Fed holds rates at zero, projects two hikes by end of 2023 --Federal Reserve officials held interest rates near zero while signaling they expect two increases by the end of 2023, pulling forward the date of liftoff and projecting a faster-than-anticipated pace of tightening as the economy recovers. “Progress on vaccinations has reduced the spread of COVID-19 in the United States,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement released Wednesday following the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting. “Amid this progress and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have strengthened.” The central bank held the target range for its benchmark policy rate unchanged at zero to 0.25% — where it’s been since March 2020 — and pledged to continue asset purchases at a $120 billion monthly pace until “substantial further progress” had been made on employment and inflation.
The Fed moves up its timeline for rate hikes as inflation rises -The Federal Reserve on Wednesday considerably raised its expectations for inflation this year and brought forward the time frame on when it will next raise interest rates. However, the central bank gave no indication as to when it will begin cutting back on its aggressive bond-buying program, though Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that officials discussed the issue at the meeting. "You can think of this meeting that we had as the 'talking about talking about' meeting," Powell said in a phrase that recalled a statement he made a year ago that the Fed wasn't "thinking about thinking about raising rates." Dow futures dropped 70 points Thursday, one day after the 30-stock average closed off 265 points, or nearly 0.8%, following the Fed announcement. As expected, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee unanimously left its benchmark short-term borrowing rate anchored near zero. But officials indicated that rate hikes could come as soon as 2023, after saying in March that it saw no increases until at least 2024. The so-called dot plot of individual member expectations pointed to two hikes in 2023. Though the Fed raised its headline inflation expectation to 3.4%, a full percentage point higher than the March projection, the post-meeting statement stood by its position that inflation pressures are "transitory." The raised expectations come amid the biggest rise in consumer prices in about 13 years. "This is not what the market expected," said James McCann, deputy chief economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments. "The Fed is now signaling that rates will need to rise sooner and faster, with their forecast suggesting two hikes in 2023. This change in stance jars a little with the Fed's recent claims that the recent spike in inflation is temporary." After Wednesday's announcement, stocks fell and government bond yields rose as investors anticipated a tighter Fed policy, including the likelihood that the bond purchases will slow as soon as this year. "If you're going to get two rate hikes in 2023, you have to start tapering fairly soon to reach that goal," said Kathy Jones, head of fixed income at Charles Schwab. "It takes maybe 10 months to a year to taper at a moderate pace. Then you're looking at we need to start tapering maybe later this year, and if the economy continues to run a little bit hot, rate hikes sooner rather than later." Even with the raised forecast for this year, the committee still sees inflation trending to its 2% goal over the long run. "Our expectation is these high inflation readings now will abate," Powell said at his post-meeting news conference. Powell also cautioned about reading too much into the dot plot, saying it is "not a great forecaster of future rate moves. "Liftoff is well into the future," he said.
FOMC Statement: No Policy Change --Fed Chair Powell press conference video here starting at 2:30 PM ET. FOMC Statement: Progress on vaccinations has reduced the spread of COVID-19 in the United States. Amid this progress and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have strengthened. The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic remain weak but have shown improvement. Inflation has risen, largely reflecting transitory factors. Overall financial conditions remain accommodative, in part reflecting policy measures to support the economy and the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses. The path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus. Progress on vaccinations will likely continue to reduce the effects of the public health crisis on the economy, but risks to the economic outlook remain.The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. With inflation having run persistently below this longer-run goal, the Committee will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 percent for some time so that inflation averages 2 percent over time and longer‑term inflation expectations remain well anchored at 2 percent. The Committee expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until these outcomes are achieved. The Committee decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and expects it will be appropriate to maintain this target range until labor market conditions have reached levels consistent with the Committee's assessments of maximum employment and inflation has risen to 2 percent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time. In addition, the Federal Reserve will continue to increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $80 billion per month and of agency mortgage‑backed securities by at least $40 billion per month until substantial further progress has been made toward the Committee's maximum employment and price stability goals. These asset purchases help foster smooth market functioning and accommodative financial conditions, thereby supporting the flow of credit to households and businesses.In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals.
