft at firms, according to a new report from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).The pace of decline during July remained at about the same level as in June with both months posting an ABI score of 40.0 (any score below 50 indicates a decline in firm billings). While firms reported a modest decline for inquiries into new projects—slipping from 49.3 in June to 49.1 in July— newly signed design contracts declined more critically, falling from a June level of 44.0 to 41.7 in July.“It’s clear the pandemic continued to contribute to uncertainty in business conditions, especially as cases spiked in states across the country,” . “While clients expressed interest in exploring new projects, many are hesitant to sign onto new contracts with the exception of the multifamily residential sector, which came close to seeing billings growth in July.”
• Regional averages: West (40.9); South (40.7); Midwest (40.1); Northeast (36.8)
• Sector index breakdown: multi-family residential (47.5); mixed practice (44.0); institutional (39.5); commercial/industrial (35.4)
This graph shows the Architecture Billings Index since 1996. The index was at 40.0 in July, unchanged from 40.0 in June.. Anything below 50 indicates contraction in demand for architects' services.This includes commercial and industrial facilities like hotels and office buildings, multi-family residential, as well as schools, hospitals and other institutions.This index has been below 50 for five consecutive months. This represents a significant decrease in design services, and suggests a decline in CRE investment in the first half of 2021 (This usually leads CRE investment by 9 to 12 months). This weakness is not surprising since certain segments of CRE are struggling, especially offices and retail.
Hotels: Occupancy Rate Declined 30% Year-over-year -From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US hotel results for week ending 15 August - U.S. weekly hotel occupancy hit 50.0% for the first time since mid-March, according to the latest data from STR. 9-15 August 2020 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019):
• Occupancy: 50.2% (-30.0%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$101.41 (-23.0%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$50.87 (-46.1%)
U.S. occupancy has risen week over week for 17 of the last 18 weeks, although growth in demand (room nights sold) has slowed. The week ending 14 March was the last with occupancy of at least 50.0%. The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. As STR noted, the occupancy rate has increased week-to-week in "17 of the last 18 weeks". The increases in occupancy have slowed and are well below the level for this week last year of 72%.The leisure travel season usually peaks at the beginning of August (right now), and the occupancy rate typically declines sharply in the Fall. With so many schools closed, the leisure travel season might be lasting longer this year than usual.
Home Depot Beats Profit Forecasts on Pandemic Sales Surge - Home Depot Inc posted much stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings Tuesday as sales far outpaced analysts' forecasts even amid the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Home Depot said earnings for the three months ending on August 2, the group's fiscal second quarter, were pegged at $4.02 per share, up 26.8% from the same period last year and firmly ahead of the Street consensus forecast. Group revenues, Home Depot said, rose 24.75% to $38.1 billion, again topping analysts' estimates of a $34.5 billion tally. Home Depot said same-store sales rose 23.4% -- more than double analysts's forecasts of a 10.5% gain -- as coronavirus lockdowns, and soaring house prices, enticed more buyers to spend cash on hoe repair projects.
Walmart Q2 earnings soar, led by nearly 100% surge in e-commerce - Walmart (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings results, bolstered by online sales that skyrocketed 97% during the period, as the coronavirus crisis prompted consumers to flock to e-commerce for their needs. Here were the main numbers compared to Bloomberg consensus forecasts:
- Revenue: $137.7 billion vs. expectations of $135.6 billion
- Adjusted EPS: $1.56 vs. expectations of $1.24
- Walmart U.S. comp-store sales (excluding gas): 9.3% versus 5.3% expectations
- Walmart U.S. e-commerce sales: up 97 %
During the quarter, Walmart’r revenue rose 5.6%, or $7.4 billion, from the same quarter a year ago — benefiting from its status as an essential business that remained open during the darkest days of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Why Do We Care about Retail Sales - Menzie Chinn - In these times? Among other reasons, it’s: (1) An indicator of household consumption behavior; (2) An indicator of conditions for business – including small/medium size enterprises. Hence, the recovery of retail sales has been much lauded. But if you thought the recovery was in brick-and-mortar retailers, you’d be somewhat misguided. First, for retail sales and food services, sales are clearly up relative to trend, in real (CPI-deflated) terms. But then, interestingly, real sales were essentially flat at the end of last year, coming into this year. Figure 1: Total retail and food service sales (black), excluding e-commerce sales (teal), excluding nonstore sales (brown), all in millions of 1982-84$, s.a., on log scale. E-commerce sales quarterly data converted to monthly by dividing by three. All deflated by CPI-all. Second, there is a definite recovery of real retail sales (ex-food services), indeed jump above (flat) trend. However, the excess over pre-shock trend seems attributable to e-commerce. Figure 2: Total retail sales (black), excluding e-commerce sales (teal), excluding nonstore sales (brown), all in millions of 1982-84$, s.a., on log scale. E-commerce sales quarterly data converted to monthly by dividing by three. All deflated by CPI-all. E-commerce sales quarterly data converted to monthly by dividing by three. Third, even if real retail sales have recovered in levels, that still means that there was a loss of sales relative to what would have occurred otherwise. In other words, just because the flow is back to pre-shock levels doesn’t mean accumulated flows (sales) are. To show this, consider the cumulative deviation from trend of nominal retail and food service sales; it’s about $233 billion. Figure 3: Cumulative deviation from trend of total retail and food service sales (black), in millions of dollars, s.a. Trend in sales calculated as time trend in logs, 2019-2020M02. As the bite from the reduction in enhanced unemployment insurance benefits increases, I expect sales to dive in September (and may have stalled in August as public health restrictions increased in many states).
How Dairy Monopolies Keep Milk Off the Shelves - Our new Working Paper shows how the decline in the number of family dairy farms accelerated in the 1980s and after. Advances in technology have made large scale dairies more productive and able to produce milk at far less cost than on smaller farms. Fluid milk, butter and cheese processing also underwent technological changes that made large-scale production of dairy products feasible. But technology is only part of the story. In dairies and processing operations – as elsewhere in the economy – changes in the approach of anti-trust regulators to mergers led to increased industry consolidation. In 1982, President Reagan’s anti-trust enforcement chief rewrote the rules and replaced a mandate to protect markets from domination by a few firms with a mandate to safeguard “consumer welfare,” narrowly conceived of as lower consumer prices. This unleashed a wave of consolidation that is still ongoing. Technical scale requirements have little to do with the huge size of the handful of companies that dominate dairy products processing. For the first seven decades of the 20thcentury, local dairy cooperatives – owned by their dairy farmer members – maintained creameries and plants that processed some of their members’ raw milk into dairy products they sold to schools and restaurants as well as groceries. They sold the rest of their members’ raw milk to other processing plants. The co-ops negotiated the price paid to farmers, and shared profits from the creameries with farmer owners. But new rules on mergers and acquisitions opened the dairy industry to consolidation in later decades.Investor-owned corporations like Dean Food went on a buying spree, scooping up competitors. By 2001, Dean Food was the second largest dairy producer in the U.S. That year, it was acquired by Suiza Dairy, the number one dairy producer at that time. The combined company took the Dean name and dominated markets across the country. Dairy cooperatives followed a similar path, with large cooperatives buying up smaller ones and recruiting (sometimes coercing) independent dairy farmers to become members. Four large regional cooperatives merged to become Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) in 1998 and expanded into other parts of the milk product supply chain. As of early 2020, DFA had more than 13,000 dairy farmer members and owned 42 manufacturing facilities across the country. DFA pays farmers for their raw milk, but does not share the profit made from its own processing operations or sales of raw milk to other dairy products processors with the farmer members who are nominally its owners.DFA, Dean Food and Borden Dairy have dominated the dairy industry for most of the 21stcentury, culminating with DFA acquiring Dean Food in 2020. Monopolization of dairy products processing has caught many family farmers in a vicious cycle of consolidation and overproduction as processors with dominant positions have set prices for raw milk below the cost of production for smaller dairies. To survive, farmers have increased the number of cows and the scale of production to reduce costs – increasing the supply of milk, while the demand for milk falls as consumers seek out nondairy alternatives. Oversupply of raw milk has led to a 40 percent fall in price between 2014 and 2019, driving thousands of smaller farms into bankruptcy.
AMC is reopening its theaters this month with 15-cent tickets - AMC is finally reopening its theaters, and guests will need to spend just 15 cents to get in. The world's largest movie theater chain will reopen more than 100 US theaters on August 20, the company said on Thursday. In order to commemorate its centennial, AMC is offering "movies in 2020 at 1920 prices" on opening day. That's 15 cents a ticket. AMC closed all of its theaters in the US in March as the pandemic took hold, and the reopening has been delayed several times. (Track how box-office sales have been hit on our recovery dashboard.)AMC added that it expects to open two-thirds of its more than 600 US theater locations by the time Christopher Nolan's thriller "Tenet" hits theaters on September 3. AMC's other US theaters will open "only after authorized to do so by state and local officials," according to the company. AMC said that it's implementing new safety and health measures to help keep moviegoers safe and curb the spread of coronavirus. That includes requiring all guests to wear masks, lowering theater capacity and upgrading ventilation systems. After opening day, tickets will still be available for cheaper than usual. Tickets for films like "Inception," "Black Panther," "Back to the Future" and "The Empire Strikes Back" will cost $5. AMC is bringing back old films since the North American box office has been essentially at a standstill with so many new movies have been delayed this year because of the outbreak.
Wisconsin regulators extend shutoff ban; third of households behind on utility bills - With a third of Wisconsin households behind on their utility bills, state regulators have extended a moratorium on shutoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Public Service Commission voted 2-1 Thursday to continue a ban on disconnections until Oct. 1, temporarily preventing more than 93,000 customers from losing electricity, gas or water service next month.Chairwoman Rebecca Valcq said utility service remains critical to public health, noting the number of COVID-19 cases has continued to rise since July, when the PSC extended the moratorium to Sept. 1. “If we disconnect customers and send them out to places to congregate … in order to stay cool, or they lose the ability to maintain hygiene, that to me outweighs the ability to pay and the fact that the unemployment rate is getting better,” Valcq said. “We’re not going to get through this if we don’t start acting like adults. We have to start following the guidelines if we want to get out of this crisis.”
Used Vehicle Prices Explode To All Time Highs After Plunging Just Months Ago - When you have the Central Bank back-stopping every industry in the United States, it's incredible how quickly things can change over the course of less than a quarter. Less than two months ago we were talking about the unprecedented crash in used car prices that had taken place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic slowing the economy. "Where's the inflation?" everyone kept asking. We think we've found it. Today, according to new research from Manheim, those prices have exploded to hit new all time highs. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value index climbed to 163.4 in the first 15 days of August from 158.0 in July. "Prices rose another +3.4% sequentially in the first 15 days of August after rising +5.8% m/m in July," a new note from J.P. Morgan highlights. It continues: "With the Manheim Index at 163.4 in early August (January 1995 = 100), used prices are now +13.9% higher vs. the then record level in February just prior to the pandemic and are +15.6% y/y." J.P. Morgan notes that "Since April, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value index recovered +8.9% m/m in May, +9.0% m/m in June, +5.8% m/m in July, and is now +3.4% m/m in the first 15 days of August. Stronger prices suggest potential gains on sale of off-lease vehicles and higher collateral value, helping reduce loan losses." The note predicts that prices should see some respite heading into the fall, as "pent up demand" as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic should subside. Most of this demand has already been satisfied, according to Manheim, and consumers are growing "increasingly frustrated" from the high prices. It's worth noting, however, that these same prognosticators were predicting a "sharp drop" in prices heading into the back end of the summer. That obviously didn't materialize. Additionally, the same note says that consumers could be waiting for a second round of stimulus to purchase a vehicle.
NY Fed: Manufacturing "Business activity edged slightly higher in New York State" in August -- From the NY Fed: Empire State Manufacturing Survey Business activity edged slightly higher in New York State, according to firms responding to the August 2020 Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index fell fourteen points to 3.7, signaling a slower pace of growth than in July. New orders were little changed, and shipments increased modestly. Unfilled orders were down, and inventories declined. Employment inched higher, while the average workweek declined. ... The index for number of employees edged up to 2.4, indicating that employment levels inched slightly higher. The average workweek index fell four points to -6.8, pointing to a decline in hours worked. This was well below expectations, and showed activity increased slightly in August.
Philly Fed Manufacturing "continued to expand" in August -Note: Be careful with diffusion indexes. This shows a rebound off the bottom - some improvement from May to August - but doesn't show the level of activity. From the Philly Fed: August 2020 Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey: Manufacturing activity in the region continued to expand this month, according to firms responding to the August Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. The survey’s current indicators for general activity, new orders, and shipments remained positive for the third consecutive month but fell from their readings in July. The employment index also fell from its reading in July but remained in positive territory for the second consecutive month. Most of the future indicators remained elevated, suggesting that the firms expect growth over the next six months. The diffusion index for current activity fell 7 points to 17.2 in August, its third consecutive positive reading after reaching long-term lows in April and May … On balance, the firms reported increases in manufacturing employment for the second consecutive month, but the current employment index fell 11 points to 9.0 this month. This was below the consensus forecast. Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index:
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 1,106,000 - The DOL reported: In the week ending August 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,106,000, an increase of 135,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 8,000 from 963,000 to 971,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,175,750, a decrease of 79,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,000 from 1,252,750 to 1,254,750. The previous week was revised up. This does not include the 542,797 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was up from 489,639 the previous week. The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.
Comments on Weekly Unemployment Claims – Mcbride - In normal times, most analysts focus on initial unemployment claims for the BLS reference week of the employment report. For August, the BLS reference week is August 9th through the 15th, and the initial claims report this morning was for the reference week. The increase in initial claims in the report this morning would usually indicate weakness in the labor market. However, continued claims are probably much more useful now. Continued claims are released with a one week lag, so continued claims for the reference week will be released next week. Continued claims are down 2.1 million from the reference week in July, suggesting an increase in employment in August. There are an additional 11,224,774 receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). This is a special program for business owners, self-employed, independent contractors or gig workers not receiving other unemployment insurance. The following graph shows regular initial unemployment claims (blue) and PUA claims (red) since early February. This was the 22nd consecutive week with extraordinarily high initial claims. We are probably seeing some layoffs related to the higher level of COVID cases and also from the end of some Payroll Protection Programs (PPP).
Employment: Preliminary annual benchmark revision shows downward adjustment of 173,000 jobs - Note: This is mostly before the sharp decline in employment due to COVID. The BLS released the preliminary annual benchmark revision showing 173,000 fewer payroll jobs as of March 2020. The final revision will be published when the January 2021 employment report is released in February 2021. Usually the preliminary estimate is pretty close to the final benchmark estimate. The annual revision is benchmarked to state tax records. From the BLS: In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2021 with the publication of the January 2021 Employment Situation news release. Each year, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey employment estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts of employment for the month of March. These counts are derived from state unemployment insurance (UI) tax records that nearly all employers are required to file. For National CES employment series, the annual benchmark revisions over the last 10 years have averaged plus or minus two-tenths of one percent of total nonfarm employment. The preliminary estimate of the benchmark revision indicates a downward adjustment to March 2020 total nonfarm employment of -173,000 (-0.1 percent). Using the preliminary benchmark estimate, this means that payroll employment in March 2020 was 173,000 lower than originally estimated. In February 2021, the payroll numbers will be revised down to reflect the final estimate. The number is then "wedged back" to the previous revision (March 2019). Construction was revised up by 6,000 jobs, and manufacturing revised down by 70,000 jobs. This preliminary estimate showed 229,000 fewer private sector jobs, and 56,000 more government jobs (as of March 2020).
August Employment Report Will Show an Increase of Several Hundred Thousand Temporary Census Workers - The Census Bureau released an update today on 2020 Census Paid Temporary Workers As of the July reference week, there were 50,404 decennial Census temporary workers. As of week of August 2nd through August 8th, there were 270,468 temp workers. That was an increase of around 220,000. Last week was the BLS reference week, and it seems likely another 100,000 or more temporary workers were on the payroll last week (to be released next week). This means the August employment report will show a sharp increase in Federal employment. Since these are temporary, and only happen every ten years with the decennial Census, it makes sense to adjust the headline monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) by Census hiring to determine the underlying employment trend. The correct adjustment method is to take the headline number and subtract the change in the number of Census 2020 temporary and intermittent workers. For more, see: How to Report the Monthly Employment Number excluding Temporary Census Hiring
Nearly 30% of Ohio’s unemployment claims have been denied since March - More than 400,000 Ohioans who have applied for unemployment benefits - nearly 30% of the total - have been turned down since the coronavirus pandemic hit the economy. The denial rate is consistent with pre-pandemic numbers. More than 21,000 Ohioans filed for their first unemployment benefits last week, but many of those applicants won’t get checks. Of the 1.6 million Ohio workers who have sought unemployment help since the coronavirus pandemic started clobbering the economy in March, 410,252 have been denied, according to figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Department officials say the denial rate, approaching 30%, is consistent with pre-pandemic figures. (Many of the 1.6 million claims are still being processed.) Applicants have been turned down for several reasons, including failure to verify their identities, report outside income, or demonstrate that they are unemployed through no fault of their own. But the most common reason for denial, according to state officials, is the failure to meet monetary standards of at least 20 weeks of full employment and earnings of at least $269 a week. State officials noted that those who are denied can appeal the denial or apply for federal pandemic unemployment help. “The vast, vast majority of individuals denied for traditional unemployment will likely be eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance because that program does not have an income requirement,” Job and Family Services spokesman Bret Crow said. The number of workers seeking unemployment assistance rose last week, both nationally and in Ohio, after several weeks of decline, illustrating that employers are still slashing jobs as the pandemic enters its sixth month. Nationally, 1.1 million workers sought benefits last week, according to figures released Thursday.
Emergency medical technicians are quitting their jobs — COVID-19 makes it too dangerous -Veteran emergency medical technicians and paramedics have spent decades intubating patients and performing many other medical procedures in cramped ambulances. Now, a growing number of EMS workers are exiting the field for good. The reason: COVID-19 makes the job too dangerous."I knew it would probably kill me if I went out there and had multiple exposures — and I'm not a chicken," said Robert Baer, an EMT in New York City with 29 years on the job, including 23 as an instructor. "I love the job, but my doctors were telling me I shouldn't be going in the field, that it was very dangerous."Baer was among the first responders to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and he now suffers from asthma, chronic bronchitis, sleep apnea and other conditions that make him more vulnerable to COVID-19. In March, Baer, 59, was set to be deployed to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, which at the time was deluged with coronavirus cases as the infection raced through the city. But he decided the risks were too high because of his own pre-existing health conditions. Rather than expose himself to a stream of infected patients in Queens, Baer opted to retire last month, ending his career at least a full year earlier than he'd planned. That disqualified him from collecting his full pension, and Baer estimates he gave up between $2,000 and $4,000 a year in retirement benefits — a decision he doesn't regret. "It wasn't about the money — it was about my health and surviving," he said, noting the emotional toll of attending the funerals of colleagues who have died from COVID-19. Oren Barzilay, president of the FDNY-EMS Local 2507, representing New York City medics, said that a record 60 or so EMTs — many of them over the age of 50 — have left the department since March. Another factor that may be spurring this exodus is the modest pay EMT workers receive for a job that is stressful in the best of times and now, with the pandemic, potentially life-threatening. In New York, an EMT's salary starts at around $35,000 and tops out at $50,000, according to Barzilay. Nationally, the job pays an average of $38,830 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
U.S. private equity giant banishes staff from the office for 14 days if they use buses or trains, over coronavirus fears - Employees at global asset manager Carlyle Group have been told to avoid public transport when offices reopen around the world. They must avoid public transport on their commute, and if they use public transport over weekends, they should work from home for 14 days, according to one report. Staff are expected to walk, bike or drive to the company’s offices, including in New York and Washington, D.C. as it looks to control the spread of the coronavirus and avoid staff outbreaks. Carlyle Group said that returning to its 31 offices globally would be “entirely voluntary” and the measures around public transport were to protect its staff. “Our global policy, which includes encouraging workers not to use public transportation, is designed to protect the health and well-being of every colleague,” it said. “As the situation continues to evolve, we are asking everyone to take an approach that works for their personal situation,” it added.
The Real Pandemic Gap Is Between the Comfortable and the Afflicted - The stories from the front lines of this country’s abandonment of the poor in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic are not in short supply. The Washington Post reports on the devastating stories of workers waiting for benefits from the cold and broken bureaucracy of D.C.’s unemployment bureau; one ends the story with $1 left in his wallet. The Guardian brings us stories from the Deep South, where a young Black woman named Sandy Oliver counts off the number of people she knows who have died from coronavirus—“at least 10.” Kaiser Health News details the agonizing inevitability of Covid-19 spreading through a cramped household of low-income Hispanic workers and their families in Marin County, where some of the richest people in America reside. These outrageous stories, and the millions more that remain unknown to the press, depict lives being lived in our failing nation. This is the real world. But another real world exists on top of this reality, smothering it: The world of the rich and powerful, where things are mostly fine. Walk up 14th Street NW in Washington, D.C., on any weeknight, and the bars and restaurants are almost as packed as they were before the pandemic. Le Diplomate, the trendy French restaurant, has spilled onto Q Street and never appears less than bustling. In a city where low-wage workers choose between the risk of dying of coronavirus or dying of hunger, the professional class of politicos and other workers from the Bullshit-Job Boom face an easier choice: Moules or Lobster Frites?The coronavirus pandemic is, at least, highly visible in the media. In that way, it’s different from many other problems to which we’ve become more accustomed: the income gap, the opioid crisis, the rise in homelessness. These and other ongoing disasters affected millions of people long before this virus appeared on these shores and have naturally become intensified and sharpened since then. But the arrival of an even worse situation doesn’t seem to have sparked action. It’s like there was already a raging fire that we were just letting burn, and now Godzilla has arrived—and we’re letting him rampage, too. Sure, why not. Go for it, dude. We’re left to wonder why Washington isn’t doing anything. But why aren’t we doing anything, either? How is it that Mitch McConnell leaves his house without being pelted with rotten tomatoes? How can our leaders, and the people who work for them, continue to show their faces in public? When is the fire going to reach them? What has to give? And why hasn’t it happened yet? One answer may be that the rich, including not just billionaires but the ordinary affluent of America, are not in anywhere near as much peril. And our politics is tuned to their frequency, whatever’s happening to the poor.
Amazon workers describe spread of COVID-19 at warehouse in Romulus, Michigan - COVID-19 is spreading at Amazon’s DTW1 fulfillment center in Romulus, Michigan. Wayne County, Michigan, where the warehouse is located, is the state’s epicenter for the virus, with 29,242 confirmed infections and 2,841 deaths as of this writing.In April, Amazon workers throughout the country and internationally carried out walkouts and other actions demanding the closure of facilities, full protective gear and an end to the company’s practice of concealing information about the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, Amazon has made money hand-over-fist during the pandemic, thanks to the surge in online sales as people avoid unnecessarily leaving their homes. The online retail giant doubled its net profit in the second quarter to $5.2 billion, and CEO Jeff Bezos, already the wealthiest human in history, has seen his wealth surge to $197.8 billion, including a $13 billion increase in a single day.Two workers from DTW1 spoke to the WSWS International Amazon Workers Voice to denounce the continuation of work despite rampant infections. Their names have been changed in this article to protect their anonymity. “The MSDT [Mask Social Distance Team] just walk around yelling at people all day,” Katie says. “We have cases on almost an everyday basis.” She explained as the pandemic wore on, MSDT, the group within the facility response for enforcing safety measures, became a means of harassment and intimidation of workers by management.“They [MSDT] started at the beginning of the pandemic, but they were about just safety then. But for the past couple months, they think they have some type of power now so they feel they can just yell at people for trying to catch a breath for a second. It’s impossible to stay six feet from each other in there. Amazon’s working conditions are very poor.“Having to wear these masks for the amount of time we do and in the heat; sometimes it's like 130 degrees in there, it causes breathing problems. People are passing out, having bad headaches, feeling nauseous and feeling like they are going to vomit. To say the least, it’s not a great company to work for. They don’t care about you or other people, because they can replace you the same day. The air conditioning doesn't work, and [the fact that there are] thousands of people in the building doesn't help.”
States Secretly Stockpiling Food for Need Ahead – “To the Roof!” - YouTube - Washington State has been stocking away millions of dollars of non-perishable food -- so have other US states, and the federal government -- in anticipation of "the need ahead." If states are preparing, so too must you be today.
Are bread riots coming to America? - Over the last week, just under 1 million people filed for ordinary unemployment benefits, plus another half-million under the special pandemic unemployment program for people who don't ordinarily qualify, a substantial decline from some of the numbers seen since the beginning of the pandemic. At this rate, by mid-September or so, new unemployment claims will be merely as bad as they were during the worst of the Great Recession.Those unemployment benefits, however, because this country has systematically stripped and sabotaged its safety net, are extremely meager and often nearly impossible to actually get. Hundreds of thousands of private citizens who have lost their jobs are flocking to Reddit for help and advice, as state unemployment bureaucracies are so janky and swamped they often can't deal with the flood of applications.In the past week, the r/unemployment subreddit has taken a dark turn with the expiration of the CARES Act's super-unemployment and the failure of Republicans to even come to an agreement about what they want in the next round of pandemic relief. It's become a de facto support group for people whose lives are collapsing around them for simple lack of income or jobs, and talk of suicide is common.One wonders: Is America about to see bread protests, or even riots? People around the country have been testifying how they are down to their last dollar or flat broke, facing eviction or living on the street, unable to afford vital prescriptions or even food. "I've got $18.91 in my bank account this morning. My cupboards are getting low, my dog will have to eat whatever me and my kids eat and my gas light will be back on shortly,"wrote one Redditor recently. "My car payment was due today and I'm still $200 short, 500 counting last month's. My phone bill is due in a few days. I'm a month behind on the electric bill. I have about $60 to my name, I'm not going to make rent and my [landlords] have already said they will not be giving any allowances," wrote another. "Well I've waited and now my power turns off at the end of today, in a house where my entire family has moved in with me … worst of all I have two toddlers and virtually nowhere to go. 'Rona and the government have picked off my family one by one and this seems to be the final nail in the coffin," wrote a third.
Couple charged in attack of teen Sesame Place worker over mask requirement - A New York couple has been charged in an attack on a 17-year-old employee at the Sesame Place amusement park in Pennsylvania earlier this month. Authorities say Troy McCoy, 39, and Shakkera Bonds, 31, both of the Bronx, punched the teenager on Aug. 9 during a visit to the park in Langhorne after he reminded them to wear a face mask. The park requires face coverings during the coronavirus pandemic.Police say the teenager asked the couple to comply with the policy earlier in the day, and when they saw the employee again, they both struck him in the face,CBS News reported.Lt. Stephen Forman of the Middletown Township Police Department confirmed that when another employee attempted to intervene, Bonds punched that employee as well, according to CBS.McCoy and Bonds were each charged with criminal conspiracy, disorderly conduct and harassment, NBC News reported. McCoy was also charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, while Bonds faces an additional charge of simple assault.McCoy was apprehended by authorities Wednesday. Bonds is expected to turn herself in.Federal authorities took McCoy into custody after serving an arrest warrant at his home. He allegedly attempted to "barricade himself in the residence," although law enforcement officials were still able to enter his home, CBS reported.The teenage employee spent a week in the hospital recovering from surgery on his jaw and damage to his teeth. His jaw is now wired shut, Forman told CBS.
US child care in existential crisis as schools and businesses reopen - The Trump administration, backed by the entire political establishment, has placed great emphasis on the need to re-open schools as an essential component to the overall drive to force working people back on the job amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A pillar of this campaign is early childhood care, which faces an existential crisis in health, safety and funding.Parents suspecting the obvious dangers of COVID-19 have withdrawn children from day cares en masse. According to a National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) survey conducted in June, early childhood enrollment plummeted by 67 percent since March. Roughly five million small children normally in day cares are now largely being cared for by their parents who have had to stay home with them.In March, the US Congress passed the multi-trillion-dollar CARES Act, which included a meager $3.5 billion in child care spending while hundreds of billions were allotted to financial firms and other non-essential corporate entities. To date, this is all that has been done to help preserve child care’s continued existence in the US.At least 40 percent of all child care providers expect they will be forced to close unless they receive some sort of government support. Only 18 percent of such providers expect to last another year on their current resources. With the loss of providers, as well as forced limits on class sizes due to social distancing, an additional 450,000 children may be left without day care as facilities reopen.This shortage of supply will in turn entice businesses to cut corners on safety, licensing and other necessities for entering the child care industry.Even in places where day cares are able to remain open, teaching staff—forced to choose between making a living and maintaining their physical health—will be compelled to work under impossible conditions.“Staff and teachers are going to have a lot of anxiety and stress at day cares,” said Lorena, a child care provider that spoke at length with the World Socialist Web Site about the impact of COVID-19 on day care. “I hate to say it, but teachers are not trained for having kids all day, creating curriculum and lesson plans,” she said, adding, “If schools are closed, they’ll have to monitor a child’s actual academic progress” as school aged children will be expected to engage in distance learning.
Ohio 9-year-old dies after COVID-19 diagnosis; doctors call it ‘medical mystery’ - – A 9-year-old girl has died after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. Doctors called the cause of her death a “medical mystery.” Rehmert and Taylor Williamson taught Dorielis Reyes-Paula at Wildwood Elementary School. “We’ve all been praying and hoping for the miracle,” Chris Rehmert said. But that miracle didn’t come. The little girl passed away Wednesday night. “Last night, the news coming that she had passed was devastating,” Rehmert said. The girl’s mother detailed her illness online, saying Reyes-Paula first started walking strangely in May. She went to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with COVID-19. Her symptoms turned to inflammation and paralysis in her arms and legs. “Hearing that she was that sick in the beginning was hard, but hearing that was 10 times harder,” Rehmert said. Williamson and Rehmert visited Reyes-Paula at the hospital last week, retelling stories about the student. “While we were laughing at one of the stories that the doctors were telling us, her little eyes kept — not opening, but fluttering, like, ‘I’m laughing with you guys. I’m here, I’m laughing,'” Rehmert said. They told stories like this one… “She’s sitting there with a book in each hand, reading during math class. And I didn’t — I’d never have to tell a child but Dorielis, ‘Put your books away,'” Rehmert said. Reyes-Paula’s personality shined through the school and into the hearts of her teachers. “She, as a student, was just so energetic, bubbly, sweet,” Williamson said. “If we even started to look sad, she picked up on it and she was right there,” Rehmert said. “And she was like, ‘What can I do to help you?'” The women said they are carrying the girl’s memory close to their hearts, wearing shirts and masks with her initials and a Noah’s ark on them. Reyes-Paula wanted to visit the ark.
Education cannot be paused for a pandemic - More than our physical health is being affected by this novel coronavirus. With the nation moving towards virtual living to continue social distancing, we are risking under-educating a generation. Children need the option to have an in-person education. There are lessons and experiences a student receives in the classroom that cannot be replicated via technology. Distance learning is good, homeschooling is good, but not every student will succeed in those environments. Families need to have the option to send their child safely to school since a child only gets to experience the first grade once. My children are no longer school age, but my youngest is still in the classroom teaching middle schoolers. It is critical to evaluate the risks of having a child return to in-person learning alongside the benefits. Besides the home, school ranks second in influencing a student’s well-being and health. Schools offer so much more than academic instruction. Many students rely on daily meals, a safe environment, one-on-one counseling services, development of social and emotional skills, and physical activity. These are things that cannot be dialed in. When schools decided to go virtual in March, it highlighted the disparities within our broadband infrastructure. This posed a problem for students living in rural areas with limited internet access. Congress has recently prioritized broadband deployment, but these efforts must accelerate to provide adequate funding to expand broadband availability. What happens if a child does not have access to in-person learning and no broadband connection? The lack of in-person instruction could lead to severe educational inequality. Families in low-income communities cannot afford to hire tutors or ensure each child has access to their own computer with reliable internet access to participate in virtual learning. Having at-home virtual learning also comes with the distractions of everyday life. Children need a focused environment to thrive. Beyond the basic needs of these students, students with disabilities lack the tailored learning environment provided by special educators. It is impossible to virtually replicate the hands-on personal attention required to educate these children. Parents cannot turn into the special education teachers their child needs overnight to provide them with the occupational, physical, or speech therapy they would receive in the classroom.
Analysis: Ventilation should be part of the conversation on school reopening. Why isn’t it? - - Like every other parent with a school-age child, I want schools to reopen in the fall — including the one I’m attending. But I am also an epidemiologist, and after reading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for school reopening and the various accompanying news coverage and think-pieces, I can’t convince myself that following its rules will keep my family — or yours — safe. Why? Because the primary way COVID-19 is transmitted is throughrespiratory droplets that careen through the air, and yet the capricious nature of air circulation and the lack of filtration systems in our already underfunded public school systems is absent from the conversation. Since New York state started reopening, I have received emails from my medical school’s working group about the plan to bring us back to campus. Its plan is to follow the basic script seen in school reopening strategies all over the country: frequently sanitized high-touch surfaces, 6-foot distances, unidirectional hallways, reduced capacity elevators and classrooms, health questionnaires, and contact-free temperature checks upon entry (more on that in a minute). My school is not negligent, but like many other educational institutions, its efforts are dangerously misdirected. We are collectively engaging in what Derek Thompson describes in the Atlantic as “hygiene theater,” in which organizations looking to reopen focus intensively on arduous decontamination strategies to mitigate surface transmission — even though that is not the primary route for COVID-19 transmission, and some scientists argue that there is no direct evidence the virus spreads this way at all. I’d also like to add temperature checks to the hygiene theater playbill, as they too fail to successfully screen potential COVID-19 carriers, but have somehow made their way onto every screening list I’ve seen. Why is this happening? The CDC is supposed to determine the national priorities for American health. Of the eight bullet points in its “staff safety” section, four address surface transmission. The three bullet points dedicated to respiratory droplets warn people to stay 6 feet away from each other, cough into their elbows, and wear a mask. It does not mention air filtration, or the fact that we have pretty good data to suggest that without addressing air filtration and circulation, the 6-feet rule does not prevent transmission indoors.
Jared Kushner will 'absolutely' send his children to school despite Covid-19 risks - White House adviser and son-in-law of the president Jared Kushner has said he will “absolutely” send his children back to school when classes reopen, despite widespread concerns that in-person learning puts children, faculty and their families at risk from Covid-19.The Trump administration has pushed for schools across the country to reopen, despite the concerns. One public school district in Arizona was forced to cancel plans to reopen on Monday after more than 100 teachers and other staff members called in sick.In its latest guidance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the number and rate of coronavirus cases in children had risen “steadily” from March to July, but the true number of cases remains unknown due to a lack of testing.However, Kushner, a member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning that he had no concerns about his children returning to class “because children have a six times higher chance to die from the flu than from the coronavirus, so based on the data I’ve seen I don’t believe that’s a risk.”Kushner has three children with Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter. “This virus impacts different people at different rates,” he said. “Our school’s not opening back up five days a week, I wish they would but we absolutely will be sending our kids back.”In its guidance update, the CDC said school closures could have contributed to initially low rates of cases in children early in the pandemic.“This may explain the low incidence in children compared with adults,” the agency said. “Comparing trends in pediatric infections before and after the return to in-person school and other activities may provide additional understanding about infections in children.”
With pandemic raging, Florida governor deepens drive to reopen schools - Florida state officials are pressing ahead with the reckless and premature reopening of public schools. As the state approaches 9,300 deaths from COVID-19 and daily infections have again risen above 5,000, politicians are insisting that millions of children be herded back to schools, endangering the lives of themselves, countless teachers and millions of families. Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is a well-known acolyte of Trump and one of the most vocal proponents for the president’s back-to-work and school reopening campaigns. He has consistently claimed that the supposed “educational benefits” of in-person learning outweigh health concerns, prompting the Department of Education to issue an emergency order last month requiring brick-and-mortar schools to open by Aug. 31. Despite pushback and massive hostility from teachers towards the back-to-school drive, the political establishment, backed by the unions, school boards, and county judges, have been relentless in pursuing this homicidal policy and have even resorted to intimidation and threats to force the school districts to open up classrooms for in-person schooling.This has found its sharpest expression in Hillsborough County, the eighth-largest school district in the country and third-largest in Florida. DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran traveled to the county last Monday to demand that the district drop plans to hold fully online classes for its 223,300 students for the first four weeks of the school year, threatening to strip the county of nearly $200 million in funding. Hillsborough immediately revised its plan after being issued the ultimatum. Instead, the county now plans to do just one week of online schooling starting August 24, and then transition to a hybrid style of physical and remote learning on August 31. Hillsborough County Superintendent Addison Davis stated in a Thursday press conference that the policy reversal was necessary, saying, “It was very clear, if we do not follow their emergency order, we will be financially hindered,” adding, “That would bankrupt us. It would put us in a terrible financial situation.” Hillsborough reported a 13 percent COVID-19 positivity rate on Monday, the fifth highest in the state. Of the 68 deaths from COVID-19 in the greater Tampa Bay region last Tuesday, 31 were in Hillsborough County.
Calls for nationwide sickout as Arizona school district cancels reopening - An Arizona public school district was forced to cancel its plans to reopen on Monday after more than 100 teachers and other staff members called in sick. “We have received an overwhelming response from staff indicating that they do not feel safe returning to classrooms with students,” Gregory Wyman, district superintendent, said in a statement on Friday.Now some activists in Arizona, which saw a high-profile teachers’ strike in 2018, said they hope teachers across America will adopt a similar strategy to keep educators safe, as some parents and politicians continue to push for schools in the US to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.“I’d love to see a nationwide sickout,” Kelley Fisher, an Arizona kindergarten teacher who has led protests in the state, told Reuters on Friday. In San Tan Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, the JO Combs unified school district’s board of governors had voted to resume in-person classes on Monday. Another school district nearby had made a similar choice, pressured by some parents who argued that reopening schools would be best for their children. The president of the Arizona Education Association, a teacher’s union, told the Arizona Republic that the two districts both decided to reopen despite not meeting the health metrics as recommended by Arizona’s department of public health. Not a single district in Arizona currently meets all three metrics for a safe resumption of mixed in-person and online learning, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the most recently available state public health data.By late Friday afternoon, 109 teachers and other staff members from JO Combs had already called in sick, a district spokeswoman said. That number represents nearly 20% of the district’s total staff of about 600. “Due to these insufficient staffing levels, schools will not be able to reopen on Monday as planned,” Wyman, the superintendent, said, noting that “all classes, including virtual learning, will be canceled” until further notice. Elsewhere in Arizona, the debate over when to reopen schools remained at a standstill. In Lake Havasu, Arizona, the local school district pushed back the discussion of when to reopen schools to this coming week, the local paper reported. “At some point, we are going to have to come up with an acceptable casualty rate, and nobody wants to have that conversation,”
Thousands of students are leaving Anchorage schools. It could mean a loss of millions in funding -Thousands of students are leaving Anchorage schools, and it could mean a loss of millions of dollars in revenue this year for the district, according to administrators. The Anchorage School District could face, at a maximum, a $30.1 million decrease in revenue this fiscal year due to the “significant” decline in enrollment, according to a presentation Tuesday by chief financial officer Jim Anderson to the school board’s finance committee. But it is impossible to know what the deficit will actually be until later in the year, he said.“We could have a very low deficit this year all the way up to a $30 million deficit, depending on — on the number of students we have,” he said to the full school board at its meeting Tuesday. “There are some bigger unknown variables that we simply don’t have the answer.”Anderson presented to the committee multiple scenarios based on factors including enrollment changes and possible changes the state legislature could make to how schools are funded.In early August, enrollment was down by about 5,000 students from the previous year. As of Monday, that deficit had shrunk to 4,000 fewer students than at the same time last year, according to district data presented at the meeting. Andy Ratliff, senior director of management and budget, said that it’s difficult to predict just what parents will choose and that some may be waiting to see what changes as the pandemic continues before they enroll their children. Still, 2,736 students had fully unenrolled from the district as of Monday, Anderson said. More than 1,000 of those students have switched to state home schools, data from the school board’s finance committee shows.
“Refuse to Return” Facebook group cofounder describes explosion of opposition to unsafe school openings - “No teacher signed up for this,” Tracy Campbell, a 35-year veteran music teacher from Colorado, told the World Socialist Web Site about the demand that educators return to the classroom in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The part that is left out in the news coverage is that teachers weren’t asked. “Why weren’t the unions organizing in March? If they were strong, we wouldn’t have to do this organizing,” she said, explaining why she and several others set up an independent Facebook group, “Colorado Schools for Safe Openings-14 Days No New Cases.” Their “Refuse to Return” group has attracted 9,469 members and helped inspire at least 35 other groups across the US, including in Illinois (32,555 members), Indiana (13,392 members), Oregon (13,565 members), Tennessee (6,133 members), Pennsylvania (7,831 members), Mississippi (2,210 members) and more. Social media opposition has erupted nationally, while educators have mounted protests, petitions and sickouts to oppose the ruling-class campaign to reopen schools. The Facebook groups opposed to this homicidal campaign have become centers for organizing protests, sharing scientific and political developments, venting anxiety and frustration, and increasingly for discussing local, statewide and national strike action to halt the reopening of schools. The Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee was launched on August 15 to unify educators, school workers, parents and students independently of the unions to oppose the forced return to work and school by the Democrats and Republicans. The statement that accompanied the announcement called for a nationwide general strike, emphasizing, “The central lesson of the 2018–19 wave of wildcat strikes in West Virginia, Oklahoma and other states, along with the strikes in Los Angeles, Oakland and Chicago, is that it is essential that teachers must rely on their own independent strength to fight.” Tracy has been a music teacher for 35 years, and lives near the Navajo Nation reservations that have been devastated by COVID-19. Like other educators, Tracy has carefully followed the science of the pandemic and has been acutely aware of the immense dangers posed by the reopening of schools. When she was asked to return for in-person instruction at her school, she refused. “I decided not to take any contract teaching jobs this year, since I have grandsons and my health is more important,”
Maryland’s Republican governor overrules county order for private schools to remain closed - Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) came out against an order by Montgomery County, Maryland Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles barring private schools in the county from opening before October 1 for the upcoming academic year. Hogan issued an emergency executive order barring blanket closures of schools, reversing an earlier order that gave local health authorities that power. Hogan said in a statement that the decision on reopening should be left up to individual schools. He derided the “blanket closure mandate imposed by Montgomery County” as “overly broad and inconsistent with the powers intended to be delegated to the county health officer.” Public schools in Montgomery County will remain closed for online-only education starting at the end of the month. As of Tuesday, Maryland had over 101,000 cumulative confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to the state’s Department of Health. Montgomery County, which lies northwest of the District of Columbia, has been among the hardest-hit counties in the state, reporting over 19,166 cases and 812 dead. While Maryland initially was one of the first states in the Mid-Atlantic region to impose lockdowns on businesses deemed nonessential, in May it also became one of the earliest in the region to begin reopening shuttered businesses, even as the number of cases continued to rise. Hogan at the time made it clear that rather than basing public health decisions on the data on new daily cases, the state would instead focus on hospitalization rates. In May alone, the total number of confirmed cases in the state rose from about 23,000 on May 1 to over 52,000 on May 31. The number of new daily cases bottomed out in mid-June but are almost back to May levels of over 1,000 new cases a day. The decision to force the reopening of private schools in Montgomery County places thousands of students, faculty, and staff at a direct risk of contracting and spreading the virus, potentially bringing infection home to families and exacerbating the spread, inevitably leading to more deaths from COVID-19. This disastrous policy, however, met with only a tepid response from Democrats, who control not only the legislative and executive branches of Montgomery County but both houses of the state general assembly.
Disastrous US school openings lead to 3,000 infections across 44 states - Within weeks, the reopening of schools across the United States has already become a complete catastrophe. Outside of the mobilization of educators, parents and the broader working class to halt this homicidal policy, there will be rapid acceleration of the spread of the deadly COVID-19 disease throughout every region of the country.Because no government agency at the local, state or federal level is systematically tracking work-related COVID-19 cases and deaths, Kansas teacher Alisha Morris took it upon herself to begin compiling this data in a spreadsheet. The list, which is now curated by roughly 35 people, has been shared in the dozens of Facebook groups that have been set up to oppose the unsafe reopening of schools and has been viewed tens of thousands of times by educators, parents and students. The data compiled in the spreadsheet paints a chilling picture of the spread of the pandemic in schools across the US. According to this data and an official account from Mississippi released Monday, since schools began reopening during the week of July 27, roughly 2,500 teachers, students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 from hundreds of schools across the country. All but six states—Alaska, Washington, Delaware, Vermont, North Dakota, and New Hampshire—have at least one school that has already experienced an outbreak of COVID-19.As of Tuesday, there are over 900 entries on the spreadsheet, with each one representing a separate school that has had at least one positive or suspected case since the start of the pandemic. Most entries are based on local news reports since the beginning of August.The devastation has been most extreme in the South, which for weeks has been a major epicenter of the pandemic in the US. Largely controlled by the Republican Party, these states most closely followed the “herd immunity” strategy of letting the virus rip through the population, as advanced by the Trump administration. These officials were the most aggressive and earliest to reopen their economies and have now been the most strident in demanding full in-person instruction, often with the bare minimum of personal protective equipment (PPE) provided to teachers and staff.
Detroit teachers vote overwhelmingly to strike against unsafe school openings - On Wednesday, Detroit educators voted by a margin of 91-9 percent to authorize the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) to call a “safety strike” to block plans by the district to start in-person teaching when schools reopen on September 8. The overwhelming vote is another expression of popular opposition to the unsafe opening of schools, which includes sickouts by Phoenix area teachers and an explosion of social media groups that have organized protests across the country. The DFT only called the strike vote out of concern that there would be a revolt by educators, parents and students against the plans Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to open the largest school district in the state, which was an earlier epicenter of the deadly COVID-19 virus. Workers throughout the city know that herding 55,000 students and more than 4,000 school employees into dilapidated and poorly ventilated school buildings will lead to a resurgence of virus. In a district email earlier this month Nikolai Vitti, former superintendent of Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida, revealed that some 80 percent of parents are opposed to in-person learning. On August 13, there was a three-month high of infections, with 1,138 new cases. As of Wednesday afternoon, there have been at least 103,527 cases and 6,607 deaths in Michigan. Under these conditions, the DFT hopes that the strike vote will allow the union to get ahead of the demands by teachers for a nation-wide strike in order to contain and strangle it. In the meantime, DFT officials are working out plans with district officials to create conditions to fully reopen the schools. In a statement released to union members before the vote, the DFT made it clear that the action it was proposing was “not a strike in the traditional sense.” Instead, it stated “we are ready, willing and able to continue work remotely.” The action, the statement said, was to convince the school board to start the year remotely” and “develop a new reopening plan with the union.” It adds that the school board should “wait to transition back to in-person instruction until it is safe, as demonstrated by various indicators.” The final decision on when schools are safe will be left entirely up to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who violated her own safety protocols to reopen businesses, including the auto industry.
Viral Videos Show Huge 'Back To Campus' College Parties Despite COVID-19 Bans In Effect - Students are returning to their newly re-opened college campuses across the nation this week (though many others have gone online-only for Fall), and already the parties are in full swing, despite administrators warning against violating new strict social distancing guidelines. As we earlier detailed, "no parties, no trips" COVID-19 rules are in effect for a number of universities in order to ensure in-person classes can resume, but also as predicted — there's simply no way this can ultimately be enforced, as The Hill now reports: Local officials have condemned viral videos of returning students attending parties without masks or physical distancing on university campuses around the country.The videos were taking at such colleges as Oklahoma State and the University of North Georgia. First night back at University of North Georgia in Dahlonega. pic.twitter.com/VAmZ2TLvuz Welcome back to school America: college towns are getting flooded with... restless and ready to let loose college students, as one might fully expect. As videos showing massive parties and packed-out bars go viral, they're coming under condemnation from mayors and town councils and county health officials amid fears that 'back to school' will only exponentially grow and further the pandemic.
Colleges Worried About Covid-19 Cases Tell Students to Stop Partying – WSJ = Leaders of colleges and universities are issuing a couple of simple demands to students to help curtail the spread of the coronavirus on campus: Wear masks, and rein in your back-to-school partying. The messaging comes as outbreaks continue to pop up at schools around the country as students return to campus, leading several this week to halt on-campus instruction. It is being directed to all students, but specifically aimed at fraternities, sororities and upperclassmen throwing off-campus parties that have been traced to the outbreaks. At the University of Notre Dame, where in-person classes were canceled this week because of an increase in positive cases linked to off-campus parties, the number of cases continued to rise—though at a slower pace. On Thursday, the school detected 23 new cases, bringing the total to 336. But the rate of positive tests had declined to less then 10% yesterday from nearly 20% on Monday. The school canceled classes for two weeks, but the president said he would send everyone home for the rest of the year if necessary. “I think people are definitely starting to take it more seriously. No one wants to go home,” said Maddie Tupy, a junior at Notre Dame. The coronavirus has pushed nearly half of U.S. colleges and universities into some degree of remote learning, a change that’s sending shock waves through small college town economies. WSJ’s Carlos Waters explains. Pennsylvania State University suspended the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity on Thursday after videos surfaced on social media showing an indoor gathering on Wednesday of more than 15 people who weren’t wearing masks or staying six feet apart. Then, on Thursday, returning students gathered on campus without masks or physical distancing. The campus scene prompted President Eric Barron to write a note to students chastising them for ignoring the guidelines the school had laid out and to warn them they would be expelled if they didn’t obey the rules. “Last night’s behavior is unacceptable,” Mr. Barron wrote. “I ask students flouting the university’s health and safety expectations a simple question: Do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?” North Carolina State University said Thursday it has canceled all in-person classes following a series of off-campus parties. More than 500 students are now in quarantine or isolation, according to a letter to the school by Chancellor Randy Woodson. “Battling the spread of Covid-19 is a challenging endeavor even when everyone is practicing safety measures,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, the actions of a few are jeopardizing the health and safety of the larger community.”
Texas A&M faculty decry plans to reopen campuses in midst of pandemic - Faculty, professors and students at multiple Texas A&M University affiliated campuses, angered by the University Systems refusal to transition to fully online classes, penned an open letter addressed to the A&M chancellor John Sharp and the Board of Regents which has garnered around 900 signatures as of Friday. The letter cites wide support for social distancing measures in the university system, noting that the Faculty Senates of Texas A&M University (TAMU) San Antonio had passed a resolution to move fully online, while TAMU Corpus Christi passed a resolution that allowed faculty to choose their mode of instruction. It also stated that members of TAMU Corpus Christi, Texas A&M International University, and TAMU-Kingsville “support moving fully online in order to reduce the spread of this lethal pandemic across campuses and the regions we serve, and the communities in which we live.” The letter proceeds to calls on the A&M University System to “grant our universities the leeway to make independent decisions about the course delivery methods that will best serve and protect our students and communities during the COVID-19 crisis.” To put it bluntly, the reopening plans of the A&M University administrations are aggressive and brutal. Texas A&M (College Station) Provost Carol A. Fierke has stated that more than 50 percent of the fall classes (which start Thursday) sections will be offered in-person, with more than half of students having two or more courses in person. Similarly, A&M-Kingsville is planning to hold a mere third of its courses online while the rest are to be taught in a hybrid of online and face-to-face instruction.Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young has even floated the idea that the university might set a threshold for shutting down in-person classes to as high as 100 infections per day, which would be nothing short of a complete disaster.
UNC Chapel Hill, Notre Dame and Michigan State University forced to revert to online learning after COVID-19 outbreaksOnly one week after beginning the fall semester with in-person classes on August 10, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill became the first major college to pivot to online classes after reopening in person. This shift comes after the university announced at least four clusters of outbreaks of COVID-19 in student living spaces. UNC-Chapel Hill, which enrolls approximately 30,000 students, was one of the first and largest universities in the United States to bring students back to campus for in-person classes at the end of the summer term. It is serving as a test case for other large institutions around the country that plan on resuming face-to-face instruction over the coming months. On Tuesday, two other leading universities, Notre Dame and Michigan State University, announced they would also be reverting to online learning because of outbreaks. At Notre Dame’s campus 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students were tested before they could return to campus on August 3 to start classes a week later. At the time, a few dozen tested positive and were told to stay home. Despite these efforts, by Tuesday the school reported that at least 147 people had tested positive for the virus over the last two weeks. UNC Chapel Hill reported 130 new student cases of COVID-19 during its first week, more than one thousand percent higher than the ten it reported on campus during the week prior to reopening. As of Monday, 177 students had been isolated after testing, and another 349 students are in quarantine because of possible exposure. No doubt influenced by the unfolding disasters they were seeing at other campuses, Michigan State University announced on Tuesday that they would be shifting their reopening plans, telling students not to return for the start of classes in two weeks. It has become quite clear that the experiences a UNC-Chapel Hill and Notre Dame are not the exception, but the rule. The reopening of college campuses is proving to have disastrous health consequences. University administrations that have experienced outbreaks are now working around the clock to do damage control.
Outbreaks at U.S. Colleges Force Sudden Changes and Send Students Scrambling: Covid-19 Live Updates - The New York Times As college students return to U.S. campuses, some schools are already hastily rewriting their plans for the fall. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Michigan State and Drexel University will now hold most fall classes online, and Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh are among several that have abruptly suspended in-person classes for the coming weeks.Some of these schools have already had sizable coronavirus outbreaks. The New York Times has identified more than 17,000 cases at more than 650 American colleges and universities over the months.The last-minute changes left many students scrambling. Some had already moved to campus or signed leases for off-campus housing. Others said they would have rather returned to class when in-person instruction resumed.“I think I probably would have taken a gap year, but just because everything was so last minute, it’s really hard to make plans,” said Karthik Jetty, an incoming freshman at Stanford, where plans to bring freshmen to campus were recently scuttled.Universities have been preparing for this for months, but some factors are out of their control.At Oberlin College, administrators postponed in-person classes because of virus testing delays. At Notre Dame, large outbreaks blamed on student gatherings drove the school to suspend in-person classes and restrict student gatherings. But a newspaper, run by students at Notre Dame, St. Mary’s and Holy Cross, criticized the three institutions in a front-page editorial under the stark headline “Don’t make us write obituaries.”And at Drexel, where coursework was moved online, officials said local school districts’ decisions not to hold classes would have made it difficult for university employees with children to come to campus.“Despite all of our preparation,” said John Fry, Drexel’s president, “we have always understood that our approach would need to be continually assessed, taking into account new data and changing conditions.”
COVID-19 cases surge on college campuses as Yale administrator warns students to prepare for deaths - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which did not conduct widespread testing prior to reopening last week, announced Monday that all undergraduate instruction would be moving online immediately. This move came after four separate outbreaks occurred on campus during opening week, leaving 130 students infected and several hundred more quarantined. One administrator and professor at Yale University, Laurie Santos, the Head of Silliman College and a psychology professor, sent a chillingly honest email to campus residents this week telling them that they may be killed by COVID-19 while attending school this semester: “We all should be emotionally prepared for widespread infections—and possibly deaths—in our community. You should emotionally prepare for the fact that your residential college life will look more like a hospital unit than a residential college.” Despite overwhelming scientific evidence and the most recent experiences of school like UNC-Chapel Hill and Notre Dame, scores of schools are still pushing forward with reopening plans. According to the College Crisis Initiative, a research project at Davidson College in North Carolina, more than 1,000 four-year colleges and universities in the United States planned to bring students back to campus in some form this fall, with 45 planning to operate “fully in person.” In Arizona, three major universities are beginning face-to-face instruction and filling up residential halls despite the state being considered a hot spot for the virus. While some are being tested for COVID-19 prior to their arrival on campus, others are not getting tested until after they have arrived. At Northern Arizona University, one resident assistant has already tested positive, requiring dozens of residents to be quarantined. The State of Alabama is using its students as guinea pigs to carve out a back-to-school policy that can be used throughout the country to reopen face-to-face learning. UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) President Dr. Ray L. Watts bragged to reporters about GuideSafe this week, stating: “It’s this comprehensive plan that gives us confidence. If there’s a flare-up, a small one somewhere, we can find it early and we can quarantine, treat and reduce the exposure to others.” The first UAB students to serve as test subjects for this system were its football players, who began returning to campus in June. Across the country, including at universities such as UNC-Chapel Hill where the semester has already begun with a disaster, student athletes are being required to put their health at higher risk so that big-business sporting events can still be held.
U.S. university insured Chinese student tuition against virus. Then COVID-19 hit - (Reuters) - After becoming dean of the University of Illinois business school in 2015, Jeffrey Brown worried that politics or a virus would choke off a major source of revenue for his school: Chinese graduate students. So, in 2017, along with the engineering school, Brown bought insurance worth up to $61 million to protect the university against such losses, including $36 million due to a pandemic. His worst fears came true earlier this year when the coronavirus hit. But despite his foresight, things have not gone as planned. A Reuters review of emails between school officials and insurance brokers, and interviews with people familiar with the situation show the university may get a payout to cover lower tuition revenue this year, but it can no longer get pandemic, visa restriction, or sanctions coverage. How the university, which first made headlines for its pioneering insurance coverage in late 2018 as the Trump administration ramped up its anti-China policies, lost the protection just when it needed it the most is detailed here for the first time. While it is known that insurers pulled back from various types of coverage in recent months and raised prices, the account provides new insight into how quickly the market deteriorated. The university opened negotiations to renew its 2017 policy, which was scheduled to expire in May 2020, as early as the fall of last year, according to the emails, which were obtained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request. The policy could have been renewed by Christmas last year, but a bureaucratic misstep necessitated a new broker, delaying the process, according to the emails and two of the sources. That meant the virus hit as brokers at a Marsh & McLennan Co Inc (MMC.N) unit that took over were negotiating the renewal with lead insurer AXA XL through the Lloyds of London insurance marketplace. As weeks passed and the virus progressed, renewal options rapidly narrowed while costs increased. The university is now exploring a possible claim for the current year, according to the emails. “We can hope the insurer/reinsurer outlook would be clearer in a year’s time,”
Student Loan Borrowers Would See a Big Chunk of Debt Disappear Under Biden Plan – WSJ - Joe Biden wants to cancel a substantial portion of Americans’ $1.5 trillion in federal student debt—while maintaining the loose lending standards that contributed to its rapid growth. Mr. Biden would cancel all or some debt for many public-college graduates, public-sector workers and victims of fraudulent practices by some for-profit schools. For any remaining debt, the Democratic presidential nominee would slash monthly payments. Borrowers could have hundreds of billions of dollars of debt canceled. Mr. Biden also proposes tuition-free public college for students from families earning less than $125,000 a year. Mr. Biden’s plans aim to help the poor and middle class while limiting aid for the wealthy, said Stef Feldman, the Biden campaign’s policy director. “They’re carefully tailored policies to make sure that we’re eliminating cost or burdensome debt from being a barrier to people achieving the education they want or pursuing the career goals they have,” she said. Mr. Biden hasn’t called for changes to federal lending standards. Those policies essentially allow households—through a combination of loan programs for undergraduates, parents and graduate students—to borrow whatever is needed to cover tuition, with only a minimal credit check and no consideration of a borrower’s ability to repay. Some studies have linked the government’s lending policies to schools’ tuition increases. One component of Mr. Biden’s plan would forgive $10,000 for every one of America’s 43 million federal student-loan borrowers to help during the pandemic. That would benefit some wealthy borrowers. Preston Cooper, a visiting fellow at the center-right Foundation for Research on Economic Opportunity, said that part of the plan would cost $370 billion, more than what the government spent on stimulus checks as part of the Cares Act. “If you’ve decided you’re willing to spend $370 billion, why have we decided people with student debt deserve it more than other people,” including people in low-paying jobs who never went to college, Mr. Cooper said. Under Mr. Biden’s plan, borrowers earning less than $125,000 would have any debt forgiven that covered undergraduate tuition at public colleges and minority-serving nonprofit colleges. All borrowers would have the option to pay 5% of their discretionary income each month toward their debt, down from the current 10%, with balances forgiven tax-free, after 20 years. Borrowers in public-sector and nonprofit jobs would have $10,000 a year forgiven for five years, on top of an existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. And it would be easier for all borrowers to cancel student loans in bankruptcy. Related Video
Black Infants More Likely to Survive if Treated by Black Doctors, Study Finds - Childbirth in the U.S. is simply more dangerous for Black babies. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published last year, for example, found that Black babies were twice as likely to die before their first birthday when compared with white, Asian and Hispanic babies. But new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday has uncovered a factor that might contribute to this disparity. "Findings suggest that when Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, the mortality penalty they suffer, as compared with White infants, is halved," the researchers wrote. To reach their conclusion, the study authors analyzed the records of 1.8 million Florida hospital births between 1992 and 2015 and discovered the race of the attending physician, The Hill reported. They found that, when the doctor in charge was white, Black babies were three times more likely to die than white babies. But when the doctor was Black, that mortality rate was cut in half.The effect was strongest in complicated births and in hospitals that delivered more Black infants, the researchers found.While Black mothers are two to three times more likely to die due to pregnancy complications than white mothers, the researchers found no statistically significant impact of the doctor's race on the mother's chances of survival.The findings are the latest evidence that racism plays a major role in public health outcomes.
Antibiotic overuse reduces bladder cancer survival rates - The over prescribing of antibiotics is reducing survival rates in patients with urothelial carcinoma and it needs to be stopped to avoid the serious risk posed by resistant bacterial infections, according to a new medical study. By analysing data collected within clinical trials on a common immunotherapy treatment called atezolizumab, cancer researchers at Flinders University have found antibiotics are consistently associated with worse survival rates in patients with urothelial carcinoma. Clinical Pharmacology Dr Ashley Hopkins, from the Precision Medicines Group, says the study's findings suggest antibiotics may specifically reduce the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies. "We demonstrated that antibiotic use is directly associated with worse survival in patients with urothelial carcinoma when they're treated with atezolizumab. But no antibiotic association was observed in patients treated with chemotherapy, suggesting that antibiotics may specifically reduce the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies," says Dr Hopkins. Previous research suggests up to 50% of antibiotic use in cancer treatments is prescribed inappropriately as a result of false misconceptions about there being no consequences, but this new study in the European Urology journal demonstrates that over reliance needs to stop.
Half of breast cancer survivors had delays in care due to COVID-19 - The results of an online questionnaire of 609 breast cancer survivors in the U.S. suggest that nearly half of patients experienced delays in care during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, is published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. "The motivation for the study came from widespread reports of cancer care being delayed or procedures being canceled in the beginning of the pandemic, and we wanted to get a better handle on what was happening," said Elizabeth Papautsky, assistant professor of biomedical and health information sciences at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. Papautsky and co-author Tamara Hamlish, a research scientist in the cancer survivorship program at the University of Illinois Cancer Center, developed a questionnaire that asked about care delays. They distributed the questionnaire to U.S. breast cancer survivor groups on social media and via email. They used the National Cancer Institute's definition of a cancer survivor, which includes anyone who has received a diagnosis of cancer. The questionnaire sought to identify what kinds of care was delayed: chemotherapy, radiation, cancer surgery, hormonal treatment or routine follow-up appointments. There also were demographic questions on race and age, as well as stage of cancer. Sixty-three percent of respondents were currently receiving cancer care, and the average age was 47 years old. The respondents were diverse: 78% identified as white, 17% as Black and 3% as Asian. The researchers found that 44% of the respondents reported a delay in care. The most commonly reported delay was for routine follow-up visits. Respondents reported the highest rate of delays in routine follow-up appointments (79%), breast reconstruction surgery (66%), diagnostic imaging (60%) and lab testing (50%). Approximately 30% of respondents reported delays in hospital- or clinic-based cancer therapies, including radiation (30%), infusion therapies (32%) and surgical tumor removal (26%).
COVID-19 now No. 3 cause of death in US - COVID-19 is currently the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., eight months after the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the country. The coronavirus is behind only heart disease and cancer among causes of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "COVID is now the No. 3 cause of death in the U.S. — ahead of accidents, injuries, lung disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and many, many other causes," Thomas Frieden, former director of the CDC, told CNN on Monday. The U.S. has confirmed more than 5.4 million cases of COVID-19, leading to at least 170,434 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country has been recording an average of more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past three weeks, according to New York Times data. Daughter of Trump voter who died of COVID-19 addresses Democratic... Sharon Stone blames 'non-mask wearers' for sister, brother-in-law... Frieden also told CNN that the rate of death in the U.S. is higher than in several other countries. Last week, Americans were eight times more likely than Europeans to die from the coronavirus. The news comes as testing has fallen by about an average of 68,000 per day, the COVID Tracking Project has found, and 15 states conducted fewer tests this week than last week. But more than 30 states still have test positivity rates of more than 5 percent, the World Health Organization's recommended rate before economic reopenings.
Flu and Covid: winter could bring 'double-barrel' outbreak to US, experts say - Public health experts, researchers and manufacturers warn the coming flu season could bring a “double-barrel” respiratory disease outbreak in the United States, just as fall and winter are expected to exacerbate the spread of Covid-19. At the same time, researchers said the strategies currently used to prevent Covid-19 transmission – namely, hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing – could also help lessen flu outbreaks, if Americans are willing to practice them. “We will be faced with basically a double-barrel respiratory virus season, both influenza and Covid,” said Dr William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee. Flu season typically peaks between December and February in the northern hemisphere. It caused an estimated 61,000 deaths and 810,000 hospitalizations in 2019 in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By comparison, Covid-19 has killed more than 166,000 people in the US with months to go before the end of the year, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. The disease hospitalized an estimated 293,000 people just between March and May 2020, according to the healthcare consulting firm Avalere. Those deaths and infections also occurred despite huge efforts – such as shutting down large parts of the US economy – being put into action to slow the virus’s path. While the flu’s seasonality is not clearly understood, the way it spreads is well documented. Flu is transmitted in much the same way Covid-19 spreads: coughs, sputters and sneezes in close proximity in closed spaces and in crowds. For those reasons, social distancing measures are effective against influenza as well as Covid-19 and were practiced during the deadly 1918 flu pandemic. When community spread of Covid-19 began in the United States in March, widespread shutdowns shaved “four to six weeks” off the flu season in 2020, said Dr Richard Kennedy, co-director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research lab. That was “probably as a direct result of the social distancing and the mask-wearing and the shutdown,” said Kennedy. A similar phenomenon is taking place in the southern hemisphere, where winter flu season is now tapering off. Countries such as Chile have seen historically low influenza transmission.
COVID-19 Makes Getting a Flu Shot More Important Than Ever - With the coronavirus still spreading widely, it's time to start thinking seriously about influenza, which typically spreads in fall and winter. A major flu outbreak would not only overwhelm hospitals this fall and winter, but also likely overwhelm a person who might contract both at once.Doctors have no way of knowing yet what the effect of a dual diagnosis might be on a person's body, but they do know the havoc that the flu alone can do to a person's body. And, we know the U.S. death toll of COVID-19 as of Aug. 17, 2020 was 170,000, and doctors are learning more each day about the effects of the disease on the body. Public health officials in the U.S. are therefore urging people to get the flu vaccine, which is already being shipped in many areas to be ready for September vaccinations.Flu cases are expected to start increasing early in October and could last late into May. This makesSeptember and early October the ideal time to get your flu shot.But there's reason to be concerned that flu vaccination rates could be lower this year than in past years, even though the risk of getting seriously ill may be higher because of widespread circulation of the coronavirus.In an effort to avoid getting sick, millions of Americans avoided seeing their health care provider the past few months. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders have resulted in a decreased use of routine medical preventive services such as vaccinations. Many employers that often provide the flu shot at no cost to employees are allowing employees to work from home, potentially limiting the number of people who will get the flu shot at their jobs. As a health care professional, I urge everyone to get the flu vaccine in September. Please do not wait for flu cases to start to peak. The flu vaccine takes up to two weeks to reach peak effectiveness, so getting the vaccine in September will help provide the best protection as the flu increases in October and later in the season.
Federal and state websites flunk COVID-19 reading-level review - Information about COVID-19 offered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House, and state health departments failed to meet recommendations for communicating with the public, according to a Dartmouth study.The review of written web content during the onset of COVID-19 demonstrates that official information about the virus might have been too complex for a general audience. On average, government sources communicated about three grades higher than the reading level recommended by existing guidelines for clear communication.The research, which also analyzed international health web pages, appears as a research letter in JAMA Network Open, a medical journal published by the American Medical Association."How public health information is presented can influence understanding of medical recommendations," said Joseph Dexter, a fellow at Dartmouth's Neukom Institute for Computational Science and senior author on the study. "During a pandemic it is vital that potentially lifesaving guidance be accessible to all audiences."The U.S. Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires that "federal agencies use clear government communication that the public can understand and use." The CDC, the American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health all recommend that medical information for the public should be written at no higher than an eighth-grade reading level.After studying 137 web pages from federal and state sources, the team found that communications about COVID-19 averaged just over an 11th-grade reading level. According to the study, information shared by the CDC and other U.S. sources during the onset of COVID-19 exceeded recommendations on the number of words in a sentence, word size, and the use of difficult terms related to public health.
Measure the risk of airborne COVID-19 in your office, classroom, or bus ride - AMID THE PANDEMIC, once normal activities are now peppered with questions and concerns. Can kids go back to crowded schools? Is it safe to eat dinner with friends? Should we worry about going for a run? A recent modeling effort may help provide some clues. Led by Jose-Luis Jimenez at the University of Colorado Boulder, the charts below estimate the riskiness of different activities based on one potential route of coronavirus spread: itty-bitty particles known as aerosols. (Read more about what “airborne coronavirus” means and how to protect yourself). Coughing, singing, talking, or even breathing sends spittle flying in a range of sizes. The closer you are to the spewer, the greater the chance of exposure to large, virus-laden droplets that can be inhaled or land in your eyes. But many scientists have also grown concerned about the potential risks of aerosols—the smallest of these particles—which may float across rooms and cause infections. It’s a worry that's greatest where ventilation is poor and airborne particulates could build. While the World Health Organization recently acknowledged that aerosol transmission cannot be ruled out for some situations, they emphasized more research is needed to conclusively demonstrate its role in the spread of the virus. “We do not have a ton of information, but we cannot afford to wait for a ton of information,” Jimenez says. The new model incorporates what is known about the coronavirus's spread from case reports of potential airborne transmission, such as the Washington choir practice where one person was linked to dozens of other infections during a 2.5-hour rehearsal. It's further calibrated based on studies that attempt to untangle how much virus people emit while performing activities that involve exhalation. An important note: the model does not account for how the risk increases with closer proximity, where droplet and aerosol concentrations will be higher, or for people touching their eyes or noses with contaminated hands.
Cloth Masks Do Protect the Wearer – Breathing in Less Coronavirus Means You Get Less Sick - Masks slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by reducing how much infected people spray the virus into the environment around them when they cough or talk. Evidence from laboratory experiments,hospitals and whole countries show that masks work, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends face coverings for the U.S. public. With all this evidence, mask wearing has become the norm in many places.I am an infectious disease doctor and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. As governments and workplaces began to recommend or mandate mask wearing, my colleagues and I noticed an interesting trend. In places where most people wore masks, those who did get infected seemed dramatically less likely to get severely ill compared to places with less mask-wearing.It seems people get less sick if they wear a mask.When you wear a mask – even a cloth mask – you typically are exposed to a lower dose of the coronavirus than if you didn’t. Both recent experiments in animal models using coronavirus and nearly a hundred years of viral research show that lower viral doses usually means less severe disease.No mask is perfect, and wearing one might not prevent you from getting infected. But it might be the difference between a case of COVID-19 that sends you to the hospital and a case so mild you don’t even realize you’re infected. When you breathe in a respiratory virus, it immediately begins hijacking any cells it lands near to turn them into virus production machines. The immune system tries to stop this process to halt the spread of the virus. The amount of virus that you’re exposed to – called the viral inoculum, or dose – has a lot to do with how sick you get. If the exposure dose is very high, the immune response can become overwhelmed. Between the virus taking over huge numbers of cells and the immune system’s drastic efforts to contain the infection, a lot of damage is done to the body and a person can become very sick. On the other hand, if the initial dose of the virus is small, the immune system is able to contain the virus with less drastic measures. If this happens, the person experiences fewer symptoms, if any. Many animal studies have shown that the higher the dose of a virus you give an animal, the more sick it becomes. In 2015, researchers tested this concept in human volunteers using a nonlethal flu virus and found the same result. The higher the flu virus dose given to the volunteers, the sicker they became.In July, researchers published a paper showing that viral dose was related to disease severity in hamsters exposed to the coronavirus. Hamsters who were given a higher viral dose got more sick than hamsters given a lower dose. Based on this body of research, it seems very likely that if you are exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the lower the dose, the less sick you will get.
Young People Are Primary Coronavirus Spreaders, WHO Warns - The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a blunt warning as many schools and universities around the world grapple with how to reopen safely: young people are the main spreaders of the coronavirus, according to a news briefing hosted by the WHO on Tuesday. "People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are increasingly driving the spread," Takeshi Kasai, the WHO's Western Pacific regional director, said at the briefing. "The epidemic is changing." Many colleges are noticing that trend anecdotally. Just after re-opening for in person education, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill had to transition to remote learning after outbreaks occurred in fraternities and residence halls. The University of Notre Dame in Indiana also announced that it was going fully remote for the next two weeks after a surge of infections around campus. "In just the past week (Aug. 10-16), we have seen COVID-19 positivity rate rise from 2.8 percent to 13.6 percent at Campus Health," said Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Vice Chancellor Robert Brown in a letter about a week after classes started, as CNN reported. "As of this morning, we have tested 954 students and have 177 in isolation and 349 in quarantine, both on and off campus," the letter said. At Appalachian State University, a cluster of positive cases was found around the football team. Iowa State University identified 175 positive cases when students were moving in, according to CNN. Michigan State University also said it will go remote for the first semester after 187 students tested positive for the virus. The surge in cases among those considered least at-risk is happening around the world, according to the WHO. In the Philippines and in Australia, more than half the confirmed cases are from people under 40. In Japan, 65 percent of positive infections were from people in the first half of their lives as well, as The Washington Post reported. The findings from the WHO echo a July 2020 study from South Korea, which found that teens and tweens were the most likely to spread the novel coronavirus, as EcoWatch reported at the time. The WHO findings were based on an analysis of roughly 6 million international cases that spanned from late February to mid-July. The numbers showed an uptick in the proportion of children and young adults infected. "While we see differences across regions, we do see a consistent shift towards more younger people being reported among COVID-19 cases," the WHO told Al Jazeera. The largest increase was observed in the 15-24 age group, which grew from grew from 4.5 to 15 percent of the total positive infections in the data set, according to Al Jazeera. "This increases the risk of spillovers to the most vulnerable: the elderly, the sick, people in long-term care, people who live in densely populated urban areas and underserved rural areas,"
Virus Vaccine Rush Leaves Little Recourse for Anyone It Harms -Americans who suffer adverse reactions to coronavirus vaccines that the U.S. is racing to develop will have a hard time getting compensated for injuries from the drugs.That’s because pandemic-related claims for vaccines will be routed to a rarely used federal program set up to encourage drugmakers to help combat public health emergencies. It spares pharmaceutical and device makers from costly liability lawsuits in exchange for taxpayers compensating injured patients -- though it doesn’t guarantee there’s funding to do so. Since it began in 2009, the program has paid out less than $6 million, and it has yet to receive any dedicated U.S. government funding for Covid-19. “In the best case scenario, this is going to be a big deal,” said Richard Topping, a former Justice Department attorney who represented the U.S. during disputes over the debunked link between vaccines and autism in children. “Worst case scenario? It will be a crisis.” President Donald Trump is pushing drugmakers to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in record time under an initiative known as Operation Warp Speed that seeks to deliver 300 million doses by January 2021. However, most Americans are unlikely to actuallyreceive a shot until much later next year, according to U.S. top infectious disease doctor Anthony Fauci. As the U.S. vies to be first, Russia this week said it will soon start mass inoculations -- even though safety and efficacy tests on its vaccine aren’t complete, causing concern in public health experts.
Mild COVID-19 cases can produce strong T cell response - Mild cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can trigger robust memory T cell responses, even in the absence of detectable virus-specific antibody responses, researchers report August 14 in the journal Cell. The authors say that memory T cell responses generated by natural exposure to or infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)--the virus that causes COVID-19--may be a significant immune component to prevent recurrent episodes of severe disease. "We are currently facing the biggest global health emergency in decades," says senior author Marcus Buggert (@marcus_buggert) of the Karolinska Institutet. "In the absence of a protective vaccine, it is critical to determine if exposed or infected people, especially those with asymptomatic or very mild forms of the disease who likely act inadvertently as the major transmitters, develop robust adaptive immune responses against SARS-CoV-2." To date, there is limited evidence of reinfection in humans with previously documented COVID-19. Most studies of immune protection against SARS-CoV-2 in humans have focused on the induction of neutralizing antibodies. But antibody responses tend to wane and are not detectable in all patients, especially those with less severe forms of COVID-19. Research in mice has shown that vaccine-induced memory T cell responses, which can persist for many years, protect against the related virus SARS-CoV-1, even in the absence of detectable antibodies. Until now, it was not clear how SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses relate to antibody responses or to the clinical course of COVID-19 in humans.
We now have the best evidence yet that everyone develops long-term coronavirus immunity after infection — and it's not just about antibodies - Scientists may now have an answer to one of the most crucial lingering questions about COVID-19: whether people develop long-term immunity. Early research suggested that coronavirus antibodies — blood proteins that protect the body from subsequent infections — could fade within months. But in their concern about those findings' implications, many people failed to consider our immune system's multilayered defense against invading pathogens. Specifically, they discounted the role of white blood cells, which have impressive powers of recollection that can help your body mount another attack against the coronavirus should it ever return. Memory T cells are an especially key type, since they identify and destroy infected cells and inform B cells about how to craft new virus-targeting antibodies. A study published Friday in the journal Cell suggests that everyone who gets COVID-19 — even people with mild or asymptomatic cases — develops T cells that can hunt down the coronavirus if they get exposed again later. "Memory T cells will likely prove critical for long-term immune protection against COVID-19," the study authors wrote, adding that they "may prevent recurrent episodes of severe COVID-19." That's because memory T cells can stick around for years, while antibody levels drop following an infection. The authors of the new study examined blood from 206 people in Sweden who had COVID-19 with varying degrees of severity. They found that regardless of whether a person had recovered from a mild or severe case, they still developed a robust T-cell response. Even coronavirus patients who did not test positive for antibodies developed memory T cells, the results showed.
Preparing for the COVID-19 Third Wave: The Case for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy - Hypoxia is the main cause of death for COVID-19 patients. Patients cannot get enough oxygen at the tissue level, leading to pulmonary fibrosis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). It is similar to a mountain climber’s disease – high altitude pulmonary edema – where liquids build up in the lungs and thus prevents oxygen from circulating from the lungs to the blood. Without oxygen, this dangerous condition, hypoxia, according to WebMD website, leads to damage to brain, liver, and other organs. With COVID-19, a second major cause of death comes with what is known as the cytokine storm syndrome. This inflammatory response mechanism is still not clear but appears to occur when proteins are released during one’s immune response to the disease. That can contribute to the morbidity by attacking and killing the body’s own cells. Treatments of COVID-19 hypoxia has typically involved the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, such as corticosteroids or those used for rheumatoid arthritis and Still’s disease, 7 a rare inflammatory arthritis. Some of the drugs have a long half-life in the body, and it is “possible to have significant side effects,” In any case, the drugs administered might not succeed alone, and then the patient might be placed on oxygen through a mask and administered high flow oxygen therapy (HFOT). HFOT is another method of non-invasive respiratory support. A patient that is not improving following those steps typically then is placed on invasive mechanical ventilation. An advanced treatment measure for those who get so sick that even mechanical ventilators cannot keep them alive is a radical option called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). It is a form of lung and sometimes heart bypass that allows for the insertion of tubes into a patient’s blood vessels, which is used to remove the venous blood, that is then run through an artificial lung which then pushes oxygen rich blood back into the body. Patient’s survival rate is 50% or lower, and only 264 hospitals in the USA out of 6,000 are capable of performing this procedure.9 Still another approach to combating COVID-19 is passive antibody administration in a treatment known as convalescing plasma therapy (CPT) in which the antibodies in a recovered COVID-19 patient’s whole blood or plasma is taken to treat another COVID-19 patient; if administered early the hope is in 10 to 14 days, the patient develops primary immunity against the virus. During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, a therapy was indeed found that showed effectiveness against the influenza. “In 1918 Dr. Orval Cunningham of Kansas City was brought a dying friend of a fellow physician. With just a one-hour treatment with compressed air at 1.68 atmospheres absolute, the patient experienced improvement. Combined with additional hyperbaric treatments over the next 3 days this patient’s life was saved. Others followed.”11Known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), it is “a process in which your entire body is exposed to oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure.”12It typically involves a mono-place chamber suitable for one patient, or a multi-place chamber a room, capable of holding two hospital gurneys and/or seats for up to a dozen patients.13
A look within cytokine storms - One of the most severe manifestations of COVID-19 is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening condition in which the lungs can’t provide enough oxygen to the body’s vital organs. A subgroup of COVID-19 patients sustain a dangerous inflammatory response known as a ‘cytokine storm’ that causes ARDS and damage to other organs.“Cytokine storms likely contribute to a substantial portion of those infected who require hospitalization for respiratory distress, and certainly those with multi-organ dysfunction,” says Randy Cron, a rheumatologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.Cytokine storms can be brought on by infectious and autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and arthritis. Regardless of their trigger, they are characterized by high levels of pro-inflammatory molecules that cause the immune system to damage normal tissues. Clinicians can adopt various strategies to reduce these storms — using glucocorticoids for broad immunosuppression, for example. Dexamethasone has improved survival rates in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. More targeted anti-cytokine approaches, using monoclonal antibodies against the cytokines Interleukin-1 (IL-1) or Interleukin 6 (IL-6), approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, are also showing promise. The race to find new treatments for COVID-19, has also brought cell therapy to the forefront. “Recent trials hinted that the anti-inflammatory effects of mesenchymal stem cell injection might reduce lung injury and mortality in non-viral induced ARDS,” says Maroun Khoury, a cell biologist at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile. “It is too early to say whether this approach will work in COVID-19 patients, but the increasing number of registered cell therapy-based trials highlights the growing interest in exploring stem cells as a potential therapy,” he adds. However, the decision to pharmacologically immunosuppress a critically unwell patient with COVID-19 remains a difficult one. The possible beneficial effects of reducing inflammation need to be carefully weighed against the potential promotion of further infection, which would complicate the course of disease.
U.S. coronavirus death toll hits 170,000 ahead of fall flu season (Reuters) - The United States surpassed 170,000 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, as health officials express concerns over COVID-19 complicating the fall flu season. Deaths rose by 483 on Sunday, with Florida, Texas and Louisiana, leading the rise in fatalities. The United States has at least 5.4 million confirmed cases in total of the novel coronavirus, the highest in the world and likely an undercount as the country still has not ramped up testing to the recommended levels. Cases are falling in most states except for Hawaii, South Dakota and Illinois. Public health officials and authorities are concerned about a possible fall resurgence in cases amid the start of the flu season, which will likely exacerbate efforts to treat the coronavirus. Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield warned the United States may be in for its “worst fall” if the public does not follow health guidelines in an interview with Web MD. Months into the pandemic, the U.S. economic recovery from the recession triggered by the outbreak is still staggered, with some hot spots slowing their reopenings and others shutting down businesses. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is anticipating an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the coming months, resulting in around 300,000 total deaths by December, and a nearly 75% increase in hospitalizations. Worldwide there are at least 21.5 million coronavirus cases and over 765,000 confirmed deaths. The United States remains the global epicenter of the virus, with around a quarter of the cases and deaths.
COVID-19 updates: Texas approaches 10,000 deaths as Dallas County reports thousands of cases from state backlog - Dallas County officials said they were notified of an additional 5,195 cases from the past six months by state officials Saturday due a backlog in state data. Nearly 10,000 people have died in Texas from COVID-19 since tracking began in March, state officials reported Sunday, as state data backlogs continue to plague counties' tracing efforts. Roughly 1.75% of all Texans have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. Of them:
- 9,983 people have died
- 399,572 have recovered
- At least 125,487 people across the state are considered active cases
Counties across the state have been reporting large backlogs of data from Texas officials for the past few days, with Dallas County officials reporting 5,195 additional cases Sunday from the past six months. The majority of the Dallas County cases were from people who tested positive in July: 4,298. The rest were as follows:
- 13 people in March
- 149 in April
- 80 more people in May
- 52 in June
- Another 603 in August so far
Dallas County officials said there were 166 new cases Sunday, with one additional death after a Dallas man in his 50s died. He had been critically ill in a local hospital and had had underlying high-risk health conditions. The combined new numbers raise the county's cumulative total to 63,428 people who have tested positive since tracking began in March, with 825 deaths, officials said.
Texas becomes 4th state to surpass 10,000 virus deaths (AP) -- Texas surpassed 10,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Monday as the lingering toll of a massive summer outbreak continues, and health experts expressed concerns that recent encouraging trends could be fragile as schools begin reopening for 5 million students across the state.Roughly four in every five of those deaths were reported after June 1. Texas embarked on one of the fastest reopenings in the country in May before an ensuing surge in cases led Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to backtrack and impose a statewide mask order. August has seen an improving outlook, although Texas officials are now concerned that not enough people are seeking tests.The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 51 new deaths Monday, along with more than 2,700 new cases, Numbers are typically lower on Monday due to reporting lags over the weekends.Texas joins New York, New Jersey and California as the other states to surpass 10,000 coronavirus deaths. Florida is also approaching the grim milestone.Hundreds of new deaths have been reported daily in Texas over recent weeks, dampening otherwise positive signs that include hospitalizations falling off by the thousands since July and the rate of positive cases on the decline. Many of the most recent deaths reported actually occurred weeks ago since Texas doesn't add them to the state's tally until death certificates are filed. Abbott is now urging Texans not to grow complacent as the numbers improve and schools and universities reopen. Already elsewhere in the U.S., new virus clusters have sprung up at the start of the fall semester, some of them linked to off-campus parties and packed clubs.
Notre Dame Moves To Virtual Classes; Texas COVID-19 Cases Bounce Back- The University of Notre Dame just joined UNC by suspending in-person classes amid growing outcry from students and the community about the dangers of COVID-19. The university has reportedly seen a "steady increase" in tests positivity rates. The shift will last for at least the next 2 weeks. said it will suspend in-person classes and shift to remote learning for the next two weeks because of a “steady increase” in virus positivity rates. ND said 147 people have tested positive since Aug. 3, many of whom were seniors who lived off campus and spread the virus at gatherings, according to the university’s website. The move comes a day after UNC, one of the biggest colleges to attempt in-person learning, said it would shift to online classes because of a spike in cases. Meanwhile, in the states, Texas’s new-case count climbed by 7,282 on Tuesday to 550,232, according to state health department data. The increase was almost triple the day-earlier addition, though Monday tallies tend to be the smallest of the week because of a falloff in weekend testing. There were 216 new fatalities, bringing the cumulative total to 10,250. Coronavirus cases in the US increased 0.8% to 5.46 million compared with the same time a day earlier. Florida has just reported its latest batch of COVID-19 cases, with 3,838 new cases reported, along with 219 new deaths and 501 new hospitalizations, bringing the state's totals to 579,932 cases, 9,893 deaths and 34,695 hospital admissions. There are now 146,990 confirmed cases in Miami-Dade County, 67,193 cases in Broward, and 39,460, in Palm Beach. State officials tallied the positivity rate at roughly 8%.
Georgia, Texas and Florida lead the country in coronavirus cases per capita - After adjusting for population, US states in the South and West continue to report the most daily coronavirus cases even after declines over the past few weeks. Per capita, Georgia has reported the most cases per day over a seven-day average of any state, followed by Texas and Florida. The states are led by governors who pushed to reopen during the spring, saw major summer surges of cases and are currently pushing to reopen schools. Texas has issued a mandate requiring face masks, while Florida and Georgia have not. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has gone so far as to keep cities from making stricter rules and has sued the city of Atlanta for trying to require face masks. Georgia has allowed restaurants, bars and gyms to open at limited capacity. A White House Coronavirus Task Force report dated August 16 and obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) recommends that Georgia do more to fight coronavirus. The report comes as colleges are quickly learning it may be next to impossible to create a coronavirus-free environment on campus. Across the US, the virus continues to spread at high rates. The seven-day average of daily new coronavirus cases in the US declined on Monday to 49,000, the first time it's been below 50,000 since July 6. Still, worldwide, that average daily total is surpassed only by India, which has four times the number of people. The US's seven-day average of new deaths has been over 1,000 per day for the past 23 days. In Florida, officials reported deaths of more than 200 people in a day Tuesday -- for at least the 10th time in the past month. More than 5.5 million Americans have been infected since the start of the pandemic and at least 172,000 have died.
Bill Cassidy Becomes 2nd Senator To Test Positive For COVID-19- Live Updates -CNN just reported that Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Thursday. He plans to quarantine for 14 days. He's only the second Senator, after Republican Rand Paul, to test positive, though roughly a dozen House members have tested positive, while dozens more have been forced to quarantine for a number of reasons. At least two governors, the governors of Oklahoma and Ohio, have tested positive as well. Johnson & Johnson is planning to test its anti-COVID-19 vaccine on 60,000 people worldwide, the largest vaccine trial anywhere to date.In what was no doubt welcome news for the market, the Phase 3 trials, which are set to begin by September, are double the size of other vaccine tests. Dow Jones quoted a J&J spokesman as saying it wanted "to enroll a robust number of participants who are representative of those populations affected by COVID-19."The trials will run in 28 US states with high transmission rates, and eight hard-hit nations (including Brazil, the Philippines and South Africa and of course the US0.Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation making it easier for New Yorkers to submit absentee ballots to encourage people to vote who are afraid of being exposed to the coronavirus.The new law was inspired by Trump's "undermining" of the Post Office. The new law allows people who fear infection to request an absentee ballot, and outlines rules for counting votes by when they are postmarked or received.Virus cases in England increased by more than a quarter in the week through Aug. 12, underscoring the risks facing BoJo's government as it tries to boost economic activity without triggering a new peak in the pandemic.Two in the Mets organization have tested positive, prompting the team to cancel tomorrow's subway series opener against the Yankees, Thursday's game vs the virus-plagued Marlins has also been postponed. Are the Mets really sick? Or is this just some kind of ploy to beat back Steve Cohen?
Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, who represents part of the Coal Region, says he tested positive for the coronavirus - U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser said Saturday that he has tested positive for COVID-19, making him the second federal lawmaker from Pennsylvania to announce a positive diagnosis amid the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesman for Meuser, a Republican whose 9th District includes Carbon and Schuylkill counties, said Saturday afternoon that the lawmaker was “feeling fine,” and that he has contacted everyone he interacted with during the last 72 hours.“I have been following all [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] health and safety guidelines, and will be taking all necessary actions, including postponing upcoming public events and working from home in quarantine until I receive a negative test result,” Meuser said in a statement. “I am thankful to God that my grown children were not at home and that my wife Shelley has tested negative.”The test result means Meuser was not on Capitol Hill Saturday, where House lawmakers were voting on legislation to boost funding for the U.S. Postal Service and prohibit operational changes that could delay mail service, affecting ballots in the presidential election.
Allegheny County posts covid-19 case increase in triple digits - Coronavirus cases in the triple digits were reported Thursday in Allegheny County, a day after the county had its lowest number of new covid-19 cases in almost two months. The death toll in the county grew Thursday, as well, with one new death reported. There were 100 new cases reported Thursday by the Allegheny County Health Department, after just 27 were reported Wednesday. New cases have stayed under 100 for most of the month, having now reached triple digits just three times in August. The new cases come from 1,648 test results that span June 23-Aug. 19, with the county saying all but three specimen collection dates were from the past week. Ages for new cases, of which 96 are confirmed and four probable, range from 2 to 91, with a median age of 44. The new covid-19 death was a person in their 70s with a date of death of Aug. 12. Allegheny County’s death total is now 298 and case total is now 9,676. As of Thursday, there are currently 94 covid-19 patients hospitalized in Allegheny County, 21 of which are on ventilators, according to the state’s dashboard. The county estimates 6,627 covid-19 cases have recovered, according to health department data. At a Wednesday news conference, Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen said that during the surge in positive cases in July, the health department reassigned staff members who had been in charge of maintaining hospitalization data to work as case investigators and contact tracers. Bogen said the county now is in the process of entering a “backlog” of data on older hospitalizations into its database. Many of the hospitalizations occurred in July. “We didn’t feel like a new daily number of past or present hospitalizations that included many hospitalizations from last month would be beneficial,” Bogen said.
Coronavirus in Ohio Friday update: 1,043 new cases, 26 additional deaths — The Ohio Department of Health has released the latest number of COVID-19 cases in the state. As of Friday, August 21, a total of 113,046 (+1,043) cases were reported in Ohio since the pandemic began, leading to 3,955 (+26) deaths and 12,719 (+104) hospitalizations. The Department of Health adds the data when it is informed of a case or death. The information is backdated to the actual date the person started exhibiting symptoms or the date the person died. Governor Mike DeWine opened Thursday’s briefing with a look at the latest numbers. He remarked that after three straight days of fewer than 1,000 cases, we are now over 1,000. The governor revealed the latest map of counties under the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. All central Ohio counties, other than Franklin, are no longer red. 3 central Ohio counties drop out of Level 3, Franklin County still red but ‘edging down’ DeWine said Franklin County is trending down and may no longer be red by next week. Governor DeWine says once again, we’ve seen a fundamental shift with cases going up in the rural communities. DeWine says adult day centers and senior centers may open, beginning September 21, in a reduced capacity if they can meet certain standards. On Wednesday, DeWine announced the signing of a health order that provides guidelines for Ohio sports to move forward this fall. Gov. DeWine announces signature of health order on fall sports DeWine added schools will also be allowed to play fall sports in the spring if that’s what they decide to do. No spectators will be allowed, other than family members or those ‘very close’ to the particular child.
Sturgis motorcycle rally: At least 7 Covid-19 cases in Nebraska tied to the South Dakota event - Coronavirus cases linked to the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota last week have now reached across state lines to Nebraska, public health officials said. At least seven Covid-19 cases in Nebraska's Panhandle region have been tied to the rally, Kim Engel, director of the Panhandle Public Health District, confirmed in an email to CNN. The department said that contact tracing had been completed, and declined to comment further. The cases that have appeared in Nebraska are the latest to be connected to the 80th annual Sturgis motorcycle rally, which took place August 7-16. South Dakota state health officials announced Thursday that a person who worked at a tattoo shop in Sturgis had tested positive for the virus, and could have possibly exposed people during the event last week. The person was an employee of Asylum Tattoo Sturgis, and could have spread the virus to others on August 13-17 from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., officials said. Earlier this week, officials said a person who spent hours at a bar during the rally had also tested positive. That individual visited One-Eyed Jack's Saloon in Sturgis on August 11 from noon to 5:30 p.m. while able to transmit the virus to others, health officials said. Anyone who visited either the tattoo shop or the saloon, which are located at the same address, during that period should monitor for symptoms for 14 days after the visit. Health experts were concerned that this year's Sturgis motorcycle rally could be a "super spreader" event. The 10-day mass gathering typically draws crowds of more than 500,000 people from all over the country, including coronavirus hotspots. South Dakota Department of Transportation officials tracked more than 462,000 vehicles entering Sturgis during the rally. Though the total was a 7.5% decline from the previous year, it is still one of the largest mass gatherings since the start of the pandemic. Many of the attendees did not comply with health guidelines such as wearing masks and keeping distance from others, as seen at a concert for the rock band Smash Mouth. A little more than 60% of people in Sturgis voted against holding the motorcyle event. But city officials said they felt they wouldn't have been able to stop the crowds from coming in and instead opted to prepare for the event as best they could. South Dakota reported 193 new cases on Friday. It's one of several US states that have seen an increase in new cases this past week compared to the week prior, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Bill Gates: Millions more will die in this pandemic, and ‘freedom’ hinders the disappointing U.S. response - Almost 800,000 people around the world have already died from COVID-19, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University and Microsoft MSFT, -0.72% co-founder Bill Gates predicts that “the worst is still ahead” and the death toll will ultimately rise by millions.Emerging markets, where health-care systems and economies are already struggling, is where the pain will be most pronounced, he explained in a recent interview in the Economist.But the U.S. is dealing with its own unique set of issues, as politics and conspiracy theories have contributed to what he said has been a disappointing response. Why? In the name of freedom. ‘We believe in freedom, individual freedom. We optimize for individual rights.’According to Gates, Trump supporters have wielded “freedom” to make a political statement that continues to complicate the U.S. response to the pandemic. Refusing to wear a mask, for instance, is one way for them to signal their anger and resistance. Will that change if Joe Biden wins the presidency? Don’t count on it. “I don’t think a change in administrations will get people to wear masks,” Gates said. “It’s hard to see how we build that trust network and improved behavior. It’ll mostly be incremental.”It’s more than that, though. Gates explained that the U.S. was unprepared from the beginning, as testing efforts were slow to make an impact once the virus began to spread.China, on the other hand, “did a very good job of suppressing the virus,” thanks, in part, to the “typical, fairly authoritarian” approach and the “individual rights that were violated,” he said. The good news is that Gates is looking for the pandemic to pass by the end of 2021, as a reasonably effective vaccine should be in mass production by then. Watch the full 42-minute interview, which was posted on Wednesday:
US Coronavirus: Covid-19 deaths should start dropping across US by next week, CDC chief says – CNN - Covid-19 deaths in the US should start dropping around parts of the country by next week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director said, as Americans stick to mitigation efforts that help curb the spread of the virus. So far, more than 5.5 million Americans have been infected and at least 174,255 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country's seven-day average for daily deaths has topped 1,000 for at least 24 days in a row. Mitigation measures like controlling crowds and shutting down bars work, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday, but it takes time until they're reflected in the numbers. "It is important to understand these interventions are going to have a lag, that lag is going to be three to four weeks," Redfield said in an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Hopefully this week and next week you're going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop." The daily average of new cases in the US has been on the decline for weeks. Redfield's message comes as one Trump administration official said Covid-19 case trends are now "going in the right direction." But Redfield warned that while officials have observed cases fall across red zones in the country, cases in yellow zones across the heart of the US aren't falling.