FOMC Projections and Press Conference -Statement here. Fed Chair Powell press conference video here starting at 2:30 PM ET.Here are the projections. (see embedded tables) In March, most participants expected rates to remain at the current level through 2023. Now, most participants expect around two rates hikes in 2023.Note that real GDP increased 6.4% annualized in Q1. And forecasts are for GDP to increase close to 10% in Q2 and Q3. So GDP was revised up for 2021. 1 Projections of change in real GDP and inflation are from the fourth quarter of the previous year to the fourth quarter of the year indicated.The unemployment rate was at 5.8% in May.As people reenter the labor force - pushing up the participation rate - the improvement in the unemployment rate will likely slow. The unemployment rate was revised up slightly for 2021. 2 Projections for the unemployment rate are for the average civilian unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of the year indicated.As of April 2021, PCE inflation was up 3.6% from April 2020. There was some base effect (since PCE inflation declined last year in the early months of the pandemic), but there was a clear pickup in inflation.The projections for inflation were revised up and the FOMC sees inflation solidly above target in 2021.Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, PCE Inflation1. PCE core inflation was up 3.1% in April year-over-year. Projections for core inflation were revised up.
One Year CPI Inflation Expectations Menzie Chinn - The FOMC has upped its expectations of PCE inflation [Politico] [CR]. Here’s latest available CPI inflation expectations. Figure 1: CPI inflation year-on-year (black), median expected from Survey of Professional Forecasters (blue +), median expected from Michigan Survey of Consumers (red), median from NY Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations (light green), forecast from Cleveland Fed (pink). Source: BLS, University of Michigan via FRED, Reuters, Philadelphia Fed Survey of Professional Forecasters, NY Fed, and Cleveland Fed.The NY Fed’s measure rose from 3.36% in April to 3.4% in May – lower than the Michigan May reading of 4.6%.It’s important to recall that household surveys of inflation (Michigan, NY Fed) register typically higher expected rates than economist surveys (e.g., SPF), and recently have been higher than hybrid market based/survey based surveys (Cleveland). Looking at the changes in expected inflation going from November 2020 to May, the NY Fed and Michigan rates have risen by 1.04 and 1.8 percentage points, contrasting strongly with the rise in the SPF of only 30 basis points. The Fed targets the PCE deflator. Over the last 20 years, the PCE deflator has grown about 30 bps faster than the CPI. This is true since the pandemic struck (2020M03 to 2021M04).
Questions For The Fed: When Do Inflation & Financial Risks Force A Change In Policy ?- Joseph Carson, former chief economist at Alliance Bernstein - If I could attend the June 15-16 Federal Open Market Committee, I would ask the voting members what are they trying to accomplish? Based on efforts to help the economy recover and boost general inflation, aggressive monetary accommodation has resulted in more general inflation than any reasonable person would have expected. Is it still appropriate to call the uptick in consumer price inflation "transitory?" Also, easy money has helped fuel the record surge in the market valuations of tangible and financial assets. When does financial stability become paramount to everything else? General inflation measured by the consumer price index has increased 5%, the largest increase since 2008. And the core consumer price index, something policymakers focus on primarily, has jumped 3.8%, the most significant increase in 30 years. Those policymakers who think the sharp uptick in consumer price inflation is "transitory" should look at the May producer price report. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, final demand prices rose 0.8% last month. The goods and services split were noteworthy; goods prices rose 1.5% and service prices 0.6%. In the past twelve months, final demand prices at the producer level have jumped 6.6%, goods 10.5%, and services 4.5% Additional increases in final goods prices will flow from the sharp rise in intermediate prices. In May, core intermediate prices rose 2.3% and 17.4% in the past year. That's the most significant increase since the early 1970s. Yet, it might be the service side with the biggest upside as that sector has the most pent-up demand. In addition to general inflation, easy money has sparked a dramatic increase in house prices. In the past twelve months, house prices increased 20%, far more in any single year in the post-war period. Also, the gain was twice as much of any year during the housing bubble of the 2000s. At what price does housing pose the same risks as 2008? As striking as the increases are in general consumer and producer inflation, they pale compared to equity asset inflation. Since 2020, the nominal value of domestic equities has increased $12.4 trillion, the biggest gain over five quarters on record. That gain excludes the sharp drop in equity values during the short and sharp decline during the pandemic. Is this sustainable?