COVID-19 hits U.S. mink farms after ripping through Europe - COVID-19 has now struck mink farms in the United States, too. Yesterday, roughly 10 days after farmers in Utah reported a rash of mink deaths, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed the SARS-CoV-2 virus had infected the weasellike mammals, which are raised for their fur. Infections of mink have already been documented in other countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain. In June, authorities in these countries gassed hundreds of thousands of animals, concerned that the mink could harbor the virus indefinitely, enabling infections to persist among farm animals—and potentially spread to humans. In Utah, the trouble started on 6 August, when farmers called the state’s Department of Agriculture and Food. At issue: “deaths in numbers they’d never seen before,” The wave of deaths set things into high gear, and farmers quickly sent deceased animals to Tom Baldwin, a veterinary pathologist at Utah State University, Logan, for inspection. The initial samples were not usable, Baldwin says, because they had deteriorated by the time they arrived on 7 August. Eventually, however, some of the “great many” dead mink he received were in good enough condition to be necropsied. After cutting them open, he says he found lungs that were “wet, heavy, red, and angry,” all signs of pneumonia. That type of pneumonia is not typical in mink, he notes, but it was nearly identical to photographs of mink necropsies performed in Europe. By 14 August, both the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory had confirmed the animals were infected with the COVID-19 virus. In the Netherlands, farmers had killed more than 1 million mink as of 2 August. U.S. farms churn out more than 2.5 million pelts annually, according to USDA. Utah is the country’s second highest producer, processing more than 550,000 pelts annually. There are still “big, unanswered question[s]” regarding “how readily this virus can move from mink into human beings,” Baldwin says. The Dutch government reported multiple cases of transmission from mink to farm staff, and several staffers on the Utah farms who came in contact with the mink have confirmed COVID-19. Researchers are now trying to determine whether these workers gave the virus to the mink, or vice versa. The two farms are under 30-day quarantines, as USDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state authorities investigate further. Even a nonzero chance that the virus could mutate and amplify in mink populations—before making a jump back into humans—is worrisome, Baldwin says. “Given we’re dealing with real people with families and husbands and wives,” he says, “that’s enough for me to consider this a very serious matter.”
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION: WHAT IS IT ABOUT MINK AND COVID-19? - The past few months have taught us that mink are particularly susceptible to the coronavirus. In what’s believed to be the first documented case of animal-to-human transmission, Dutch officials announced in May that a worker at a fur farm in the Netherlands seems to have gotten COVID-19 from a mink. In June, the country decided to shut down its mink fur farming industry—the fourth largest in the world—likely by the end of the year. The virus has since been found at mink farms in Spain and Denmark. And now, the U.S. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced two mink farms in Utah reported “deaths in numbers they’d never seen before,” a USDA spokesperson toldScience, in addition to several staff coming down with COVID-19. Nat Geo’s Dina Fine Maron tells me there’s no information yet on whether the virus spread from mink to humans or vice versa (that’ll require genetic testing, which is currently underway), and the USDA hasn’t shared whether it’s testing for the virus at any of the nation’s other 275 mink farms. (U.S. mink farms produce about three million mink pelts a year.) Hundreds of thousands of mink have already been culled in Europe (above, in the Netherlands) to help control spread of the virus, but there are no plans yet to cull the animals on U.S. farms. Maron discusses the situation further on this tweet thread. That said, there’s still no evidence that animals—including mink—play a significant role in the spread of the virus. We do know that humans have occasionally spread the virus to animals, such as their pet dogs and tigers and lions at the zoo, but those cases too are extremely rare. Scientists are still trying to learn in which species the virus can not only take hold but also replicate.
What you need to know about the coronavirus right now - (Reuters) - Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: U.S. students are returning to school in person and online in the middle of a pandemic, and the stakes for educators and families are rising in the face of emerging research that shows children could be a risk for spreading the new coronavirus. Several large studies have shown that the vast majority of children who contract COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have milder illness than adults. And early reports did not find strong evidence of children as major contributors to the deadly virus that has killed more than 780,000 people globally. But more recent studies are starting to show how contagious infected children, even those with no symptoms, might be. Novel coronavirus infections have spread nationwide from a church in the South Korean capital, raising fears that one of the world’s virus mitigation success stories might yet suffer a disastrous outbreak, a top health official said on Thursday. “The reason we take the recent situation seriously is because this transmission, which began to spread around a specific religious facility, is appearing nationwide through certain rallies,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a briefing. The positive cases from the rallies include people from nine different cities and provinces across the country. Kim did not identify those places but said 114 facilities, including the places of work of infected people, were facing risk of transmission.The spread of the coronavirus in Brazil could be about to slow, the Health Ministry said, amid reports the transmission rate has fallen below a key level and early signs of a gradual decline in the weekly totals of cases and fatalities. The cautious optimism comes despite figures again showing a steady rise in the number of confirmed cases and death toll in the last 24 hours, cementing Brazil’s status as the world’s second biggest COVID-19 hot spot after the United States. According to ministry data, Brazil saw a drop in the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases to 304,684 last week from a peak of 319,653 in the week ending July 25. The weekly death toll fell to 6,755 from a peak of 7,677 in the last week of July.
New COVID-19 Cases Hit 5-Month High In South Korea, France Smashes Post-Lockdown Record: Live Updates - After reviving mandatory mask orders in Paris, French officials on Sunday proposed making face masks mandatory in shared work-spaces as the country continued to grapple with a coronavirus rebound. The health ministry reported 3,310 new infections on Sunday, marking a post-lockdown high for the fourth day in a row, while the number of clusters being investigated has increased by 17 to 252. The spike in new cases prompted the UK to impose a mandatory 14-day quarantine on any travelers returning from France. While France drew most of the attention in Europe Sunday morning, South Korea triggered anxieties in Asia after reporting a staggering 279 new cases on Sunday, breaking above 200 for the first time in five months, with a set of clusters in the greater Seoul area contributing most of the new cases. Of these new cases, 146 were in Seoul and 107 were linked to Sarang Jeil Church, which is led by Reverend Jun Kwang-hoon, a controversial pastor and an outspoken government critic. SK Health ministry officials said they would file a complaint against the leader of the church for violating social distancing rules. Meanwhile, South Korea and the US said they would delay the start their annual joint military drills until Tuesday after a South Korean officer tested positive. That marked a 2 day delay. Chinese state media reported that the number of people in Xinjiang with coronavirus who have recovered far exceeded the number of newly reported cases for the 9th day in a row, a sign that the outbreak in the far-flung region dominated by an oppressed Muslim ethnic group is finally starting to wane. Only 4 new cases were reported across the vast region on Sunday, down from 19 new cases across the entire country on Sat. Worldwide, total cases have passed 21.35 million after another roughly 260,000 cases were added yesterday...
Peru tops half a million coronavirus cases as political crisis deepens - With COVID-19 infections and deaths having soared since the economy began to reopen in July, Peru’s political and social crises have escalated. Strikes have broken out in the mining sector over high rates of infections, and an August 9 clash between indigenous protesters and police in the hard-hit Amazon region left four indigenous workers dead. With 796 COVID-19 deaths per million inhabitants, Peru has the highest mortality rate in all the Americas and the second-highest in the world, trailing only Belgium. Its total number of coronavirus cases has topped 535,000, with a record of over 10,000 new cases being recorded on Sunday. The Ministry of Health (Minsa) has recorded over 26,000 deaths, although the real number is believed to be twice as high because of excess deaths that were not investigated. Since the beginning of the re-opening of the economy, the number of infections jumped by 78 percent in six weeks, reports El Comercio. There has also been a 75 percent increase in infections among children and adolescents. In response to this uncontrolled spread of the pandemic, President Martín Vizcarra has ordered the reinstatement of a blanket quarantine on Sundays only. This means “all family and social reunions are prohibited,” and parks will remain closed. As for the rest of the week, work will continue. This comes on top of rolling lockdowns in 15 of Peru’s 25 regions. In the capital of Lima and elsewhere, militarized units of the Peruvian National Police have been deployed to rigorously enforce the Sunday curfew. The government’s contention is that the deadly virus is being spread primarily by social gatherings between friends and families—not by herding Peruvians back into the mines and other workplaces. Within the working class, however, there is growing resistance to the homicidal conditions of work imposed by the employers and backed by the government. Miners at the Minera Aurifera Retamas S.A. (MARSA) gold and silver mine walked out last week after 280 miners had contracted the coronavirus on the job. They denounced the owners of the mine, one of the largest underground mines in the country, for failing to provide the most minimal sanitary conditions.
Missionaries gain access to Amazon’s Indigenous peoples, despite pandemic (RNS) — When the first COVID-19 cases hit Brazil in March, the government agency in charge of protecting the country’s Indigenous peoples, the National Indigenous Foundation, ordered all civilians to leave the Indigenous reservations. Only essential workers, such as health care personnel and those involved in food distribution, could remain. But a new law signed by President Jair Bolsonaro on July 7 has made an exception for one group: Christian missionaries. A simple form from a doctor vouching for a faith worker’s health is enough to allow the person to stay as an essential worker. According to Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer for the Indigenous Peoples Association of the River Javari Valley, known as UNIVAJA, some missionaries had never heeded the order to leave. “A few villages reported that there were evangelical missionaries in their areas who refused to go away,” Marubo told Religion News Service. In April, UNIVAJA sued to force the expulsion of several evangelical missionaries, at least two of whom are U.S. citizens, from the Javari Valley, an important legal victory against a group that is closely aligned with Balsonaro. Now, Indigenous groups and those who defend their rights worry that the new law will prompt missionaries to enter their reservations, which have long been protected by the Brazilian government in an effort to preserve their culture. One of the missionaries expelled in April was Andrew Tonkin, a member of the Frontier International Mission, an independent Free Will Baptist mission ministry based in the United States that trains missionaries who are then sent by their home churches. One of its goals, according to its website, is to “establish mission work among the unreached Indigenous people groups across the world.” “He already managed to approach an area of isolated peoples without authorization,” said Marubo. “People who know him say that he believes that the men’s rules don’t apply because (his presence) is God’s will.”
Amid coronavirus, Sweden hits worst death toll in 150 years: report - Sweden has tallied a record number of deaths in the first half of 2020, surpassed only by the country's death toll during the entirety of 1869, according to multiple reports. The news arose from a Wednesday announcement from the country’s Statistics Office, per Reuters. Sweden’s lax approach to coronavirus lockdowns resulted in an unsettling rise in virus-related deaths by mid-April.The outlet noted that the 4,500 coronavirus-related deaths in Sweden far exceeded other Nordic countries by late June but were lower than other areas like Britain and Spain. Sweden's coronavirus death toll has since increased to more than 5,800 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.A total of 51,405 deaths occurred in Sweden from January until June, according to government data. This record exceeds the country's annual death tolls since 1869, per multiple reports, when 55,431 Swedes died, in part to famine.COVID-19 reportedly swelled the nation’s death toll by 10% for the period’s average for the previous five years. Instead of stricter measures, Sweden had called for its people to take personal responsibility to control virus spread. In early June, Dr. Anders Tegnell, the nation’s leading epidemiologist, reportedly said the country could have done more to prevent virus's spread.
Sweden's Lead Epidemiologist: Wearing Face Masks Is "Very Dangerous" - Sweden’s top expert on the coronavirus has warned that encouraging people to wear face masks is “very dangerous” because it gives a false sense of security but does not effectively stem the spread of the virus. “It is very dangerous to believe face masks would change the game when it comes to COVID-19,” said Anders Tengell, who has overseen Sweden’s response to the pandemic while resisting any form of lockdown or mask mandate.“Face masks can be a complement to other things when other things are safely in place,” Tengell added.“But to start with having face masks and then think[ing] you can crowd your buses or your shopping malls — that’s definitely a mistake,” he further urged.Tegnell has consistently spoken out against the use of masks, last month declaring that “With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport.”“The findings that have been produced through face masks are astonishingly weak, even though so many people around the world wear them,” Tengell has urged.“I’m surprised that we don’t have more or better studies showing what effect masks actually have. Countries such as Spain and Belgium have made their populations wear masks but their infection numbers have still risen,” the epidemiologist also declared.
Coronavirus: Germany, Spain record highest daily cases since April - Germany and Spain have both recorded their highest respective daily coronavirus infection rate since April, with other countries in the region also reporting a sharp rise in new cases. Several European countries have imposed travel restrictions, social-distancing measures and mask-wearing procedures to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the World Health Organization cited a relaxation of public health measures, in addition to people "dropping their guard," as possible explanations for the resurgence in the number of new Covid-19 infections across the region. Germany recorded 1,707 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, reflecting its highest daily toll since April. The country has now reported 228,261 cases of the virus, with 9,253 related deaths, according to data compiled from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. Spain has seen another 3,715 new cases of the virus confirmed in the past 24 hours, with an additional 127 deaths. As in Germany, Spain's daily infection rate has not been this high since late April. Elsewhere, Italy reported 642 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, notching its highest jump in new infections since late May. The country has recorded a total of 255,278 cases, with 35,412 deaths. Meanwhile, France's health ministry reported 3,776 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, with the daily tally going above 3,000 for the third time in the last five days. France has recorded a similar number of cases to Italy, with 30,434 deaths. Hans Kluge, regional director for Europe at the WHO, said on Thursday that the "epicenter" of the pandemic was now in the Americas, but the European region was "on a trajectory of its own, showing a different trend compared to the rest of the world." The United Nations health agency estimates that around 3.9 million people have contracted the coronavirus in the European region, corresponding to 17% of the global total.To date, more than 22.4 million people have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 788,015 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
COVID-19 Mutation That's "10 Times More Infectious" Than The Original Discovered In Malaysia - The English-language press is generally no fan of Philippines' pseudo-'Strongman' Rodrigo Duterte. Nonetheless, they've begrudgingly given him credit for his military-imposed lockdowns, and for reimposing the restrictive measures in and around Manila. Still, none of this has stopped Southeast Asia's biggest outbreak from clearly still has a long way to go to bring COVID-19 to heel. And as South Korea is showing us right now, the virus can be surprisingly difficult to eradicate completely, just one more reason why the world needs to find a more sustainable way to live with COVID-19, rather than resorting to lockdowns as the only tool in the kit. But there's one variable that could upend all of this thinking, and effectively force all vulnerable populations into strict lockdown mode: that would be a mutation that causes it to become even more deadly. As Dr. Fauci once warned, mutations could make the virus more virulent and more infectious, and there's already some evidence that certain strains of the virus are much deadlier than others. And as Bloomberg reported on Monday, Southeast Asia - Malaysia specifically - has seen evidence that a certain mutation is more infectious, just like other mutations catalogued in the UK, NY and elsewhere. They call the mutation "D614G". It's also the "predominant variation of the virus" seen in Europe and the US - meaning it's the same "world-conquering" virus we reported on back in June. Southeast Asia is facing a strain of the new coronavirus that the Philippines, which faces the region’s largest outbreak, is studying to see whether the mutation makes it more infectious.The strain, earlier seen in other parts of the world and called D614G, was found in a Malaysian cluster of 45 cases that started from someone who returned from India and breached his 14-day home quarantine. The Philippines detected the strain among random Covid-19 samples in the largest city of its capital region.The mutation “is said to have a higher possibility of transmission or infectiousness, but we still don’t have enough solid evidence to say that that will happen,” Philippines’ Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing on Monday. And now, we can add 'Southeast Asia' to its list of conquered territory.
Southeast Asia Detects Mutated Virus Strain Sweeping the World - Southeast Asia is facing a strain of the new coronavirus that the Philippines, which faces the region’s largest outbreak, is studying to see whether the mutation makes it more infectious.The strain, earlier seen in other parts of the world and called D614G, was found in a Malaysian cluster of 45 cases that started from someone who returned from India and breached his 14-day home quarantine. The Philippines detected the strain among random Covid-19 samples in the largest city of its capital region.The mutation “is said to have a higher possibility of transmission or infectiousness, but we still don’t have enough solid evidence to say that that will happen,” Philippines’ Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing on Monday. The strain has been found in many other countries and has become the predominant variant in Europe and the U.S., with the World Health Organization saying there’s no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease. The mutation has also been detected in recent outbreaks in China.There’s no evidence from the epidemiology that the mutation is considerably more infectious than other strains, said Benjamin Cowling, head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong. “It’s more commonly identified now than it was in the past, which suggests that it might have some kind of competitive advantage over other strains of Covid-19,” he said. As Southeast Asian countries take various steps to prevent a resurgence while reopening limited travel, they struggle with people breaching quarantine rules after returning from overseas as well as false negative test results at borders. The man who returned from India had tested negative when he arrived in Malaysia. He has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined for breaching quarantine. People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia,” the country’s Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah wrote in a Facebook post, saying the strain can make it 10 times more infectious without citing a study. .
New excess death counts reveal more complete toll of coronavirus pandemic - Newly reported data from the Financial Times (FT) on the number of excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic paints a chilling portrait of the true death toll caused by the novel coronavirus. As of mid-July, there were 178,500 excess deaths in just fifteen urban areas internationally, including New York City, Mexico City, Lima, Jakarta, Istanbul and Madrid. The report was published the same day that the global reported case and death totals passed 22.5 million and 790,000, respectively. The world has averaged more than a quarter-million new cases and at least 5,500 deaths each day since July 25. The United States, India and Brazil remain the main epicenters of the pandemic. Yesterday was the second day since July 4 that the average number of new cases in the US fell below 50,000, although new deaths have stayed steady at more than 1,000 a day since July 29. There are nearly 5.7 million cases in the country, and more than 176,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths. Excess deaths are defined as the number of deaths in a region that are beyond the historical averages and can be caused by, among other things, disease outbreaks, natural disasters and war. New York City, for example, has reported 23,600 deaths from the pandemic so far but 27,200 excess deaths, 15 percent more than those reported as having died from the pandemic and 208 percent above the city’s historical average. Other cities have similarly high excess death tolls. Lima, Peru, has suffered 23,200 excess fatalities, more than twice the 10,600 known coronavirus deaths. Authorities in Mexico City count 9,472 dead from the pandemic, whileFT notes 22,800 excess deaths in the Mexican capital. In Jakarta, 1,014 people have officially died due to COVID-19, compared to 5,300 excess deaths. Similar death tolls have been found in Guayas province, Ecuador (1,666 coronavirus deaths, 14,600 excess deaths), London (6,885, 10,000), and Madrid (8,451, 16,200). Death rates have also climbed well above their historical averages in many countries. Brazil, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the US have experienced at least a 20 percent increase in mortality since the start of the pandemic. The United Kingdom, Belgium, Chile, Italy and Spain suffered at least a 40 percent increase, while Peru and Ecuador have death rates more than double their historical averages. Moreover, as the FT itself notes, the excess death counts are still incomplete and the real death tolls are likely even higher than what is currently known. It can take up to eight weeks for mortality data to filter through national databases maintained by institutions like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning that getting real-time data on deaths, especially when a pandemic creates a backlog in the system, is virtually impossible. In addition, not all countries have recent all-cause mortality data available, making global excess death analyses difficult. Even before the pandemic, the resources for medical emergencies and life-saving procedures were stretched thin from decades of defunding. As numerous reports revealed in Wuhan, northern Italy and New York City during the first months of the pandemic, these resources had to be partly or wholly devoted to dealing with the contagion, leaving those with more mundane but no less deadly ailments, such as heart attacks or strokes, to fend for themselves. Evidence also emerged of people being afraid to go to hospitals even with serious conditions for fear of contracting the coronavirus, and dying as a result.
Renowned EU Scientist: COVID-19 Was Engineered In China Lab, Effective Vaccine "Unlikely" - It will not be possible for the Dr. Fauci’s of the world to dismiss Professor Giuseppe Tritto as a crank. Not only is he an internationally known expert in biotechnology and nanotechnology who has had a stellar academic career, but he is also the president of the World Academy of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies (WABT), an institution founded under the aegis of UNESCO in 1997. In other words, he is a man of considerable stature in the global scientific community. Equally important, one of the goals of WABT is to analyze the effect of biotechnologies - like genetic engineering - on humanity. In his new book, this world-class scientist does exactly that. And what he says is that the China Virus definitely wasn’t a freak of nature that happened to cross the species barrier from bat to man. It was genetically engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 (high-containment) lab in a program supervised by the Chinese military.Prof. Tritto’s book, which at present is available only in Italian, is called Cina COVID 19: La Chimera che ha cambiato il Mondo (China COVID 19: The chimera that changed the world). It was published on August 4 by a major Italian press, Edizioni Cantagalli, which coincidentally also published the Italian edition of one of my books, Population Control (Controllo Demografico in Italian) several years ago. What sets Prof. Tritto’s book apart is the fact that it demonstrates - conclusively, in my view - the pathway by which a PLA-owned coronavirus was genetically modified to become the China Virus now ravaging the world. His account leaves no doubt that it is a “chimera”, an organism created in a lab.
California resident diagnosed with plague - A South Lake Tahoe, Calif., resident has tested positive for the plague, area health officials confirmed this week. El Dorado County said in a Monday statement that the “individual is currently under the care of a medical professional and is recovering at home.” Officials said the person, who is an “avid walker,” could have been bitten by “an infected flea” while walking their dog along the Truckee River Corridor or the Tahoe Keys area. "Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher elevation areas of El Dorado County. It's important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and/or camping in areas where wild rodents are present. Human cases of plague are extremely rare but can be very serious,” El Dorado County Public Health Officer, Nancy Williams said Monday in a statement. The statement explained that the plague is caused by bacterium often transmitted by fleas who acquired the bacteria from infected squirrels, chipmunks and other rodents. Household pets like dogs and cats “may also bring plague-infected fleas into the home." Symptoms of the plague include fever, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes. The last confirmed case of plague confirmed in California was in 2015, when two individuals were exposed in Yosemite National Park. Both people fully recovered.
Pollution linked to antibiotic resistance -Antibiotic resistance is an increasing health problem, but new research suggests it is not only caused by the overuse of antibiotics. It's also caused by pollution.Using a process known as genomic analysis, University of Georgia scientists found a strong correlation between antibiotic resistance and heavy metal contamination in an environment. According to the study, published in the July issue of the journal Microbial Biotechnology, soils with heavy metals had a higher level of specific bacterial hosts that were accompanied by antibiotic-resistant genes. Hosts included Acidobacteriaoceae, Bradyrhizobium and Streptomyces. The bacteria had antibiotic-resistant genes, known as ARGs, for vancomycin, bacitracin and polymyxin. All three drugs are used to treat infections in humans. The bacteria also had an ARG for multidrug resistance, a strong defense gene that can resist heavy metals as well as antibiotics, according to Thomas, who was conducting his doctoral research at the time. When these ARGs were present in the soil, metal-resistant genes, or MRGs, were present for several metals including arsenic, copper, cadmium and zinc. Microorganisms develop new strategies and countermeasures over time to protect themselves. "The overuse of antibiotics in the environment adds additional selection pressure on microorganisms that accelerates their ability to resist multiple classes of antibiotics. But antibiotics aren't the only source of selection pressure," Thomas said. "Many bacteria possess genes that simultaneously work on multiple compounds that would be toxic to the cell, and this includes metals."
More toxic hand sanitizer recalls (at Dollar Tree, Family Dollar) and Do Not Use updates - SkinGuard24 — All Day Hand Sanitizer, which states its active ingredient contains methanol, has been recalled nationwide while 10 other hand sanitizers join it on the FDA’s Do Not Use list.According to the FDA, methanol can be toxic if absorbed into the skin. Most of the hand sanitizers on the Do Not Use list contain methanol or were made in the same facility as a hand sanitizer with methanol. Within a week of being put on the Do Not Use list, SkinGuard24 — All Day Hand Sanitizer got recalled by Bolingbroke, Georgia, manufacturer SG24 LLC. The label on each size — 8-ounce, 2.67-ounce, 10 ml pocket pen, moist towelette — declares methanol is part of the active ingredient. Dollar Tree and Dollar Tree-owned Family Dollar sold hand sanitizer recalled two weeks ago by Albek de Mexico: Next Hand Sanitizer, lot numbers that ended in 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004 or 1005; NuuxSan Instant Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer, all lots; Assured Hand Sanitizer with Vitamin E and Aloe, lot No. 1931101AL; Assured Hand Sanitizer Aloe Vera, lot No. 1931102AL; andModesa Instant Hand Sanitizer with Moisturizers and Aloe Vera, lot No. 1931104AL.Also, the Dollar Tree chains sold the Assured, Blumen and Modesa hand sanitizers in the recall by 4e Brands, a division of 4e Global, which has the most hand sanitizers on the Do Not Use list. Speaking of the Do Not Use list...Grupo Asimex de Mexico’s Florance Morris Body Care Antiseptic Hand Sanitizer and Asimex International-distributed Florance Morris Body Care Antiseptic Hand Sanitizer both tested as having methanol. The Roldan Industries-distributed Florance Morris Body Care Antiseptic Hand Sanitizer gets put on the list by association of being made in the same facility.Grupo Yacana Mexico’s Yacana Alcohol Antiseptic 70% Topical Solutiontested as having methanol, the FDA said. Yacana Isopropyl Alcohol Antiseptic 70% Topical Solution didn’t come strong enough on the isopropyl alcohol content. And Yacana Clase Mundial Isopropyl Alcohol Antiseptic 70% Topical Solution or Gel was made at the same facility as the hand sanitizer that tested positive for methanol.
Microplastic particles now discoverable in human organs - Microplastics have polluted the entire planet, from Arctic snow and Alpine soilsto the deepest oceans. People are also known to consume them via food andwater, and to breathe them in, but the potential impact on human health is not yet known. The researchers expect to find the particles in human organs and have identified chemical traces of plastic in tissue. But isolating and characterising such minuscule fragments is difficult, and contamination from plastics in the air is also a challenge.To test their technique, they added particles to 47 samples of lung, liver, spleen and kidney tissue obtained from a tissue bank established to study neurodegenerative diseases. Their results showed that the microplastics could be detected in every sample.The scientists, whose work is being presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society on Monday, said their technique would enable other researchers to determine contamination levels in human organs around the world.“It would be naive to believe there is plastic everywhere but just not in us,” said Rolf Halden at Arizona State University. “We are now providing a research platform that will allow us and others to look for what is invisible – these particles too small for the naked eye to see. The risk [to health] really resides in the small particles.”The analytical method developed allows the researchers to identify dozens of types of plastic, including the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in plastic drinks bottles and the polyethylene used in plastic bags. They found bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make plastics, in all 47 samples. The US Environmental Protection Agency is concerned about BPAbecause “it is a reproductive, developmental and systemic toxicant in animal studies”. The researchers examined lung, liver, spleen and kidney tissue as these organs are likely to be exposed to microplastics or collect them. “We never want to be alarmist, but it is concerning that these non-biodegradable materials that are present everywhere [may] enter and accumulate in human tissues, and we don’t know the possible health effects,”
Microplastics Found in Human Organs for First Time - Bolstering activists' demands to reduce plastic pollution worldwide, Arizona State University scientists on Monday presented their research on finding micro- and nanoplastics in human organs to the American Chemical Society. Greenpeace UK responded to the reporting on the study by calling to "massively reduce the amount of plastic" produced and used worldwide. Microplastic particles have been found in human organs for the first time! Microplastic pollution effects the entire planet. The best way to tackle the problem is to massively reduce the amount of plastic that's being made and used.https://t.co/ARSPnjttLn — Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) August 17, 2020 Microplastics are plastics that are less than five millimeters in diameter and nanoplastics are less than 0.001 millimeters in diameter. Both are broken down bits of larger plastic pieces that were dumped into the environment. According to PlasticsEurope.org, 359 million tons of plastic was produced globally in 2019. Previous research has shown that people could be eating a credit card's worth of plastic a day; a studypublished in 2019 suggests humans eat, drink and breathe almost 74,000 microplastic particles a year. Microplastics have been found in places ranging from the tallest mountains in the world to the depths of theMariana Trench. Plastic particles in wildlife have been shown to substantially harm entire ecosystems, especially marine organisms. The Arizona State University scientists developed and tested a new method to identify dozens of plastics in human tissue that could eventually be used to collect global data on microplastic pollution and its impact on people. To test the technique, the scientists used 47 tissue samples from lung, liver, spleen and kidney samples collected from a tissue bank. Researchers then added particles to the samples and found they could detect microplastics in every sample. These specific tissues were used because these organs are the most likely to be exposed to, filter or collect plastics in the human body. Because the samples were taken from a tissue bank, scientists also were able to analyze the donors' lifestyles including environmental and occupational exposures.
Chemical Used to Line Plastic Bottles Is Linked to Premature Death - The chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, which is ubiquitous in plastic bottles, can linings and receipts, has been linked to numerous health issues because it disrupts hormone function. Besides being connected to low birthweight and brain disorders in babies and children, and obesity, heart disease and erectile dysfunction in adults, a new study has linked the chemical to a greater likelihood of premature death, Newsweek reported.The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, noted that BPA is so common that 90 percent of urine samples from the general population contain trace amounts of the chemical. Newsweek noted that BPA is prevalent in many kinds of plastics and resins. Besides the aforementioned items, it's also found in sports equipment, medical devices and water pipes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite its presence in dental sealants, compact disks, plastic dinnerware, car parts, impact-resistant safety equipment and even toys. Until a decade ago, it was also present in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula containers, CNN reported. To understand the role that BPA exposure may play in premature death, a group of researchers led by Wei Bao, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, looked at nearly 4,000 adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003-2008, Newsweek reported. A decade after the study, nearly 10 percent of the participants had died. The researchers found that people with the highest BPA levels had a 51 percent higher risk of death from any cause, whether from cancer, heart disease or an accident, Newsweek reported. "This paper will add to a growing body of concern about the safety of polymers containing the monomer BPA." "This is another puzzle piece that compellingly speaks to the seriousness of the threat posed by these chemicals used in can linings and thermal papers," Leonardo Trasande, director of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone Health and an author of the study, told CNN. Trasande said people are also regularly exposed to BPA through thermal paper, which is used to print receipts.
Data omission in key EPA insecticide study shows need for review of industry studies - For nearly 50 years, a statistical omission tantamount to data falsification sat undiscovered in a critical study at the heart of regulating one of the most controversial and widely used pesticides in America. Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide created in the late 1960s by the Dow Chemical Co., has been linked to serious health problems, especially in children. It has been the subject of many lawsuits and banned in Europe and California. The EPA itself nearly banned the chemical, but in 2017 the Trump administration backtracked and rejected EPA's own recommendation to take chlorpyrifos off the market. Now University of Washington researchers report in a new study that decades of exposure to chlorpyrifos and all the political wrangling and lawsuits surrounding it might have been averted if a 1972 study had been adequately reviewed by the EPA, itself newly established in the early 1970s. The EPA also did not re-analyze the study data when new statistical techniques became available a few years later, the UW researchers added. Lianne Sheppard, a professor of biostatistics and environmental health in the UW School of Public Health and the study's lead author, explained that the 1972 "Coulston study" established erroneously how much of the chemical a human could be exposed to before adverse effects showed up in a body's chemistry. When Sheppard re-ran the study data using the same longhand statistical analysis as the original, she discovered that key data used in two other level-of-exposure tests in the same study had been left out of the central exposure question -- inexplicably. Consequently, the safe exposure limit, called the "no observed adverse effect level," that the EPA used was wrong. "This has huge public health implications," said Sheppard. "This study was the basis of policy for over 15 years and because it concluded that the 'no observed adverse effect level' was more than twice as high as it should have been, the standard was a lot less protective than it should have been." "All kinds of approvals were allowed for uses that never should have been allowed and quite well wouldn't have been allowed if the Coulston study authors had properly reported their results," said Sheppard. But when the EPA formally set out to review human-subject studies like the Coulston study, the maker of chlorpyrifos (Dow) specifically removed the study from that process, said Fenske, who was a member of that initial review board. "You can speculate why they did," said Fenske, "but they formally asked the Human Studies Review Board not to review this study and so it was never reviewed."
Organic Farming Protects Communities from Toxic Chemicals - The purpose of pesticides is to kill. So it's not surprising that widespread use of these chemicals poses a serious public health threat. Diet alone exposes us to a frightening cocktail of pesticide residues, and toxic pesticides pose much more severe health threats to farming communities. Food system workers and their families and communities – who are disproportionately Latinx and low-income– bear the brunt of harm from toxic pesticide use in agriculture. Farmworkers are at risk from direct exposure to harmful chemicals when mixing and applying pesticides, as well as while working in fields; as a result, they suffer more chemical-related injuries than any other U.S. workforce. Exposure also extends beyond the workplace. Workers can carry pesticides home on clothes, shoes, and skin, inadvertently exposing their children and other family members, and pesticide drift can harm people living, working, and learning near farms. These exposure routes add up. And weaning our agricultural system off its addiction to toxic chemicals is an uphill battle. We've seen recent wins on pesticide issues in the courts and in some states, but it can take decades of fighting to end the use of a single pesticide. For example, NRDC petitioned the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to end use of the brain-toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos in 2007; thirteen years later, we're still in court demanding that EPA protect public health. Meanwhile numerous similar organophosphatechemicals also remain in our fields and our bodies.This pesticide "whack-a-mole" problem makes organic farming a potent addition to our public health toolbox, especially in farming communities: organic farmers do no use most synthetic pesticides, so organic farming eliminates a wide range of health threats posed by farming with toxic chemicals.The health crises facing farm workers and rural communities needs urgent attention, particularly in light of theadded burdens from the COVID-19 crisis. Kendra Klein and Anna Lappé got it right:"As long as we treat organic food as if it's a shopping preference instead of a public good, we will miss the opportunity to fight for a desperately needed shift in how we farm."
Iowa's corn yields could be cut in half where hurricane-force winds flattened fields (11 photos) Yields may be cut by as much as half where a derecho flattened crops as it swept through Iowa this week, agriculture officials said. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said in a call with reporters that no other Midwestern state along the storm's 770-mile path suffered the level of wind or hail damage that struck an estimated 10 million acres across central Iowa. That's about a third of Iowa's 30 million acres of crops — acreage typically split between corn and soybeans in Iowa, the nation's largest corn producer. The derecho's straight-line winds reached nearly 100 mph in parts of Iowa, officials said. The storm swept across Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan before losing steam.
A swarm of locusts of biblical proportions is threatening the food supply of 20 million people in East Africa -- Swarms of locusts in East African countries are threatening the food supply of more than 20 million people at a time when food is already scarce because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, experts are looking for creative solutions to deal with the pests — including eating them. Desert locusts are considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world. They usually live solitary lives in desert environments, but heavy rainfall allowed their eggs to survive in unprecedented numbers this season. The swarms first appeared in Kenya in late December 2019, with a second wave following in April. The region is now bracing for a third, possibly bigger wave in the weeks ahead. Locusts haven't been seen at this scale, in these numbers, for 70 years. According to the United Nations, a locust swarm 1 square kilometer in size can eat the same amount of food in a day as 35,000 people, a devastating amount of destruction for local farmers. ..... Control methods for the swarms include traditional pesticides, which raise environmental concerns, newly developed biopesticides, which are more eco-friendly, and capturing the locusts with nets to turn them into food. "Go to some of those remote areas where locust swarms are actually prevailing — a lot of people are eating them," said Chrystanus Tanga, a researcher with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi. "We think it's something to promote so that a lot more people will engage in this practice, rather than them shying away thinking that it is a primitive man's food." But eating locusts could come with health drawbacks if they've eaten plants that were sprayed with pesticides, Tanga said. "If these animals are being killed by chemicals and they happen to be eaten by humans, it's definitely going to have an impact on their health," he told Reuters.
750 Million Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes To Be Released In Florida Keys Despite Objections Over 'Jurassic Park Experiment' - Officials in the Florida Keys approved a plan to release over 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes, despite objections by local residents and several environmental advocacy groups. The proposal - aimed at eradicating the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito that carries several deadly diseases including Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever - has already been approved by both state and federal bodies, with the EPA signing off on it in May. "With all the urgent crises facing our nation and the State of Florida — the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, climate change — the administration has used tax dollars and government resources for a Jurassic Park experiment," said Jaydee Hanson, policy director for the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety in a Wednesday statement reported by CNN."What could possibly go wrong? We don't know, because EPA unlawfully refused to seriously analyze environmental risks, now without further review of the risks, the experiment can proceed," she added.Named OX5034, the mosquito has been genetically altered to produce only female offspring which die in the larval stage, before they can hatch and start biting things. Only female mosquitoes suck blood, which they require to mature their eggs. Males feed on nectar and are not carriers for disease.To grow them to adulthood, however, the antibiotic tetracycline is added to the water - creating batches of sterile OX513A which would be allowed to mate with females, whose offspring would inherit the self-destruct programming and die. The same mosquitoes have also been approved for release in Harris County, Texas beginning next year, according to the US-owned UK-based Oxitec which developed the genetically modified bugs and has field tested them in the Cayman Islands, Panama and Brazil. According to the company, a trial in an urban area of Brazil reduced the Aedes aegypti by 95%. Florida reached out to Oxitec in 2012, after 2009 and 2010 outbreaks of dengue fever in the Florida Keys were unable to be contained with aerial, truck and backpack spraying, as well as the use of mosquito-eating fish.That said, a backlash over the GMO mosquitoes has ensued - with nearly 250,000 people signing a Change.org petition against the plan.
Ohio EPA blames fish kill in Tuscarawas River on dishwashing detergent - - At this time, the source of the foam is not known. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has determined dishwashing detergent created foam and killed fish Monday in the Tuscarawas River in northern Stark and southern Summit counties. Someone dumped the detergent on the ground near a storm drain by Sunnyside Street SW and Market Avenue NW in Hartville, EPA spokesman Anthony Chenault said Tuesday. Rain pushed it into the river, where it affected eight miles of river and tributaries from Lake Township to Springfield Township. The agency, which continues to investigate the incident, used six pumps to aerate the water near Twin Lakes Drive and Sweitzer Road. “The incident has dissipated and we are demobilizing,” Chenault wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon. Residents living along the river said they discovered hundreds of dead fish floating in the water Monday. EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer said the agency was notified and called in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to investigate the source of the problem. Springfield residents Jim and Diane Millard, who have lived in their house for 44 years near the Tuscarawas River in the area of Pontius Road, said they had never seen an incident like this. A live fish could not be found in that area of the river.
What made the Mahoning River in Alliance turn orange? - An accidental discharge from the PTC plant on the north side of Alliance resulted in an orange discoloration in the Mahoning River. That was the findings of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency investigators who were summoned when city officials discovered the discoloration in the Mahoning River Tuesday. The discharge initially went into a storm sewer. “Wastewater from PTC Alliance was accidentally discharged into the storm sewer,” Anthony Chenault, a public relations officer for the EPA, wrote in an email statement. City Fire Department officials were notified Tuesday of the discoloration in the Mahoning River by a city employee. “We were there for the better part of six hours (Tuesday) night,” Fire Chief Jason Hunt said. “It was an odor that went along with the discoloration. We didn’t know exactly what we were dealing with. To be honest, I still don’t know what we are dealing with.” Hunt described the color in the river as orange. “It is usually a lovely shade of brown,” Hunt said. “It appeared there was substance being released. There was not, at least obvious to us, a fish kill. That is not to say there won’t be.” The discoloration covers a half-mile stretch of the Mahoning River between Gaskill Drive and Webb Avenue on the north side of Alliance. And just south of the river sits the PTC plant is nearby in the 600 block of Keystone Street. “The company hired an environmental contractor to clean the creek and storm sewer system,” Chenault also wrote in his email statement. “An environmental consultant also was hired to do an assessment on the impact to the river.” The EPA’s statement, however, does not speculate on what the chemical or compound is that drifted into the Mahoning River. “My understanding it was caustic material,” city Safety-Service Director Michael Dreger said. “They were checking if it would affect our water supply. We get our water from Deer Creek, and Deer Creek is a tributary to the Mahoning. We get our water before it gets to the Mahoning. It in no way impacts our water supply.”
Lake Erie’s Toxic Green Slime is Getting Worse With Climate Change —As the summer winds down, much of western Lake Erie stinks. Green goo—miles and miles of it—floats on the surface, emanating a smell like rotting fish as it decays. The scum isn't just unpleasant. It's dangerous.Harmful algal blooms are a health hazard in all 50 states. But Lake Erie, the shallowest, and therefore the warmest, of the five Great Lakes, is uniquely vulnerable to algal blooms. Like most other water bodies suffering from blooms, the lake is overloaded with nutrients, forming the perfect breeding ground for a bacteria known to poison pets, contaminate drinking water and create oxygen-deprived "dead zones" that kill aquatic life. The lake's immediate future looks grim: the blooms are worsening with climate change, and pose a threat to tourism and recreation. But research into the lake's gunky plight is flourishing, and the findings are relevant worldwide. The blue-green "algae" smothering Erie, Microcystis—which is not really algae but a kind of photosynthetic bacteria—abounds in lakes on every continent except Antarctica. "Why is it such a good competitor? That's what we're hoping to learn," Toxic cyanobacteria, colloquially dubbed "toxic algae," burst into the spotlight in the United States in 2014, after a drinking water plant in Toledo, Ohio, found dangerous levels of toxins during a routine test, and the city declared the tap water undrinkable. Hundreds of thousands of people were left scrambling to find safe water until Toledo lifted the ban more than two days later. Lake Erie's biggest tributary, the Maumee River, flows into Erie's western basin, the shallowest part of the lake. More than 70 percent of the Maumee's watershed is used for agriculture, and rainfall washes nitrogen and phosphorus—the two key nutrients for algae growth—from fertilizer used on farmland into the Maumee. The nutrients in that runoff are transported directly to the lake. Rainfall and nutrient levels are the two main factors that influence bloom size. The release of nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture, the biggest source of nutrients entering Lake Erie, can be controlled. But heavier rainfall leads to increased nutrient loading from all sources, including natural ones, which is causing bigger blooms. Algae thrives in warmer water, and climate change is expected to bring warmer, wetter weather to the region, exacerbating existing factors.
Michigan Agrees to Pay $600 Million to Flint Water Crisis Victims --The state of Michigan has reached a settlement with the victims of the Flint water crisis. Michigan agreed to pay $600 million, which will primarily benefit the city's children since they were most affected by the lead-tainted water, The Washington Post reported.The settlement will be officially announced on Friday. It is expected that tens of thousands of residents will be eligible for compensation, which is subject to approval by a federal judge in Michigan, The New York Timesreported.Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have been entrenched in negotiations with lawyers for more than 18 months on behalf of the thousands of Flint residents who filed a lawsuit against the state, the AP reported.The issue in the case dates back to 2014, when Flint city officials changed the city's water supply source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The decision was made under the leadership of a state-appointed emergency manager who overlooked safety precautions. This resulted in chemicals and lead leaching into Flint's drinking water through corroded pipes, The Hill reported.At the time, residents began to complain about discolored and foul-smelling water. Soon after that, residents reported skin rashes, but their concerns were ignored. Local pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha warned that abnormally high lead levels were appearing in children. Lead poisoning can severely harm brain development, The Washington Post reported.Flint's water source is once again supplied by Lake Huron, but many residents continue to cook, drink and brush their teeth with bottled water. In 2016, researchers said there were no longer detectable levels of lead in many homes, according to the AP.However, Flint's necessary pipe repairs remain unfinished. The repairs were supposed to be made by January, but were paused in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reported.
Cold-weather accounts for almost all temperature-related deaths -With the number of extreme weather days rising around the globe in recent years due to global warming, it is no surprise that there has been an upward trend in hospital visits and admissions for injuries caused by high heat over the last several years. But cold temperatures are responsible for almost all temperature-related deaths, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research. According to the new study by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, patients who died because of cold temperatures were responsible for 94% of temperature-related deaths, even though hypothermia was responsible for only 27% of temperature-related hospital visits. "With the decrease in the number of cold weather days over the last several decades, we still see more deaths due to cold weather as opposed to hot weather," said Lee Friedman, associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health and corresponding author on the paper. "This is in part due to the body's poorer ability to thermoregulate once hypothermia sets in, as well as since there are fewer cold weather days overall, people don't have time to acclimate to cold when those rarer cold days do occur." Hypothermia, or a drop in the body's core temperature, doesn't require sub-arctic temps. Even mildly cool temperatures can initiate hypothermia, defined as a drop in body temperature from the normal 98.7 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. When this occurs, organs and systems begin to shut down in an effort to preserve the brain. The process, once started, can be very difficult to get under control; however, people who are more regularly exposed to lower temperatures are better able to resist hypothermia. Heat-related issues are more likely to self-resolve by getting to a cooler place or by hydrating, Friedman said. The researchers looked at inpatient and outpatient heat- and cold-related injuries that required a hospital visit in Illinois between 2011 and 2018. They identified 23,834 cold-related cases and 24,233 heat-related cases. Among these patients, there were 1,935 cold-related deaths and 70 heat-related deaths. "We found five to 10 times more temperature-related deaths by linking the hospital data to data from the National Weather Service and medical examiner's data," he said. "There are a lot more people dying from temperature-related injuries than is generally reported."
Heat wave, rolling blackouts affect thousands across California - As record high temperatures for this time of year crossed the state of California, utility companies conducted rolling blackouts affecting more than 410,000 homes and businesses over the weekend. A total of 20 record highs for August 14 and 15 were set or tied in 15 cities across the state, with the most remarkable being 105 degrees Fahrenheit in the coastal city of Santa Cruz, breaking the last record of 96 set 114 years ago. In a troubling indicator of climate change, 13 of the previous records were set last year. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), highs in inland areas will continue to reach 100 to 110 F through the middle of next week. The NWS has issued excessive heat warnings for much of the country west of the Rocky Mountains. Maximum temperatures have been 5 to 15 degrees above normal in interior areas, and could rival conditions last seen during the deadly July 2006 North American heat wave, which killed at least 147 people in California, according to coroner reports. A 2009 study in the journal Environmental Research estimated that the number of deaths due to that heat wave was in fact two to three times higher. As National Weather Service meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez noted in a video briefing, “the cumulative effect from so many days of above-average temperatures is definitely going to act to increase the overall heat risk.” A study this year in the journal Environmental Epidemiology estimated that, nationally, about 5,600 deaths are attributable to heat annually, more than from any other weather-related cause. Extreme heat disproportionately affects children and the elderly, and the vast majority of deaths occur in poor and working class neighborhoods. A 2019 study from USC, published in Environmental Research Letters, found that 31 percent of residential homes in the Greater Los Angeles area did not have access to air conditioning. “Cooling stations” have been opened in some districts, but with limited capacity due to social-distancing measures. The elderly and people with preexisting medical conditions, among the most vulnerable to both overheating and COVID-19, will now have to choose between extreme heat and exposing themselves to infection. And as sociology professor Eric Klinenberg recently commented to the LA Times, “social isolation combined with extreme heat is a proven killer.” The heat wave comes during a pandemic which has intensified an already intense crisis for working families. Unemployment was 19.4 percent in LA county as of August 3, almost 1 million people. A 2020 study by UCLA’s Institute on Inequality and Democracy estimated that there are 449,000 individuals who are unemployed, with no income, living in rental housing in Los Angeles county, putting them at high risk for homelessness.. Rolling blackouts affected over 130,000 people in Southern California Friday, after the state ordered utilities to decrease power output by 1,000 megawatts due to the increased demand. Blackouts continued Saturday evening after a 470-megawatt power plant unexpectedly went offline, with utility companies cutting power to 130,000 people in southern California and 220,000 people in the Central Coast and Central Valley areas.
Death Valley reaches 130 degrees, hottest temperature in U.S. in at least 107 years- On Sunday, the thermometer at Death Valley's Furnace Creek, located in the deserts of Southern California, soared to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NOAA's Weather Prediction Center. If verified, it would be the hottest temperature recorded in the U.S. since 1913, and perhaps the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded in the world. The historic reading is just a small part of a massive, intense and long-lasting heat domesmothering the West Coast that will continue to get worse through Tuesday. The highest temperature ever recorded on Earth was also observed in Death Valley — 134 degrees Fahrenheit in 1913. However, many experts contend that temperature reading, along with various other temperatures recorded that summer, was likely an observer error. A 2016 analysis by Weather Underground historian Christopher Burt revealed that other observations from the region in 1913 simply do not square with the Death Valley reading. Because of the unique landscape and meteorology, the daily readings from the various observation sites in that area of the desert Southwest are almost always in lockstep with each other. But during the week the all-time record was set in 1913, while other sites were around 8 degrees above normal, the Death Valley readings were 18 degrees above normal. In 1931, a record-high temperature for Africa was recorded in Tunisia at 131 degrees. However, according to Burt, this recording, and many others in Africa from the colonial period, has "serious credibility issues." Because of these discrepancies, experts say the hottest temperature ever "reliably" recorded on Earth is 129.2 degrees, from 2013 in Death Valley. That is, until now. Assuming no abnormalities are apparent, Sunday's reading will likely be accepted. It seems the reading is not suspect, but if there is reason for skepticism, the National Weather Service or World Meteorological Society may choose to conduct a review. The current heat wave is certainly not limited to deserts. Record-breaking heat extends from Arizona to Washington state. Throughout the coming week, more than 100 temperature records are expected to be challenged. On Saturday, several cities recorded all-time high August temperatures. The peak of the heat wave will be Monday and Tuesday, and then the dome will weaken a little as it shrinks back into the Southwest. But while temperatures may drop just a couple of degrees, the blazing heat will likely continue in California and the Southwest for the next 10 days.
America Has Never Experienced A Heatwave Quite Like This - Every summer is hot, and every summer there are heatwaves, but what we are witnessing in 2020 is rewriting all of the rules. It has been blistering hot across the Southwest, and record after record is being broken. In a year when we have had a seemingly endless series of things go wrong, we definitely didn’t need a historic heatwave to hit us, and it is causing all sorts of problems. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we will be getting any relief for at least a few more days, because it is being reported that record-setting heat is “expected to last throughout the week”… As many as 52 million people remain under heat alerts in the West on Monday, where some could see temperatures between 110 and 130 degrees. The heat is expected to last throughout the week, possibly setting more than 100 new daily record highs.A high temperature of 100 degrees is really hot, a high temperature of 110 degrees is dangerously hot, a high temperature of 120 degrees is catastrophically hot, and a high temperature of 130 degrees is not supposed to happen. But it just did.On Sunday, the high temperature in Death Valley reached 130 degrees…A temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius) recorded in California’s Death Valley on Sunday by the US National Weather Service could be the hottest ever measured with modern instruments, officials say. The reading was registered at 3:41 pm at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in the Death Valley national park by an automated observation system — an electronic thermometer encased inside a box in the shade. Prior to Sunday, modern instruments had never measured a temperature that high anywhere in the world. Just one day before, we witnessed a new daily record high temperature in Sacramento… Downtown Sacramento set a new record-high temperature of 111 degrees on Saturday, during what is the biggest heatwave of the year so far in the area. And that came on the heels of Palm Springs absolutely smashing a daily record on Friday… Palm Springs shattered the previous record of 117° for today’s date by recording 120° this afternoon! Thermal set a record for the ‘highest minimum’ for the days date with a low temperature of just 92° this morning. Needless to say, all of this heat is putting an enormous amount of strain on California’s power system as people endlessly stay indoors and try to cool off. In fact, things have gotten so bad that authorities just announced “the first rolling blackouts in the state since 2001”…
Massive wildfire spawns fire tornadoes in Northern California - A massive wildfire in Northern California spawned rotating columns of flames Saturday, prompting forecasters to issue a rare fire-related tornado warning. “It was a first for us,” said Shane Snyder, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, which issued the warning shortly before 3 p.m.Multiple videos posted to social media showed twister-like formations in the path of the Loyalton fire, which started Friday evening in the Tahoe National Forest near California’s border with Nevada. The fire quickly grew to 20,000 acres and was 0% contained as of Sunday morning. Authorities were performing updated flight mapping and expected the acreage to rise, said Joe Flannery, public affairs officer for the national forest.“Our resources on the ground are facing extreme fire behavior, rugged terrain and warm temperatures,” Flannery said. Evan Bentley, severe weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, wrote on Twitter that radar data showed at least four “distinct anticyclonic circulations” associated with the fire on Saturday. One was present for more than an hour and traveled about four miles, he wrote.The extreme weather phenomenon is believed to have been sparked by the rapid growth and intensity of the blaze.“It was hot; it was very unstable atmospherically,” Snyder said in an interview, “and that allowed the fire, which is burning very hot and [through] lots of fuel, to really explode up in a vertical sense, up into the atmosphere.”The hotter the air, the more rapidly it rises, he said.“Hot air wants to rise, and if it’s very hot it wants to rise dramatically,” Snyder said. “It’s allowed to rise because the temperature of the air the fire makes is much warmer than the air around it. So it keeps rising until it’s not warmer than the air around it.” That can send a column of smoke up tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere, he said. And as it rises, the air underneath it needs to be replaced, creating a vortex that pulls in air from all around it.
California Sees Record Heat, Rolling Blackouts and a 'Firenado' - While California has several microclimates that make the temperatures and weather patterns in various parts of the state wildly different from each other, few areas were left unaffected by the extreme heat that has blanketed the state. In Southern California, triple-digit temperatures have taxed the power grid so much that utilities had to impose rolling blackouts for the first time since 2011. In Death Valley, the temperature reached 130 degrees, and in Northern California a freak lightening storm ignited small fires and stoked ongoing ones. In the northeastern part of the state, the winds and high-temperatures caused strange fire behavior, leading to "rotating columns and fire whirls," colloquially known as a "firenado."The bizarre and rare firenado was spotted on Saturday near the Loyalton Fire in the northeastern part of the state by the Nevada border. The fire, which started in the Tahoe National Forest, had burned more than 2,000 acres by Saturday evening. Video of the firenado was posted to Twitter with the line, "Fire Tornado today outside Chilcoot and Hallelujah Junction California. This was intense and scary!!!!" Firenados are very similar to regular tornados. They are formed when the rising hot air meets changing wind patterns higher in the atmosphere. Those winds shift the direction of the blazes. Unlike a regular tornado, the winds in a firenado shift smoke plumes around, making them extremely dangerous to anyone nearby, as NBC News reported."The big concern is that it's extremely erratic fire behavior," said John Mittelstadt, a Reno-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service, as NBC News reported. "For any of the firefighters who are working on one flank of the fire, all of a sudden, there is no way to predict what the winds are going to do or how strong they are going to be," he added. Meanwhile, the Bay Area faced triple-digit heat for the first time ever in August. It also witnessed a rare lightning storm. While beautiful, it raised the fire threat significantly for the parched area. On Sunday, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a red flag fire warning for "critical fire weather conditions" until Monday morning, as The Guardian reported. "Any lightning strikes will likely lead to new fire starts given the current heat wave," the NWS forecasters said, according to The Guardian. "A secondary pulse of moisture and instability arrives later Sunday into early Monday."
Who's to blame for California's rotating blackouts? - Los Angeles Times - California’s power grid operator delivered a blistering rebuke Monday to the state’s Public Utilities Commission, blaming the agency for rotating power outages — the first since the 2001 energy crisis — and warning of bigger blackouts to come.In their first public comments since the blackouts began Friday evening, officials at the California Independent System Operator described a “perfect storm” of conditions that caused demand to exceed available supply: scorching temperatures in California and across the western United States, diminished output from renewable sources and fossil-fueled power plants affected by the weather, and in some cases plants going offline unexpectedly when electricity was needed most.But Stephen Berberich, the grid operator’s president, said the state could have been prepared for that perfect storm if only the Public Utilities Commission had ordered utility companies to line up sufficient power supplies.During the grid operator’s board meeting Monday, Berberich faulted the commission for failing to ensure adequate power capacity on hot summer evenings, when electricity from the state’s growing fleet of rooftop solar panels and sprawling solar farms rapidly drops to zero but demand for air conditioning remains high. It’s a challenge that will only intensify as California adds more solar panels and wind turbines to meet its targets of 60% renewable electricity by 2030 and 100% emissions-free power by 2045.“For many years, we have pointed out to the [Public Utilities Commission] that there was inadequate power available during the net peak,” Berberich said, referring to the evening period when solar production dries up but cooling demand remains high. “The situation we are in could have been avoided.”He added, “It’s near certain that we will be forced to ask the utilities to cut off power to millions today to balance supply and demand — today, tomorrow and perhaps beyond.” Asked about the grid operator’s criticism, commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said the agency is “working with our sister agencies to better understand why this occurred.” “The question we’re tackling is why certain resources were not available,” she said in an email. Even before this week’s heat wave, which saw temperatures reach a record-shattering 130 degrees in Death Valley, California’s power system was in flux. So much solar power is generated during the afternoon that California sometimes pays other states to take its excess supply. But there are fewer gas-fired power plants than in past years to pick up the slack each evening. And coal plants have been shutting down across the West because of competition from cheaper natural gas and renewables, meaning there may be less energy available for California to import in a pinch.
PolitiFact | Grid Operator Rejects Trump’s False Claim ‘Democrats’ Purposely Triggered Calif.'s Rolling Blackouts - President Trump claimed in a tweet on Tuesday, without evidence, that "In California, Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts." The state and much of the Western United States is in the middle of a searing heat wave. California’s grid operator called for utilities to initiate temporary blackouts on Friday and Saturday as the high demand for electricity outstripped supply. Additional blackouts are possible. We set out to fact check the president’s questionable claim that politics was at play in deciding to call for the blackouts. The state’s power grid is managed by the California Independent System Operator, or CAISO. It is a nonprofit public benefit corporation. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom nominates members to the organization’s board of governors. But the decision to call for blackouts was made by a shift manager at CAISO’s control room, not by the board or the organization’s CEO, officials said on Tuesday. "There wasn’t any party affiliation or other kind of input into the decisions to shed load on Friday and Saturday night," Steve Berberich, the system operator’s CEO, told the media, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. On Saturday evening, PG&E, which provides power to much of Northern and Central California, said 220,000 customers lost electricity. Outages were mostly in portions of the Central Coast and Central Valley, including Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Joaquin counties. Approximately the same number of customers lost power on Friday evening. Severin Borenstein, who sits on CAISO’s board of governors, said calling for rolling blackouts is a last resort measure to avoid having "the entire grid go down." Politics, he said, had nothing to do with it.
“Deflect, Delay, Defer”: Decade of Pacific Gas & Electric Wildfire Safety Pushback Preceded Disasters - PBS - After sparking a series of deadly fires in Northern California and then shutting off power to millions of people in an attempt to avoid sparking more, Pacific Gas & Electric has started on an ambitious slate of upgrades that it says will drastically reduce the number of new fires sparked by its electrical equipment. The utility giant’s leaders have said that transformation may take as long as a decade. But a detailed review of documents and hearings shows that PG&E spent the last 10 years resisting many of those very same reforms. A FRONTLINE investigation found dozens of instances of such pushback: For instance, the company fought a proposal that it report every fire its equipment caused, describing the measure as an “unnecessary cost” of time and resources in a 2010 filing. The following year, responding to another proposal, its attorneys wrote that “PG&E does not agree that it is necessary to require a formal plan specific to fire prevention.” And for years, the Northern California company argued to regulators that it shouldn’t be held to the same standards as its Southern California counterparts, saying wind-driven fire risk in its territory was significantly lower than in Southern California. These battles unfolded mainly within a little-publicized proceeding overseen by its regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission. In recent years, the commission has monitored the utilities’ fire safety more aggressively. But from 2008 to 2018, even as it wrote rules aimed at reducing utility wildfires, the commission didn’t have a single staff member who specialized in wildfire prevention. During that period, according to three former employees, the commission was hamstrung by too few enforcement officers and distracted by simultaneous investigations into other utility catastrophes, which allowed utility lawyers to dominate its proceedings. In many cases, PG&E could have upgraded its systems and passed along those costs to its consumers as rate increases. After starting a devastating fire in 2018, the company filed for bankruptcy. Its exit plan, approved in June, leaves the company as much as $38 billion in debt, including $13.5 billion in compensation owed to people who lost their homes and businesses in fires over the last several years. PG&E wasn’t the only utility that pushed back against fire-prevention regulations. California’s two other major investor-owned utilities, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, usually sided with them. But documents and interviews suggest that the vigor and persistence of PG&E’s resistance stood out.
California governor declares state of emergency as dozens of wildfires rage - California’s governor has declared a state of emergency as the state battles dozens of wildfires amid a historic heatwave. “We are deploying every resource available to keep communities safe asCalifornia battles fires across the state during these extreme conditions,” said Gavin Newsom, the state governor, on Tuesday. “California and its federal and local partners are working in lockstep to meet the challenge and remain vigilant in the face of continued dangerous weather conditions.” Fires of varying size are currently burning across the state including in Sonoma, San Mateo, Napa, Butte, Nevada and Monterey counties. Evacuations were in effect or growing in the Napa county wine country north of San Francisco Bay, near Salinas in Monterey county, around Oroville Dam north of Sacramento and near the Nevada state line north of Lake Tahoe.Several fires had been sparked by lightening strikes during unusual thunderstorms prompted by the extreme heatwave, which has sent temperatures soaring into the triple digits. One of the largest – the SCU Lightning Complex fire, comprised of fires burningin several Bay Area counties – has so far consumed 25,000 acres and remains 0% contained.A fire in Napa county was burning close to remote grape-growing properties owned by Villa Del Lago Winery.“Our vineyard workers had to evacuate very quickly. And we heard this morning that there was zero containment, so that’s scary. It’s very steep, so I know it’s hard for firefighters to get up there,” Firefighters toiled in oppressive heat as the fires burned, posing threats to homes, forcing evacuations and fouling the air with smoke far beyond the largely rural or wilderness areas where flames fed on very dry vegetation. In southern California, evacuations continued for a week-old fire in the mountains of northern Los Angeles county. Dynamic weather churned up thunderstorms bringing the double threat of more lightning-sparked fires and flash floods. Meanwhile, California’s power grid operators are under pressure to avoid more power blackouts as an ongoing heat wave stresses the electrical system. Thousands lost electricity over the weekend as the system strained under high demand, a situation Newsom described as“unacceptable”.
California governor calls wildfires 'deadly moment,' urges residents to flee - (Reuters) - Hundreds of wildfires burning across Central and Northern California that have already killed six people more than doubled in size on Friday, becoming some of the largest in state history and threatening small towns in the path of the flames. The conflagrations, which broke out over the last week, have blackened an area larger than the U.S. state of Rhode Island and destroyed more than 500 homes and other structures. In addition to the fatalities, 43 firefighters and civilians have been hurt. California Governor Gavin Newsom said crews were fighting 560 fires across the state, many of them sparked by lightning storms, straining resources to the breaking point as he seeks reinforcements from as far away as Canada and Australia. “We are not naive by any stretch about how deadly this moment is and why it is essential ... that you heed evacuation orders and that you take them seriously,” Newsom, a Democrat, told Californians at a news briefing. The state has been hit by its worst dry-lightning storms in nearly two decades as close to 12,000 strikes here have sent flames racing through lands left parched by a recent heat wave. Some 175,000 people have been told to leave their homes. In Santa Cruz, a city of around 65,000 people on California’s central coast, residents were told to prepare “go bags” as bulldozers cut fire lines and flames came within a mile of the University of California Santa Cruz campus. Video footage posted on social media showed giant Redwood trees, some more than 2,000 years old, standing largely unscathed among the torched ruins of buildings in and around Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Trump Wanted to Withhold Wildfire Aid to California Over Political Differences, Former DHS Official Says --President Donald Trump wanted to cut off wildfire relief money to California because the state did not support his political goals, a former administration staffer has claimed.In a scathing campaign ad released Monday by Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Miles Taylor said that his experience had showed him that the president wanted to "exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes and to fuel his own agenda."In one example, Taylor cited a phone call Trump made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)."He told FEMA to cut off the money and to no longer give individual assistance to California," Taylor said. "He told us to stop giving money to people whose houses had burned down from a wildfire because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn't support him and that politically it wasn't a base for him." Taylor does not say when Trump made the alleged call, the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out.However, Trump did publicly clash with California over wildfire aid two months after the Camp Fire killed 84 people and devastated the town of Paradise.In January 2019, he said he had ordered FEMA not to give any more money to the state, but said the reason was forest management policies, not politics. "Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen," the president tweeted at the time. "Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!" Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would… https://t.co/l5Jyjb8lEs — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1547047543.0 The tweet was widely criticized by California firefighters and politicians at the time for making such a threat following a major tragedy. Trump's focus on forest management was also seen as a way to downplay the role of the climate crisis in fueling more extreme fires.
Trump Pulls Nomination of William Pendley to Head Nation's Public Lands, Yet Pendley Remains in Charge - Environmental campaigners on Saturday welcomed news that President Donald Trump withdrew his nomination of "pro-polluter" and "unapologetic racist" William Perry Pendley for director of the Bureau of Land Management, with groups saying he should no longer be allowed to continue in his role as unofficial head of the agency. Pendley, who's called fracking an "environmental miracle," was panned by civil rights, environmental, tribal, and immigrant advocacy groups as "the worst possible person you could conjure to be a leading steward of our shared public lands" given his public record that includes a history of racist and sexist comments, "overt racism" toward native people, dismissal of the climate crisis, suggestion that "the Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold," and a 17-page list of 57 potential conflicts of interest. "Pendley never should have been nominated, and the fact that he was shows you what you need to know about this administration's conservation priorities," Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said in a statement Saturday. Trump formally nominated Pendley in June to lead BLM, an agency within the Interior Department (DOI). However, he has been overseeing—to the outrage of progressive groups—BLM for over a year, with the agency's website describinghim as "exercising authority of the director." Outdoor Life first reported on the news of the withdrawal. Interior spokesperson Nicholas Goodwin confirmed the nomination withdrawal toThe Hill but provided no explanation for the decision. "The president makes staffing decisions. Mr. Pendley continues to lead the Bureau of Land Management as Deputy Director for Programs and Policy," Goodwin said. Critics of Pendley responded to the news with fresh attacks on his record. According to Lena Moffitt, director of the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, "Pendley's tenure as head of the Bureau of Land Management, like the entire Trump administration, has been a disaster for our public lands. At best, he's demonstrated a total disregard for the health of our communities and our wild places, prioritizing giveaways to polluting fossil fuel corporations. At worst, he actively worked against marginalized communities."
Official who briefed Trump on Hurricane Florence said president was obsessed with which way storm was spinning 'like a 3rd grader'--Former US Department of Homeland Security Chief Miles Taylor claimed Donald Trump was unfocused during security briefings, likening him to a distracted elementary school student. During an interview on CNN, Mr Taylor recounted a story about an interaction with Mr Trump during which he claimed the president became fascinated by the way hurricanes spin rather than staying focused on the potential damage and loss of life the storm could cause if the White House did not act.Mr Taylor said initially he thought the president was intently studying the storm, and described him studying a foam board where pictures of the hurricane and its projected path were hanging. "Then he turned to me and said 'I've got a question' ... 'do the hurricanes always spin this direction?'" Mr Taylor said. "He meant counter clockwise, that's called the Coriolis effect." He claimed the president then followed up asking if that was why water in Australian toilets flow opposite of those in the US. "This is what the president was focused on. Americans were on the path of a deadly hurricane, he needed to get out there and tell them to evacuate, and he was just marvelled at the way that hurricanes spin, in a way that a third grader might learning about earth science," Mr Taylor said. "This is the president that we're talking about to keep us safe." Mr Taylor - now employed by Google - was formerly a major ally of Mr Trump. He helped form the policies that led to Mr Trump's migrant child separation policy at the border. Mr Taylor attempted to distance himself from the policy in a Washington Post op-ed he wrote earlier this week. He recently took a leave of absence from Google so he can campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden prior to the 2020 US election.
2 Hurricanes Could Strike U.S. on the Same Day for the First Time in History - Yet another extraordinary event could be added to 2020's list of historic disruptions, as two developing hurricanes may make landfall in the U.S. at the same time early next week, according to The Weather Channel."What are the odds? It has never happened before that two hurricanes made landfall on the same day," said Brent Watts, chief meteorologist at WDBJ, the CBS News affiliate in Roanoke, VA, in a tweet. "A tropical storm and a hurricane made landfall at Midnight on Sep. 5, 1933. We'll see how this plays out over the next 5 days." If the two developing storms strengthen into systems with sustained winds above 39 miles per hour, they will be named Laura and Marcos, respectively. That will mark the earliest L and M named storms in history, according to CBS News."Tropical Depression 14 has formed in the western Caribbean," said Phillip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University, in a tweet, "The next Atlantic named storm in 2020 will be #Laura. Current Atlantic record for earliest 'L' storm is Luis on August 29, 1995."
Dual hurricane landfall in Louisiana becoming more likely (WAFB) - The latest advisories from the National Weather Service show the possibility of two hurricanes making landfall in Louisiana within 48 hours of each other. While the tracks do appear ominous, it’s important to note that the forecast tracks can change significantly within the coming days. In fact, the predicted track for Marco shifted dramatically from the 10 a.m. advisory to the one issued at 4 p.m. Saturday. A Hurricane Watch has been issued for along the Gulf Coast from the MS/AL state line west all the way to Pecan Island, LA. Inland parishes near the tidal lakes have also been put under a Hurricane Watch. A portion of the Florida Parishes and metro Baton Rouge are currently under a Tropical Storm Watch. Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watches mean that those conditions are expected within the next 36-48 hours. The big change from the NHC's forecast for Marco came during the 4 PM advisory when the forecast track was shifted significantly east to account for a large number of weather models trending towards a Louisiana landfall. Marco is forecast to become a category 1 hurricane as it makes landfall somewhere along the Central Gulf Coast states (presumably SE LA) Monday afternoon. Tropical Storm force winds could arrive as early as Sunday night along the LA Coast. Initial coastal storm surge estimates show 3-5 feet from the Mouth of the MS River east and 2-4 feet from the Mouth of the MS River west. Initial tidal lake surge estimates are 2-4 feet. Laura is also forecast to become a category 1 hurricane once it moves into the Central Gulf. Laura is forecast to take a turn towards the north as it impacts the Central Gulf Coast (presumably South LA) Wednesday afternoon.
Fires Surge in Brazil's Amazon a Month After Bolsonaro Declared Fire Ban - A month after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared a 120-day ban on setting fires in the Amazon rainforest and three months after he deployed military troops to combat deforestation, Greenpeace on Tuesday called out the far-right leader for his ineffective strategies and attacks on environmental protections. "Bolsonaro's administration has continued to systematically dismantle environmental protection and has undermined the work of environmental law enforcement agencies," Cristiane Mazzetti, an Amazon campaigner for Greenpeace Brazil, said in a statement. "Bolsonaro's supposed fire ban has already been undermined by Bolsonaro himself. Sending troops to the Amazon is just a PR stunt and a waste of resources." The Brazilian president, who took office in January 2019, has long been criticized within and beyond his country's borders for targeting the environment and Indigenous people, and for his attempts to open up the Amazon to more economic development. Fires in the Amazon are often set to illegally clear land for farming, ranching, and mining. Satellite data released in early August by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) suggest Bolsonaro's military deployment and fire ban aren't working. The agency reported that fire activity in the Amazon throughout July jumped 28% compared with the same month last year. INPE documented 6,803 fires in the rainforest last month, compared to 5,318 in 2019. "And it's still early—August is generally considered to be the start of the fire season, which typically hits during drier months," German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported Tuesday. "More than 10,000 fires were recorded in the first 10 days of this month, up 17% from the same period last year, according to INPE." Greenpeace's Romulo Batista said in response to the INPE data in early August that "more than 1,000 fires in a single day is a 15-year record and shows the government's strategy of media-spectacle operations is not working on the ground." Bolsonaro disputed the fire data from his own government in an August 11 speech to South American leaders, saying that "tropical rainforest doesn't catch fire. So this story that the Amazon is burning is a lie, and we have to fight it with real numbers."
Amazon's Widespread Fire Damage Is 'Invisible to Our Eyes' - 2020 is shaping up to be another destructive year for the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Deforestation — a grim precursor to the fires used to clear the land for development — has increased significantly, according to observers. And many experts fear the region could see a repeat of the destructive wildfires of last August and September. Satellite data released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) on August 1 showed more than 6,800 fires across the Amazon region in July, an increase of 28% compared with last year. And it's still early — August is generally considered to be the start of the fire season, which typically hits during drier months. More than 10,000 fires were recorded in the first 10 days of this month, up 17% from the same period last year, according to INPE. Last year's deforestation toll on the world's biggest rainforest — 60% of which is in Brazil — was an estimated 10,000 square kilometers (3,800 square miles), roughly the size of Lebanon. That's the highest level since 2008, according to INPE. President Jair Bolsonaro — who has repeatedly called for more of the Amazon region to be cleared for economic development — disputed the recent fire data in a speech to other South American leaders on August 11. Bolsonaro challenged the leaders to fly over the rainforest from Boa Vista to Manaus, a distance of some 750 kilometers (460 miles), and see for themselves. "They won't find any spot of fire, nor a quarter of a hectare deforested," he said. While these forests may still appear untouched when viewed from above, the green landscape seen from a plane or satellite can be deceptive. A typical wildfire burning through the understory — the vegetation growing beneath the forest's main canopy — of a virgin rainforest can wipe out small shrubs, plants and between 40 to 50% of all trees. "A considerable part of the Amazon forest has been consecutively degraded, and it's invisible to our eyes," said Ane Alencar, director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), a Brazilian non-governmental organization. "In fact, the quality of these forests has been degraded due to these forest fires." When much of the undergrowth and smaller trees are eliminated, it makes it difficult to maintain the moist understory microclimate that helps protect rainforests from fires. These microclimates are already suffering, with the average temperature in the Amazon basin having risen by at least 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1980, according to climate data from USAID. The dry season has become longer and severe droughts are now more frequent, with three reported since 2005.The damage doesn't end with the initial blaze, either. Larger trees, which may be harmed in a fire but survive thanks to the moist environment, could finally succumb to the trauma years later. "Initially, it's the small trees which die because they are most vulnerable to the heat stress, but over time it's actually the larger trees which die and fall over, taking with them many other trees,"
There's a Rush to Mine Deep Seabeds, With Unknown Ecological Impacts - Mining the ocean floor for submerged minerals is a little-known, experimental industry. But soon it will take place on the deep seabed, which belongs to everyone, according to international law. Seabed mining for valuable materials like copper, zinc and lithium already takes place within countries' marine territories. As soon as 2025, larger projects could start in international waters – areas more than 200 nautical miles from shore, beyond national jurisdictions. We study ocean policy, marine resource management, international ocean governance and environmental regimes, and are researching political processes that govern deep seabed mining. Our main interests are the environmental impacts of seabed mining, ways of sharing marine resources equitably and the use of tools likemarine protected areas to protect rare, vulnerable and fragile species and ecosystems. Today countries are working together on rules for seabed mining. In our opinion, there is still time to develop a framework that will enable nations to share resources and prevent permanent damage to the deep sea. But that will happen only if countries are willing to cooperate and make sacrifices for the greater good. Countries regulate seabed mining within their marine territories. Farther out, in areas beyond national jurisdiction, they cooperate through the Law of the Sea Convention, which has been ratified by 167 countries and the European Union, but not the U.S.The treaty created the International Seabed Authority, headquartered in Jamaica, to manage seabed mining in international waters. This organization's workload is about to balloon.Under the treaty, activities conducted in areas beyond national jurisdiction must be for "the benefit of mankind as a whole." These benefits could include economic profit, scientific research findings, specialized technology and recovery of historical objects. The convention calls on governments to share them fairly, with special attention to developing countries' interests and needs. The United States was involved in negotiating the convention and signed it but has not ratified it, due to concerns that it puts too many limits on exploitation of deep sea resources. As a result, the U.S. is not bound by the treaty, although it follows most of its rules independently. Recent administrations, including those of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, sought to ratify the treaty, but failed to muster a two-thirds majority in the Senate to support it.
Atlantic Ocean Holds 10x More Plastic Pollution Than Previously Believed, New Study Finds - There is at least 10 times more plastic polluting the Atlantic Ocean than previously believed, a new study has found.The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) study, the first to measure the "invisible"microplastics beneath the surface of the entire Atlantic Ocean, found that there were between 12-21 million tonnes (approximately 13-23 million U.S. tons) of them floating in the top 200 meters (approximately 656 feet) under the waves.However, the study only measured the three most common types of microplastic in the upper levels of the ocean, The Guardian pointed out. The researchers estimate that the Atlantic's total plastic load is closer to 200 million tonnes (approximately 220.4 million U.S. tons). That is much higher than the previous estimate of 17 million to 47 million tonnes (approximately 19 to 52 million U.S. tons) of plastic released into the Atlantic between 1950 and 2015."The amount of plastic has been massively underestimated," lead study author Katsiaryna Pabortsava told The Guardian.The research, published in Nature Communications Tuesday, was based on seawater samples taken from September to November 2016, the NOC explained. Pabortsava and her coauthor professor Richard Lampitt then filtered their samples and used spectroscopic imaging to detect the three most common and most polluted types of plastic: polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene. The pair found up to 7,000 particles of the plastics per cubic meter of seawater,BBC News reported. The total weight of the plastic they detected would be enough to fill almost 1,000 container ships.
Pools of Water Atop Sea Ice in the Arctic May Lead it to Melt Away Sooner Than Expected - The thickening atmospheric stew of greenhouse gases is punching holes in Arctic sea ice, leading it to crumble at a rapidly increasing rate. Last spring, ponds of meltwater on the ice sped the melting of the glossy shield that reflects incoming heat from the sun back to space. By July, the ice had dwindled to a record low extent for that month.It could disappear as soon as 2035, scientists said this week, as they released a study showing how the formation of melt ponds on the surface of the sea ice drove it to completely melt away about 130,000 years ago in an era called the Last Interglacial—probably the last time the Arctic Ocean was ice-free during summer. Observations show melt ponds forming earlier and persisting longer. Their blue water is darker than the white ice surrounding them, so they absorb more warmth from the sun. That heat seeps through the sides of the pond to melt more ice, and even oozes down to warm the ocean beneath it. Instead of a solid reflective mirror, the surface is increasingly pitted, scarred and cracked until, at its edges, it dissolves into the sea like an ice cube melting on a hot sidewalk. During the Last Interglacial period, that process accelerated in a vicious cycle of warming that ended up with the Arctic 6 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it is today, said the study's co-lead author Maria Vittoria Guarino, an Earth system modeler with the British Antarctic Survey. That much warming has huge implications for everything from ocean food systems to sea level rise around the world. The imminent disappearance of Arctic sea ice has also raised concerns about the potential for international conflicts over the oil and gas deposits beneath the floors of Arctic seas, as well as over prized commercial fish stocks that have moved or are easier to reach due to the diminishing ice.
‘Canary in the coal mine’: Greenland ice has shrunk beyond return, study finds (Reuters) - Greenland’s ice sheet may have shrunk past the point of return, with the ice likely to melt away no matter how quickly the world reduces climate-warming emissions, new research suggests. Scientists studied data on 234 glaciers across the Arctic territory spanning 34 years through 2018 and found that annual snowfall was no longer enough to replenish glaciers of the snow and ice being lost to summertime melting. That melting is already causing global seas to rise about a millimeter on average per year. If all of Greenland’s ice goes, the water released would push sea levels up by an average of 6 meters — enough to swamp many coastal cities around the world. This process, however, would take decades. “Greenland is going to be the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is already pretty much dead at this point,” said glaciologist Ian Howat at Ohio State University. He and his colleagues published the study Thursday in the Nature Communications Earth & Environment journal. The Arctic has been warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the world for the last 30 years, an observation referred to as Arctic amplification. The polar sea ice hit its lowest extent for July in 40 years. The Arctic thaw has brought more water to the region, opening up routes for shipping traffic, as well as increased interest in extracting fossil fuels and other natural resources. Greenland is strategically important for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early warning system, as the shortest route from Europe to North America goes via the Arctic island.
Greenland’s Ice Sheet Has Reached ‘Point of No Return’ - Greenland's ice sheet has reached the "point of no return" and would continue to melt even if the climate crisis were halted, a new study has found. The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment Thursday, used more than 30 years of satellite data to determine that the ice sheet would continue to shrink even if surface melting decreased. However, the findings are not an excuse to give up on climate action."We've passed the point of no return but there's obviously more to come," study coauthor and Ohio State University professor Ian Howat told CNN. "Rather than being a single tipping point in which we've gone from a happy ice sheet to a rapidly collapsing ice sheet, it's more of a staircase where we've fallen off the first step but there's many more steps to go down into the pit."Greenland's ice sheet loses mass when icebergs calve or glaciers melt into the ocean and gains it when snow falls on the surface of the glaciers.The scientists used monthly data from more than 200 large glaciers that drain into the ocean around Greenland, an Ohio State University press release explained. During the 1980s and 1990s, the glaciers lost roughly as much ice through melt and calving as they gained through snowfall. But, starting in the year 2000, that changed."We are measuring the pulse of the ice sheet — how much ice glaciers drain at the edges of the ice sheet — which increases in the summer. And what we see is that it was relatively steady until a big increase in ice discharging to the ocean during a short five- to six-year period," lead study author and Ohio State UniversityByrd Polar and Climate Research Center scientist Michalea King said in the press release. Before 2000, the ice sheet had an equal chance of gaining or losing mass each year; now, it only would only gain mass once every 100 years. Greenland's larger glaciers have also retreated about three kilometers (approximately two miles) since 1985. This means more of the glaciers are exposed to warmer ocean water, which increases melting. That is why the ice sheet would continue to retreat if global warming stopped.
Report warns of climate threats In Gloucester, more than 26 miles of roadway may flood in 2050 from a 100-year storm. About 400 acres of the Great Marsh, which stretches from Gloucester and Essex to the New Hampshire border, could be completely lost by 2070. Those are some of the bleak scenarios laid out in a new report that analyzes the future impacts of climate change on Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, Essex and nine North Shore communities. The report, called State of the Coast, was released Thursday by The Trustees of Reservations and urges action to prevent further damage to the area’s coastline. Tom O’Shea of The Trustees said Cape Ann and North Shore communities can no longer postpone decisions on what he called “climate-facing emergency planning.” “We really want to use this report as a conversation starter, a platform to begin to the move to the future,” said O’Shea, The Trustees’ director of coast and natural resources. “I think we can all recognize there’s a lot more that needs to be done.” O’Shea said the report focuses on the impact of sea level rise and storms on Cape Ann and the North Shore’s coastline, not only beaches and salt marshes but roads, homes and businesses. More than 600 buildings on Cape Ann and the North Shore could experience daily tidal flooding by 2030, and more than 7,000 will flood if a 100-year-storm event occurs, according to the report. The report said that in Salem, a 10-year storm could flood more than 1,000 buildings in the year 2050. In Beverly, beach erosion will threaten oceanfront homes and neighborhoods. In Ipswich, Crane Beach will continue to erode dramatically, adding to the 84 football fields of beach that have already been lost. The report said that lawmakers need to increase investment in land conservation and restoration. The Trustees also support a new sales tax on sporting goods to fund habitat conservation and outdoor recreation, as well as a program designed to buy coastal properties and relocate homeowners and businesses from flood-prone zones. The Trustees, a nonprofit that owns 120 miles of shoreline, plans to release annual State of the Coast reports over the next four years highlighting other areas of the Massachusetts coastline.
Monthly U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions in April were the lowest in decades - Monthly U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell to 307 million metric tons (MMmt) in April 2020, the lowest value in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly series for CO2 emissions, which dates back to 1973. Travel restrictions and other measures to mitigate the spread of coronavirus in April resulted in sudden and significant changes in energy consumption, resulting in lower energy-related emissions. Changes in U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions in April largely mirror the changes in energy consumption described in previous Today in Energy articles: a sudden drop in petroleum consumption, shifts in electricity consumption from the commercial and industrial sectors to the residential sector (and lower overall electricity use), and relatively smaller changes in natural gas consumption across sectors. More than 99% of energy-related CO2 emissions come from the consumption of fossil fuels: petroleum, coal, and natural gas. From March to April 2020, CO2 emissions from petroleum consumption decreased 25%, and CO2 emissions from coal consumption decreased 16%. Both changes resulted in the lowest monthly CO2 emission values on record for those fuels. Despite the 25% decline in petroleum-related CO2 emissions, the United States still emitted more CO2 from petroleum (133 MMmt) in April than from natural gas (122 MMmt) or coal (51 MMmt).Energy-related CO2 emissions from natural gas consumption decreased 17% between March and April 2020. However, unlike CO2 emissions from petroleum and coal, which reached record lows, CO2 emissions from natural gas in April 2020 were 22% greater than the previous April, largely because natural gas-fired power plants gained market share in the U.S. electric power sector.The largest decreases in CO2 emissions in April occurred in the transportation sector. Consumer responses to the coronavirus, stay-at-home orders, and other travel restrictions that were in place throughout the country in April reduced consumption of motor gasoline (the most-consumed petroleum fuel in the United States) and jet fuel (the third-most consumed petroleum fuel). CO2 emissions from motor gasoline consumption, which accounted for 57% of transportation sector emissions in 2019, fell to a record-low 59 MMmt of CO2 in April 2020. CO2 emissions from jet fuel, which accounted for 13% of 2019 U.S. transportation-sector emissions, also fell to a record low in April 2020.
‘Super-Pollutant’ Emitted by 11 Chinese Chemical Plants Could Equal a Climate Catastrophe - In December 2007, Charles Perilloux, an American chemical engineer, traveled to China to help install inexpensive and game-changing technology at a Chinese chemical plant that was spewing a climate "super-pollutant" into the atmosphere. The emissions quickly fell to near zero. The state-owned Henan Shenma Nylon Chemical Company manufactures adipic acid, a key ingredient in nylon and polyurethane, which is used in everything from car parts to running shoes. While producing adipic acid, the factory emitted thousands of tons of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the planet. Shenma's emission reductions had a greenhouse gas impact equivalent to taking one million cars off the road, records from the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) show. Through the program, Shenma reduced its emissions in exchange for lucrative carbon credits. The plant's abatement technology produced a financial windfall. Shenma, and another, larger, state-owned adipic acid plant that also reduced its emissions, sold carbon credits over a five-year period that were worth as much as $1.3 billion, records from the U.N. and carbon markets show. Then, in 2012, funding for the U.N. program dried up. What has happened since at the two plants, and at nine others across China that now manufacture nearly half of the world's adipic acid, has been a mystery. Satellite imaging and stationary air monitors can't discern nitrous oxide emissions from chemical plants versus N2O emissions from other sources. Plant operators and government officials in China are hesitant to talk at this critical moment, when China is finalizing a wide ranging plan for economic development and emission reduction targets that will guide the country for the next five years. However, an InsideClimate News investigation, based on dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of documents from the Chinese government, the United Nations, and Chinese state media, strongly suggests that when funding for the U.N. program ended, so too did nearly all of the emissions reductions. This likely occurred despite the availability of proven, low-cost abatement technology.
Fire at Plastics Plant Sends Toxic Smoke Over North Texas - A plastics plant near Dallas,Texas caught fire midnight Wednesday, sending a column of toxic smoke billowing over North Texas.The smoke could be seen for miles and was picked up on a weather camera in Denton, about 40 miles away,WFAA reported. No injuries were reported and no evacuations were ordered, but people with underlying medical conditions were warned to avoid the smoke and self-evacuate if needed."Anybody with any breathing problems, any asthmatics, I mean it is the combustion from plastic so it's not good to breathe," Grand Prairie Assistant Fire Chief Bill Murphy told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth.Our #radar captured the #smoke plume from the #GrandPrairie industrial #fire. #dfwwx #txwx#polyethylene pic.twitter.com/OjQR21LohY The fire broke out at Poly-America factory in Grand Prairie, which manufactures polyethylene and petroleum-based products such as trash bags, drop cloths, plastic sheeting and vapor barrier film.Firefighters think the blaze started when a powerline fell on an area where plastic rolls were being stored."All of their storage there at Poly-America, for their rolled plastic, is underneath those towers so it ignited the plastic rolls. It just spread to all the inventory that they have back there," Murphy told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. Local media reports a major fire and explosions at the Poly America industrial facility in Grand Prairi… https://t.co/kf5VPU8uVw Because of the nature of the plastic fuel, firefighters initially thought the fire would burn through Thursday, but they managed to contain it by 4 p.m. Wednesday, The Associated Press reported."Plastic is hard to put out and it's just gonna burn," Murphy said.Another difficulty was train tracks that ran between the firefighters and the factory building, WFAA reported. One train car filled with paint caught fire."It was a solid wall of 15-foot flames all night long," Murphy said.
Close Call- Asteroid Unexpectedly Makes The Closest Pass Of Earth On Record -- Asteroid 2020QG just made the closely pass-by of our planet on record. The most amazing part? Scientists didn't even see it coming. The asteroid came as close as 4,778 miles from the center of the Earth, according to NASA’s database of near Earth objects and a new report by Forbes. At its lowest point, it could have been just 1,000 miles over our heads - lower than almost all artificial satellites that are currently orbiting the Earth. The asteroid wasn't spotted until after it passed the Earth, which is wild considering it is officially the closest call since we started following such passes nearly 100 years ago. The asteroid had a diameter of about 10-20 feet, according to NASA, who also says that the asteroid likely didn't pose a threat even if it had entered into the Earth's atmosphere. It would have likely burned up in the atmosphere, NASA said.Newly-discovered asteroid ZTF0DxQ passed less than 1/4 Earth diameter yesterday, making it the closest-known flyby that didn't hit our planet. Simulation: https://t.co/a81R100OwV Higher-res GIF: https://t.co/4Wxn0YNpVb pic.twitter.com/SMtVRbjYOA A similar sized asteroid was spotted in 2018 and, after entry into the Earth's atmosphere, "only the tiniest bits" made it to the ground. It caused no reported damage or injuries. And because nothing involving science or outer space can be brought up without bringing up the world's greatest faux-scientist, Elon Musk, Forbes commented that the object was "roughly the size of a Tesla Model 3, which makes you wonder for a second if the car Elon Musk famously launched towards Mars might have activated its autonomous boosters and attempted to make its way home."
Digital content on track to equal half Earth’s mass by 2245 -- As we use resources, such as coal, oil, natural gas, copper, silicon and aluminum, to power massive computer farms and process digital information, our technological progress is redistributing Earth's matter from physical atoms to digital information -- the fifth state of matter, alongside liquid, solid, gas and plasma. Eventually, we will reach a point of full saturation, a period in our evolution in which digital bits will outnumber atoms on Earth, a world "mostly computer simulated and dominated by digital bits and computer code," according to an article published in AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing. It is just a matter of time. "We are literally changing the planet bit by bit, and it is an invisible crisis," author Melvin Vopson said. Vopson examines the factors driving this digital evolution. He said the impending limit on the number of bits, the energy to produce them, and the distribution of physical and digital mass will overwhelm the planet soon. For example, using current data storage densities, the number of bits produced per year and the size of a bit compared to the size of an atom, at a rate of 50% annual growth, the number of bits would equal the number of atoms on Earth in approximately 150 years. It would be approximately 130 years until the power needed to sustain digital information creation would equal all the power currently produced on planet Earth, and by 2245, half of Earth's mass would be converted to digital information mass.
Trump set to duck no-win ethanol decision until after election - The Trump administration appears set to postpone politically fraught decisions on ethanol until after the November election to avoid a backlash from the feuding agriculture and petroleum sectors, according to several people in both industries who have been in contact with the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA faces a late-November deadline to decide how many billion gallons of ethanol the oil refining industry must blend into the nation's gasoline and diesel supply, but the agency has yet to even issue its proposal, which is itself months overdue. That decision has been delayed because of a battle over small oil refiners' request for exemptions that corn farmers say would undercut the 2007 law that is designed to promote biofuels. The oil and agriculture industries have fought for years over the EPA's ethanol mandate, which was created under the George W. Bush administration to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and cut carbon emissions. About 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop goes to producing ethanol, which makes up about 10 percent of the U.S. fuel market for cars and small trucks. But refiners say the program saddles them with heavy costs that are driving small plants out of business."It's a no-win proposition because you’re going to alienate (one or) the other group," said Tom Kloza, analyst at the oil price service OPIS, who has not been in touch with the Trump administration. "To the extent that they can, they’ll probably stall or wait. And they can get away with it because its such an uncertain environment in terms of what volumes are going to look like next year." Trump has held several Oval Office meetings on the biofuel disputes, and he has been in regular telephone conversation with biofuel champion Sen.Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has admonished the president to pump up ethanol volumes. But he has also faced pressure from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), two oil refining advocates who have pressed Trump to side with the industry’s blue collar workers. But Trump has failed to craft a deal that satisfies both sides. And even his efforts to placate farm country — such as an agreement to allow year-round sales of higher-ethanol blends of gasoline — have been overshadowed by corn growers' anger over EPA's expanded use of exemptions for refineries.
How Trump Appointees Short-Circuited Grid Modernization - - On august 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his nascent career. He couldn’t have known it yet, but things were about to go very wrong.At a gathering of experts and policy makers in Lawrence, Kansas, Novacheck was sharing the results of the Interconnections Seam Study, better known as Seams. The Seams study demonstrated that stronger connections between the U.S. power system’s massive eastern and western power grids would accelerate the growth of wind and solar energy—hugely reducing American reliance on coal, the fuel contributing the most to climate change, and saving consumers billions. It was an elegant solution to a complicated problem. Democrats in Congress have recently cited NREL’s work to argue for billions in grid upgrades and sweeping policy changes. But a study like Seams was politically dangerous territory for a federally funded lab while coal-industry advocates—and climate-change deniers—reign in the White House. The Trump administration has a long history of protecting coal companies, and unfortunately for Novacheck, a representative was sitting in the audience during the talk: Catherine “Katie” Jereza, then a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity.Jereza fired off an email to DOE headquarters—before Novacheck had even finished speaking, according to sources who viewed the email—raising an alarm about Seams’ anti-coal findings. That email ignited an internal firestorm. According to interviews with five current and former DOE and NREL sources, supported by more than 900 pages of documents and emails obtained by InvestigateWest through Freedom of Information Act requests and by additional documentation from industry sources, Trump officials would ultimately block Seams from seeing the light of day. And in doing so, they would set back America’s efforts to slow climate change. A nearly impermeable electrical “seam” divides America’s eastern and western power grids. These giant pools of alternating current on either side of the Rockies contain a total of 950 gigawatts of power generation by thousands of power plants. But only a little over one gigawatt can cross between them. . That separation raises power costs, and makes it hard to share growing surpluses of environmentally friendly wind and solar power. And years of neglect have left the grids—and the few connections between them—overloaded and ill-prepared to transition to highly variable renewable energy.
Skipjack Gets Green Light for GE 12 MW Offshore Wind Turbine - Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved the use of GE Haliade-X 12 MW offshore wind turbine at Ørsted’s Skipjack offshore wind farm, to be built at a site some 30 kilometres off the Maryland-Delaware coast.Ørsted selected GE Renewable Energy as the preferred turbine supplier for the project in 2019, changing its initial plan to use Siemens Gamesa 8 MW offshore wind turbines.The developer submitted the new wind turbine plan to the Maryland PSC last year, and the authority initiated public comment process. The PSC issued a decision on 20 August, approving the wind turbine change and saying that the selection of the Haliade-X 12 MW turbine is consistent with both the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act and the public interest. The Order No. 88192 from 2017 – issued in accordance with the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act and by which the PSC approved the project – contains conditions whose purpose was to mitigate risk to ratepayers and maximise value to the State of Maryland, including opting for “best commercially-available technology at the time of deployment”.Namely, in its application submitted in 2016, Ørsted included the Siemens Gamesa 8 MW turbine in its project design. However, neither the developer, nor the PSC in its Order No. 88192 determined which turbine would be used specifically. Ørsted then stated that “the latest class of technology is what we want to deploy” and noted that the turbine model ultimately selected could have a higher output than 8 MW.
Connecticut might make utilities pay customers for outages (AP) — Legislation being drafted in Connecticut would force utility companies to pay consumers for spoiled food and lost medicine following lengthy power outages. The move comes after more than 1 million state homes and businesses were left in the dark for days earlier this month following Tropical Storm Isaias. The Democrat and Republican leaders of the Legislature’s Energy & Technology Committee said they are working on a bipartisan package that would hold Eversource and United Illuminating responsible for poor planning and an inadequate storm response. “We are working to understand how it’s possible after rate increase after rate increase to prepare for storms, how such a colossal failure on the part of UI and Eversource occurred,” said state Sen. Norm Needleman, of Essex, a Democrat and the Senate chair of the committee. The lawmakers said they hoped to address customer reimbursement in a special legislative session in September. The package would include forcing the companies to pay $100 a day to residential customers with critical needs who lose power and to reimburse all ratepayers up to $500 for food and medicine lost as the result of a power outage of more than two days. They plan to address larger issues in next year’s regular session, such as requiring that future power lines be placed underground and perhaps moving toward allowing more regulation or competition in the industry. The Aug. 4 storm and its high winds brought down trees across the state. At its peak, more than 1 million homes and businesses in Connecticut lost power, including more than 800,000 customers of Eversource, the state’s largest electric utility.
Charlottesville group pushes leaders to link climate goals with energy equity - A recent report draws attention to the extreme energy burden facing hundreds of low-income and people of color in the community. At first glance, access to affordable and secure energy doesn’t seem much of a struggle for residents of Charlottesville, Virginia. On average, households spend just over 2% of their income heating, cooling and lighting their homes. But a dogged dive into demographics, U.S. Census data and housing affordability figures by the local Community Climate Collaborative tells a hidden story. It reveals upward of 1 in 4 of the city’s households are saddled with a high energy burden, meaning at least 6% of their income is spent on electric and gas bills. More alarming, the vast majority of that segment spends at least 10% on energy bills, while hundreds pay more than 20%. A large majority of these energy-burdened households are low income and people of color. For instance, the report highlights that 236 of the 851 households with extreme energy burdens are in the 10th and Page and Venable neighborhoods, both east of the University of Virginia. College students and minority and lower-income families have long lived side-by-side in these areas. C3, as the nonprofit is known, unveiled these shortcomings and more in its Uncovering Energy Inequity report this summer. The group’s leaders want to spur a collaborative approach to relieving energy burdens through affordable access to energy efficiency and solar power. “This report doesn’t answer all the questions, but it does tell us where we need to begin looking for solutions,” said C3 Executive Director Susan Kruse.
Path of new 1,000 MW transmission line in New York lengthened – A 1,000 MW transmission line to be built by Champlain Hudson Power Express, Inc. will have its approximately 330-mile route slightly altered under new plans approved by the New York State Public Service Commission last week. Intended to run from the New York/Canada border to a converter station in Astoria, Queens, the $2 billion line will gain about 5.8 miles of circuit as a result of the modification. Cables will be rerouted and the converter station site will be relocated within the Astoria Generating Complex. The changes reflect a response to challenges posed by shallow water engineering issues, rock removal, and wetland impacts, as well as community concerns. “With this decision, we will allow the developer to make minor changes to the certificate to construct and operate a transmission project known as the Champlain Hudson Power Express Project,” Commission Chair John Rhodes said. “The transmission of renewable energy will enable the success of the State and New York City legislative programs aimed at curbing greenhouse gases, including the nation-leading Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.” Much of the line will still be built underwater and underground to avoid or minimize both visual and environmental impacts. It will consist of two solid electric cables with no insulating fluids. Much of the power it transports will likely stem from hydroelectric energy. As the Commission determined that proposed changes would result in no m
Propelling the transition: The battle for control of virtual power plants is just beginning | Utility Dive - The largest power plants in the the U.S. — massive feats of engineering like the over 5,000 foot-long, 6,800-MW capacity Grand Coulee Dam — are proving to be no match in scale to the combined power of the rooftops and basements of homes and businesses across the country. Distributed energy, including rooftop solar, on-site batteries to store electricity and more, are on track to grow to nearly 400 GW in the U.S. by 2025, according to projections from Wood Mackenzie, significantly greater than the amount of coal or nuclear power capacity in the U.S. today. The existence of that much power leads to an inevitable question: who controls it? Utilities see distributed energy as both a threat to their business models and an opportunity to harness this relatively new and massive source of energy to make money. The rise of distributed energy has led to a conflict between a utility-centered business model and a service model based around third parties. "The fundamental question is who can manage and schedule distributed energy resources (DERs) and how?" said Omar Saadeh, business strategy manager at Accenture. "It’s a question being asked in a number of states." The concept of a network of DERs operating across homes or businesses and being collectively dispatched — sometimes described as a "virtual power plant" — has gone from theory to practice in a short amount of time. Roughly five years ago, the idea of a central authority using distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) to remotely control an aggregate of rooftop solar, battery systems, water heaters and other resources was just starting to be demonstrated in a few pilot projects. Now, virtual power plants are bidding into wholesale electricity markets in California, New England and other areas, pilot projects are proliferating, and more utilities are, if not yet pursuing the full virtual power plant model, at least investing into or considering the DERMS technology that enables the aggregation of DERs to perform services for the grid. But as virtual power plants have started to get more real, discussions around how to implement the concept and the software behind it have become more heated. There is a growing debate about the degree to which the future of distributed energy management will be in the hands of large utilities, or in the hands of third-party aggregators.
Who is behind anti-regional transmission organization ads in the Southeast? - Google users in North Carolina were furnished with anti-regional transmission organization (RTO) advertisements when searching for clean energy-related terms this July and August. The ads’ sponsors are not currently known, but the ads appeared as Duke Energy, Southern Company, and more than a dozen other utilities confirmed efforts to create a loosely-administered energy imbalance market in the Southeast earlier last month – the formation of which could thwart more thorough market reforms that some legislators in the region are considering, and which could integrate more renewable energy at lower prices.The message of the Google ads echoed anti-RTO Facebook advertisements sponsored by a 501(c)(4) group late last year; that group does not disclose its funding, but its leader has connections to Duke Energy. Duke Energy did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether it placed the anti-RTO Google ads, or if it had a relationship to the 501(c)(4) group and that group’s advertising. A spokesperson for Southern Company said the utility was not involved with either. Google searches conducted in North Carolina for the terms “clean energy”, “solar”, and “RTO” this July and August yielded ads calling RTOs “a failed experiment” and “federal overreach”. The advertisements further claimed that RTOs “hurt renewables development” and that wholesale power markets are “costing customers millions”. An RTO is an electric transmission system operator that ensures reliability and access to transmission infrastructure, and facilitates day-ahead or real-time electricity transactions, often across state lines. Some version of an RTO exists in most midwestern and northeastern states, but states in the Southeast do not have their own RTO, absent which utilities operate their own electric systems. Studies from the Brattle Group, the Brookings Institution, and faculty at Harvard University, among others, have concluded that RTOs promote greater deployment of renewable energy, along with fair and transparent pricing. An analysis by the Duke University Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions found that a southeastern RTO “would likely produce the most benefits compared to other options”, reducing both emissions and costs. Both North and South Carolina lawmakers have called for utility market reform, with representatives in each stateintroducing legislation last year to study the formation of an RTO
A Lawsuit Challenges the Tennessee Valley Authority’s New Program of ‘Never-Ending’ Contracts - A fight over how the nation's largest public utility sells electricity to its customers across seven southern states entered a new phase this week when the Southern Environmental Law Center took the Tennessee Valley Authority to court over provisions of its new long-term power contracts.Last August TVA began pressuring municipal power companies serving cities like Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga into signing new contracts that, unlike previous ones, would prevent them from ever again negotiating with TVA for cheaper, cleaner electricity, the lawsuit claims in federal court in Memphis.TVA has already locked 141 of its 154 local retail electricity distributors into the contracts across its territory, where it provides electricity to 10 million people. Created to lift the Tennessee Valley out of the Great Depression, the utility has a monopoly on supplying electricity in Tennessee and parts of Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. The lawsuit, filed Monday, takes aim at the TVA's monopoly status and says that the new contracts renew automatically and require a 20-year notice to terminate, effectively making them "never-ending." As such, they run afoul of the 1933 law that created TVA and limited its monopoly power, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of three southeastern groups that advocate for cleaner energy—Protect Our Aquifer, Energy Alabama and Appalachian Voices.The legal challenge also claims that TVA failed to analyze and disclose the consequences of its program establishing the new contracts, and consider alternatives, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA is the law that President Trump in July proposed weakening by shortening and limiting environmental reviews."TVA is public power. It's a federal utility," said Amanda Garcia, Southern Environmental Law Center's Tennessee office director. "All of its distributors are public power. The fact that they didn't do any NEPA (process) shows that the public's interest was left entirely out of this monumental decision for public power."The result will be that TVA gets to "stamp out any competition for the next century," said Garcia. "These never-ending contracts threaten to prevent local distributors from ever renegotiating their contract with TVA, let alone consider leaving the utility if it continues to lag behind in transitioning towards cheaper, cleaner renewable energy."TVA spokesman Scott Brooks responded that the contracts are "completely voluntary" agreements that provide their customers an annual 3.1 percent discount on wholesale power rates, as well as the flexibility to self-generate a portion of their own power, primarily through renewable energy, Brooks said. The contracts allow local utilities to develop up to 5 percent of their electricity from other sources, such as solar power—an amount that critics have said is woefully inadequate to meet the challenge of climate change.
How the Energy Storage Industry Responded to the Arizona Battery Fire --The energy storage industry didn't wait for the outcome of Arizona Public Service's year-long investigation into the battery fire that injured four firefighters in April 2019 to start improving the safety of grid batteries.The McMicken fire set off a series of shadow investigations, as battery suppliers, developers and customers pieced together evidence to identify the risks posed by their own systems. New looks at potential failures prompted product redesigns, along with hardware and software updates to existing systems. “Because of our own research into the causes of the APS event, we were aware of what the report was basically going to say,” said Danny Lu, senior vice president at storage integrator Powin Energy, in an email. “We had immediately started working on solutions to those problems about a year ago.” By the time the APS battery report came out last month, leading energy storage providers, including Fluence, which supplied the McMicken energy storage system, had already adopted key safety improvements. They engineered systems to detect and remove dangerous gases so they cannot build up and explode. They also addressed the layout of battery cells so that if one heats up, the problem does not spread. A high-profile failure like the McMicken fire might be expected to hold back construction of more grid batteries. Numerous startups hawk alternative storage technologies on the basis of being safer than lithium-ion.But the U.S. energy storage market did not stop expanding as a result of safety concerns. Instead, the industry has experienced meteoric growth, with record procurements announced almost weekly this summer. An unprecedented number of utilities and power producers are investing in batteries as a pillar of a cleaner electric grid.
Democrats Drop Demand To End Fossil Fuel Subsidies From Party Platform | HuffPost -The Democratic National Committee this week quietly dropped language calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks from its party platform, HuffPost has learned. On July 27, officials added an amendment to the Manager’s Mark, a ledger of party demands voted on as one omnibus package, stating: “Democrats support eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuels, and will fight to defend and extend tax incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy.”The amendment was approved. But the statement ― which reflects pledges presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, each made on the campaign trail ― disappeared from the final draft of the party platform circulated Monday.In an emailed statement, a DNC spokesperson said the amendment was “incorrectly included in the Manager’s Mark” and taken out “after the error was discovered.” Activists accused the DNC of retroactively removing the amendment from the final draft of the platform. “This is ridiculous,” Collin Rees, a campaigner with the nonprofit Oil Change U.S., said by phone. “This is a commonsense position held by both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. … The DNC should immediately include it in the platform.” Greenpeace ranked the DNC platform a C-plus in a new grade set to be released Wednesday, giving the official party manifesto a lower rating than the B-plus proposals Biden and Harris each ran on in the presidential primary. “This platform is a step backwards, and we deserve better,”
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: What changed — and what didn't — in the climate platform -- Wednesday, August 19, 2020 --Democrats released their strongest climate platform in history, but any celebration from the left was soured by news that party officials had removed a provision that called for an end to subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuel companies.The last-minute drama follows months of negotiations between climate activists and party insiders over the Democratic direction on global warming. The talks led to a detente of sorts, but the latest platform fight runs the risk of upsetting that armistice (Climatewire, Aug. 17).Especially galling for climate activists is that the 2016 Democratic Party platform included a provision that sought to end subsidies and tax breaks for the fossil fuel sector. Most of the 2020 Democratic field — including presidential nominee Joe Biden — supported an end to those subsidies as well.The reversal on subsidies contrasts to the rest of the 2020 Democratic platform, which is generally more ambitious on climate than the 2016 version. Activists and party officials said the change reflects increased awareness among voters about the scale of the climate crisis and a belief among Democrats that global warming is a winning issue for them against President Trump."The whole climate platform is a must for voters now; we have reached that tipping point with a lot of people that this is a crisis that needs to be dealt with," said Lori Lodes, executive director of the advocacy group Climate Power 2020. "That's the difference we're seeing, the American people have shifted and that's really being reflected in the platform." Below are six notable changes between the Democratic platforms of 2016 and 2020 on the issue of global warming.
Global Warming Is Accelerating. (In Other News, Democrats Reverse Platform, Won’t End Fossil Fuel Subsidies) - As we contemplate the political events of the week — the Republican takeover of the Democratic Party and convention; Democratic media adjunct MSNBC lying about AOC’s Party-approved nomination of Bernie Sanders (before changing their headline); Bill Clinton daring to show his face in public, and post-MeToo leadership letting him — it’s nevertheless impossible not to be overwhelmed by this: “Good morning. The Greenland ice sheet has past the melting point of no return“ “[I]ce that’s discharging into the ocean is far surpassing the snow that’s accumulating on the surface of the ice sheet” — Michalea King, lead author of the study and a researcher at The Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. “[S]tarting in 2000, you start superimposing that seasonal melt on a higher baseline—so you’re going to get even more losses,” meaning the melt-rate has permanently accelerated while the snowfall has not. “Record Arctic blazes may herald new ‘fire regime’ decades sooner than anticipated” “This is the type of fire event that would be described by these worst-case modeling scenarios that were supposed to occur mid-century” — Jessica McCarty, a wildfire expert at Miami University of Ohio. Mid-century (2050) Arctic fires now occur regularly. “Global warming is accelerating. 12-month mean peaked just below prior maximum” “[G]lobal temperature is clearly running well above the linear trend that existed for decades” — climate scientist James Hansen. Nonetheless, not everyone is scared. “Democrats Drop Demand To End Fossil Fuel Subsidies From Party Platform” “Roughly half of all U.S. oil reserves required subsidies to generate a profit, according to a study published in the journal Nature Energy in 2017, and that was before the price of crude plunged far below $50 a barrel.” — Huffington Post writer Alexander Kaufman. “This platform is a step backwards” — Charlie Jiang, Greenpeace. “DNC’s Flip-Flop on Fossil Fuel Subsidies Follows Deep Ties the Industry” “In August 2018, the DNC approved a resolution from Chair Tom Perez that reversed a DNC policy prohibiting it from accepting contributions from fossil fuel PACs. … Shortly thereafter, donations from fossil fuel executives began flowing into DNC coffers.” .. “A-a-and we’re done…” — Yours truly
Biden Commits to Banning Fossil Fuel Subsidies After DNC Dropped It -- The Democratic party made the curious move of removing a ban on fossil fuel subsidies from its platform earlier this week as its convention kicked off. The move, which also backtracked from a clean energycommitment, raised the ire of environmental activists. However, presidential nominee Joe Biden, who will steer the party's agenda if elected, has recommitted to a ban on fossil fuel subsidies, as The Verge reported.What happened was this: earlier this week HUFFPOST revealed that the amendment to the party's platform that was approved, "Democrats support eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuels, and will fight to defend and extend tax incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy," was not included the platform document that Democrats released on Monday.That stoked the ire of activists who had been buoyed by the aggressive climate plan that Biden agreed to. Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA, called the removal of the amendment, "immoral, criminal, inexcusable," as Common Dreams reported."We are nearing global tipping points on climate, fires and extreme weather are killing people and devastating the economy, and the DNC can't even accept an end to public subsidies for making it worse?" Leonard tweeted. "This platform is a step backwards, and we deserve better," Charlie Jiang, a campaigner at Greenpeace, said in a statement, as HUFFPOST reported.And yet, the public document of Biden-Harris campaign's climate agenda says it will end subsidies for fossil fuels. The Verge reached out to the campaign to get some clarity on the discrepancy between the campaign and the party's platform. "Vice President Biden's commitment to ending fossil fuel subsidies remains as steadfast as it was when he outlined this position in the bold climate plan he laid out last year," Stef Feldman, policy director for the Biden campaign said in a statement to The Verge. "He will demand a worldwide ban on fossil fuel subsidies and lead the world by example, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies in the United States during the first year of his presidency."
Revealed: how the gas industry is waging war against climate action - When progressive Seattle decided last year to wipe out its climate pollution within the decade, the city council vote in favor was unsurprisingly unanimous, and the easiest first step on that path was clear. About one-third of the city’s climate footprint comes from buildings, in large part from burning “natural” gas for heating and cooking. So, a city councilman drafted legislation to stop the problem from growing by banning gas hookups in new buildings. Suddenly, the first step didn’t look so easy. “From there, we just ran into a wall of opposition,” said Alec Connon, a campaigner with the climate group 350 Seattle. Local plumbers and pipe fitters warned of job losses. Realtors complained their clients would still want gas fireplaces. Building owners feared utility bills could soar. The effort died. The ban wasn’t politically tenable, it seemed. But internal records obtained by the Guardian show the measure’s defeat and the “wall of opposition” that advocates experienced were part of a sophisticated pushback plan from Seattle’s gas supplier, Puget Sound Energy. Seattle’s story isn’t unique. In fact, it’s representative of a nationwide blitz by gas companies and their allies to beat back climate action they consider an existential threat to their business, according to emails, meeting agendas and public records reviewed by the Guardian. The documents show the multibillion-dollar gas industry has built crucial local coalitions and hired high-powered operatives to torpedo cities’ anti-gas policies – sometimes assisted by money those same cities have paid into gas trade associations. In historically conservative states, the gas industry has convinced legislatures to pass laws prohibiting cities from following in Seattle’s footsteps and trying to ban new gas hookups. In the digital world, it has carefully cultivated the fuel’s image, paying Instagram influencers to cook with gas stoves. In the media, it has sought to be quoted in important stories in news outlets like Reuters, according to internal records. In Washington DC, where the industry has strong support from the Trump administration, it has lobbied the federal government on everything from environmental reviews to appliance standards. CBE Strategic, a lobbying firm, was asked to “develop an action plan targeted at countering 350.org’s efforts” and “stopping local governments” from enacting restrictions on gas, according to a summary document of the work. CBE’s responsibilities included “coalition building, lobbying strategy, communications, and research”. “We have been able to stop the fast track the proposal was on by deploying a strong coalition of labor and business,” the summary said. CBE planned to “shape an alternative” to the ban. The firm would create an “inclusive stakeholder process” and analyze possible economic impacts on customers. In other words, the opponents would band together and stall.
US utilities, power providers continue plans to accelerate coal retirements | S&P Global Platts — US coal producers are already in a tough spot, but the hints power generators dropped on second-quarter earnings calls suggest they may soon be announcing plans to retire even more of the nation's aging coal fleet. Demand for coal has been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with production and employment in the sector falling to new lows as the lower demand weighs further on a sector already in secular decline. In recent weeks, multiple power generators made comments about the future of their generation fleets suggesting more coal plant retirements loom on the horizon. Ameren Corp. CEO Warner Baxter said the company would "take a careful look at our coal-fired energy centers and the useful lives of those plants" and "really think about what's really going to deliver value to our customers in the state of Missouri." . Ameren Missouri, known legally as Union Electric Co., operates four coal-fired power plants, including the 2,464-MW Labadie and 1,218-MW Rush Island facilities. The utility's 2017 integrated resource plan called for the retirement of 2,750 MW of its 5,100 MW fleet of coal-fired generation over the next 20 years, starting with shutting down the 867-MW Meramec Energy Center by the end of 2022. Executives with Wisconsin-headquartered Alliant Energy said on an Aug. 7 earnings call that while they have not announced any early retirements in Iowa, they are evaluating potential coal plant shutdowns as part of the under-development "Clean Energy Blueprint" plan. "We'll have some more information to share later this year on any potential early retirements for Iowa state," Alliant said in May it plans to retire the 417.8-MW, coal-fired Edgewater power plant in Sheboygan County, Wis., by the end of 2022. Power generators continue the steady march of coal plant retirements, even under a friendly presidential administration that campaigned on bringing back jobs in coal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently completed a coal combustion residuals rule that Vistra Corp. CEO Curtis Morgan said would have "far-reaching implications for the power sector." "At a very high level, the rule requires certain coal plants that dispose of coal ash and surface impoundments to either make necessary capital investments and operating changes to bring these coal ash disposal sites into compliance with the federal rule or to permanently retire by 2023 or 2028, depending on the size of the surface impoundment," Morgan said. "We are fine-tuning the steps we plan to take in each of our impacted sites. ... It is important to note that our valuation suggests that there are several coal plants, especially in [PJM Interconnection LLC], that will be under pressure due to this rulemaking."
DNR moves earth in Fulton mine reclamation project - Stepping onto the mine reclamation site just off Hickman Avenue in Fulton, it's immediately clear why the landowners called the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for help. A few yards away from their vegetable garden, a sheer cliff (the mine's former high wall) plunges down into a gulch that was once filled with water. Standing on the brink of the former pond, you can see a giant chunk of rock and soil — topped with a full-grown tree — that recently broke free from the high wall and tumbled into the former pond. "There was a pretty large rock and some grass that fell off while we were looking at the project," said Austin Rehagen, of the DNR's Land Reclamation Program. Bit by bit, the high wall was collapsing and imperiling the garden, not to mention anyone who got too close to the edge. The DNR rated the high wall and pond as Priority 2 hazards — not as dangerous as, say, an open mine shaft right next to a home, but still potentially able to cause injury. Before the DNR began its work, the area was full of spoils mounds overgrown with hardwood trees and invasive bush honeysuckle. Right now, the 8-acre site behind Blue Jay Field looks even more a mess: the vegetation has been stripped away, leaving mounds of clay-heavy soil, and the pond's empty, its bottom coated with stinking mud. But that's all part of the process, Rehagen said. "When we're done, you won't believe the difference," Rehagen said. The contractor, Carl R. Jones Excavating and Hauling of Fredericktown, will push earth all along the 300-foot length of the collapsing high wall, converting it from a cliff to a gentle slope and filling in the hazardous pond.
Indiana city still dealing with old coal-storage vaults (AP) — A northern Indiana city still has more than two dozen underground coal-storage vaults that need addressing more than eight years after a man walking on a sidewalk plunged into one of the chambers. Goshen officials began mapping and inspecting the vaults after Dew Drop Inn owner Ken Carner fell 8 feet into a vault under his building in July 2012 when its weakened roof gave way. That led to a cost-sharing program to fill in the most dangerous vaults and under which building owners paid to wall off their basements, while the city paid to fill in the cavity. The cost of repairing the overhead sidewalk was split, The Elkhart Truth reported. While some of the vaults were shored up and restored, 30 were closed by the time the cost-sharing program ended in 2018, but 27 still need to be addressed, Public Works Director Dustin Sailor told the Goshen Redevelopment Commission last week. He said that while annual inspections were required for the vaults identified as the biggest concerns, no known follow-up was done after reports were last received in 2015. Sailor’s staff inspected the 27 remaining vaults and found that 12 were safe with no apparent repairs needed, six were in OK condition with future repairs likely required, and nine others were bad and needed to have corrective measures done soon. Sailor said he’d like to have the “OK” and “bad” vaults inspected by a structural engineer to help determine the next step. He estimated it could cost $3,000 per location. But some commission members balked at that proposal, with Commission President Tom Stump calling it too expensive.
McFeely: 'Betting on Einstein,' North Dakota coal county bans solar power | Grand Forks Herald — McLean County is, in the words of its state's attorney and policy influencer, "betting on Einstein" for its future. That's why the central North Dakota county in the heart of lignite coal country recently imposed a two-year moratorium on solar power, a couple of months after it told Great River Energy to take a hike when the Minnesota power cooperative wanted to build more power lines to transmit wind energy from neighboring counties.Great River Energy is the company that announced earlier this year it was shuttering the massive Coal Creek Station coal-fired power plant in McLean County in 2022, a devastating economic blow in an area low on high-paying jobs with good benefits.There is an aversion to wind power in this area of North Dakota, both because locals see it as a threat to coal and because many view large wind farms as a blight on the wondrous landscape. The Missouri River, Lake Sakakawea and Lake Audubon are outdoors meccas for fishing, hunting and recreating. Huge swaths of wind towers and power lines blunt the beauty. Recreation dollars are a major source of income for many in this area. Ladd Erickson is the state's attorney in question. When a local newspaper ran a story last week that McLean County put a two-year ban on solar farms, and Erickson was quoted as saying the contracts being offered to landowners were close to an "outright scam," I couldn't resist talking with him for further comment. Erickson believes the solar companies approaching landowners with leases are speculators who want to tie up land around Coal Creek Station with the hope of selling the leases to a third party if access is granted to the massive high voltage power line that carries electricity from North Dakota to Minnesota. Erickson considers the moratorium "landowner protection" because, he said, the solar company leases have the potential to tie up property for decades. Property, Erickson says, that can be used in a coal operation.
Peabody pushes coal carbon capture through front groups, industry associations, PR and lobbying efforts - A coal industry front group funded by Peabody Energy and the state of Wyoming successfully urged the Department of Energy to fund a study proposing a carbon capture project at the Comanche coal plant near Pueblo, Colorado. The operator of the coal plant, Xcel Energy, and regulators in Colorado have made clear that Xcel will close the coal units to reduce costs, and the carbon capture proposal has not gained traction. The effort shows one of the many ways that the largest coal mining company in the U.S. pushes coal carbon capture proposals, while many electric utilities are now more focused on closing coal plants they operate than pursuing carbon capture projects. Beyond the effort in Colorado, Peabody Energy promotes coal carbon capture proposals through industry associations, direct lobbying, and public relations campaigns. As Xcel Energy sought approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in 2018 to close two units at the Comanche coal plant, the utility faced opposition from a group that called itself a “Coalition of Ratepayers,” organized by the Independence Institute, a Denver-based conservative think tank. But emails obtained through a public records request show that the effort was actually the work of a front group for coal mining companies and the state of Wyoming called the Energy Policy Network (EPN). The Comanche plant burns coal that is mined in Wyoming, and EPN’s effort to keep it operating is part of a broader campaign funded by coal mining companies with Wyoming operations to delay the closures of coal plants that burn coal from there. EPN hired lawyers to argue the case before the Colorado PUC, paid a public relations firm to influence media coverage in Colorado, and funded the Independence Institute. A lawyer for the Independence Institute wouldn’t say how much money it received from EPN. The Independence Institute is a chapter of the State Policy Network, a web of state-based think tanks with a history of advocating for state policies that would aid its corporate donors. Peabody helped fund EPN, according to an unredacted tax form, and EPN’s Vice President Jacob Williams is a former Peabody executive. In one email exchange, Williams told EPN Executive Director Randy Eminger to include six additional Peabody executives on updates about the effort to keep the Comanche coal units operating, explaining “The more Peabody Sr. Management engaged, the better.”
Top 25 Illinois Basin coal mines dropped output 20% in 12 months ended June 30 - Coal production from the Illinois Basin's top mines decreased 20.0% for the 12 months ended June 30 as the COVID-19 pandemic added pressure to producers already facing a long-term decline in domestic markets as well as weak export markets. The top 25 coal mines by production volume in the Illinois Basin produced an aggregate 72.1 million tons in the 12 months that ended with the second quarter, decreasing year over year from 90.2 million tons. Much of the production decline occurred in the recent quarter, when producers were dealing with increased safety precautions at their mines and demand for coal decreased as the U.S. economy faltered. The top mines produced 14.0 million tons of coal in the three-month period, down from 18.4 million tons in the first quarter and 21.7 million tons in the second quarter of 2019. Lively Grove, a mine owned by multiple power generating entities, climbed two spots in its ranking compared to the prior quarter to become the top producer in the region in the second quarter. Production from the mine in the 12 months ended June 30 increased 4.0% year over year. Alliance Resource Partners LP's River View mine, the second-largest producer in the quarter, saw production fall 10.5% in the 12-month period compared to the prior year. The company's No. 1 and Gibson South mines reported production declines of 33.3% and 54.4%, respectively. Over the same time, the company's Cardinal mine increased coal production by 1.6%. "The first half of 2020 presented many challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively affected economic activity around the globe, resulting in lower demand for coal, oil and natural gas," Alliance President and CEO Joseph Craft said on a July 27 earnings call. "The entire energy industry, including Alliance, has had to react quickly to the rapid loss of demand." Alliance temporarily idled all of its Illinois Basin operations early in the second quarter to mitigate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Foresight Energy LP, another large producer in the region, produced about 3.1 million tons of coal from three top Illinois Basin mines in the second quarter. Output decreased from 3.6 million tons in the prior quarter and 5.0 million tons in the second quarter of 2019. Hallador Energy Co. reported 1.4 million tons of coal production in the second quarter from its Oaktown Fuels No. 1 and Oaktown Fuels No. 2 mines, down from 1.5 million tons in each the prior quarter and the comparable year-ago period.
Coal country envisions paths forward in manufacturing, reclamation and renewables - In parts of Appalachia, coal has been joined, though not replaced, by a burgeoning industry that seeks funding for schemes to repurpose land on and around former mines into new economic endeavors. These ideas range wildly, but often involve outdoor recreation, heritage tourism, agriculture or renewable energy.Often, these proposals seek nonprofit grants or federal funding from the more than $300 million that Congress has appropriated for the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund that was established through the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Action of 1977. The nonprofit advocacy group Appalachian Voices produced reports in 2016 and 2018 in collaboration with a number of other organizations that promoted redevelopment of dozens of sites throughout central Appalachia, including several that eventually won Abandoned Mine Lands funding. The federal funding has also been used to support the development of federal and state prisons, which have become major employers in several coal communities.Not all of those prison projects have found success. Other projects aiming to reinvent former mineland have fallen as well. In 2016, a plan to farm lavender at a reclaimed strip mine in Boone County, West Virginia, won grants from the Benedum Foundation and the Appalachian Regional Commission, then abruptly collapsed when the grants ran out. Similarly, the nonprofit Mined Mines promised to train and place people in coding jobs, but failed to follow through on its promises, leading to accusations of fraud. Fayetteville, West Virginia, has the advantage of its location near the New River Gorge National River, a unit of the National Park Service, while other communities market attractions in national forests and state parks. Both Kentucky and Virginia have built networks of off-road trails modeled after West Virginia’s Hatfield-McCoy Trails, which wind more than 700 miles across 14 counties in the state’s southern coalfields. Many communities are building hospitality industries around outdoor adventure in hopes of attracting not just visitors, but talented workers and companies that want to hire them. Making that happen requires infrastructure — and not just basics like good water and reliable electricity, but broadband internet, healthcare access and higher education to train an ever-evolving workforce. In places struggling to maintain basic government services, that’s a tall order.
How W.Va. Miners With Black Lung Disease Are Navigating The Pandemic - Jerry Coleman, a third-generation miner, worked for 37 years, mostly underground, near Cabin Creek, West Virginia. But at 68 years old, he has complicated black lung disease, meaning, his lungs are permanently and irreversibly scarred by coal dust.“Black lung, it doesn't get better, it gets worse,” Coleman said.Black lung is in a way, a death sentence -- the lungs gradually deteriorate until the person can no longer breathe. And in the middle of a pandemic, it is only more complicated, Coleman said. He is also the president for the Kanawha County Black Lung Association. “You gotta wear a mask, and with your breathin’ problems and stuff, it’s hard to walk around and breath through the mask. It's like sucking in hot air,” he said. “But I don’t have no choice, with the condition of my lungs and stuff, I can’t take a chance." COVID-19 is classified as a respiratory virus. It can affect and even be deadly to the healthiest of people, but the most vulnerable are those with high-risk conditions, such as lung disease and old age -- which represent much of West Virginia’s former coal miner population.“Each different lung disease kind of takes away some of your lung function,” said Carl Werntz, an occupational medical specialist in southern West Virginia.Werntz administers black lung exams, a crucial step to apply for federal black lung benefits. “So that person if they get COVID it bothers their lungs,” he said. “They're going to run out of usable lung much faster than somebody who starts out with healthy lungs.”Since the pandemic began, Werntz said black lung exams were put on hold at the clinic he works at in Cabin Creek. Exams slowly resumed in July, but at half capacity. Typically, he sees six to eight patients a day, but with new COVID protocols, Werntz said he sees three to four -- creating a backlog of patients waiting for their black lung exam.Federal black lung benefits include monthly payments and medical coverage for lung treatment – medical care that is expensive, said Jerry Coleman, the former coal miner with black lung. The fight for benefits can be long even without a pandemic. Coleman said he fought for seven years to receive his benefits. “Until you get awarded it, anything that pertains to you breathing, you have to pay for everything,” he said. “And you're not going to, you know, spend exactly what you have to spend, because you don't have the money to waste. You know? It's a shame to say but that's the way it is.”
'They deserve to be heard': Sick and dying coal ash cleanup workers fight for their lives - Doug Bledsoe and his wife, Johnnie, were out celebrating the end of her two-year battle with breast cancer and trying to relax after his hospital visit that afternoon, when doctors found a spot on his lung. Johnnie remembers looking across the table at her husband, whose tan face was slack, his mouth drooling. She quickly got him to their truck and sped to North Knoxville medical center across the street. Doctors ran a Cat scan of his brain and found a large tumor growing above his eye, which was catalyzing the seizure and affecting his speech. They also found that the shadow on his lung, as well as spots on his brain and adrenal gland, were tumors. .. .. For almost six years, he, along with roughly 900 others, helped clean up the nation’s largest coal ash spill an hour west of his doorstep. TVA’s own testing showed the utility knew the coal ash – waste material leftover from burning coal for electricity – contained toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury and selenium, and radioactive materials, decades before the spill; an EPA pollution report from early 2009 shows TVA tested for radioactivity in ash and soil samples two weeks after the spill occurred and EPA found spikes in radiation above background levels. When reached for comment, Scott Brooks, a TVA spokesperson, stated, “The constituents of coal ash have been well-known for years, and TVA was transparent with this information throughout the Kingston recovery project.” But an initial draft of the site safety plan made no mention of radioactive materials, and did not list heavy metals as constituents of fly ash aside from arsenic. Contractors working for the utility repeatedly assured cleanup workers that the ash, which floated in the air, coating their bare skin and lungs, was safe. Some workers testified the company refused to provide or allow for the use of protective suits or masks. Bledsoe was one of many workers hired for the cleanup who have suffered since the spill. His eldest brother, Ron, a lifelong health enthusiast, has a terminal condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. App Thacker, who dredged ash from the riverways, said his testosterone levels dropped to those of an octogenarian when he was in his 40s. Roy Edmonds, who drove dump trucks around the site, had five debilitating surgeries to remove a sarcoma that nearly bankrupted his family. Ansol Clark, a fuel truck driver, had two strokes before he was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. Frankie Norris, a heavy equipment operator, developed weeping sores all over his skin, including on his face. He has to wash blood off his body every night. Philip Crick, who operated a water truck, had skyrocketing blood pressure and a series of skin cancer diagnoses that led to reconstructive surgery on both sides of his nose.
UAE's nuclear power plant connects to the national grid in a major regional milestone -- Unit 1 of the UAE's Barakah plant — the Arab world's first nuclear energy plant — has connected to the national power grid, in a historic moment enabling it to provide cleaner electricity to millions of residents and help reduce the oil-rich country's reliance on fossil fuels. "This is a major milestone, we've been planning for this for the last 12 years now," Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), told CNBC's Dan Murphy in an exclusive interview ahead of the news. Unit 1 is the first of what will eventually be four reactors, which when fully operational are expected to provide 25% of the UAE's electricity and reduce its carbon emissions by 21 million tons a year, according to ENEC. That's roughly equivalent to the carbon emissions of 3.2 million cars annually. The Gulf country of nearly 10 million is the newest member of a group of now 31 countries running nuclear power operations. It's also the first new country to launch a nuclear power plant in three decades, the last being China in 1990. The achievement for the UAE is particularly significant given tensions in the wider region over nuclear proliferation. Some observers have warned of a regional arms race, though the UAE already partakes in what nuclear energy experts call the "gold standard" of civilian nuclear partnerships: The U.S.-UAE 123 Agreement for Peaceful Civilian Nuclear Energy Cooperation. It allows the UAE to receive nuclear materials, equipment and know-how from the U.S. while precluding it from developing dual-use technology by barring uranium enrichment and fuel reprocessing, the processes required for building a bomb.By contrast, nearby Iran has suspended its compliance to the multilateral 2015 deal that regulated its nuclear power development and many fear its approach toward bomb-making capability. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has voiced its desire to develop a nuclear energy program without adhering to a 123 agreement. And most recently, in the wake of a historic deal that has seen the UAE become the first Gulf country to normalize relations with Israel, Iran responded by warning the agreement would bring a "dangerous future" for the Emirati government.
Georgia Public Service Commission balks at speeding up review of Plant Vogtle cost to customers— Georgia’s utility regulating agency voted unanimously Tuesday to approve $674 million in spending on the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion Georgia Power Co. reported incurring during the last half of 2019. But the state Public Service Commission rejected a PSC staff recommendation to start discussing how much of the project’s cost the utility’s customers will be forced to absorb when the first of two new reactors under construction at the site in Waynesboro, Ga., goes into operation late next year.The PSC has been signing off on Georgia Power’s spending on the $25 billion project in six-month increments since the agency approved the nuclear expansion in 2009.Following a series of delays that set the work back five years and drove up the price tag from an original estimate of $14 billion, the commission voted in 2017 to hold off any decisions on whether the cost overruns were “prudent” and, thus, could be passed on to customers, until after the new reactors are finished.But the project’s critics, including consumer and environmental advocacy groups, have been pushing the PSC to take up the impact on customers sooner.On Tuesday, the commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff recommended the PSC start considering the issue when Georgia Power presents its next semiannual Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) report, due by the end of this month. But Commissioner Tricia Pridemore argued now is too soon to start discussing the project’s ultimate impact on customer bills. She proposed an amendment to the staff’s recommendation to limit Tuesday’s vote to approving the $674 million in spending from the last six months of last year. “It’s premature to talk about rates and ratemaking,” she said. “We’re 14 months out from [the] Unit 3 [reactor] coming on line.”
PSC approves Duke nuclear decommissioning plan - The Florida Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved Duke Energy’s plan to decommission the Crystal River Nuclear Plant by 2038.Duke has contracted with Delaware-based Accelerated Decommissioning Partners to dismantle the plant at a cost of $540 million. The plan’s approval locks in that cost, which is less than half of the plan’s original $1.2 billion estimated cost.The utility company will use funds from the decommissioning trust fund to pay for the project. The account has about $660 million collected from customers during the plant’s operational lifetime.“Duke’s transaction requires no additional funds from its customers, and mitigates any risk from the plant’s otherwise long-term dormancy,” PSC Chairman Gary Clark said in a news release. “Customers will also benefit from the plan’s fixed-price and elimination of continued execution and property maintenance risk.”The approved plan requires Duke to report how it has spent money from the decommissioning fund on a quarterly basis until the project is complete.The plan was announced in May 2019. Now that it has been approved, the decommissioning process will begin this year and is expected to be completed by 2038. Duke originally announced it would decommission the plant in 2014 with an expected completion date of 2074.The Crystal River Nuclear Plant went online in 1977 and was shut down for maintenance in 2009. The concrete walls containing the plant’s steam generators cracked during repairs, extending the maintenance period and eventually leading Duke to announce it would permanently shut down the plant.Also on Tuesday, the PSC approved a plan by Peoples Gas System to track costs incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan will allow the utility company to defer cost recovery for things such as unpaid utility bills and seek recovery through rates at a later date.
Larry Householder case complicates bankruptcy reorganization of former FirstEnergy unit - Cleveland Business Journal - The alleged corruption scheme surrounding Ohio's nuclear power plant bailout law is complicating the bankruptcy reorganization of former FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary Energy Harbor Corp.U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Alan Koschik on Tuesday is scheduled to consider approving payment of millions of dollars in fees and expenses charged by outside law firms and consultants that helped the former FirstEnergy Solutions break free of its parent company, FirstEnergy, according to an Akron Beacon Journal report.Both Energy Harbor, the former FirstEnergy Solutions, and FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) are headquartered in Akron. The former FirstEnergy Solutions, which owns the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants in northern Ohio and two coal-fired power plants, exited bankruptcy court as Energy Harbor Corp. in February.Koschik had been expected to approve Energy Harbor's final slate of legal and consulting fees from the bankruptcy reorganization on July 21 but delayed his plans after being informed that the FBI had arrested former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, one of his advisers, the state's former Republican Party chairman and a pair of Columbus-based lobbyists had been arrested.Householder and the others are accused in an alleged $60 million bribery and racketeering conspiracy to pass House Bill 6, the law that bailed out the money-losing nuclear plants, and to keep a referendum of the law off the ballot last fall.FirstEnergy is alleged to have steered millions of dollars to a "dark money" group to back Householder and other political allies and cut short the referendum effort. Dark money groups do not have to disclose their donors.FirstEnergy CEO Charles Jones has said that his company acted ethically in its support of H.B. 6 and is cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department investigation of Householder.Jones also said the former FirstEnergy Solutions, now Energy Harbor, "made its own decisions" about external affairs after appointing a new board of directors as part of its separation from parent FirstEnergy.Householder is expected to appear before a judge this week, the Beacon Journal reported. The others charged — lobbyists Juan Cespedes and Neil Clark, Republican strategist Matthew Borges, and Householder aide Jeff Longstreth — have all pleaded not guilty.In the wake of the bribery scandal, some state officials are pushing for a campaign finance bill to eliminate dark money and make the sources of political contributions in Ohio public information.
Federal judge approves partial payment of millions in fees to firms involved in FirstEnergy Solutions bankruptcy case - cleveland.com —Weeks after halting bankruptcy proceedings for the company formerly known as FirstEnergy Solutions because of an alleged bribery scandal to bail out the company’s nuclear plants, a federal judge on Tuesday approved paying tens of millions in fees and expenses to outside firms that did work on the case. However, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Alan Koschik ruled that accounting, legal, and consulting work done for FirstEnergy Solutions – a former FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary now called Energy Harbor – can only be paid on an interim basis, meaning many of the firms will only receive a fraction of their payment until the judge grants final approval. Koschik also held off on allowing payment of about $68 million in fees and expenses to law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a law firm that represented FirstEnergy Solutions during its bankruptcy proceedings and helped lobby for the passage of House Bill 6, which provides a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout to the company’s two Ohio nuclear power plants. Ex-House Speaker Larry Householder and four allies have been charged with operating a massive bribery scheme to secure the legislation’s passage. Koschik said he would issue a ruling on Akin Gump, as well as decide on final approval about payment for the other firms, during a hearing on Nov. 17. Firms that did work for the creditors in the case were permitted payment in full by the judge. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office previously asked Koschik to delay approving any payments to the firms, in case it’s found that any of them had a connection to the bribery case. “Once the horse gets out of the barn, it’s kind of hard to put him back in,”
Ohio AG seeks to halt payouts in nuke plants' bankruptcy | The Blade — The $60 million bribery and racketeering scheme which prosecutors believe was masterminded by former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has cast “a cloud of suspicion” over federal bankruptcy proceedings used to help save the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants, and is akin to a “hijacking of the legislative process,” according to a new court document written by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. In a filing Monday, Mr. Yost, a Republican, said the arrests of Mr. Householder, who also is a Republican, and four of his Republican associates in an operation that federal prosecutors have described as a pay-to-play scheme “raises concerns that the Debtor may not have entered into the bankruptcy with clean hands.” He is asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Alan M. Koschik for a temporary halt on payouts from those proceedings. He said it’s not clear if those requesting fees “were in a position to recognize underlying activities as opposed to further depleting the funds of the estate.” “In light of the foregoing, [the] Ohio Attorney General is requesting this Court not take any further action to approve compensation, fees, or expenses until there is further clarity in the federal criminal case,” Mr. Yost wrote. The scandal accusations stem from legislation known as House Bill 6, which Mr. Householder pushed through the Ohio General Assembly in 2019. The main purpose of that legislation was to bail out the Davis-Besse nuclear plant east of Toledo and the Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland. Both are now owned and operated by a new company Energy Harbor, which emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings to replace FirstEnergy Solutions. FES is a former subsidiary of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. “This casts a cloud of suspicion over the bankruptcy proceedings,” Mr. Yost said in his filing. His comments echo what many legislators from both parties have stated in the aftermath of the arrests of Mr. Householder and others, some calling for an outright repeal and invalidation of House Bill 6 and others - including Gov. Mike DeWine - calling for a repeal that is immediately followed by similar legislation to stave off immediate closures of those two plants. Neither has been able to compete in the modern era of record low natural gas prices and greater support for solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy. House Bill 6 also gave FirstEnergy one of the biggest things it had wanted for years, a repeal of an Ohio law which required utilities doing business in the state to steadily invest more in renewable energy.
Lawmakers conflicted over repealing law at heart of scandal — Several bills have been introduced in the Ohio General Assembly to outright repeal the nuclear plant bailout law at the heart of a $61 million Statehouse bribery scandal. But then what? Gov. Mike DeWine has called on lawmakers to swiftly act to undo House Bill 6. He signed the bill into law last year and still supports the policy behind it. But he argues that the $1 billion bailout has been tainted by the revelations detailed in a federal indictment of what allegedly went on behind the scenes to get HB 6 across the finish line. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R., Glenford) and four of his allies face charges that they conspired to funnel $61 million from FirstEnergy and related interests to help elect lawmakers loyal to Mr. Householder and get him elected speaker. They are accused of then using that power to push through a controversial law bailing out the Davis-Besse plant near Oak Harbor and Perry plant east of Cleveland as part of Ohio's energy policy. But the commissioners of Ottawa and Erie counties, where the two plants are located, called on lawmakers to leave the law in place. Together, they directly employ about 1,400 people. “White we detest any alleged illegal or unethical activity before, during, or after the enactment of the legislation, we certainly believe the policy outcomes were of great benefit not only to our counties, but also to all Ohioans,” they said in a joint statement on Monday. “If the former House speaker or ‘dark money’ contributors were coordinating illegal behind-the-scenes activities, they should be punished in accordance with federal and state laws,” they said. Mr. DeWine wants lawmakers to openly debate and enact a replacement law. House Republicans and Democrats have introduced separate bills to repeal House Bill 6 and return to prior law that include no subsidies for the two nuclear plants and require utilities to obtain increasingly more of their power from renewable sources and reduce energy usage overall. A bipartisan measure doing the same thing has been introduced in the Senate. But all three bills have lawmakers who voted against the law in the first place as their primary sponsors. Only a handful of prior “yes” votes — including Reps. Mike Sheehy (D., Oregon) and Lisa Sobecki (D., Toledo) — are among those who've added their names as co-sponsors. Rep. Mike Skindell (D., Lakewood), a sponsor of House Bill 738, said the repeal should take place now but debate over a new bill should wait until after the new General Assembly is sworn in in January. “Because this session of General Assembly was created through alleged corrupt activities, we should deal with the legislation in the next General Assembly with the people there,” he said.
Crain's editorial: Dark days -At a time when many citizens need, or soon will need, Ohio's government to be at its best, the state Legislature is at a low point in perceptions of its integrity.It doesn't have to stay that way, though, if lawmakers are willing to embrace some sensible measures to reduce the influence in Ohio of "dark money" groups, which aren't required to disclose their donors, in political campaigns.The recent arrest of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others in the House Bill 6 scandal is prompting consideration in Columbus about how to eliminate the unethical funneling of money to lawmakers that allegedly greased the way for bad legislative sausage-making.As federal prosecutors tell it, "Company A," thought to be FirstEnergy and related entities, used a 501(c)(4) called Generation Now to direct more than $60 million to political organizations that Householder controlled, with the prize being passage of a $1 billion-plus nuclear bailout bill. As Cleveland.com reported, "FirstEnergy's funding — which was spent on buying political ads and hiring consultants and campaign staff — was obscured by routing it through various political organizations and business entities with vague names and lax disclosure rules," practices made possible by dark money. U.S. Energy News, in its analysis of how dark money was used in the passage of HB 6, added that the independent expenditures "often escape reporting requirements, even when attack ads against a candidate's opponent clearly aim to influence the outcome of a campaign. Likewise, issue-focused ads also escape reporting requirements unless they relate to a specific ballot proposal, as opposed to general warnings against plant closures, foreign influence or certain types of energy."Without knowing where the backing of groups like Generation Now and others comes from, it's impossible for voters to evaluate their messages during a political campaign. Whatever comes next in energy reform in Ohio cannot be tainted by the financial maneuverings that led to HB 6. State Reps. Gayle Manning, a Republican from North Ridgeville, and Jessica Miranda, a Democrat from Forest Park, are co-sponsoring HB 737, a campaign-finance reform bill that would require mandatory donor disclosures for all political spending in Ohio, even if a group is organized as a nonprofit. Cleveland.com noted that Manning and Miranda "also want to require more frequent disclosures — once every other month, instead of the common practice of quarterly reports — and to give the Secretary of State's Office subpoena power to force organizations to share records if they don't file them willingly."
Utica Shale well activity as of Aug. 15 - Three horizontal permits were issued during the week that ended Aug. 15, and 5 rigs were operating in the Utica Shale.
- DRILLED: 153 (157 previous week)
- DRILLING: 94 (95)
- PERMITTED: 504 (506)
- PRODUCING: 2,535 (2,528)
- TOTAL: 3,286 (3,286)
Pipelines lose bid to lower tax bills, can appeal -- Akron Beacon Journal - The Ohio Department of Taxation has denied bids by NEXUS Gas Transmission and Rover Pipeline to lower their tax bills.Both pipelines ship natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale regions to markets in Canada and across the United States.NEXUS and Rover appealed the Department of Taxation’s valuation of their pipelines last year.County auditors use state valuations to set tax collections for school districts, townships, library districts and other entities.Based on the state’s valuations, the Rover and NEXUS pipelines, combined, were projected last year to generate $20 million in extra revenue in Stark County and lower the rates on levies with set dollar amounts.But the owners of the pipelines said the assessments were too high.The 36-inch-diameter NEXUS pipeline crosses northern Ohio, including Stark, Summit, Wayne, Medina and Columbiana counties. NEXUS is a partnership between DTE Energy and Enbridge.The state set the taxable value of NEXUS near $1.4 billion, but the owners argued for a taxable value closer to $996 million. The owners said building the pipeline cost $2.6 billion, $400 million more than planned.Rover follows a path a few miles south of the NEXUS route. Rover consists of twin 42-inch-diameter pipelines, plus connecting lines, that traverse Stark, Carroll, Tuscarawas, Harrison, Wayne, Ashland and Richland counties.Energy Transfer Partners, Blackstone Group and Traverse Midstream Partners own the pipeline.The owners sought to cut Rover’s taxable value from $3.5 billion to about $1.85 billion. The owners said the pipeline went $2 billion over budget, costing $6.2 billion.Tax Commissioner Jeffrey A. McClain denied the appeals of both pipelines on July 10. The companies have 60 days from that date to appeal to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals. The issue ultimately could land before the Supreme Court of Ohio.
Trump administration continues push for Ohio petrochemical plant A proposed petrochemical plant in eastern Ohio got another push from the Trump administration Thursday, with a top official saying that he’s optimistic a new partner will be found to invest in its development. Mark W. Menezes, deputy U.S. Energy secretary, visited the site of the proposed complex in Shadyside along the Ohio River. “We are all here today for the same reason: We want this project to continue moving forward,” he told local officials in prepared remarks. “We want it to move forward because it will create jobs right here in Belmont County. We want it to move forward because it will strengthen American energy security.” The fresh push comes amid uncertainty about the project’s future. A key partner in the project, Daelim of South Korea, pulled out last month, citing the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and oil price volatility. That has left Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical America looking for new partners on the project. “We’re very optimistic that we’ll find a replacement partner on the project,″ Menezes told The Dispatch, noting that the coronavirus has forced companies of all kinds to put off investment decisions. A Department of Energy report issued last month found that the project would be an economic boon to the region, creating 600 permanent jobs and an estimated 6,000 construction jobs. The study’s results have been disputed by others who say it didn’t fully take into account global market conditions, in which the price of plastic is dropping and there’s already a global oversaturation of ethane cracker plants and plastics manufacturing. The proposed plant would take ethane, a component of natural gas, and break it down to produce ethylene, which is used in chemical and plastics manufacturing. The plant would capitalize on the abundant supplies of cheap natural gas that has been developed in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions. A similar project is under construction in nearby western Pennsylvania.
Belmont College partners with Tri-State Energy Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Consortium to build skilled workforce in the tri-state region to meet increasing demand Belmont College, partnered with members of the Tri-State Energy and Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Consortium, are working together to build a skilled workforce for the tri-state area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to address the increasing skills gap between growing employer needs and education driven by the discovery of natural gas-rich Marcellus and Utica shale deposits. The tri-state region now accounts for 27% of the natural gas output in the United States - making it the third largest producer of natural gas in the world. Offering certificates and degrees in the technologically advanced energy and natural resources industry, Belmont College prepares students for in-demand careers in HVAC, Welding, Industrial Electronics, Process Control Technician, Instrumentation and Control, Civil Engineering Technology, Energy and Natural Resources, and CDL training. The new oil and gas workforce in the region has led to increased demand for CDL, Welding and Technology, and HVAC skills, leading Belmont College HVAC graduates to a 100% job placement rate at local HVAC dealers. Additionally, pending the final start date announcement which could be as early as 2021, the U.S. subsidiary of PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC America) will begin possible construction of a world-scale petrochemical complex in the Mead Township along the Ohio River in Belmont County, which will use products from the emerging oil and gas industry to product raw materials for the United States and global plastics industry. This complex would be the largest private investment project in the history of the State of Ohio with the potential to create hundreds of full-time jobs and thousands of construction jobs, many of which will utilize training offered at Belmont College.
CNX fined for 2019 shale gas blowout - CNX Gas Co. LLC has agreed to pay a $175,000 fine to settle violations related to a January 2019 Utica Shale gas well blowout in Washington Township, Westmoreland County. The very visible well drilling failure allowed gas from the Utica Shale well to flow into nine nearby shallower gas wells, causing the Cecil-based company to burn off or “flare” gas from them all to alleviate pressure at the wells. The state Department of Environmental Protection said in a Thursday announcement of the consent order and agreement with CNX that the blowout at the company’s Shaw 1G Utica well was likely caused by cracks in the well’s “casing,” a concrete sheath around the well pipe that extends underground to prevent gas from the well from contaminating shallower groundwater, rock and soil formations and nearby wells. DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in the release that the department’s investigation and determination of cause will help improve drilling practices to better protect the environment. According to the state department’s release, CNX was performing hydrological fracturing or “fracking” on the Shaw well on Jan. 26, when an unexpected loss of pressure caused the uncontrolled flow of gas into shallower geologic formations and the nine nearby wells. CNX temporarily flared the wells to relieve gas pressure but didn’t regain control of the Shaw well until Feb. 4, when, the DEP said, it stopped the vertical flow of gas by pumping heavy mud into the wellbore, also referred to as “killing the well.” According to the DEP, CNX failed to use strong enough casing and other safety measures to prevent blowouts, failed to maintain well integrity and vented gas into the atmosphere. The nine conventional wells returned to normal operating pressures, and the DEP said no spills or releases of fluids to the surface were observed or reported as a result of the incident. CNX’s investigation concluded, according to the DEP, which concurred, that stress cracks in the Shaw well casing “most likely caused the incident.”.
DEP fines CNX for well failure near Westmoreland County reservoir - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection fined CNX $175,000 for allowing a gas well failure near a drinking water reservoir in Westmoreland County. The DEP and the company concluded that a casing pipe inside the well ruptured about 5,000 feet below the surface of the Shaw 1G well on Jan. 26, 2019. The rupture sent gas and fracking fluids into nearby rock layers. The gas reached surrounding gas wells, said Lauren Fraley, a spokeswoman for the DEP. “During that loss of pressure incident, gas was emitted uncontrollably into shallower geologic formations, and that resulted in communication with nine nearby conventional wells that saw some pressure changes during this incident,” Fraley said. The company flared those surrounding wells for a week to relieve the extra pressure until it could contain the gas. Fraley said there were no spills or releases of fluids. The well is near the Beaver Run Reservoir, which provides drinking water for 130,000 people. The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County conducted numerous tests after the failure and determined water in the reservoir was not affected. The DEP says the company no longer uses the “high tensile” pipe it used at the Shaw well, and has retrofit other wells to prevent a similar accident. The DEP cited the company for violating several environmental laws and regulations, including failing to use strong enough well casing, failing to maintain well integrity, and venting gas to the atmosphere. Fraley said the DEP determined that the higher tensile casing was more susceptible to a type of stress cracking, and has shared this information with other gas companies. Brian Aiello, a spokesman for CNX, said the company was “pleased” with the investigation and that the “collaborative nature of the investigation into this matter yielded results that will further continuous improvement and innovation in CNX’s operations and that of the entire industry.” Local environmental groups criticized the DEP fine. The Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens Group said in a statement Friday the fine was inadequate to the danger posed by the well blowout and the air pollution caused by the company’s flaring activities.
Energy Transfer to deliver plan of action this week following Mariner East spill at Snitz Creek - - The Mariner East pipeline on Aug. 13 dumped 20 gallons of industrial waste into Snitz Creek, according to a notice filed later that day by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The spill follows a few days after a much larger accident in Chester County. A notice sent by DEP to Matthew Gordon, senior director of operations for the Energy Transfer/Sunoco pipeline project, cites the “inadvertent return of drilling fluids” into the creek in West Cornwall Township (PDF). The discharge of industrial waste into Pennsylvania waterways without a permit is a violation of the Clean Streams Law, the letter says. The letter orders Energy Transfer to document the steps taken to contain and remove the wastewater from the creek, along with “a plan for any additional remedial measures necessary to complete remediation,” by Thursday, Aug. 20. The letter also notes that work cannot resume on the project without DEP approval. “If the Department determines that an enforcement action is appropriate, you will be notified of the action,” the letter concludes. The letter was signed by Ronald C. Eberts Jr., an environmental protection compliance specialist of the department’s Conservation, Restoration, and Inspection Section, Waterways & Wetlands Program. It was copied to representatives to the Lebanon County Conservation District, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, West Cornwall Township and several other officials of the Sunoco pipeline partnership. Earlier this month, according to a report by StateImpact Pennsylvania, Sunoco’s Mariner East pipeline construction spilled an estimated 10,000 gallons of drilling mud, or bentonite clay, into Marsh Creek and Marsh Creek Lake at a state park in Chester County. The Department of Environmental Protection shut down two underground drilling sites in West Whiteland and Upper Uwchlan townships, pending an investigation, the report said. The lake is a popular recreation site and provides drinking water for Chester County residents, although it was not immediately clear if any drinking water supplies were affected. Bentonite clay is nontoxic, but in large quantities, it can have an impact on smaller aquatic life. News of the local spill drew criticism from grassroots watchdog Concerned Citizens of Lebanon County (CCLC). In a letter to CCLC members, leaders Pam Bishop and Doug Lorenzen said a tanker truck was parked on Aug. 14 on North Cornwall Road, near the intersection with Route 72, “presumably pumping water out of the creek as part of the ‘clean up.'” They also said in the letter that, during construction of a parallel pipeline at the same site in 2017 and 2018, “there were at least seven discharges of drilling mud,” for which DEP also issued notices of violation to Sunoco.
State Hits Sunoco With $355K Penalty For 2018-19 Violations - — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection today hit Sunoco Pipeline L.P. with a $355,636 penalty for violations in eight counties between August 2018 and April 2019. The violations are related to construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline Berks, Blair, Cambria, Cumberland, Delaware, Lebanon, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. The DEP said today the penalty was part of a Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty (CACP) signed earlier this month. "Protecting the waters of the Commonwealth is one of the top priorities of DEP and we will continue to hold polluters of those waters accountable," said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. Sunoco's horizontal drilling activities resulted in unauthorized discharges of drilling fluids consisting of bentonite clay and water, also known as inadvertent returns, (IRs) to Piney Creek in Blair County; tributaries and wetlands connected to Hinckston Run, Stewart Run, and Little Conemaugh Creek in Cambria County; Letort Run and wetlands and tributaries to the Yellow Breeches Creek in Cumberland County; a tributary to Chester Creek in Delaware County; Snitz Creek in Lebanon County; a tributary to Peters Creek in Washington County; and a tributary to the Conemaugh River in Westmoreland County. As part of the agreement, DEP has assessed a civil penalty of $355,636 for the violations, which Sunoco has agreed to pay to the Commonwealth. A portion of the civil penalty, $5,912, will be paid to the county conservation districts to reimburse them for their costs incurred during their investigation of the inadvertent returns. The remaining penalty, $349,724, will be paid to the Clean Water Fund. Additional information and documents, can be found on DEP's Mariner East 2 webpage. The DEP also today issued two violations to Sunoco related to a spill and sinkhole at Marsh Creek State Park and a groundwater release on Shoen Road, both in Chester County. Related story here.
Pennsylvania fines Sunoco Mariner East 2 NGL pipe for spills again (Reuters) - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Energy Transfer LP’s Sunoco Pipeline unit again this week for spilling drilling fluid during construction of its long-delayed Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline. The $355,636 fine assessed Thursday for violations in 2018 and 2019 was just the latest in a long series of sanctions against the company for spills and other violations of its construction permits. The biggest fine was for $12.6 million in 2018. In addition to fining Sunoco, Pennsylvania has also stopped construction work on the pipe several times in the past due to spills and sinkholes. Several politicians and local groups have long urged the state to stop work again and shut the pipe. Officials at Energy Transfer were not immediately available for comment. Since May 2017, Pennsylvania has issued 113 notices of violation to Mariner East, mostly for drilling fluid spills, including 13 so far in 2020. In its latest fine, the DEP said Sunoco’s horizontal drilling activities resulted in unauthorized discharges of drilling fluids consisting of bentonite clay and water in several streams and wetlands between August 2018 and April 2019. Energy companies use horizontal drilling to burrow under waterbodies, roads and other obstacles when building a pipeline. Mariner East transports liquids from the Marcellus and Utica shale in western Pennsylvania to customers in the state and elsewhere, including international exports from Energy Transfer’s Marcus Hook complex near Philadelphia.
Chesco Commissioners Step Up Pressure On Gov. Wolf To Stop Sunoco - — The pipeline accident at Marsh Creek Lake Aug. 10 involved a sinkhole 15 feet wide and 8 feet deep, "a mere 5-feet from the active Mariner East 1 (ME1) pipeline, which presently carries hazardous liquids," Chester County commissioners said late Tuesday. The board called on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to stop construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline and revoke Sunoco's authorization for construction, saying civil penalties and temporary suspensions were "no longer sufficient." Chester County's Board of Commissioners said they learned of the sinkhole incident during a telephone conference with Commonwealth officials on Friday, Aug. 14, regarding Sunoco Pipeline, L.P.'s (Sunoco) Mainer East 2 project (ME2) in Chester County.The board drafted a letter that was sent late Tuesday to Wolf, expressing grave concern about another in "a series of sinkholes showing up across Chester County." "This sinkhole is in addition to the numerous other recent sinkholes that began appearing in West Whiteland Township, Chester County in mid-June 2020. As you may be aware, a sinkhole in West Whiteland Township in 2018 exposed the ME1 pipeline and prompted the Chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to order that the ME1 pipeline temporarily cease operations because 'permitting the continued flow of hazardous liquids through the ME1 pipeline without proper steps to ensure the integrity of the pipeline could have catastrophic results impacting the public,'" the letter stated. "Yet another sinkhole within feet of the active ME1 pipeline is alarming and deeply troubling," the commissioners told Wolf. "While we wrote to you last week asking that Sunoco's permits be suspended, after learning about this new development, it seems that civil penalties and temporary suspensions are no longer sufficient. The construction of ME2 must be stopped and the permits authorizing its construction must be revoked." "Doing anything less risks 'catastrophic results impacting the public.'"
Berkeley Solid Waste Authority turns down gas facility — The Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority adopted a motion Wednesday indicating it has no interest in having a compressed natural gas facility at the authority's Grapevine Road property. The potential for co-mingling of natural gas trucks with traffic to and from the Grapevine Road Recycling Center on Landfill Drive was the dominant safety concern, authority chairman Clint Hogbin said Thursday. The board voted unanimously to adopt a motion authorizing Hogbin to notify Mountaineer Gas Co. of its decision. The gas company is considering developing Eastern Panhandle sites where natural gas can be delivered by truck to meet peaks in local customer demand. Larry Meador, communications manager for Mountaineer Gas, said earlier this month the company has been looking at two or three potential locations to transfer compressed and liquified natural gas from trucks into the company's existing distribution system. Having multiple facilities effectively reduces the size of each facility, Meador has said. The gas company proposed putting a portable, compressed natural-gas facility off Grapevine Road for up to 18 months after first proposing a lease of up to an acre of solid waste authority property for a period of three to five years with an option to buy, according to Hogbin. The solid waste authority didn't support that proposal either, according to Hogbin. Meador had said truck deliveries probably wouldn't be needed for quite a few years if it could connect with a pipeline in Morgan County that has been proposed by Columbia Gas Transmission LLC. That pipeline connection, however, is the subject of a federal lawsuit pending before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. A subsidiary of TC Energy, Columbia Gas Transmission has proposed an 8-inch pipeline from existing facilities in Pennsylvania, across Washington County and the Potomac River to connect with Mountaineer Gas's new distribution pipeline in Morgan County. In its federal court appeal, Columbia Gas is challenging a district judge's August 2019 ruling that upheld the state of Maryland’s denial of an easement that Columbia Gas sought for the pipeline to travel beneath the state-owned Western Maryland Rail Trail west of Hancock. The pipeline also is envisioned to go under Cheasapeake and Ohio Canal Historical Park, which is owned by the National Park Service. In July, the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an extension to July 18, 2023 to complete the pipeline.
Peregrine Acquires Additional Royalties in Doddridge County - Peregrine Energy Partners has agreed to acquire producing royalties in Doddridge County, West Virginia from several private sellers. Continuing their string of acquisitions in the Appalachian Basin, Peregrine finalized the acquisition of royalties in 17 producing natural gas wells across three units under Antero Resources and Jay-Bee Oil and Gas. Antero is the largest natural gas producer in West Virginia with over 451,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale and another 91,000 net acres in the Utica Shale. “We will continue to look for properties with a similar profile in the Marcellus; a diversified well count generating consistent cashflows with single digit decline rates under a well-capitalized, pure-play operator,” said Josh Prier, Peregrine Managing Director. Peregrine is focused on working with and providing solutions for royalty owners and their families. Throughout the acquisition period, the company worked closely with multiple related royalty owners who had inherited this asset. The family’s initial goal was to solve succession issues to avoid fractionalizing the property further. However, after learning the significant financial opportunity and tax benefit of divesting now instead of receiving the passive income over the next handful of decades, the family decided to fast-forward the income. The Texas based royalty buyer has been actively acquiring in the Marcellus Shale as well as across the country since the company’s inception. The current state of the economy and fluidity of the oil & gas industry has Peregrine committed and focused in their efforts to provide clients with reliable and valuable insight throughout their client’s decision-making process.
Mountain Valley pledges up to $19.5 million to conserve land along Appalachian Trail - The company that plans to burrow a natural gas pipeline under the Appalachian Trail is pledging up to $19.5 million to conserve land in other spots along the footpath’s route through Virginia and West Virginia. Mountain Valley Pipeline on Monday announced what it called a voluntary “stewardship agreement” with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and The Conservation Fund. More than a year ago — when the pipeline’s path across the Appalachian Trail was still in question — Mountain Valley initiated contact with the two groups, “seeking assistance to identify and develop sustainability efforts that would complement MVP’s infrastructure project,” a joint news release stated. Concerns about the pipeline’s impact on the trail and surrounding views led to talks about how Mountain Valley could help with the purchase of high-priority land near the 2,000-plus-mile footpath. “Those tracts will enhance the Trail hiker experience and protect views from numerous vantage points,” according to the news release, which called the gift the largest of its kind for a single region in the conservancy’s history. Mountain Valley plans to bore 80 feet under the trail, creating a tunnel for a 42-inch diameter steel pipe that will channel natural gas at high pressure from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations to markets along the East Coast. In June, a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court cleared plans for the pipeline to pass under the trail at the top of Peters Mountain, where it will cross the state line into Giles County on its way through Southwest Virginia. Although construction is currently stalled by multiple legal challenges — brought by environmental groups who say the project will scar the landscape, pollute streams and kill endangered species — Mountain Valley says it expects to regain suspended permits in time to finish the 303-mile pipeline by early next year. With Monday’s announcement, Mountain Valley sought to establish some common ground between a commercial venture and the grassroots opposition it has faced for six years.
Pipeline construction firm files lawsuit against Mountain Valley Pipeline - A Texas-based pipeline construction company is suing the Mountain Valley Pipeline to get $103.8 million it alleges it's owed by the Pittsburgh-based joint venture — and that the under-construction pipeline be sold to meet the terms of the deal.US Trinity Energy Services LLC filed suit against Mountain Valley Pipeline earlier this month in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. It follows a back and forth between US Trinity and MVP over costs involving building of the pipeline in West Virginia that led to a mechanic lien for $102.5 million filed March 3 in Monroe County, West Virginia.The company filed three counts in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas: breach of contract, foreclosure of mechanics' liens and failure to pay under the Pennsylvania Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act. US Trinity is looking for $103.8 million in damages, a judgment for the mechanics' liens and interest of 1% a month and attorneys' fees.US Trinity in its lawsuit urged the "Notice of Mechanic's Liens be enforced and that the Pipeline be sold to satisfy the sum determined to be due Trinity up to the value of its lien ($102,469,189.65)."It was another legal setback for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is being constructed by Equitrans Midstream Corp. (NYSE: ETRN) and will carry Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas from northern West Virginia down the Mountain State and into southwestern Virginia. The 303-mile pipeline, which has been in the works since 2014, remains shut down for construction due to a stop-work order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as well as several pending permits. Equitrans said recently that it expects to be in service with the pipeline in early 2021.The delays, and the failure to receive one of those permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called a Nationwide 12, was cited by US Trinity in the lawsuit. US Trinity was named a contractor on the MVP to build in three counties in West Virginia in late 2017 but it said the work was delayed and disrupted for reasons beyond Trinity's control."Large portions of Trinity's work space was unavailable because MVP failed to timely obtain certain environmental permits, including the 12 Permit," the lawsuit said. "From the outset of the project, Trinity was forced to incur multiple Move Around events, place its crews and equipment on standby, and suspend its work repeatedly between available work spaces."Trinity and MVP had resolved previous disputes over payment until after February 2019 but filed a mechanic's lien this year after the Nationwide 12 permit didn't materialize. MVP told Trinity as part of the FERC stop-work order to stop just about all the work and then was told in November 2019 to terminate all work and submit documents for outstanding payment. US Trinity said it submitted the $103.8 million including $83.8 million related to change-work orders that encompass the delays and disruptions to the MVP schedule.It said MVP approved only $9 million in payment requests out of the $103.8 million, rejecting the rest. It also said it wouldn't pay the money it did approve May 1 until after the mechanic lien had been released.
Pipeline infrastructure planning in the era of Black Lives Matter - Natural gas pipeline project developers face delays, uncertainty and increased costs arising from intense inquiries from regulators, affected communities and activists concerning their compliance with the various environmental laws and regulations that govern the construction and operation of pipelines and associated facilities. This is owing, at least in part, to arguments invoking environmental justice concerns and consideration of the impacts that project siting has on communities of color rising to prominence. Given the light shone by the Black Lives Matter ("BLM") movement on the systemic racism faced by people of color, scrutiny of the siting of infrastructure projects is already increasing, and attention paid to disproportionate, adverse effects on communities of color likely will intensify. The BLM movement may also influence how courts and regulatory agencies interpret companies’ obligations under environmental laws, while shareholders may take the movement’s ideals under advisement as part of their larger environmental, social and governance considerations. Energy companies planning to undertake capital-intensive infrastructure projects should consider the implications of the BLM movement and tailor their planning and development to reflect the outgrowths of the current times — the era of Black Lives Matter. Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Friends of Buckingham v. State Air Pollution Control Board ("Buckingham") vacated a permit granted to Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC ("ACP") to construct and operate a compressor station intended to transmit natural gas through ACP’s pipeline. The compressor station, consisting of four natural gas-fired turbines that emit pollutants, was to be located in a historic, predominantly Black community largely occupied by descendants of freed slaves. Responding to a challenge by community residents, the court found that the granting authority had not determined whether the community was a "minority" environmental justice community — a critical designation when evaluating the likelihood of disproportionate health impacts to residents. The court also concluded that the board failed to assess the compressor station’s potential for disproportionate health impacts on the community, notwithstanding a study by residents that community members suffered from health conditions that would make them more susceptible to the compressor station’s emissions. Ultimately, the court determined that "environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked." The $8 billion project was abandoned months later, with representatives citing the legal challenges and resulting delays as the cause.
Rule allowing LNG rail shipments in US challenged in court - (AP) — A coalition of six environmental advocacy groups asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block a new Trump administration rule to allow rail shipments of liquefied natural gas, a new front in the movement of energy products backed by both the natural gas and rail freight industries. The groups will argue in court that, among other things, the administration did not adequately study the new rule to ensure that the activity it is authorizing is safe for workers, communities and the environment, said Jordan Luebkemann, a lawyer for Earthjustice, which is representing the groups court. The rule, they said, would allow shipments of the flammable and odorless liquid known as LNG by rail in tanker cars that are untested and that cannot withstand high-speed impacts. “Under this new rule, it’s only a matter of time before we see an explosion in a major population center,” said Emily Jeffers, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration published the rule late last month in the Federal Register and it takes effect in the coming days. The country’s natural gas boom has fueled massive growth in LNG exports, growing last year by more than 65 times the amount exported in 2015, according to federal figures. The rule requires enhancements — including a thicker outer tank made of steel with a greater puncture resistance — to the approved tank car design that, for decades, has been approved for shipments of other flammable cryogenic materials, such as liquid ethylene and liquid ethane. Previously, federal hazardous materials regulations allowed shipments of LNG by truck, but not by rail, except with a special permit. Fifteen states also objected to the rule during the comment period. Those states included Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where the Trump administration issued a special permit in December to ship LNG by rail from northern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas fields to a yet-to-be-built storage terminal at a former explosives plant in New Jersey, along the Delaware River near Philadelphia. From there, the LNG is expected to be exported to foreign markets for electricity production, although the applicant, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy, has told federal regulators that some domestic industrial use is possible.
A watchdog emerges for planned LNG site | Editorial - nj.com - Well, at least someone in government can walk and chew gum at the same time on behalf of South Jersey residents. While state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal made news by stating he’ll add the Garden State’s name to litigation trying to stop President Donald Trump from dismantling the post office, the AG also filed an objection to a Trump rule that could send rail cars filled with liquefied natural gas hurtling through the region. Saving the U.S. Postal Service is important, But an accelerated rule to allow potentially dangerous LNG to traverse residential neighborhoods in tank cars not specifically designed for the pressurized cargo could be much more disastrous.You can recount a disputed ballot, but you can’t reverse a derailment that creates fire danger and what might amount to an uncontrolled explosion.There’s special relevance to Gloucester, Camden and Salem counties. A proposed terminal to export domestically sourced LNG by ship, located on the Delaware River at Greenwich Township, has been racking up required permits from various agencies. The developers of the Gibbstown Logistics Center pier and storage site have made clear that, if the train rule is OK’d, they’d try to use that mode to bring the Pennsylvania-extracted gas to Greenwich.The pending federal rule (promulgated by the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) allows trains with up to 100 cars each to move to destinations around the country. It would go into effect Aug. 24 unless objections — including New Jersey’s — cause regulators to suspend, modify or cancel it.New Jersey becomes the 14th state to challenge the rule as proposed. In his Tuesday announcement, Grewal didn’t go as far as Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who referred to ships carrying LNG as “floating bombs,” and added, “Rolling tank cars filled with LNG though our neighborhoods are vastly more dangerous.”
Is New England's On-and-Off Embrace of Gas-Fired Power Headed for a Fall? | RBN Energy - The U.S. power sector’s shift to natural gas over the past few years has been a boon to gas producers across the Lower 48, especially in the Northeast. Scores of new gas-fired power plants have been built there during the Shale Era, and a number of coal-fired, oil-fired, and nuclear plants have been taken offline. New England is a case in point; gas-fired power now accounts for about half of the installed generating capacity in the six-state region (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) — three times what it was 20 years ago. But New Englanders have a love-hate relationship with natural gas, and with renewables and energy storage on the rise, gas’s role in the land of the Red Sox, hard-to-understand accents, and lobsta’ rolls may well have peaked. Today, we discuss recent developments on the natural gas and power generation fronts in the northeastern corner of the U.S. Over the past few years, we’ve posted many blogs about New England’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure, which, despite the best efforts of midstreamers, has failed to keep pace with either the region’s shift to gas-fired power generation during the 2000s and ’10s or the growth in natural gas production from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays that sit at its doorstep. As we said in Please Come to Boston back in 2014, five pipeline systems provide the vast majority of New England’s gas: Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP; blue line in Figure 1) and Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT; green line) from the south, Iroquois Gas Transmission (IGT; lavender line) from the west through New York State, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (MNP; pink line) along with Portland Natural Gas Transmission (PNGT; yellow line) from Canada, through New Brunswick and Quebec, respectively. There are also two LNG import terminals in the Boston, MA, area capable of importing LNG, regasifying it and then sending it out into the U.S. gas pipeline network during periods of high demand (see our You Dropped a Bomb on Me series). These are: Excelerate Energy’s Northeast Gateway Deepwater Port and Exelon Generation’s Everett terminal, which provides fuel for Exelon’s 1,400-megawatt (MW), gas-fired Mystic power plant (more on this in a moment) as well as gas to gas utilities. There’s also the Canaport LNG import terminal up in New Brunswick, from which regasified LNG can be piped down MNP into New England.
Why Warren Buffett is betting on energy pipelines even as climate fears are rising - With the coronavirus pandemic slashing demand for the oil and gas that has been booming in the U.S. shale during the past decade, energy pipeline development has stalled. The midstream portion of the energy complex, as it is known, may not recover soon, but it will recover, according to energy experts, and none other than Warren Buffett — who has been uncharacteristically shy about making investments during the Covid-19 washout — is betting on that. The billionaire investor recently plunked down near-$10 billion to buy gas pipeline assets and related debt. After a decade of capacity buildout in the pipeline infrastructure to match the U.S. fossil fuel fracking growth, demand is lacking and will stay down, despite a doubling in the price of crude following sub-$20 lows reached in March. "You have to consider what drove the infrastructure development: the shale boom. When you look at oil near $40 and natural gas rising, but still sub-$3, we're not in a climate where higher production of oil and gas is supported to support a larger build out," Before Covid-19 hit, Platts Analytics was forecasting U.S. crude oil production to rise by one million barrels per day year over year, and rise by another 600,000 barrels in 2021. Now, as rig counts have declined at the steepest rate since 2009 — 75% of natural gas production comes from the "associated gas" at oil rig sites, as well — crude production is expected to register an annual decline within the next few months, and that decline will persist until at least mid-2021, according to Platts Analytics' forecast. Instead of the substantial growth that midstream companies had been making investment decisions based on — and which led to a significant number of pipeline projects coming online within the past two years — major shale basins like the Permian will see lower utilization of outbound pipelines for the next few years.But there's more going on then just a typical commodities boom-and-bust cycle. With successful environmental challenges leading to legal and regulatory roadblocks for pipelines, and a political climate becoming more difficult for fossil fuels, companies in the utility sectors are rethinking their midstream investments, and in some cases, reallocating funds towards renewable energy projects. But Buffett's acquisition will provide a steady stream of revenue and a quality asset, regardless of the lack of midstream development. Buffett also has always preferred investments in a market where more control is reasonable to expect — lack of new pipeline supply could be a plus as far as his preference for less competition likely to come into the market. The Dominion gas pipeline and storage assets include operations in Connecticut, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia. The deal won't burn a hole in his pocket, either, with Berkshire sitting on well over $100 billion in cash and short-term assets, and Buffett always anxious to deploy the capital into projects that generate a return on investment.
Natural Gas Prices Soar As Heat Wave Hits Large Parts Of U.S. - Natural gas prices spiked on Friday by nearly 9%, even as the weekly storage report showed little movement. Natural gas prices hit $2.367 by 2:26 pm EDT, an increase of 8.48% or $0.185, even as the EIA’s weekly storage report a day earlier showed a small increase of 58 Bcf in working gas in storage. The market had anticipated a larger build. Also bullish for natural gas on Friday were forecasts for hot weather and reports of increased LNG exports. Front-month natural gas futures on Friday hit their highest since the end of last year on this data as air conditioning usage is expected to increase as people try to cope with the heat wave. This will increase the demand for natural gas. This will be particularly true in Texas, where demand for power in general—and consequently natural gas—is expected to hit a record high today as the heatwave sets in, according to Reuters. These record highs for power demand will come even as industrial activity has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.This unprecedented power demand has led to increases in power prices in the western part of the United States, which has, in turn, boosted natural gas prices.Front-month nat gas futures were up more than $0.15 to $2.335 on Friday afternoon.LNG exports have also increased, with improved demand outlook over the next couple of weeks, although the EIA stated that U.S. LNG exports will remain at lowlevels for the remainder of the summer, with planned cargoes of LNG still being canceled. According to EIA data cited by Kallinish, 46 LNG cargoes were canceled in June, 50 canceled in July, 45 were canceled in August, and so far 30 have been canceled for September.
U.S. natgas futures slip from 8-month high as demand slowly eases - (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures on Monday slipped from an eight-month high in the previous session as output slowly increases and on forecasts for milder weather and lower air conditioning demand than previously expected. That price decline came despite a steady increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. Front-month gas futures fell 1.7 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $2.339 per million British thermal units. On Friday, the contract closed at its highest since Dec. 5. Electricity prices in the U.S. West, meanwhile, soared to record highs as California consumers prepared for more rotating outages after the grid operator ordered utilities to shut power over the weekend to reduce strain on the system during a brutal heat wave. Gas speculators last week boosted their net long positions on the New York Mercantile and Intercontinental Exchanges to their highest since November 2018 on expectations energy demand will rise as the economy rebounds when state governments lift more coronavirus-linked lockdowns. Although U.S. and European gas contracts mostly trade on their own fundamentals, a 58% jump in prices at the European Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in the Netherlands so far in August helped pull U.S. gas up about 30% this month. That made it profitable for more U.S. LNG cargoes to go to Europe. U.S. LNG exports were on track to rise in August for the first time in six months. Pipeline gas flowing to the plants climbed to 4.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far this month from a 21-month low of 3.3 bcfd in July. With temperatures expected to moderate now that the hottest days of summer are in the past, Refinitiv projected U.S. demand, including exports, will decline from an average of 90.4 bcfd this week to 88.1 bcfd next week.
U.S. natgas futures jump to 8-month high on rising LNG exports, hot weather -(Reuters) — U.S. natural gas futures jumped to an eight-month high on Tuesday on rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, a decline in output and forecasts for warmer weather and higher air conditioning demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. Front-month gas futures rose 7.8 cents, or 3.3%, to settle at $2.417 per million British thermal units, their highest close since Dec. 5. Power prices in the U.S. West, meanwhile, soared to record highs for a second day during a brutal heat wave as California utilities urged consumers to keep conserving energy to avoid more rotating outages with demand expected to near an all-time high on Tuesday. Next-day gas prices at the SoCal Citygate in Southern California, meanwhile, jumped to their highest since February 2019. Although U.S. and European gas contracts mostly trade on their own fundamentals, a 59% jump in prices at the European Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in the Netherlands so far in August helped pull U.S. gas up about 36% this month. That made it profitable for more U.S. LNG cargoes to go to Europe. U.S. LNG exports were on track to rise in August for the first time in six months. Pipeline gas flowing to the plants climbed to a three-month high of 4.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far this month from a 21-month low of 3.3 bcfd in July.
US natgas futures at fresh 8-month high on rising LNG exports - US natural gas futures edged up to a fresh eight-month high on Wednesday as liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports continue to rise and on forecasts for more hot weather and heating demand through early September than previously expected. Front-month gas futures rose 0.9 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $2.426 per million British thermal units, their highest close since Dec. 5 for a second day in a row. Although US, European and Asian gas contracts mostly trade on their own fundamentals, a 59% jump in prices at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in the Netherlands and a 65% increase at the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) so far in August helped pull US gas futures up about 33% this month, making US LNG more attractive to global markets. With temperatures expected to remain hot through early September, Refinitiv projected US demand, including exports, will hold around 90.2 bcfd this week and next. That is higher than Refinitiv's forecast on Tuesday. US production has averaged 88.5 bcfd so far in August, up from a two-month high of 88.0 bcfd in July. That, however, is still well below November's all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd. In California, meanwhile, power companies continued to urge customers to conserve energy through Thursday to avoid more rotating outages as the brutal heat wave blanketing the state over the past week pushes the demand forecast for Wednesday over the prior day's three-year high.
US working natural gas volumes in underground storage rise by 43 Bcf: EIA | S&P Global Platts — US natural gas stocks increased nearly in line with the five-year average in the week ended Aug. 14 despite net withdrawals being reported in the Pacific region and South Central's salt-dome facilities as Henry Hub strip prices slip slightly. US underground natural gas storage inventories increased 43 Bcf to 3.375 Tcf in the week ended Aug. 14, the US Energy Information Administration said Aug. 20. The injection was larger than the consensus expectations of analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts, which called for a 39 Bcf build. Responses to the survey ranged from an injection of 34 Bcf to 51 Bcf. The injection was, however, smaller than the 56 Bcf build reported during the same week a year ago and almost in line with the five-year average increase of 44 Bcf, according to EIA data. Storage volumes now stand 595 Bcf, or 21.4%, above the year-ago level of 2.780 Tcf and 442 Bcf, or 15%, higher than the five-year average of 2.933 Tcf. US supply and demand balances grew tighter during the reference week as a surge in power burn demand helped offset rising supplies, particularly from onshore production gains, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. Total supply came in 1 Bcf/d higher during the week for an average 92.8 Bcf/d, led by a 800 MMcf/d increase in onshore production and a 400 MMcf/d increase in net Canadian imports, partly counterbalanced by a 200 MMcf/d drop in offshore production receipts. Total demand grew by 2.7 Bcf/d during the week to an average 86.6 Bcf/d, which was mainly the result of a 2.5 Bcf/d increase in powerburn demand, bolstered by a 500 MMcf/d increase in LNG feedgas demand as facilities in the US Gulf Coast continue to see higher LNG liquefaction processing. The NYMEX Henry Hub September contract slid 5 cents to $2.37/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report. The winter strip, November through March, fell by an average of 2 cents to $3.08/MMBtu. Spreads from summer to winter have narrowed by nearly 10 cents over the last week to 63 cents, down from 72 cents a week ago and considerably wider than the roughly 90-cent spread seen at the beginning of this month. Since the start of August, the balance of 2020 strip has risen almost 50 cents while the calendar 2021 strip has rallied 15 cents. Platts Analytics expects further upside to the winter and summer 2021 strips amid associated gas production declines.
U.S. natgas falls from 8-month high on big storage build for hot week - (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures fell over 3% on Thursday following the release of a report that showed hot weather last week was not enough to cut the storage build below normal levels, meaning it was only enough to offset demand destruction from the coronavirus. Analysts also noted that with prices trading near an eight-month high over the past week, it made economic sense for some generators to burn more coal and less gas to produce electricity. Thursday's price drop came despite a rise in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and forecasts for more hot weather and air conditioning demand through early September than earlier expected. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. utilities injected 43 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage in the week ended Aug. 14. That matched analysts estimates in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 56 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year (2015-19) average build of 44 bcf. Front-month gas futures fell 7.4 cents, or 3.1%, to settle at $2.352 per million British thermal units. On Wednesday, the contract closed at its highest since Dec. 5. U.S. LNG exports were on track to rise in August for the first time in six months. Pipeline gas flowing to the plants climbed to a three-month high of 4.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far this month from a 21-month low of 3.3 bcfd in July.
Blistering Heat Wave Behind Latest Run-Up for Weekly Natural Gas Prices - Record-high temperatures on the West Coast and typical August heat and humidity in the South and Southeast this week drove sharp gains in natural gas prices across the Lower 48 for the Aug. 17-21 week. Led by massive increases in California, NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. jumped 20.5 cents to $2.255. However, power conservation efforts, much-needed imports and increased wind generation helped stave off disaster for the nation’s most populous state. Nevertheless, the heightened demand boosted spot gas prices across California to the highest levels of the summer so far. SoCal Citygate traded as high as $14.00 before going on to average $7.040, up $3.205 week/week.Prices in the Desert Southwest also rallied, with Kern Delivery jumping $2.675 on the week to $6.220. In the Rockies, Transwestern San Juan was up 32.0 cents to $2.315.Market hubs in other producing regions also climbed week/week, with increases of about 20 cents or so the norm. Double-digit gains extended across Texas, Louisiana and the Southeast as well. . Analysts saw the move higher as sustainable overall, but cautioned that with two months remaining in the storage injection season, the risk of stocks toppling over still threatened the rally. Indeed, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 43 Bcf build into inventories for the week ending Aug. 14, the market appeared to acknowledge just how loose the market still is, shedding more than 7 cents at the front of the curve. Stocks are now at 3,375 Bcf, nearly 600 Bcf above last year and around 440 Bcf above the five-year average, according to EIA. Even still, two major storms have their sights set on the Gulf Coast, threatening production, LNG exports and domestic demand in the coming days. Two of the biggest operators in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), BP plc and Royal Dutch Shell plc, on Friday had begun evacuating employees from platforms and rigs. BP also was shutting in production from its four operated platforms, Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika and Thunder Horse. Work was underway to secure Shell’s drilling operations, but there were no impacts to production as of Friday afternoon. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), in its Friday afternoon update, said on the forecast track, Tropical Storm Laura would move near or over Puerto Rico Saturday morning, and near the northern coast of Hispaniola late Saturday and early Sunday. Tropical Depression 14, which would become Marco if it strengthens as expected, was on track to approach the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Saturday before moving over the central GOM toward the northwestern Gulf on Sunday and Monday, NHC said.
Possible oil spill investigated at South Benson Marina - Emergency personnel investigated a possible oil spill Friday at South Benson Marina, according to fire officials. The spill or sheen was reported about 4:40 p.m., according to Assistant Chief George Gomola. Fairfield's fire and police departments responded to the scene, as did the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The spill was limited to the H and I docks, according to Lt. Eric McKeon, who said the substance had no odor and was likely oil or gasoline. By the time state environmental officials arrived, much of the spill had dissipated. "We didn't find any definitive source," McKeon said, noting the substance could have blown in with the tide or been discharged from a bilge pump. Gomola said the incident was relatively minor in terms of environmental impact.
US Coast Guard- Update on oil spill in Charleston - (WCBD) – On Saturday, an oil spill at the Plum Island Wastewater Treatment Plant released some 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a marsh near Dill Creek.A Coast Guard pollution response team has been dispatched to work with the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) on cleanup efforts. HEPACO, an oil spill response company, was hired to assist in cleanup efforts.Officials are monitoring the impact of the spill, and report “a minimal amount of sheen in Dill Creek.” Booms are reportedly no longer absorbing oil, but “on scene crews will maintain sorbent booms and monitor collection with high tide.”The Coast Guard pollution response team is conducting high tide operations and minimizing foot traffic in the marsh to “reduce the disturbance of the environmentally sensitive area.”
Study: Flaring Linked to Increase in Preterm Births in Eagle Ford Shale - When the fracking boom came to the Eagle Ford Shale, it brought billions of dollars of investment and tax revenue to the rural, sparsely populated swath of South Texas that stretches from the borderlands near Laredo to the northeast toward College Station. In 2015, at the height of the boom, the Eagle Ford was producing more than a million barrels of oil a day. At night, satellite imagery showed rural counties lit up like cities from flaring, the burning of natural gas at well heads. But last month, a new study found that those flares were directly linked to an increase in preterm births in South Texas. Pregnant women exposed to more than 10 nightly flares within three miles of their home had a higher risk of giving birth prematurely. Premature babies can have weak hearts and lungswhen they’re born, and they are more likely to develop chronic health issues later in life. Notably, the study found that trend was exclusive to Hispanic women, who had a higher exposure to flaring than any other demographic in the region.The finding itself is noteworthy, but it’s also one of the rare long term public health studies conducted in the region. “In general, there’s a gap in epidemiology in rural areas,” Jill Johnston, one of the study’s authors, says. “You have to understand the scope of the pollution, and where it’s happening, to link it to an outcome.” That’s already difficult in such a geographically sprawling area, but on top of that, the Eagle Ford also lacks extensive air monitoring to detect the levels of harmful chemicals to begin with.Flaring releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as well as volatile organic compounds, one of ingredients of smog, which irritate the lungs and nervous system. The practice also releases carcinogens like benzene and formaldehyde; nitrogen oxides, which can cause chronic lung issues; and sour-smelling hydrogen sulfide, which causes nausea, dizziness, and headaches. While the state’s Railroad Commission approves permits for oil and gas drilling and flaring, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is tasked with monitoring the emissions from those wells. Across the entire Eagle Ford Shale, which is roughly the size of Delaware, TCEQ maintains seven air monitors—the same number of monitors set up in the city of Dallas, which is a fraction of the size. A handful of the Eagle Ford’s monitors are clustered around large cities like Laredo, measuring particulate matter pollution commonly caused by cars and lighter industrial activity. Only two air monitors track pollutants released from flares: One in Karnes and one in Wilson counties.
Permian Basin natural gas pipeline faces scrutiny after rerouted around Texas river -A controversial natural gas pipeline that would connect extraction operations in the Permian Basin with export and refinery markets in the Gulf Coast continued to face opposition even as the operator announced it would be rerouted around a river in Texas Hill Country. The $2 billion Permian Highway Pipeline project would have a transportation capacity of about 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas for about 430 miles east from the Permian Basin area in West Texas to the Gulf Coast. It was expected to be completed and in service by early 2021. The pipeline faced backlash in March after a spill of drilling fluid in the Blanco River in east Texas allegedly contaminated local drinking water and the project’s permits were revoked by Hays County. This week, Kinder Morgan Chief Executive Officer Steven Kean announced in an opinion piece published in the Houston Chronicle that the pipeline would be rerouting around the river instead of being constructed to go underneath. But environmentalist groups were not convinced that the reroute would minimize the pipelines environmental harm on the environment. Throughout the project's lifetime since it began in 2018, numerous lawsuits were filed seeking to block its construction. Kinder Morgan spokesperson Lexey Long said negotiations about the reroute began with local landowners in June but did not specify the exact new route of the line. Sierra Club Senior Campaign Representative Roddy Hughes pointed to numerous incidents causing environmental harm, he said, as the pipeline was built through Texas from a starting point in Waha near the state’s western border to New Mexico. Hughes said Kinder Morgan cannot be trusted to safely finish building and then operate the pipeline and called for the project to be ceased. “After multiple accidents and spills, Kinder Morgan is picking up and trying to build along a new route, leaving an enormous amount of damage in its wake and putting a whole new group of landowners at risk,” Hughes said.
U.S. Oil Rig Count Rises For First Time Since January - Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil rigs in the United States rose for the first time since January by 11, to 183—the first double-digit increase since the pandemic took locked down significant parts of America. The total number of active oil and gas rigs increased by 10 for the week, with oil rigs climbing by 11 and gas rigs falling by one. Total oil and gas rigs in the United States are now down by 662 compared to this time last year. The largest gain was seen in the Permian Basin, which added ten rigs. The EIA’s estimate for oil production in the United States stayed the same for the week ending August 14—the last week for which there is data, at 10.7 million barrels of oil per day. Oil production in the United States is 2.4 million bpd less than its all-time high reached earlier this year. Canada’s overall rig count rose this week also, by 2, reaching 56 active rigs. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are now down 83 year on year. The Frac Spread Count in North America, provided by Primary Vision, was unchanged last week, at 70. Oil prices were already trading down on the day on Friday despite heightened tensions between the United States and Iran and reports that China is expected to increase its crude oil imports from the United States next month. Dampening the oil spirits on Friday is developments in oil-rich Libya that suggests that a ceasefire has been declared—a development that will surely increase global oil production and ruin OPEC’s 97% compliance rate with its oil production cut agreement. At 12:56 pm EDT, WTI was trading down 2.71% at $41.66—roughly $0.30 down on the week. Brent was trading down 2.52% on the day, at $43.77, down $1 per barrel from last Friday. At 1:08 pm, WTI was trading at $41.67 per barrel, with Brent changing hands at $43.78 per barrel.
Company finds 74.2M barrels of oil and gas in west Texas - Thanks to a partnership with a geoscientist in the Permian Basin, a family-owned oil company is celebrating its largest discovery yet: a 13,000-acre field in Val Verde County holding an estimated 417 billion cubic feet, or 74.2 million barrels, in oil and gas reserves. Barron Petroleum, based in Graham, announced the discovery on Monday after working with scientist William J. Purves on the project since 2018. Using Purves’ 3D seismic model to estimate the location and size of the oil and gas reservoirs, the company confirmed the find by successfully drilling two wells at the site, located about 35 miles south of the West Texas town of Ozona. “We found out that it was exactly what 3D had shown on Dr. Purves’ study,” said Roger Sahota, president and CEO of Barron Petroleum. “We’re very excited and now we’re trying to figure out how to develop it or get someone to join the venture with us. It’s a large project, and our company is small. It’s just me and my three sons and my wife involved.” Albert G. McDaniel, a petroleum engineer based in Fort Worth, completed the evaluation of the oil and gas reserves and wrote that the project is now so low-risk that it “more resembles that of a development project than an exploration venture.” In an interview, McDaniel added that Barron Petroleum will have the ability to drill some 60 new wells, allowing energy companies to purchase large quantities of gas or oil from one site. “This is a major discovery because these new field designations are all going to be made from this one 13,000-acre lease,” McDaniel said. “These are going to be high-volume, high-rate wells from a major new field that will be developed over the next five to 10 years.” Sahota agrees, and is already negotiating a contract with energy companies Kinder Morgan and Enterprise to lay down a miles-long gas line and sell natural gas drilled out of the field.
Texas Democrat: US natural gas vital in transition to renewables -Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) said energy sources like liquified natural gas are essential in the transition to renewable energy, and that a Biden administration would help in that effort. “It's not an either or [decision],” Gonzalez said Monday at The Hill’s “Energy Access and Reliability” event during the virtual Democratic National Convention. He said renewable and traditional energy leaders will “need to hold hands and walk this walk together, and I feel fully confident that ... we will be able to do it under a Biden administration.” Gonzalez -- a member of both the Congressional Renewable Energy Caucus and the Oil & Gas Caucus -- argued at the event sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute that the United States should maintain its position as an exporter rather than an importer of energy, so that it can provide oil to allies. One way to do that, he told The Hill's Steve Clemons, is for Congress to invest in carbon-capturing technology and provide tax credits for companies that develop and use renewable energy technology, all part of the Democratic platform. The 2020 Democratic Party Platform does not mention natural gas but emphasizes investment in renewable energy. Gonzalez’s remarks came the same day the Trump administration announced it had finalized plans to allow oil and gas drilling in 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, dealing a blow to conservationists and proponents of renewable energy. Will Marshall, president of Progressive Policy Institute who also spoke at Monday’s event, said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is well positioned to help bridge the political divide on the environment by highlighting that energy is “an employment issue” that provides opportunities like investing in manufacturing jobs to build electric vehicles. At a discussion earlier in the day at an event titled “Campaigns and the Pandemic,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) described Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), as someone who has used her position of power, such as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, to fight for the vulnerable, such as going after oil companies that violate environmental standards.
2 bodies found, 2 missing after explosion in Texas port - -- The bodies of two missing crew members of a dredging boat were found Saturday following an explosion a day earlier in the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Two other crew members of the dredging vessel Waymon L Boyd remain missing and the search for them continues, Coast Guard Capt. Jason Gunning said during a Saturday afternoon news conference. The explosion happened at about 8 a.m. Friday when the vessel struck a submerged pipeline, according to the Coast Guard, and Port of Corpus Christi officials said it was a natural gas pipeline. “A full investigation is underway; however, search and rescue efforts are our first priority. It will not be clear for some time the cause of this accident, and any definitive statements to the contrary would be premature," Strawbridge added. The Waymon L Boyd is owned by Houston-based marine construction contractor Orion Marine Group. The fire onboard the vessel was first extinguished Friday afternoon, but sparked again and was finally put out at approximately 10 p.m. Friday, shortly before the vessel broke apart and sunk, the Coast Guard said. The vessel carried a maximum of about 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel, said Brent Koza, the regional manager for the Texas General Land Office, which investigates oil spills. “We have identified and are preparing for that as our worst case discharge scenario,” and diesel is being recovered from the channel and around environmentally sensitive areas, Koza said.
Public Opinion Is Moving Against Natural Gas and Fracking - The fracked gas industry, already on the ropes financially, has cratered in the pandemic. At the same time, its public support is tanking. This convergence of trends—financial pressure and public skepticism—could spell trouble for at least two big export-oriented fossil fuel proposals in the Northwest that would use vast quantities of gas: the methanol refinery project in Kalama, Washington, and the Jordan Cove LNG project in Coos Bay, Oregon. The decade-long fracking boom that unleashed vast quantities of gas is now fizzling out, doused by a sea of red ink. As evidence mounts that fracking is extremely harmful to the environment and risky for public health, the gas industry seems to be losing the contest for public opinion. In an election year no less. Nationwide in the United States, public opinion has grown skeptical of fracking. Gallup public opinion polling has documented the trend well: in 2015 Americans were evenly split on their support or opposition to fracking. But by 2016 Americans opposed it by an 11-point margin, a figure that widened to 18 points in opposition by 2017. The Pew Research Center documented the same shift in public opinion over the roughly the same period, as fracking fell out of favor. An August 2019 Associated Press-NORC poll found that only 22 percent of Americans support increasing fracking while 45 percent oppose increasing it. And, a YouGov Blue poll in September 2019 found that registered voters support a ban on fracking by 46 to 33 percent. Poll numbers like these have already influenced candidates’ positioning in both state primaries and the US general election. Based on horse race polling, there’s no discernible electoral disadvantage for candidates who take a tough stance on fossil fuels, even in swing states—and even in swing states where fossil fuels loom large, like Ohio, the nation’s fifth-biggest gas producer, and Texas, the nation’s leading gas producer. And no swing state may be more important than Pennsylvania, where the industry cranks out over 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas annually—a volume that ranks second in the country and ahead of eight OPEC nations. In January 2020, a Franklin and Marshall College poll found that voters in the Keystone State favor a ban on fracking by 48 percent to 39 percent.Okla. oil driller files for bankruptcy protection -- Tuesday, August 18, 2020 -- Chaparral Energy Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in four years, paving the way for bondholders to take control of the Oklahoma driller in the aftermath of sluggish oil prices.
Walz administration to appeal Line 3 | MPR News - Gov. Tim Walz’s administration is wading deeper into the contentious, long-simmering debate over the proposed Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project. The Minnesota Department of Commerce announced plans Tuesday to appeal state utility regulators’ decision earlier this year to approve Enbridge Energy’s proposal to replace a deteriorating pipeline that crosses northern Minnesota with a new, larger pipe along a different route. In a statement released late Tuesday, the Commerce Department said its decision was consistent with previous agency actions. The department has filed similar appeals earlier in the Line 3 regulatory process, under the administrations of Walz and his predecessor, former Gov. Mark Dayton. The department is arguing the state Public Utilities Commission erred in granting Enbridge Energy a certificate of need — which establishes that a project is in the state’s best interest — to build the Line 3 project, “because Enbridge didn’t introduce, and so the commission could not evaluate the accuracy of, a long-term demand forecast.” The Commerce Department also said the utility regulator unlawfully shifted the burden of proof “to show that demand for product transmitted by Line 3 would decrease during the forecast period” from Enbridge to the department and others. In an announcement Tuesday, the Commerce Department said it plans to formally file its challenge with the Minnesota Court of Appeals Wednesday. Enbridge has proposed replacing its existing Line 3 pipeline, which was built in the 1960s and requires substantial maintenance, with a new line that would allow the company to transport nearly twice as much oil, along a new corridor across northern Minnesota. In a statement after the Commerce Department’s announcement, Walz said, “When it comes to any project that impacts our environment and our economy, we must follow the process, the law, and the science.” He said the appeal is a part of that process, and is “important to ensure clarity in the steps that Minnesota takes to evaluate and approve projects like this one.” Walz has been under increasing pressure from both pipeline opponents and supporters as the decision loomed.
Draft decision released for Little Missouri National Grassland oil and gas leasing -- The U.S. Forest Service has released a draft decision regarding updates to oil and gas leasing for the Little Missouri National Grassland and is accepting any public objections for 45 days.The agency has been working to update its oil and gas leasing direction for the western North Dakota grassland, a document that hasn’t been updated since the Bakken oil boom was in its infancy.About 893,000 acres of the grassland are available for oil and gas leasing. The recommended changes would provide access to an additional 216,000 acres, while providing protections for sage grouse, rare plants and fossils, according to the Forest Service's Dakota Prairie Grasslands office."Our analysis demonstrates that energy development can be compatible with our grasslands restoration work, grazing activities, and the myriad recreation opportunities the grasslands have to offer," Acting Grasslands Supervisor Jeff Tomac said in a statement. "The changes to leasing requirements we are considering will enable us to keep up with advancing technologies and trends in energy development in a way that sustains the health of the grasslands for generations to come."The agency earlier took public comment on a draft supplemental environmental impact statement. It announced the final EIS and draft decision on Monday. They can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=40652. There are several ways to submit objections. They can be mailed or hand-delivered to Objection Revision Officer, USDA Forest Service, Northern Region, 26 Fort Missoula Road, Missoula, MT 59804. Objections also can emailed to appeals-northern-regional-office@usda.gov, with “Northern Great Plains Management Revision for Oil and Gas Leasing Project” in the subject line. They also can be faxed to Objection Reviewing Officer at 406-329-3411.
Giant oil company is building world's largest facility to turn vegetable oil and grease into cleaner gasoline - Fuel maker Phillips 66 is moving to convert a San Francisco-area crude oil refinery into the world’s largest renewable fuels plant by early 2024, the company announced Wednesday. The facility located in Rodeo, Calif., will be reconfigured to no longer produce fuels from crude oil and instead produce renewable fuel from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils. The company said it expects to produce 680 million gallons a year of renewable diesel and gasoline and sustainable jet fuel. When combined with production from an existing smaller sustainable fuels project, the facility could produce more than 800 million gallons of renewable fuels each year by 2024, pending regulatory approval. The conversion is expected to cut the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent. “Phillips 66 is taking a significant step with RodeoRenewed to support demand for renewable fuels and help California meet its low carbon objectives,” Greg Garland, chairman and CEO of Phillips 66, said in a statement. “We believe the world will require a mix of fuels to meet the growing need for affordable energy, and the renewable fuels from RodeoRenewed will be an important part of that mix.” The energy giant said the capital-efficient investment is expected to deliver strong returns through the sale of “high value products while lowering the plant’s operating costs.” The announcement comes as crude oil prices dropped more than 30 percent as the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted demand for gasoline and jet fuel. Global oil consumption is expected to stay depressed for years as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Meanwhile, demand for renewable fuel is in a position to potentially grow as government regulations in states like California are aimed at dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Bankruptcy court approves Whiting's reorganization plans - A bankruptcy court in Texas has signed off on Whiting Petroleum’s bankruptcy plan, which exchanges billions in debts for equity in a reorganized company. Under the plan approved by the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court, Whiting will shed $2.4 billion of its debts, in a $3.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization that will leave 97 percent of its ownership in the hands of private equity firms and investors and 3 percent with existing stockholders. Initially, Whiting was to raise $1 billion to pay part of its debt, but the final plan instead establishes a reserve-based revolving credit facility with an initial $750 million, according to the company’s SEC filing. The revolving fund’s credit limit is $1.5 billion. The effective date of this plan will occur only after all conditions required by the plan have been met, which the company projects will be Sept. 1. Up until then, technical amendments are still possible. A complete description of the plan is available online Whiting will emerge from bankruptcy with both a new chief executive officer and a new board. Kevin McCarthy, vice chairman of private equity firm Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, will serve as chairman of the new board. Former SRC Energy CEO Lynn Peterson, meanwhile, has been tapped to serve as Whiting’s new CEO, replacing Brad Holly, who took the post in 2017 after serving as head of the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. Holly will receive a $2.53 million severance package, according to regulatory filings with the SEC, and 18 months of health care benefits. This is on top of the $6.4 million he received for steering the company through the bankruptcy process.
North Dakota crude oil production fell in May beyond natural declines – EIA - Production implied by decline consists of wells with more than three months of non-zero production. A hyperbolic decline curve was fit to historical well-level production to estimate the natural decline in production from each well. Production from the PSM and STEO reflect estimated production from all producing wells in North Dakota. Between December 2019 and May 2020, crude oil output in North Dakota fell from an average of 1.5 million barrels per day (b/d) to 0.9 million b/d, a decline of more than 615,000 b/d (41.6%). This production decline is greater than it would have been if producers solely halted new drilling and allowed production from current wells to naturally decline. With only natural declines, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) analysis of Enverus’s data (which covers most, but not all, wells operating in North Dakota) indicates that crude oil production for most of North Dakota would have been approximately 1.1 million b/d in May 2020, 0.4 million b/d more than those wells actually reported. This difference suggests that many producers decided to reduce production from their existing wells beyond the volume the wells would have naturally declined. The principal driver of North Dakota’s production decline was low crude oil prices. After averaging $55.70 per barrel (b) throughout 2019, monthly prices in North Dakota (defined as the average of the Bakken Clearbrook and the Bakken Guernsey prices) averaged $29.82/b in May 2020 after having declined as low as -$38.13/b on April 20. According to survey data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the region’s producers need prices of at least $28/b on average to cover their operating expenses and $51/b to drill new wells. In response to these price signals, most North Dakota producers reduced production, which was accomplished in at least one of three ways. First, some operators chose to completely halt production at some of their wells. As a result, although North Dakota had an average of 16,000 producing wells in December 2019, by May 2020, that number had fallen to 12,800 wells, the lowest level in more than four years.
Bakken gas production rebounds, but will it last? - Bakken associated gas production volume, after falling to its lowest levels in three years in early May and remaining depressed through June, has surged by 500 MMcf/d, or about 45%, in the past month and a half to 1.7 Bcf/d. However, the gains have occurred in the absence of a meaningful change in rig counts or well completion activity, which remains sluggish. Similar to the Permian, the Bakken production recovery has been almost entirely driven by existing wells returning to service after being shut in earlier this year in response to the oil price collapse. With little in the way of new drilling and completion activity, how long will it be before natural declines of existing wells begin to take a toll on Bakken output? Today, we examine prospects for continued strength in Bakken gas production volumes. Gas pipeline flow data over the past couple of months has provided the first indications that the bulk of the U.S. oil wells that were shut in this past spring have returned to service and that production volumes are rebounding. The data also provides a glimpse of what likely will follow the rebound in most basins: a gradual contraction in production output measured by the natural decline rates of existing wells, particularly given that producers’ capital spending budget cuts have slowed new drilling and well completion activity to a crawl.We discussed last month in Gimme Some Truth how these dynamics have unfolded in the Permian — from the sharp drop in associated gas output in early May as the basin’s producers shut in some crude-focused wells in response to low crude prices and storage constraints; to the near-vertical rebound in gas production in late June, as U.S. shut-ins (and, on a global scale, OPEC+ cuts) helped to work off some of the surplus in storage and crude prices recovered above $40/bbl; and finally, the inevitable downturn in production as natural declines continued to wear down the strength of output from existing wells. At the peak of the rebound in early July, Permian gas volumes hit a post-shut-in high of 11.7 Bcf/d, up from an average 10.5 Bcf/d during the worst of the shut-ins, but not quite back to pre-shut-in highs near 12 Bcf/d, and they’ve continued a slow slide from there (see the weekly NATGAS Permian and Crude Oil Permian reports for the latest).
Dakota Access Pipeline fight will heat up again in two federal courts | S&P Global Platts — The Dakota Access Pipeline will continue to flow crude oil for now, but the legal battle heats back up again soon as the fight to shutter the pipeline continues in two separate federal courts. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled on Aug. 5 that the pipeline could remain open for now -- the same day that was the initial deadline for the 570,000 b/d crude system to be closed. But, as part of a mixed-bag ruling, the panel also kicked the case back to the judge, James Boasberg, who ordered the pipeline shuttered to potentially make a stronger argument for its unprecedented closure. The oil and gas industry and environmentalists are closely watching the case that could determine whether a three-year-old crude pipeline, which serves as the main crude artery from the Bakken Shale, can permanently be closed after it's built and is up and running. The legal argument is that the pipeline's construction should never have been allowed because permitting allegedly was fast-tracked by the US Army Corps of Engineer and the pipeline-friendly Trump administration without undergoing the proper environmental reviews. "What makes this case so unusual is the pipeline is already built," said James Coleman, an energy law professor at Southern Methodist University. "There really aren't many precedents." While the shutdown injunction case is back in the hands of Judge Boasberg, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the three-judge appeals panel is expediting legal arguments over the ruling that forces the Corps of Engineers to conduct a stronger assessment and draft an Environmental Impact Statement, called an EIS, which couldn't be completed until 2021 at the earliest. Although the appeals court let the pipeline continue to operate in the meantime, the court also upheld the yanking of the pipeline's federal water permit. That means the Corps of Engineers has until Aug. 31 to detail the options it is considering on how -- or how not -- to justify keeping the pipeline safely flowing while its environmental permitting remains vacated. The lead plaintiffs, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and their legal representation at Earthjustice, contend the pipeline is now operating illegally because the permitting was lost. The strong assumption is the Corps of Engineer will let the pipeline to stay open, said attorney Jan Hasselman of Earthjustice. "Everyone always assumed that vacating the permit meant shutting down the pipeline, and it's almost like the goalpost got moved," Hasselman said. "That's certainly the conversation we'll have with the appeals court." In the appellate court, initial arguments are due on Aug. 26 and all replies are due by the end of September. The three-judge panel ordered an "expedited" court schedule this year. "I can't remember this ever happening before," Hasselman added. "We'll be litigating the same case in two different courts at the same time."
Keystone Pipeline operators pay more than $52,000 for 2019 Walsh County oil spill - TC Energy has agreed to pay more than $52,000 for the Keystone Pipeline oil spill last year that released about 383,000 gallons of crude oil onto about five acres of farmland outside of Edinburg, N.D. in October.The settlement, dated Aug. 10, states that the Canada-based pipeline company formerly called TransCanada Energy agreed to pay a $32,000 administrative penalty as well as a $20,354 environmental emergency cost recovery fee to the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality.DEQ Director Dave Glatt said the $52,354 payment was received on Aug. 10.When determining the administrative penalty for a pipeline company responsible for a spill on North Dakota soil, Glatt said factors, such as how much damage was done and how quickly the company acted to clean the oil, are considered. The cost recovery fee covers the cost of DEQ's own response to the spill. Glatt said the administrative penalty in this case is relatively low, because of how quickly TC Energy responded to the spill and how quickly it was able to remediate the site."(TC Energy) were able to shut down the pipeline very quickly, and that resulted in minimizing the impact and so they were able to clean this up in short order," Glatt said. "Some sites, it may take years to clean them up, but that wasn't the case here."As of earlier this summer, the spill has been contained and the site remediated to the DEQ's satisfaction. Glatt said that, after the contaminated soil was removed and taken to a landfill, TC Energy workers reconfigured the land to its original contour and re-vegetated the site.DEQ will continue to monitor the site to make sure the grasses and plants return to their normal growth, but he expects there will be no long-term impacts to the land because of the spill or remediation work.
Trump Admin Pushes Final Drilling Plan for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, thanks to protections put in place 60 years ago, has remained a pristine oasis in the most remote section of Alaska. Now, the Trump administration is finalizing plans to end those protections and to lease the federal lands to oil and gas exploration, according to The New York Times. The maneuver will allow oil and gas companies to exploit the vast reserves that sit under what environmentalists call "the last great wilderness," according to The Guardian. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is estimated to sit above billions of barrels of oil. However, the 19-million acre sanctuary is home to polar bears, various waterfowl, migrating caribou and Arctic foxes that make the area their year-round home. In all, the refuge is home to more than 270 species, including the world's remaining Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, 250 musk oxen and 300,000 snow geese, according to The Washington Post. The Trump administration plans to open the perimeter to drilling, roughly 1.6 million acres in coastline, as The New York Times reported. The Department of the Interior said it had completed all the requisite reviews and intended to start selling leases to the land soon. Speaking to reporters, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said, "I do believe there could be a lease sale by the end of the year," as The New York Times reported. Bernhardt added that offering the leases, "marks a new chapter in American energy independence" and predicted it could "create thousands of new jobs," according to CNN. He also said in his conference call with reporters that he was moving forward with a 2017 budget bill, passed by a Republican-led congress, that insisted that the Federal government open up oil and gas leasing on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to The Washington Post. The push to open up the wildlife refuge marks a significant energy policy for an administration that has been hostile to the urgency of the climate crisis and invested heavily in greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. According to research from the Centers for American Progress, the drilling would result in more than 4.3 billion tons of CO2 emissions, which is roughly 75 percent of the nation's annual carbon dioxide emissions, according to The Washington Post.
The federal government will hold an ANWR lease sale. But drilling would be more than a decade away - Anchorage Daily News - The Trump Administration on Monday set the stage for a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the coming months, but industry observers and Alaska leaders say oil won’t flow for years. Drilling in the sensitive coastal plain faces strong resistance, questions about future demand for oil and vows from large banks not to invest in the region, they said. But some said that while litigation could slow the lease sale, the promise of a large discovery in a little-explored land land, where oil has been found at the surface, means drilling is certain.Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who has fought for development in ANWR for generations, said that with litigation from conservation groups likely, he doesn’t think there’s enough time to hold a lease sale this year. But it will be held next year, he said. Like Prudhoe Bay, where drilling was also controversial before it began, oil production from the refuge will eventually create significant jobs and revenue for Alaska and the U.S., Young said in an interview. Led by Alaska’s congressional delegation, Congress in 2017 approved legislation calling for two lease sales by late 2024, at least 400,000 acres apiece in the coastal plain of the 19-million-acre refuge in northern Alaska. On Monday, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt finalized a more than two-year environmental review that analyzed potential drilling in the refuge, signing a record of decision that puts all available land, or 1.6-million acres, on the table for possible leasing. Congress mandated the lease sales, so they have to go forward, Benhardt said, in a meeting with reporters on Monday. The first lease sale will be held by late 2021, and the second by late 2024, he said. “The question of whether or not there will be a program in ANWR has really been answered,” he said. “The issue now is how do we go about it, and how durable that is.”
Trump Administration Finalizes Plan to Open Oil Drilling in Alaska's Arctic Refuge - The New York Times — The Trump administration on Monday finalized its plan to open up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas development, a move that overturns six decades of protections for the largest remaining stretch of wilderness in the United States.The decision sets the stage for what is expected to be a fierce legal battle over the fate of the refuge’s vast, remote coastal plain, which is believed to sit atop billions of barrels of oil but is also home to polar bears and migrating herds of caribou.The Interior Department said on Monday that it had completed its required reviews and would begin preparations to auction off drilling leases. “I do believe there could be a lease sale by the end of the year,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said.Environmentalists, who have battled for decades to keep energy companies out of the refuge, say the Interior Department failed to adequately consider the effects that oil and gas development could have on climate change and wildlife. They and other opponents, including some Alaska Native groups, are expected to file lawsuits to try to block lease sales.“We will continue to fight this at every turn,” said Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, in a statement. “Any oil company that would seek to drill in the Arctic Refuge will face enormous reputational, legal and financial risks.”Though any oil production within the refuge would still be at least a decade in the future, companies that bought leases could begin the process of seeking permits and exploring for oil and gas.President Trump has long cast an increase in Arctic drilling as integral to his push to expand domestic fossil fuel production on federal lands and secure America’s “energy dominance.” Republicans have prized the refuge as a lucrative source of oil and gas ever since the Reagan administration first recommended drilling in 1987, but efforts to open it up had long been stymied by Democratic lawmakers until 2017, when the G.O.P. used its control of both houses of Congress to pass a bill authorizing lease sales.“ANWR is a big deal that Ronald Reagan couldn’t get done and nobody could get done,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends on Monday.It remains unclear how much interest there will be from energy companies at a time when many countries are trying to wean themselves from fossil fuels and oil prices are crashing amid the coronavirus pandemic. Exploring and drilling in harsh Arctic conditions remains difficult and costly.Nevertheless, by proceeding with the lease sales, the Trump administration has made the Arctic refuge a potential issue in the presidential campaign, and the region’s fate may ultimately hinge on the election’s outcome. The Democratic nominee for president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., has called for permanent protection of the refuge. However, even if he were to win the White House, it could prove difficult for his administration to overturn existing lease rights once they have been auctioned to energy companies.
The Energy 202: Trump team up against the clock to sell Arctic drilling rights by Inauguration Day - The Washington Post - The Trump administration is racing to sell off the right to drill deep in the Alaskan Arctic – to protect against the possibility that Joe Biden, if elected, could undo one what would be among the president's most significant energy policy achievements. The presidential election is putting pressure on Trump's deputies at the Interior Department to be on track to complete a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Inauguration Day in January 2021. That would make it much more difficult for a future Democratic administration to reverse the decision to open the ecologically sensitive caribou and polar bear habitat to oil and gas extraction, experts say. “They have a very narrow window,” said Matt Lee-Ashley, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank that opposes drilling in the Arctic refuge. “They certainly can do it, but the margins of error are smaller.” The coastal plain within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. . (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services/AFP via Getty Images) The Interior Department just finalized a plan to hold a lease sale, but didn't say when exactly it would take place. The move opens the door for leasing on the 1.6 million-acre coastal plain on Alaska's North Slope after drilling there was authorizing by congressional Republicans in a 2017 budget bill. Without mentioning the upcoming election, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt suggested his department may complete the lease sale soon. “I do believe that there certainly could be a lease sale by the end of the year,” Bernhardt told reporters this week, though he added that he is “not really driven by the political dynamics.” “The president has this issue as one of his priorities that he discussed with us,” he said. Looming over the leasing process is a promise from Biden to block drilling in the refuge if elected president. His campaign reiterated that commitment Monday after the Trump administration released the plan. Now both the oil industry and politicians in Alaska are eager to see leases sold sooner rather than later. Frank Macchiarola, a senior vice president at the American Petroleum Institute, a major oil and gas lobbying group in Washington, said his organization “would support seeing a lease sale this year.” AD “This has been an important priority for the industry for a number of years,” he added. Perhaps no one did more to usher the drilling provision through Congress than Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Getting Congress to permit drilling there was a goal long sought by Alaska politicians, including her father, former senator and governor Frank Murkowski (R). She, too, wants “to see a lease sale this year,” she said. “We should not delay this opportunity,” she added.
An oil company wants to use giant chillers to refreeze the ground that climate change is thawing in order to drill for more oil — which will ultimately accelerate global warming - ConocoPhillips, one of the nation's largest oil companies, might soon be forced to face symptoms of a problem it helped create — melting permafrost wrought by climate change. In a planned project in northern Alaska, where global warming is causing the frozen soil to thaw, the company said it would use chillers to keep the ground beneath key infrastructure frozen, according to an environmental impact statement published by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last Friday, Bloomberg Law first reported. The oil-drilling infrastructure, itself, could also exacerbate the thawing of the ground, the agency said. The project, known as Willow, could produce more than 160,000 barrels of oil per day over a period of about 30 years, during which climate change is likely to worsen warming, BLM said. In the last 60 years, average temperatures in the region rose by 3 degrees and they're expected to increase by as much as 12 degrees by the end of the century "if global emissions continue to increase," the agency said. The transportation sector — which runs on fuels made with oil — is the largest source of planet-warming emissions in the US. The oil produced by the ConocoPhillips project is thus likely to accelerate global warming and the melting of Alaska's permafrost. "Climate change is affecting the Arctic and our operations, but these effects are incremental, which means they can be effectively monitored and addressed as they arise," a ConocoPhillips representative said in a statement. "For example, in addition to closely monitoring changes in the depth of the usual summertime thawing of the permafrost surface layer each year, where necessary we use cooling devices (thermosyphons) that can chill the ground enough in the winter to help it remain frozen through the summer."
BP disputes Greenpeaces oil spill claims - OIL company BP has insisted there has been no oil spill from its Andrew platform, 140 miles northeast of Aberdeen, after activists from Greenpeace said they had recorded pollution originating from the installation. Greenpeace said they had “witnessed” the spill from its ship Esperanza on Saturday and reported the incident to Marine Scotland and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) the following day. The environmental activists, currently campaigning in the North Sea, said aerial photographs clearly show that the pollution originates from the Andrew platform, operated by BP. BP in Aberdeen said on Tuesday morning that water produced from platform operations was discharged to the sea in accordance with applicable regulation. A company spokesman said: “BP, as a responsible operator, carries out continuous monitoring analysis in addition to sampling as required by UK regulation. “The results of this analysis and sampling have been shared with the regulator and the composition of produced water from Andrew is within approved limits. “BP will continue to analyse the produced water from Andrew to ensure this remains the case. The spokesman added: “There is not a spill at the Andrew platform.” This video grab captured from drone footage shows oil floating on the surface of the North Sea in the Andrew oilfield.This video grab captured from drone footage shows oil floating on the surface of the North Sea in the Andrew oilfield. Climate finance adviser for Greenpeace UK Charlie Kronick responded: “Given the scale of the pollution witnessed, which goes beyond the 500m exclusion zone, it’s troubling if this is considered normal operating practice.
Venezuela coast could take half a century to recover from oil spill, researcher says (Reuters) - A strip of Venezuela’s western coastline boasting pristine beaches and fragile ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs could take more than half a century to fully recover from the environmental impacts of a recent oil spill, a researcher said on Wednesday. The country’s opposition-controlled National Assembly last week opened an investigation to determine the causes and consequences of the oil slicks that began washing up on the Caribbean coast of western Falcon state in early August. “We project that the negative consequences on ecosystems and their components could last for 50 years or more,” Julia Alvarez, a biologist with Venezuela’s SVE ecological society, told reporters. Alvarez added that the area was also home to mollusks that likely would have died instantly on contact with the oil, threatening the livelihood of fishermen in the area at a time of severe economic contraction in Venezuela. Independent researchers and opposition lawmakers have said the spill likely originated from the El Palito oil refinery in nearby Carabobo state, citing satellite images showing slicks near the refinery in late July, days before oil began washing up on the coasts of Morrocoy national park. A report published by the SVE and Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar University cited satellite images showing that the slick first appeared on July 22 near the refinery. Given its length of 5.6 km (3.5 miles) and width of 1.5 km, the researchers calculated it contained around 26,700 barrels of oil.
Australians charged ‘substantially’ more for country’s gas than buyers overseas - Consumers and businesses on Australia’s east coast are paying significantly more for gas than international customers buying its liquified natural gas (LNG) exports, the competition watchdog has found.An interim report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found domestic gas users were offered prices of between $8 to $11 a gigajoule in late 2019 and early this year. By comparison, LNG exporters were selling to their north Asian customers for less than $6 a gigajoule by early 2020.The LNG netback price, a measure of what a gas supplier would expect to receive, has been below $5.50 since May. The ACCC chair, Rod Sims, said he was concerned about a widening gap between domestic and export parity prices. It would have an “inevitable impact” on Australia’s industrial sector during a difficult economic period, he said.“I am yet to hear a compelling reason from LNG producers as to why domestic users are paying substantially higher prices than buyers in international markets,” Sims said in a statement. “When we have lower gas prices around the world, and the Australian market linked to world gas markets, it is vital that Australian gas users get the benefit.”International oil and gas prices have crashed in recent months due to the Covid-19 shutdown, Saudi Arabia and Russia flooding the global oil market and, according to some analysts, investors’ increasing wariness about the financial risk of backing fossil fuel assets as the world looks to cut greenhouse gas emissions.Sims said the impact of Covid-19 and the collapse in oil prices were being felt at all levels of the gas supply chain. “They have highlighted key areas of dysfunction in the market,” he said.The Morrison government and its handpicked National Covid Coordinating Commission have embraced the falling price as an opportunity and backed public support for gas infrastructure. The commission’s chair, Nev Power, has played down suggestions of a green recovery from the pandemic built on clean energy. A leaked draft report by the commission’s manufacturing taskforce recommended the government underwrite a massive expansion of the domestic gas industry – including government help to open new fields and build hundreds of kilometres of pipelines – that could reduce the domestic price to about $6 a gigajoule, with a goal of $4. Analysts have dismissed this as unrealistic.
Shell working to eliminate oil pollution in Niger Delta through effective operational activities - The cause of the spillage is one or more of the combinations of poor maintenance of oil infrastructure, corrosion, equipment failure, sabotage and theft. Experts say oil spill is a form of pollution caused by the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity. Not stressing much on the fact, the negative impacts caused in the processes of oil exploration and production are no less of commercial and environmental catastrophes, the world over. Since Nigeria discovered the ‘black gold’ in Oloibiri, in 1956, there has been a resultant environmental degradation from gas flaring, dredging of larger rivers, oil spillage and reclamation of land due to oil and gas extraction across the Niger Delta region. Chiefly as a result of intensified petroleum exploration and production since the 1960s, oil spillage has likewise intensified. However, for the last decade, in particular, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), a wholly-owned Shell subsidiary which operates an unincorporated joint venture (SPDC JV), has been working to eliminate spills from its operational activities and to lower the scale of oil pollution in its operations. According to the “Nigeria Briefing Notes 2020,” the SPDC JV, in 2019, reduced operational spills to its lowest levels and significantly reduced breaches from wellheads and cleaned up more spill sites than ever before. The energy company, in the review period, reported a decrease of 46.6 per cent or seven operational spills, relative to 15 spills recorded in the previous year of 2018. Not undermining illegal activities of oil theft, pipeline vandalism and others inhibiting a normal operating environment for its operations, the SPDC has remained resilience in accordance with its policy to eliminate spills from its operational activities. In fact, when a leak is identified, reports say the SPDC JV team responds to contain any of such spilled oil and clean up. In 2019, the company remediated 130 sites. That said, there is no doubt that, as a company operating to the same technical standards as other Shell companies globally, there is still much work to do to get the company to its target of “Goal Zero” in all spills, operational and third-party vandalism. But through a solid strategy, active partnerships, closer community engagements, bold security and new surveillance equipment, the SPDC has been steadily making good progress in the areas of performance, illegal activity, response and investigation, remediation and clean-up in Ogoniland.
Ship that oozed oil off Mauritius coast splits in two- A ship that has leaked more than 1,000 tonnes of oil in pristine waters off the coast of Mauritius has split in two. The bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the southeastern coast of Mauritius on July 25 and began oozing oil more than a week later, threatening a protected marine park boasting mangrove forests and endangered species. Mauritius declared an environmental emergency and salvage crews raced against the clock to pump the remaining 3,000 tonnes of oil off the stricken vessel. "It was confirmed on August 15 that the vessel has broken into two," the ship's operator Mitsui OSK Lines said in a statement Sunday, noting that the information came from the vessel's owner, Nagashiki Shipping. The split was caused by a crack in a cargo hold on its stern side, Mitsui said. Officials had been preparing for the development for days, and images taken Saturday indicated it was inevitable, with the two pieces only partially attached. 'Worst ecological disaster' Nearly all the remaining 3,000 tonnes of oil had been pumped off the ship by that time, though there were still 90 tonnes on board, much of it residue from the leakage. Oil-oozing ship off Mauritius coast Oil-oozing ship off Mauritius coast Mitsui noted Sunday that "an amount of unrecovered oil is believed to have leaked out of the vessel", without providing details. Thousands of Mauritians have volunteered day and night to clean the powder-blue waters that have long been a favourite among honeymooners and tourists. The spill is both an environmental and economic disaster for Mauritius, which relies heavily on tourism. The spill already qualifies as the "worst ecological disaster" for the Indian Ocean island nation, Greenpeace Africa campaigner Happy Khambule said, adding that it "puts unique species under immediate threats".
Japanese Tanker Splits in Two After Creating Environmental Disaster for Mauritius - The Japanese cargo ship that hit a coral reef near Mauritius and spilled thousands of metric tons of fuel into the island nation's turquoise waters split in two over the weekend, The Guardian reported. "At around 4.30 p.m., a major detachment of the vessel's forward section was observed," the Mauritius National Crisis Committee said in a statement regarding The MV Wakashio. "On the basis of the experts' advice, the towing plan is being implemented." The ship ran aground near Blue Bay Marine Park, a designated conservation area that is home to dozens of unique coral and fish species. To protect the area, crews used floating dams to cordon it off and divert the oil. India is helping the effort by sending 28 tons of material, including dams and barges to help lessen the oil spill impact, NPR reported. Tug boats are trying to haul the ship hundreds of miles into the Indian Ocean in order to sink it, but NPR reported that bad weather is hampering plans to remove it. It's estimated that at least 1,000 tons from the ship's 4,000 tons of oil spilled into the Indian Ocean, and by the time the ship split, nearly all of the remaining fuel had been removed, except for 90 tons that couldn't be reached since it was mostly leakage residue, CBS News reported. The Mauritius National Crisis Committee said that booms had been placed near the ship as it broke apart to absorb any of the remaining fuel leakage. The ship's owner, Nagashiki Shipping, will consider compensation requests from Mauritius, the BBC reported. The Japanese environment minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, said that Japan would send a team of officials and specialists to assess the damage, the Guardian reported. While the full impact of the oil spill is still unfolding, the damage could severely harm Mauritius' tourism-based economy for decades, The Guardian reported. Besides the hit to tourism, scientists noted that the damage could affect the local ecosystem for just as long. "This oil spill occurred in one of, if not the most, sensitive areas in Mauritius," oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo told Reuters. "We are talking of decades to recover from this damage, and some of it may never recover."
Birthday Party & Quest for WiFi led to Wakashio grounding off Mauritius - “The 58-year-old captain of the ill-fated Newcastlemax-type bulk carrier WAKASHIO could face negligence charges” after it was discovered the crew was celebrating a crewmember’s birthday as the ship edged closer to the Mauritius coastline seeking wifi signals just prior to the bulk carrier’s grounding on a reef off the island’s south coast. It appears seeking close proximity to the populated shore is a common practice for ships out to sea weeks at a time. It is done so crews can pick up TV signals, internet, and cell phone access. Crews can call home or catch up on the news.First reported by local newspaper “L’Express,” these bombshell revelations come from investigators interviewing the crew of the Japanese-owned WAKASHIO a Panamanian-flagged ship.The WAKASHIO grounded on a reef near UNESCO protected sites on the evening of July 25. Before the catastrophe, local authorities noticed the close proximity of the WAKASHIO to the Mauritius coastline and had been trying to contact the ship before the accident to warn it off from its flawed course. A later story after talking to the crew revealed the crew was celebrating a birthday and had missed the initial and urgent calls. The wrecked ship is now on the verge of breaking up (and has done so), has spilled around 1,000 tonnes of bunker fuel into the pristine Mauritian waters, and has created the republic’s greatest ecological disaster. The “Newcastlemax” designation refers to ship size; Maximum beam 50 meters with a maximum overall length of 300 meter. It is the largest vessel to be able to enter the port of Newcastle, Australia at about 185,000 DWT.
Mauritius Oil Spill Tragedy: How and Why the MV Wakashio Ran Aground, and Aftermath - A mysterious course change, a birthday party, oil on the beaches, and a billion dollars in compensation (maybe). Nagashiki Shipping’s Capesize bulk carrier Wakashio, which, loaded with oil, ran aground on a reef off Pointe Desny[1], southeast Mauritius, on July 25, 22 days ago, broke in two today.[2] Here’s before-and-after satellite imagery: Here’s a close-up image of the Wakashio: And here’s an aerial view, showing the nasty effects of oil on Mauritius’ turquoise water: (Most of the oil was removed from the tanker before it broke up, so this photo shows the vile residue.) A few days ago, Yves covered the grounding, the ecological effects, the (mostly successful) efforts to pump the low sulfur and diesel oil out of the ship to keep it out of the ocean, and the volunteer efforts to clean up the oil that did escape; she also gave a link to a crowd-funding site for cleaning and protecting the Mahebourg Lagoon[3] where the oil spilled. In this post, I’ll look at what we know today about how the Wakashio ran aground, the nature of the oil spill, and compensation for the spill.
Japan ramps up aid to Mauritius after oil spill - Japan is sending a second team of experts to help clean up more than 1,000 tons of oil that leaked from a Japanese-owned bulk carrier into pristine waters off the coast of Mauritius. The decision came as the Mauritian government vowed to seek compensation from the ship's owner and insurer for "all losses and damages" related to the disaster. Tokyo has already dispatched one team of six experts, including a coastguard expert and diplomats, to aid in the response. The new team of seven experts is to leave Japan on Wednesday and will carry materials such as sorbent to help clean up the oil, Japan's embassy in Mauritius said in a statement Monday. "The oil spill has caused serious damage over the southeast coastal environment of Mauritius and will have an inevitable impact on the country's tourism industry as well," the statement said. "Japan has decided to dispatch the team out of comprehensive and holistic consideration of all circumstances, including the request of urgent assistance from the government of the Republic of Mauritius and the friendly relationship between the two countries," it said. The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef on July 25 and began oozing oil more than a week later. Both the Mauritian and Japanese governments have come under fire for not doing more immediately to prevent a large-scale spill. Japanese firm Nagashiki, the ship's owner, has pledged to "sincerely" respond to requests for compensation over damage to the marine environment. The ship split in half over the weekend, and a portion remains stranded on the reef. At a meeting Monday, the national crisis committee formed in response to the spill determined that it was "still risky to remove the remaining small amount of residual oil in the engine room" of that portion of the ship, according to a statement issued Monday night. "Oil-pumping operations should resume as soon as the weather permits," the statement said.
Japanese team- Mauritius oil cleanup won't be easy - Japanese experts assessing the impact of an oil spill caused by a Japanese ship off Mauritius say they have no idea how long it will take to clean up contaminated areas.Specialists in maritime anti-pollution measures began working at sites where oil from a ship operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines washed ashore. The vessel ran aground off the Indian Ocean island nation on July 25.The team reported its initial findings online on Friday, three days into the survey. One member said the contamination is widespread, with oil reaching some 10 kilometers north of the stranded ship.He said the vessel suffered such severe damage that an attempt to retrieve it from shallow waters of only 10 meters deep would be challenging. Another expert said mangrove swamps are inundated with oil, making it difficult to gain access and clean the entangled roots of the trees.
Cleanup of oil leaked from Japanese-owned ship to be prolonged-- A Japanese disaster relief team dispatched in response to the leakage of fuel oil from a Japanese-owned freighter that ran aground off Mauritius said Friday it cannot estimate when the cleanup operation could be completed. "The spilled oil has stuck to coastal mangroves where it is hard to remove," a member of the team said in an online press briefing hosted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency via the videoconferencing app Zoom. Using chemicals to dissolve the oil is not a viable option as it may harm the ecosystem, the team said, adding that it was not presently aware of any damage to underwater coral. The team, which consists of four experts from the Japan Coast Guard and one official each from the Foreign Ministry and JICA, arrived in the Indian Ocean island nation on Monday. A recent survey of the area found that oil had spread to around 10 kilometers north of where the ship had ran aground near Pointe d'Esny, an area designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. More than 1,000 tons of fuel oil has leaked from the vessel, according to its operator Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. The team expects to finish removing all the oil remaining inside the vessel within the next few days, weather permitting. The Panama-flagged bulk carrier Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping Co., was carrying a total of some 3,800 tons of fuel oil when it ran aground on July 25. The oil began to leak last week when one of the five fuel tanks cracked.
Mauritius oil clean-up team turns focus from sea to mangroves - A Japanese disaster relief team helping to clean up a devastating oil spill off the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius is focusing on mangroves, beaches and wetlands after most of the oil at sea had been collected, it said on Tuesday. A Japanese bulk carrier struck a coral reef on July 25, spilling about 1 000 tonnes of fuel oil in what environmentalists say is the country's worst ecological disaster, killing wildlife and damaging pristine waters. "As most of the spilled oil at sea has been collected, we are moving into a next stage, with the focus on cleaning up the seaside and minimising the environmental impact," Keiji Takechi, deputy team leader, told an online news conference from Mahebourg, Mauritius. "Environmental experts who can give advice and instruction are needed now." Japan sent six officials, mainly oil spill experts, to Mauritius last week and plans to send another team of environment ministry officials and specialists this week. Team leader Junji Gomakubo said the focus was not only on the immediate impact. "We also need to think about plans to restore the environment in the long run, like in a 10-, 20-, 30-year span," he said. The full impact of the spill is still unfolding, scientists say. As island residents scrambled to mop up the oil slicks and clumps, they saw dead eels and fish floating in the water, as fuel-soaked seabirds limped ashore. The damage, scientists say, could impact Mauritius and its tourism-dependent economy for decades.
Mauritius Arrests Captain of Ship Behind Devastating Oil Spill - The captain of the ship that ran aground off Mauritius and caused an environmental crisis when oil began leaking close to the island nation's unique marine ecosystems was arrested, both police and the captain's lawyer said on Tuesday. The captain, 58-year-old Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar of India, was charged with endangering safe navigation,BBC News reported. Chief officer Tilak Ratna Suboda of Sri Lanka was also arrested, according to The New York Times. "We have arrested the captain of the vessel and another member of the crew. After having been heard by the court they have been denied bail and are still in detention," Inspector Siva Coothen told Reuters.Nandeshwar was arraigned in a district court in the Mauritius capital of Port Louis. Both men will appear in court again Aug. 25, Nandeshwar's lawyer Ilshad Munsoor told The New York Times.The MV Wakashio ran aground on one of Mauritius' reefs July 25 and began leaking oil less than two weeks later. It is estimated that at least 1,000 tons of the roughly 4,000 tons on the ship spilled into the Indian Ocean. The rest was removed before the ship split in two over the weekend, except for 90 tons still on the ship.Rough weather conditions have made the remaining oil unsafe to remove, BBC News reported."Due to the adverse weather conditions, it is still risky to remove the remaining small amount of residual oil in the engine room," the National Crisis Management Committee said on Monday.While other major oil spills have been worse in terms of total oil released into the environment, this spill was catastrophic because it occurred near two protected marine ecosystems and one wetland of international importance.Scientists say damage from the spill could impact Mauritius' marine life and related tourism for decades, according to Reuters. "This oil spill occurred in one of, if not the most, sensitive areas in Mauritius," oceanographer Vassen Kauppaymuthoo told Reuters Aug. 13. "We are talking of decades to recover from this damage, and some of it may never recover." It still isn't clear why the ship passed so close to shore when it ran aground. The Mauritius coast guard tried repeatedly to warn the vessel that it had charted a dangerous course, but received no reply, an anonymous maritime official told Reuters.
Greenpeace warns Mauritius not to sink vessel that caused oil spill - Plans by Mauritius to sink part of a broken-up vessel that caused a disastrous oil spill should be shelved, environmental watchdog, Greenpeace, said on Wednesday. “Out of all available options, the Mauritian government is choosing the worst one,” said Happy Khambule of Greenpeace Africa. “Sinking this vessel would risk biodiversity and contaminate the ocean with large quantities of heavy metal toxins, threatening other areas as well, notably the French island of La Reunion,” he added. The Mauritian government announced its plan to sink part of the Wakashiho earlier in the week, after the Japanese-owned ship broke in two weeks after running aground off the tourist island. The government said the front of the vessel, owned by Nagashiki Shipping, would be towed into deep waters and sunk, while the rest would be removed bit by bit. The vessel leaked about 1,000 tons of the 4,000 tons of fuel oil it was carrying into the popular honeymoon resort’s pristine coastal waters, an area that is home to rare flora and fauna. The company and the Mauritian government have been under increasing pressure to explain why the vessel sailed so dangerously close to the reef and why it took authorities days to arrive at the scene. Authorities blame bad weather for the delay. The ship’s captain, an Indian national, and officer, a Sri Lankan, were arrested on Tuesday in the capital St Louis and have been charged with endangering safe navigation.
Mauritius oil spill puts spotlight on ship pollution- Small island nations face an existential and developmental threat from ship-source pollution endangering their vulnerable marine ecosystems and ocean economies. An effective international legal regime can help. Often close to world shipping lanes, small island and coastal nations are at particular risk from oil spills. Reliant on the marine environment and its biodiversity for tourism, fishing and aquaculture, islanders face an existential threat when oil spills happen in their waters. This is why the environmental crisis unfolding in Mauritius is of grave concern. It also brings into focus the international legal framework in place to provide support when ship-source environmental disasters strike, a new UNCTAD article says. The seas and their use are governed by several international conventions. But some are not ratified by all countries that might benefit, and others are yet to enter into force. This creates murky waters when oil spills happen, as not all parties have the same liability and compensation recourse, depending on which kinds of ships are responsible for the pollution and whether they have signed up to existing conventions. “There’s a need for universal participation in the existing international legal framework, where all nations are party to agreements, so when incidents like this occur, vulnerable countries are protected,” said Shamika N. Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s technology and logistics director. She said such oil spills herald negative environmental and socio-economic consequences for developing countries, especially small island developing states (SIDS). Ms. Sirimanne added: “Sustainable Development Goal 14 calls on us to protect life below water and this means minimizing pollution at every possible turn, including putting all necessary precautions in place to manage environmental disasters like oil spills when they do happen.”
India's crude imports fall to lowest in over a decade in July - (Reuters) - India’s crude oil imports fell in July to their lowest since March 2010 as fuel demand slowed amid renewed coronavirus-induced lockdowns and closures of refinery units for maintenance, government data showed on Thursday. Crude oil imports last month slumped about 36.4% from a year earlier to 12.34 million tonnes, or 2.92 million barrels per day, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas showed. That marked a fourth straight monthly decline. Fuel demand in the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer also fell, posting a fifth consecutive year-on-year drop. The country reported a record daily jump of 69,652 coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the total number of cases to 2.84 million, data from the federal health ministry showed. India is also Asia’s third-biggest economy, which imports and exports refined fuels. Refined product imports surged 46.4% to 4.07 million tonnes year-on-year, mainly due to a sharp jump in India’s fuel oil imports. Fuel oil imports rose to record 1.22 million tonnes in July from 127,000 tonnes a year ago. Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS), operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, has been buying some straight-run fuel oil from countries including Iraq to process at its revamped coker, to maximise refining margins.
COVID-19 Positive Russian Oil Minister Will Join OPEC+ Meeting – Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak will take part in the virtual meeting of the OPEC+ monitoring panel on Wednesday, despite testing positive for COVID-19, Russia’s energy ministry said on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that Novak had tested positive for the coronavirus while he was on a visit to Russia’s Far East. Novak returned to Moscow and will work remotely, the ministry said.Novak feels good and doesn’t have any symptoms, and he plans to take part in the OPEC+ panel’s meeting on August 19 via video conference, a representative of the Russian energy ministry told Russian outlet RBC.Prime Minister Mishustin and Vladimir Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov have recovered from COVID-19 after contracting the virus earlier this year.The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) holds meetings every month until the end of 2020, instead of ahead of every full OPEC+ meeting only, because of the volatile oil market and the highly uncertain trajectory of global demand recovery.The JMMC is meeting this week, but it will not discuss any revisions of the ongoing production cut pact and is not expected to make any major decisions to tweak the deal, Novak said last week.The OPEC+ coalition saw its compliance rate with the oil production cuts at 95 percent in July, four sources from the group told Reuters on Monday, which is a level similar to the previous month, if the additional one-month voluntary cuts from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait for June are excluded. At last month’s panel meetings in mid-July, the JMMC noted an improved compliance rate with the cuts. The overall compliance rate for the OPEC+ group was a record-breaking 107 percent in June, but it was due to the additional voluntary contributions from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, which cut a total of 1 million bpd in June on top of their shares
Oil steady as China's plans to boost U.S. imports counters tensions -- Oil prices steadied on Monday as news that China planned to ship large volumes of U.S. crude in August and September countered rising tensions between the two countries and a delay in the review of their trade pact over the weekend. Brent crude was up 17 cents at $44.97 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude traded 32 cents higher at $42.33 per barrel. The emergence of new coronavirus hot spots particularly in Europe also put pressure on fuel demand and oil prices, analysts said, while a weak dollar lent some support. "Clearly the market is not tightening as quickly as initially anticipated. Demand is taking longer than expected to get back to normal levels," ING Group said. Market sentiment soured after the United States and China delayed a review of their Phase 1 trade deal initially slated for Saturday, citing scheduling conflicts. However, in a positive signal, Chinese state-owned oil firms have tentatively booked tankers to transport at least 20 million barrels of U.S. crude for August and September. Investors are also looking for more clues on future supply from a meeting this week of a panel representing ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+. The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) monitors OPEC+ production curbs agreed earlier this year. Last month, the JMMC recommended that cuts be eased from Aug. 1 to about 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) from a reduction of 9.7 million bpd since May, in line with an earlier OPEC+ agreement. Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh said "OPEC's performance has been successful because the price of oil has risen from $16 in May to around $45 and has stabilised." ANZ estimated that demand had risen 8 million barrels per day (bpd) over the past four months to 88 million bpd - still 13 million bpd below this time last year. .
Oil Rises on Commodities Rally; Talk of OPEC Cuts -Crude prices rose Monday, helped by a broad commodities rally and a media report suggesting that OPEC+ members were pulling their weight in complying with the alliance’s production cuts. A panel of the Saudi-steered and Russia-assisted Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will meet Wednesday to review the market amid efforts to roll back some two million barrels from production cuts of around 9.6 million barrels per day agreed to in May. A Reuters report on Monday, quoting two OPEC+ sources, said the group members’ compliance with cuts was seen at around 97% in July. New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude futures, settled up 88 cents, or 2.1%, at $42.89 per barrel. London-traded Brent, the bellwether for global crude prices, closed the New York session up 57 cents, or 1.4%, at $45.37. Crude prices were also helped by the broader outperformance of commodities amid plunging yields on the U.S. 10-Year Treasury note and the slide of the Dollar Index. Yields on the 10-year note initially plunged 5% on Monday, before recovering slightly to show a deficit of 3.8% late afternoon in New York. The dollar index, which pits the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was down to as low as 92.75 earlier in the day before stabilizing to 92.85. China is living up to its end of the trade deal the two parties signed in January, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday, even though the nation has fallen short so far of promised purchases of U.S. products, Reuters reported. Chinese state-owned oil firms have tentatively booked tankers to transport at least 20 million barrels of U.S. crude for August and September. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s estimates of unexpectedly strong crude stockpile draws at home have also kept oil supported, despite the International Energy Agency forecasting a weaker global outlook for fuels amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
Oil steadies as demand fears offset high OPEC+ compliance - (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Tuesday as high compliance with supply cuts from the OPEC+ producer group offset demand fears from the new coronavirus. Brent crude futures rose 9 cents to settle at $45.46 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures ended unchanged at $42.89 a barrel. Supporting prices on Tuesday, a technical panel found that compliance with OPEC+ oil output cuts in July was between 95% and 97%, according to a draft report seen on Monday by Reuters. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, eased their cuts in August to 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) from 9.7 million bpd previously. OPEC+ will hold a ministerial panel meeting on Wednesday. “Expect OPEC+ to communicate that they request strict compliance from all members and cheer for the success of the measures to date,” said Rystad Energy’s Bjornar Tonhaugen. Still, the coronavirus pandemic, which has raged for months, shows no signs of letting up. In the Americas alone, almost 11.5 million have contracted the disease, and over 400,000 people have died as a result of the pandemic, the World Health Organization regional director Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday. The United States and Brazil are the biggest drivers of the COVID-19 case count in the Americas, Etienne added. “There are still ongoing concerns about COVID and there are continuing concerns about the lack of a deal in Congress for stimulus,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. The U.S. Congress has so far failed to agree on another fiscal relief package to stem economic fallout from the pandemic. Meanwhile, some European countries have renewed travel quarantines, which impact jet and motor fuel demand.
Oil rises slightly as inventory draw outweighs demand worries -Oil prices were little changed on Wednesday as concerns lingered over soft U.S. fuel demand while global producers feared a second prolonged wave of the coronavirus pandemic was a major risk for the market recovery. U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell 1.6 million barrels last week, while fuel demand was down 14% from the year-ago period over the last four weeks, Energy Information Administration data showed. "The drop in gasoline demand week-over-week was a concern. That's still showing weakness," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "The only thing that is holding us back is demand," he said. Brent crude futures were down 13 cents at $45.33 a barrel, but still not far off a five-month high above $46 a barrel reached earlier in August. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 4 cents higher at $42.93 per barrel. Global oil demand should recover to pre-pandemic levels as soon as the fourth quarter, the Saudi Energy minister said, while urging compliance with a global deal to cut output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies such as Russia, a grouping dubbed OPEC+, began a meeting on Wednesday to review the compliance levels with the deal, aimed at supporting prices. . "Based on the average projections of various institutions, ... it is estimated that the world will reach about 97% of pre-pandemic oil demand during the fourth quarter - which is a big recovery from the huge falls in April and May," said Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. A draft OPEC+ statement, seen by Reuters, said a second prolonged wave of the pandemic was a major risk for the oil market recovery. OPEC+ sources have said the group was unlikely to change on Wednesday its output policy, which currently calls for reducing output by 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) versus a record high 9.7 million bpd up until this month.
U.S. oil benchmark erases loss, finishes flat after EIA reports drop in gasoline inventories - The U.S. crude benchmark shook off early losses to end little changed on Wednesday, finding support after government data showing a fall in gasoline inventories soothed jitters over demand as a pandemic-lightened driving season moves into its final stretch.Traders were also keeping an eye on a meeting of an OPEC+ panel that was expected to recommend sticking with the current schedule of production curbs as major producers gauge the COVID-19 pandemic’s affect on the demand outlook.West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose 4 cents, or 0.1%, to close at $42.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while October WTI CLV20, -1.33%, the most actively traded contract, lost a penny to close at $43.11 a barrel. October Brent crude fell 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $45.37 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories last week fell by 1.6 million barrels, while gasoline inventories were down 3.3 million barrels. Oil had been under pressure after the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a rise in gasoline inventories, which would be a bearish sign in the final stretch of summer driving season. The EIA said distillate inventories rose by 200,000 barrels. September gasoline futures rose 0.75 cent, or 0.6%, to close at $1.2905 a gallon.
Oil drops as demand risk rises, U.S. stockpiles fall less than expected - Oil prices fell on Thursday as major producers warned of a risk to demand recovery if the coronavirus crisis is prolonged, while U.S. crude inventories dropped less than expected. Brent crude was down 36 cents, or 0.8%, at $45.01 a barrel by 0442 GMT, having slipped 0.2% in the previous session. U.S. oil was down 38 cents, or 0.9%, at $42.55 a barrel, after inching higher on Wednesday. Stockpiles of crude in the United States fell for a fourth straight week, even as net imports rose. However, the 1.6 million barrel decline was less than a Reuters poll showing expectations for a 2.7 million barrel fall. Stockpiles of crude in the United States fell a fourth straight week, even as net imports rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. However, the 1.6 million-barrel decline for the week to August 14 was less than a Reuters poll showing expectations for a 2.7 million-barrel fall. Fuel demand was down 14% from the year-earlier period over the last four weeks, the EIA data also showed. Global oil demand should recover to pre-pandemic levels as soon as the fourth quarter, the Saudi energy minister said on Wednesday, while urging partners to comply with a deal to cut output. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was speaking at a virtual meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia – a grouping known as OPEC+. The meeting was reviewing compliance with production cuts and left output reductions unchanged. "The positive outcome from the OPEC+ meeting was counter-balance (to) the EIA reporting that U.S. oil inventories last week fell by (less than the) consensus," s Still, a draft OPEC+ statement, seen by Reuters, said a second extended wave of the pandemic posed a major risk for the oil market recovery. The group pressed members such as Nigeria and Iraq to do more to meet their quotas after they exceeded them between May and July. OPEC alone in the past decades generally produced well over 30 million barrels per day of oil but after this year's cuts, its output stood at 20 million to 22 million bpd.
Oil prices pull back as worries linger over demand - Oil futures ended lower Thursday, under pressure after a rise in weekly jobless claims added to concerns about the outlook for demand already shaken by minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery declined 35 cents, or 0.8%, to finish at $42.58 a barrel, while October WTI, the most actively traded contract, fell 29 cents, or 0.7%, to $42.82 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global benchmark, October Brent crude BRNV20, -0.20%, finished down 47 cents, or 1%, at $44.90 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.“The energy market is seen as a good barometer for global demand and seeing as dealers are less optimistic about the state of the global economy in light of [Wednesday’s] Fed minutes, oil has tumbled,” said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets, in a note.Crude futures remained lower after data showed the number of first-time U.S. weekly jobless claims rose back above 1 million last week.Minutes of the Fed’s July 28-29 meeting released Wednesday afternoon said staff economists told policy makers they were lowering their estimate for economic growth over the second half of the year. Meanwhile, a meeting of the OPEC+ alliance’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee on Wednesday offered no surprises, with ministers maintaining output cuts of 7.7 million barrels a day, but emphasizing the need for countries that failed to cut enough in previous months to make compensatory reductions this month and next. Support in Wednesday’s session also was tied to weekly inventory data from the Energy Information Administration, which said U.S. crude inventories last week fell by 1.6 million barrels, while gasoline inventories were down 3.3 million barrels. Oil had been under pressure after the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a rise in gasoline inventories, which would be a bearish sign in the final stretch of summer driving season. The EIA said distillate inventories rose by 200,000 barrels.But the data didn’t dispel worries about demand as the economy continues to wrestle with the COVID-19 pandemic.Gasoline demand fell to 8.6 million barrels a day, remaining around 10% lower than in previous years, wrote analysts at Commerzbank. The fall in gasoline inventories was presumably due not only to a fall in gasoline production but also a fall in gasoline imports, that dropped by almost half to 557,000 barrels a day, they said.
Oil ends lower on demand worries - Oil futures finished lower Friday, under pressure from continued worries over prospects for demand as the COVID-19 pandemic undermines economic growth. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery lost 48 cents, or 1.1%, to finish at $42.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the global benchmark, October Brent crude shed 55 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $44.35 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. WTI ended the week with a gain of 3 cents, or 0.1%, while Brent fell 1%. Crude remained under pressure after oil-field services company Baker Hughes Co. BKR, -1.78% reported that the number of U.S. oil rigs rose by 11 this week to 183, ending a three-week streak of declines. The number of rigs has fallen sharply this year in response to crude’s earlier pandemic-induced plunge, with the number of units down 571 from the same time last year. Eurozone purchasing managers index readings Friday showed a slowdown in the region’s economic activity, while data out of Japan indicated a continued decline in activity. Meanwhile, a renewed rise in COVID-19 cases in parts of Europe and elsewhere have underlined worries about the outlook for energy demand. In Asia, a cutback in refining activity in response to poor fuel demand is a troubling sign, analysts said. “Simply put, demand for crude has waned over the past month. Firm refinery run rates paired with an increased amount of refined product output and weak end use demand leads to an excess of gasoline and diesel being exported or dumped onto the open market,” said Michael Tran, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, in a note. “This pattern crushes regional refinery margins, which can result in lower refinery run rates and crude demand destruction,” he said, noting that Asian margins are a leading market indicator heading into fall and the end of the summer driving season. Crack spreads — the difference between the price of crude and the petroleum products refined from it — “will not improve until either demand leads the way or run cuts curtail output,” he said. September natural-gas futures jumped 4.1% to end at $2.488 per million British thermal units, leaving it with a weekly rise of 3.9%. September gasoline fell 1.24 cents, or 1%, to $1.2841 a gallon, while September heating oil shed 3.87 cents, or 3.1%, to close at $1.2080 a gallon. Gasoline saw a weekly rise of 3.2%, while heating oil retreated 2.3%.
Oil slides 1%, but still posts fifth week of gains in last six - Oil prices dropped on Friday as the economic recovery worldwide runs into stumbling blocks due to renewed coronavirus lockdowns, even as major global crude producers limit crude supply. The euro zone's economic recovery from its deepest downturn on record has stalled this month as pent-up demand unleashed by the easing of lockdowns in July dwindled, a survey showed. By contrast, U.S. housing and manufacturing survey data came in better than expected, offsetting a surprising increase in jobless claims on Thursday. Brent crude futures were down 84 cents, or 1.9%, at $44.06 a barrel, heading for a nearly 2% weekly fall. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled 48 cents, or 1.12%, lower at $42.34 per barrel. "Right now, the concerns about demand and the uptick in COVID cases seems to be the big reason why we're weaker," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. India's crude oil imports fell in July to their lowest level since March 2010, while U.S. motorists drove 13% fewer miles in June than a year earlier, according the U.S. Department of Transportation. Libya's national oil company said it could restart oil exports after the North African country's internationally recognized government in Tripoli announced a ceasefire, putting further pressure on oil prices. "This is a market that can't afford to absorb any additional barrels," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. OPEC+, which consists of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia, was focused on ensuring members that had overproduced against their commitments would reduce output. An internal report showed the group wanted oversupply between May and July compensated for with cuts this month and next, Reuters reported. It also showed OPEC+ expects oil demand in 2020 to fall by 9.1 million barrels per day, and by as much as 11.2 million bpd if there is a resurgence of coronavirus infections.
UN chief urges Yemen’s Houthis to grant access to decaying oil tanker - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Yemen’s Houthis to allow an assessment team to travel to a decaying oil tanker that is threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil off the war-torn country’s coast. More then a month ago Houthi officials said they would agree to allow a UN mission to conduct a technical assessment and whatever initial repairs might be feasible on the Safer tanker. But the United Nations is still waiting for formal authorization. Guterres is “deeply concerned” about the condition of the oil tanker, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. The United Nations has warned that the Safer could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska. “He specifically calls for granting independent technical experts unconditional access to the tanker to assess its condition and conduct any possible initial repairs,” Dujarric said. “This ... will provide crucial scientific evidence for next steps to be taken in order to avert catastrophe.” The Safer tanker has been stranded off Yemen’s Red Sea oil terminal of Ras Issa for more than five years. The UN Security Council has also called on the Houthis to facilitate unconditional access as soon as possible.
IMO assists efforts to prevent an oil spill from FSO Safer - IMO is contributing to international efforts aimed at preventing an oil spill from the deteriorating floating storage and offloading unit FSO Safer moored off the coast of Yemen. The Organisation is also leading on the contingency planning efforts aimed at enhancing preparedness to mitigate the environmental impacts of a potential spill. IMO has mobilised a technical expert to develop contingency plan based on a variety of risk scenarios, which would play a key role in improving the efficiency, effectiveness and management of emergency response operations in the event of a spill from the FSO Safer. The contingency plan will outline the roles and responsibilities of key players and assist in coordinating the response. It will also clarify equipment requirements and locations of stockpiles and identify priority areas. IMO will also provide training to the relevant actors. The expert is currently working remotely in close communication with all relevant stakeholders. IMO is offering technical advice to support the joint international efforts, led by the wider UN family*, to assess the current condition of the FSO Safer and examine ways to secure the 150,000 MT of light crude oil currently on board. Following recent reports of water entering the engine room, it is considered that the risk of an oil spill from the FSO Safer is increasing. The floating storage and offloading unit, moored off the coast of Yemen, has not been inspected or maintained since 2015, leading to serious concerns about its integrity. “While IMO is proactively working on contingency planning, it is hoped that international efforts will succeed in paving the way to assessing the state of the FSO and taking necessary measures, in order to prevent an oil spill from occurring”, said Patricia Charlebois, Deputy Director, Subdivision for Implementation at IMO. “In the case of oil spills, prevention is always better than cure. However, should these efforts fail, we want to ensure adequate preparedness measures are in place”, she added. Ms. Charlebois highlighted that the situation is particularly complex due to the conflict in the region and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saudi Arabia Refuses To Learn From Its Two Failed Oil Price Wars - Having failed to achieve the slightest semblance of success in the two oil price wars that it started – the first running from 2014 to 2016, and the second running from the beginning of March to effectively the end of April this year – it might be assumed that key lessons might have been learned by the Saudis on the perils of engaging in such wars again. Judging from various statements last week, though, Saudi Arabia has learned nothing and may well launch exactly the same type of oil price war in exactly the same way as it has done twice before, inevitably losing again with exactly the same catastrophic effects on it and its fellow OPEC members. At the very heart of Saudi Arabia’s problem is the collective self-delusion of those at the top of its government regarding the Kingdom’s key figures relating to its oil industry that underpins the entire regime. These delusions are apparently not discouraged by any of the senior foreign advisers who make enormous fees and trading profits for their banks from Saudi Arabia’s various follies, most notably oil price wars. It is, in the truest sense of the phrase, aperfect example of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, although in this case, it does not just pertain to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) but to all of the senior figures connected to Saudi Arabia’s oil sector. One of the most obvious examples of this is the chief executive officer of Saudi Arabia’s flagship hydrocarbons company, Saudi Aramco (Aramco), Amin Nasser, who said last week – bewilderingly for those who know even a modicum about the global oil markets – that Aramco is to go ahead with plans to increase its maximum sustained capacity (MSC) to 13 million barrels per day (bpd) from 12.1 million bpd. Quite aside from the sheer pointlessness of this posturing in a world already awash in oil as a result of the negative demand effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the output overhang from the oil price war just ended, this comment from Saudi Arabia’s third-ranking oil man (after MbS, albeit by the loosest possible definition, and Energy Minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud), is extremely misleading. As such, it feeds into the oil market’s collective understanding since the 2014-2016 oil price war that anything that Saudi Arabia says about its oil industry is not to be taken as true, without a lot of additional fact-checking. Regarding the ‘maximum sustained capacity’ statement, to begin with, this term is one that has been repeatedly used by Saudi Arabia since the first oil price war disaster to cover for two other long-running delusions relating to the real level of its crude oil reserves and to the real level of its spare capacity.
Trump Touts "Making Very Big Oil Deals" As Condition For Rapid Troop Exit From Iraq - President Trump has again vowed that all US troops will soon be out of America's second longest occupation in Iraq (behind the longest running war in Afghanistan). But curiously, like in neighboring Syria, he tied concluding the US mission there directly to the possibility of oil and resource benefits for American companies:“We look forward to the day when we don’t have to be there,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.“We were there and now we're getting out. We’ll be leaving shortly and the relationship is very good. We’re making very big oil deals. Our oil companies are making massive deals. ... We’re going to be leaving and hopefully we’re going to be leaving a country that can defend itself.” Over the past months the president has been on record as desiring a troop withdraw as soon as possible, following tensions in January which nearly took the Pentagon to war against Iran-backed Shia militias in the country, in the wake of the US assassination of IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.But the persistent key question remains as to the future presence of the some 5,000 US troops still in the country is the timetable. When pressed by reporters on the issue, Trump turned to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who replied: “As soon as we can complete the mission. The president has made very clear he wants to get our forces down to the lowest level as quickly as we possibly can. That’s the mission he’s given us and we’re working with the Iraqis to achieve that.” So it appears these twin objectives have emerged out of years of endless mission-creep and ambiguously defined "justifications" for staying there (a hallmark of the so-called 'war on terror' era: forever shifting objectives, or in some cases no objectives at all):
- Countering Iran and leaving an Iraqi security force strong enough to be fully independent of the Shia militias.
- "Make very big oil deals," as Trump underscored Thursday.
United Arab Emirates-Israel agreement cements US-led alliance against Iran - US President Donald Trump announced last Thursday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to “normalise” relations with Israel in a deal to be known as the “Abraham Accords.” The Abraham Accords supposedly makes recognition of Israel dependent upon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halting plans to annex swathes of Palestinian land in the West Bank occupied since the June 1967 war. The aim is to side-line the fate of the Palestinians, which for decades defined the Arab states’ attitude towards the Zionist state, in order to cement an alliance between the Sunni petro-monarchies and Israel against Iran.The UAE claimed publicly that its decision was a way of encouraging peace efforts and taking Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the West Bank off the table, arguing that relations with Israel should be tempered with “realism.” Netanyahu rejected this, insisting that he had only agreed to “delay” the annexation, with the plan remaining “on the table.”The agreement is in reality bound up with the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” sanctions regime targeting Iran, tantamount to a state of war, aimed at overturning its government and installing a client regime that would reinforce US hegemony over the resource-rich Middle East and strengthen Washington’s position against China.The announcement is the result of years of backroom talks on issues ranging from trade and security to intelligence-sharing that included Israel’s opening of an office in 2015 in Abu Dhabi. Its timing meets the needs of all three parties. It comes as Israel’s economy is unravelling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and as Netanyahu’s trial proceedings on charges of bribery, corruption, and breach of trust in three separate cases move to the evidence hearings set for January. It gives the beleaguered Netanyahu, who heads a fractious coalition and faces increasing opposition from his support base among far-right forces, the chance to pose as Israel’s master statesman.It likewise enables Trump, who is trailing in the polls against Joe Biden, the Democrats presidential candidate, to claim a diplomatic “triumph” after his administration’s draft Security Council resolution extending a UN ban on arms sales to Iran, due to expire in October, was defeated, paving the way for Iran to purchase arms from other major powers. The UAE is seeking Washington’s approval for its request to purchase the US F-35 advanced combat aircraft and armed unmanned aerial vehicles, reversing its previous reliance on French fighter jets and Chinese drones. It is also seeking US support for major concessions from Qatar—in exchange for lifting the UAE’s, Saudi Arabia’s and Bahrain’s three-year long blockade of Qatari airspace and land crossings.
In act of high seas piracy, US hijacks Iranian oil bound for Venezuela - The US interdiction of oil shipments bound from Iran to Venezuela represents a dangerous escalation of the “maximum pressure” sanctions that Washington has imposed against both countries, raising the threat of armed conflict. The Department of Justice issued a statement Friday bragging that it had carried out the “largest-ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran.” It said that “approximately 1.116 million barrels of petroleum” had been stolen “with the assistance of foreign partners.” There has been no indication of what “foreign partners” were involved in this act of piracy, but US officials claim that the seizure did not involve military force. Rather, it appears that some combination of threats and bribes were used to convince the Greek owners of the four tankers carrying the fuel— identified as the Bella, Bering, Pandi and Luna, all of them flying Liberian flags–to give it up. According to the Wall Street Journal, the threats included sanctions against the ships’ owners and crews that would prevent them from accessing US ports, US banks and US dollars. The pseudolegal basis for Washington’s act of high seas piracy was a seizure order issued by a US District Court judge in Washington, DC based upon the Justice Department’s claim that the oil constituted “foreign assets or sources of influence” for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a major component of the Iranian military, which Washington has branded as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” This designation, imposed without any justification in April of last year, represented the first time that Washington has deemed a branch of another country’s government as “terrorist.” Since unilaterally abrogating the JCPOA nuclear deal between the major powers and Tehran in 2018, the Trump administration has imposed a crippling economic sanctions regime against Iran tantamount to a state of war, while building up US forces in the region in preparation for military confrontation. Gloating over the operation, President Donald Trump falsely claimed at a White House press briefing last Friday, “We seized the tankers, and we’re moving them ... to Houston.” In reality, the oil was offloaded from the Greek-owned vessels onto tankers contracted by the US military. Two of these transfers took place off the coast of Oman, and two off the coast of Mozambique. The Greek-owned ships themselves were not seized. While denouncing the US action, Iranian officials have pointed out that the oil had already been sold to Venezuela and did not belong to Iran. Furthermore, the ships themselves were neither owned nor flagged by Iran.
Iran Slams US "Pirates Of The Caribbean" But Insists Seized Tankers & Fuel Didn't Belong To Them - President Trump confirmed at the White House press conference on Friday: “We have four tankers. They are going to Houston, and they’re there… Iran is not supposed to be doing that. And so we did — we seized the tankers, and we’re moving them, and moved, to Houston.”Yet details have not emerged as to precisely how the seizure of the fuel aboard four Iranian vessels - the Luna, Panid, Bering, and Bella - went down last Thursday. A US official emphasized to the WSJ last week the vessels were taken "without the use of military force" but provided no further details.Meanwhile Tehran appears to be disputing that Iranian fuel allegedly bound for Venezuela was taken at all. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif condemned US authorities as "Pirates of the Caribbean" in a tweet, adding that, "Sadly for them, stolen booty wasn't Iran's." "Pirates of the Caribbean" have their own judges and courts now. Sadly for them, stolen booty wasn't Iran's. Fuel was sold F.O.B. Persian Gulf. Ship and flag weren't ours either. Hollow, cheap propaganda doesn’t deflect from miserable failure of US diplomatic malpractice at UN. — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 15, 2020 Previously the DOJ said it sought a federal court order “seeking to forfeit all petroleum-product cargo aboard four foreign-flagged oil tankers” and that it was done in accord with US laws targeting sanctions-busting. As geopolitical commentator Jason Ditz has pointed out: "It is not clear how exactly the shipment was seized. With US sanctions on Venezuela targeting the maritime industry, it is possible the shipowners were threatened with the loss of registration or insurance, which could have been enough for them to comply and sail to a US port." Iran's president Hassan Rouhani also slammed US claims of the seizure as "a lie" to cover up the "humiliation" of the UN Security Council failure to extend the Iran arms embargo:
Same Narrative, Rotating 'Bad Guys'- Iran Paid Off Taliban Insurgents To Kill Americans - A little over a month ago we were told that Russian military intelligence was paying the Afghan Taliban to kill American troops. As many predicted, that "bombshell" - later admitted by some of the same sources that initially promoted it to be of "sketchy" intelligence origin - was very short-lived, grabbing headlines for a few days, only to be rapidly memory-holed akin to the fate of other Russiagate-related 'anonymous sources say' type stories. In the foreign-policy-think of the D.C. blob, the cast of "rogue" actors constantly threatening US national security seamlessly rotates, entering in and out of familiar narratives when convenient, and now CNN is out with the latest: "US intelligence agencies assessed that Iran offered bounties to Taliban fighters for targeting American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, identifying payments linked to at least six attacks carried out by the militant group just last year alone, including a suicide bombing at a US air base in December, CNN has learned." Administration officials say it was US intelligence's uncovering of the Iranian bounties plot which was decisive in convincing President Trump to assassinate IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani on January 3rd. The killing by drone of Soleimani came less than a month after a particularly devastating attack on Bagram Air Base which resulted in two civilian deaths, and injuries to four American personnel, among more than 60 others wounded. That attack was on December 11, 2019. CNN writes: "The name of the foreign government that made these payments remains classified but two sources familiar with the intelligence confirmed to CNN that it refers to Iran." So there it is — the largely debunked 'Russian bounties' story lives on apparently, in new form, fed to the public by anonymous intelligence sources. The CNN story even links the two threads together, suggesting that two major American enemies, Russia and the Islamic Republic, are now essentially handing out vast amounts of cash to mujahideen to kill Americans in Central Asia.
Turkey makes significant Black Sea gas find: sources - (Reuters) - Turkey has found significant gas resources in the Black Sea, two Turkish sources said, a discovery which could help the country cut its dependence on energy imports if the gas can be commercially extracted. President Tayyip Erdogan told energy executives on Wednesday he will announce “good news” on Friday that will herald a “new period” for Turkey - comments which drove up shares in Turkish energy firms and lifted the lira from this week’s record low. He gave no details but the sources said he was referring to a gas discovery in the Black Sea, and one source said the scale of the reserves could potentially meet Turkey’s energy needs for 20 years. Turkey’s drilling ship Fatih has been operating since late July in an exploration zone known as Tuna-1, about 100 nautical miles north of the Turkish coast in the western Black Sea. “There is a natural gas finding in the Tuna 1 well,” the source said. “The expected reserve is 26 trillion cubic feet or 800 billion cubic metres, and it meets approximately 20 years of Turkey’s needs.” However he cautioned that it could take seven to 10 years to start production, and estimated investment costs at between $2 billion and $3 billion. Officials, including Energy Minister Fatih Donmez, have given no details of Friday’s announcement, saying Erdogan will spell out the “surprise” himself.
Erdogan Announces "Biggest Gas Discovery In Turkey's History" As Lira Resumes Plunge - Turkey's lira was up as much as 1% just ahead of President Tayyip Erdogan's major announcement Friday - crucially before tumbling again - in which he declared a "significant gas find" in the Black Sea. He unveiled “the biggest gas discovery in Turkey’s history” during a speech in Istanbul. Per Bloomberg, the “Turkish lira erased gains against U.S. Dollar as Erdogan continues his speech. Borsa Istanbul 100 index reversed more than 1.3% gains to 0.7% loss” — perhaps given many likely see this as but a desperate attempt for him to provide some deus ex machina as Turkey's economy is imploding and locals are fleeing the lira to buy gold. BREAKING — Turkey has discovered a gas reserve as big as 320 billion cubic meters in Black Sea, Erdogan says. He says this is the largest ever gas discovery in history pic.twitter.com/CYGoa0PdPf Despite the lira hitting a record low 7.4 against the U.S. dollar this week, the potential major energy find could reduce Turkey's dependence on energy imports, which Turkey's leaders hope will breath a sign of life back into the spiraling economy. Erdogan said the discovery is sure to mark the start of a "new era" for the country, detailing that Turkey will aim to achieve the first gas production from the find by 2023. But again, it appears that based on immediate reaction to his speech at least, markets aren't quite buying it just yet.
Japan's economy shrinks at record pace amid pandemic - Japan’s economy contracted at a record pace in the second quarter amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to government data released Monday. The nation’s economy shrank at annual rate 27.8 percent in April-June, which marks the worst contraction on record, The Associated Press reported, citing information released by the Cabinet Office. The government data reported Japan's preliminary seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product, or GDP, fell 7.88 percent quarter on quarter, according to the newswire. The Cabinet Office said comparable records of drops began in 1980, according to the AP. The previous worst contraction in Japan was during the global financial crisis more than 10 years ago, the newswire noted. Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of this year, after the economy shrank 0.6 percent in the January-March period and contacted 1.8 percent in the October-November period last year, according to the AP.
Japan’s Economy in Deep Hole After Second-Quarter Plunge – WSJ —Japan’s economy shrank slightly less in the April-June quarter than that of the U.S., but economists said it still had a long way to go before recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and a tax increase.Gross domestic product in Japan fell 7.8% in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the previous quarter, the worst drop on record in the period since 1980, when comparable data began to be available. The contraction was sharper than the previous record of minus 4.8% in January-March 2009 after the global financial crisis“We will continue to take all possible policy measures to bring the economy—which likely bottomed out in April and May—back to a growth path led by domestic demand,” Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Monday.The new coronavirus forced many retailers and other businesses to close during a state of emergency in April and May and blocked virtually all foreign tourists from visiting Japan. As a result, private consumption, which accounts for about half of gross domestic product, fell 8.2% from the previous quarter. Exports, a figure that includes spending by foreign tourists in Japan, fell 18.5%.Japan, the world’s third largest economy after the U.S. and China, fared better than Western peers, which imposed stricter lockdowns. TheU.S. economy shrank 9.5% in the quarter, whilemajor European economies generally shrank more than 10%, including a 20% drop in the U.K.Asia has picked up more quickly. In China, where the virus was largely quelled by March, GDP in the second quarter rose 11.5% compared with the previous quarter, while South Korea’s GDP fell 3.3% in the quarter. Although it did slightly better than Western peers, economists said Japan has still dug itself a deep hole that won’t be easy to get out of. Unlike the U.S., it was already headed for a recession early this year because of an increase last October in the national sales tax to 10% from 8%. The latest decline was the third straight quarter of contraction.
India faces protracted slowdown as virus clouds rural revival - (Reuters) - India is staring at a protracted slowdown as coronavirus cases reach its countryside, with signs of recovery in the rural economy hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “at best a mitigating factor”, government officials and analysts said. The world’s No.5 economy reports first-quarter GDP data on Aug. 31 and, according to a Reuters poll, it is likely to have contracted 20% over April-June. It is forecast to shrink 5.1% in the year to March 2021, the weakest since 1979. Nearly half of India’s 1.38 billion population rely on agriculture to survive, with the sector accounting for 15% of its economic output. Modi has been citing higher fertiliser demand and sowing of monsoon crops, both key signs of rural activity, to show there are “green shoots” in the economy. But four government officials said the uptick in activity may not be as large as believed given a spike in virus cases in rural areas that were initially isolated from the pandemic. “The economic situation has in fact worsened since April and May, and we are likely moving towards a longer economic slowdown than earlier expected,” a finance ministry official said. The official pointed to sluggish consumer demand and a slowdown in rural lending as causes for concern.
Pakistani Minister Threatens India With Nuclear Attack "To Save Muslim Lives" On National TV - At a moment of continuing top level military talks between India and China in which the two sides said they've agreed to work toward "complete disengagement of troops" from the contested Line of Actual control in the disputed Eastern border region, it appears tensions for India are about to shift right back to its Western border once again and New Delhi's most immediately threatening nuclear rival of Pakistan.A highly visible member of the National Assembly of Pakistan has grabbed national headlines for threatening India with nuclear war. Pakistan Minister Sheikh Rashid told a national broadcaster during an interview that his country's nuclear arsenal "will save Muslim lives" should India conduct acts of aggression. "If Pakistan gets attacked by India, there is no scope for convention war. This will be a bloody and nuclear war. It will be a nuclear war for sure," Rashid told Samaa TV. He said only Muslim's would survive such a nuclear showdown. "Our weapons will save Muslim lives and will only target specific regions. Pakistan range now even includes Assam. Pakistan has no option in convention war; therefore India knows if something will happen it will be the end," he added provocatively. He emphasized Pakistan's arsenal of "small and perfect" nukes can be narrowly targeted to inflict proper punishment on Muslim Pakistan's enemies.Though Rashid has no position or authority within the defense ministry, he's head of the influential political party Awami Muslim League, and currently serves as Federal Minister for Railways. It's certainly not the first time with recent tensions still boiling in the aftermath of India's immensely contentious revoking of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, and moving tens of thousands of national troops into the region, that a Pakistani official has invoked the prospect of nuclear response.
Man dies in Carrefour Brasil store, left covered with umbrellas as store stays open - (Reuters) - A man died at a Carrefour Brasil store in Brazil’s northeastern state of Recife, but his body was left on the shop floor covered with umbrellas and surrounded by cardboard boxes while the store remained open for business, causing outrage as images went viral on social media. The incident occurred on Aug. 14 but only came to light this week, amid a deluge of criticism on social media that the body was not removed and that the store did not close. Carrefour Brasil apologized on Wednesday, telling Reuters in a statement that its handling of the incident was inappropriate. “The company erred in not closing the store immediately after what happened to await the funeral service, as well as in not finding the correct way to look after the body,” it said. According to Carrefour, the man was a sales manager who fell ill inside the store. First aid was given and an ambulance was called. After the man died, Carrefour said it “followed guidelines to not remove the body from its place.” The local subsidiary of France’s Carrefour SA, one of the largest retail chains in Brazil, said it has now changed its guidelines to include the mandatory closure of the store in future.
STUDY: Women-led countries handled the coronavirus pandemic 'systematically and significantly better' than those run by men -Countries with female leaders have handled the coronavirus pandemic "systematically and significantly better" than those run by men, according to a new research paper.A study of 194 countries by Supriya Garikipati, of the University of Liverpool, and Uma Kambhampati, of the University of Reading, found that "being female-led has provided countries with an advantage in the current crisis."A preprint of the paper, which has not been peer reviewed, wasposted on SSRN in early June. The authors also wrote about their research in a blog post for the World Economic Forum in late July. On the face of it, male-led countries like the US, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and UK have fared extremely badly in the pandemic, recording some of the highest death tolls in the world.Meanwhile, women-led countries like Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Taiwan, Iceland, and Finland have recorded far fewer deaths and lower death tolls. The authors studied death and case tolls, whether leaders took decisive action to lock down, and whether "clear communication styles" were deployed. They concluded that women-led countries are measurably better off."Our findings show that COVID-outcomes are systematically and significantly better in countries led by women and, to some extent, this may be explained by the proactive policy responses they adopted," they wrote in their World Economic Forum blog post.
Canadian authorities to reopen schools, facilitating COVID-19 spread - The Canadian ruling elite has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by adopting ever more explicitly the homicidal principle of “herd immunity.” With the full support of Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal government in Ottawa, provincial governments have unveiled back-to-school plans in recent weeks that will accelerate the COVID-19 pandemic across Canada and endanger the lives of teachers, students and their families. Despite the minor differences over details, the provincial reopening plans have met with widespread opposition from parents and teachers. Some governments have had to announce last minute changes in an effort to dissipate opposition in order to impose their reckless policies on a reluctant population. In general, the essential content of these plans can be summarized as follows: classrooms at elementary school and the first three years of secondary school will reopen full-time and remain as crowded as before the pandemic, without any real protective measures being put in place. For the last two years of secondary school, the situation varies depending on the region of the country. While most provinces will require all students to attend school in person, Ontario has identified some school boards in urban areas that will allow half of the student body to attend school in person and the other half to do online learning. No province will seriously increase the education budget for the smaller class sizes required to ensure social distancing, or even support the so-called hybrid model, where some students are in the classroom and others take courses online. Ontario has indicated that parents worried about the pandemic will have the option of keeping their children at home to receive online instruction. To the extent that this is put in place, it will lead to greater social inequality since not all families can to provide their children with the space and equipment for distance learning or afford taking time off from work. The province has not even considered subsidizing parents who take time off, let alone protect them from being fired.In the province of Quebec, which was the hardest hit by the pandemic, there will be no social distancing between students in classrooms, and barely any in common areas. Other provinces, such as Ontario and British Columbia, will create “study groups” of about 60 students in which contact will be allowed on the playgrounds and in some common areas.
A risky game with health and lives as schools reopen throughout Germany - Millions of children and hundreds of thousands of teachers are beginning to return to schools. Full attendance is mandatory, with everything that goes with it—overcrowded classrooms, cancelled lessons, run-down sanitary facilities and crowded public transport and school buses on the way to school. At the same time, the number of new COVID-19 infections in Germany is at its highest level since the introduction of protective measures. In the last two days alone, 1,226 and 1,445 people were infected with the deadly coronavirus. In the USA, where a patient dies every one and a half minutes of the virus, parents or students now have to sign a statement exempting the school management from any liability if a child at school falls ill with COVID-19 and dies. Against this background, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert outlined two goals in dealing with the pandemic at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday. “One is to keep the economy running as well as possible and the other is to get schools and the entire educational system back on track.” Seibert did not explain how many deaths this policy will cause—and the journalists present did not ask him. Seibert was summing up the attitude of the entire ruling class. On Saturday, in a joint statement, four major business associations declared with remarkable frankness, “It is high time that the regular operation of Berlin schools starts again.” It is “in the interest of employers and their employees” to send children back to school as soon as possible. The return of children to school so that parents are available for work sets the course for a further devastating spread of the pandemic, which will cause countless new deaths and unspeakable suffering. More and more studies show how dangerous it is to resume attendance at school. The claim that children are not infected or do not pass on the virus has been clearly refuted
Scotland’s schools reopen as COVID-19 infects students - Scotland’s 700,000 students were sent back to class at almost 2,500 primary and secondary schools last week by the Scottish National Party (SNP) government. SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Education Secretary John Swinney ordered the return of more than 50,000 teachers. The move is a trial run for the Johnson government’s homicidal back-to-school drive across the UK. Schools were reopened despite a resurgence in coronavirus infections. On Friday, 65 new COVID-19 cases were reported across Scotland, while 253 people are in hospital with the virus, three of them in intensive care. More cases have been identified in the first two weeks of August than in the whole of June and July. Fifty two cases were reported on Tuesday alone, although no deaths have been reported for 29 days. On August 13, however, Sturgeon reported the “R” number, which charts the number of new infections arising from any single case, stood at around 1.3. In Aberdeen, an outbreak led to a partial lockdown, with almost 200 cases. Pubs, cafes, and restaurants have been closed and some professional football matches have been cancelled. The Aberdeen outbreak led to cases in nearby North Angus. Five cases were also reported in Orkney. Most concerning are reports of outbreaks among school students. Eight pupils at Bannerman High School in Glasgow have tested positive for COVID-19, although none had yet returned to school. Despite the cluster, the school reopened last week. On Saturday, the Herald reported that Bannerman High’s cluster was related to an outbreak among senior management at a McVities biscuit factory in Glasgow, with four managers sent home. Workers at the Tollcross factory have repeatedly raised concerns over unsafe working conditions. One worker tested positive in April. Two pupils at St Ambrose High and one at St Andrews High, both in Coatbridge, tested positive. Two had returned to school for what was described as a “relatively short period of time.” Two staff at Peterhead Central primary school in Aberdeenshire tested positive prior to the reopening. The school will remain closed for one week.
Battered Eurozone Could See More Economic Stimulus in the Fall – WSJ —European Central Bank officials signaled that they could roll out new monetary stimulus in the fall to shore up economic growth, as the region wrestles with rising unemployment and a possible wave of corporate bankruptcies. While ECB officials signaled relief that the 19-nation currency union had avoided an even deeper downturn, they warned of possible turbulence ahead as governments start to wind down policies aimed at supporting businesses and workers through the coronavirus pandemic, according to the minutes, published Thursday. Infections are surging again across much of Europe, and governments are racing to prevent a full-fledged second wave of the pandemic. “Uncertainty about the economic outlook and the pandemic is keeping the central bank on high alert,” said Carsten Brzeski, an economist with ING Bank in Frankfurt. The ECB left its policy mix unchanged at its July 15-16 policy meeting after unveiling around $3 trillion of stimulus since March, measures that put the bank’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic on a par with the Federal Reserve’s. Recent economic data suggest that the eurozone economy is recovering after contracting by 12.1% in the three months through June from the previous quarter, exceeding the 9.5% drop in the U.S. over the same period. The officials will next meet to determine ECB policy on Sept. 9-10, when they will have fresh staff forecasts for growth and inflation that could help to steer their policy decisions. Analysts said the ECB was unlikely to unveil a new monetary stimulus in September, but could do so later this year if the economy fails to perk up. But the outlook is cloudy. The euro has risen strongly against the dollar in recent weeks, hurting the region’s large exporters in international markets. Tens of millions of European workers are still tapping job-furlough schemes, under which governments replace part of the income they have lost from working fewer hours. Some of these state-funded schemes are set to expire over the coming months, after which unemployment could rise. ECB officials warned there was “no room for complacency,” and stressed that the bank “had the tools and policy space to take further action if needed,” according to the minutes. The officials debated whether they would need to use up all of the bank’s €1.35 trillion ($1.6 trillion) program, known as the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program, unveiled in separate decisions since March. Under the program, the ECB plans to buy eurozone government and corporate debt through June 2021. The minutes showed officials agreed to increase the size of the program and to tweak other policy tools if necessary. They pointed to the risk that Europe’s unemployment rate could rise in a lasting way, and that European businesses could soon face solvency issues as government support schemes are withdrawn.
Johnson government forced to retreat on A-level exam results - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government executed a dramatic U-turn yesterday, retreating on its social class-based downgrading of A-level results. The retreat comes less than three weeks before the Conservatives intend to force schools to reopen, and just over a month before universities resume. With final year exams cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had teachers submit estimated grades for their students, most of which were then centrally moderated by an algorithm. Almost a quarter of Scottish results and around 40 percent of English, Welsh, and Northern Irish were originally lowered by at least a grade—over 3 percent in England were docked by two grades or more. Yesterday afternoon, however, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced with an apology that A-levels results for students in England will now be based solely on teacher-awarded grades, as will GCSE results, awarded later this week. The same retreat had earlier been carried out by the Scottish, Northern Irish, and Welsh governments. Last-ditch attempts by the Tories to offer a few unfeasible token concessions—including allowing students to use some mock exam grades in an unspecified process—fell to pieces. The precise impact of the government’s reversal will take time to come out—some students are already reporting that university courses they have now qualified for have since become full. For the initial assigning of grades, the defining influence on the government’s results “moderation” algorithm was social class. In Scotland, the most deprived areas saw the proportion of students receiving A-C grades reduced by 15.2 percent, while the percentage for the most affluent areas was only 6.9 percent. The same pattern played out in England. More than 10 percent of students in the lowest third for socioeconomic status had a teacher-awarded C grade lowered, compared to 8 percent in the highest third.This obscured more fine-grained inequalities. Research by social mobility charity UpReach found that subjects taken overwhelmingly by private school students were significantly more highly graded as a result of this process than those taken by the working-class majority. The number of students receiving an A* in Latin increased 10.4 percent, and the number receiving an A*/A in Classics by 10.4 percent.
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