Seven High Frequency Indicators for the Economy --These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment. The TSA is providing daily travel numbers. This data shows the seven day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Light Blue), 2020 (Blue) and 2021 (Red). The dashed line is the percent of 2019 for the seven day average. This data is as of June 13th. The seven day average is down 27.7% from the same day in 2019 (72.3% of 2019). There was a slow increase from the bottom - and TSA data has picked up in 2021. 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. This data is updated through June 9, 2021. 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." Dining picked up during the holidays, then slumped with the huge winter surge in cases. Dining is picking up again. Florida and Texas are above 2019 levels. This data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue). Blue is 2020 and Red is 2021. The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through June 10th. Movie ticket sales were at $95 million last week, down about 53% from the median for the week. This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. The red line is for 2021, black is 2020, blue is the median, dashed purple is 2019, and dashed light blue is for 2009 (the worst year on record for hotels prior to 2020). The 4-week average occupancy is now above the horrible 2009 levels. This data is through June 5th. Hotel occupancy is currently down 14% compared to same week in 2019). Note: Occupancy was up year-over-year, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. However, the 4-week average occupancy is still down significantly from normal levels. This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019. As of June 4th, gasoline supplied was down about 14.1% (about 85.9% of the same week in 2019). 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. However the index is set "relative to its weekday-specific average over January–February", and is not seasonally adjusted, so we can't tell if an increase in mobility is due to recovery or just the normal increase in the Spring and Summer. This data is through June 12th for the United States and several selected cities.The graph is the running 7 day average to remove the impact of weekends. Here is some interesting data on New York subway usage. 
This graph is from Todd W Schneider. This is weekly data since 2015. Most weeks are between 30 and 35 million entries, and currently there are over 12 million subway turnstile entries per week - and generally increasing.This data is through Friday, June 11th.Schneider has graphs for each borough, and links to all the data sources.
UPDATE: COVID-19, The Markets, and The Economy - Let's take a look at a roundup of some informative charts, including key market sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic and the S&P 500, changes in the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P since 2000, and a few more that are relevant. For the chart on key market sectors, please scroll.Let's start with margin debt, which began a decline in Q3 of 2017, but has continuously reached new record highs during the pandemic. The last S&P 500 all-time high was on May 14, 2021, at 4255.15. As of the June 15th close, the index is down just 0.2% off that high. In the previous two recessions, the S&P peak came at least three months after the margin debt peak. Here's the same chart inverted to show the relationship between the two as a divergence. Let's move on to the S&P 500 itself - here's a couple of charts from our S&P Snapshot. The first is a five-day look at the volatility.To put the market downturn into perspective, let's look at the index since about 2011. It's clear how much of a bull market this has been and how high the index has gone.Now let's take a look at major sectors in the ETF world since February 21, 2020. All but two sectors, hotels and airlines, have recovered since then. Retail has bounced back the fastest, while hotels and airlines are still lagging. Individuals are returning to travel rapidly as more vaccines are administered. This next chart we typically update monthly but have included data through the May 25 close. This takes a look at the inflation-adjusted changes since the 2000 peaks for the Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ. Here is a chart on world markets since the October 9, 2007 market downturn through yesterday's close. Lastly, here's is ECRI's smoothed year-over-year percent change since 2000 of their weekly leading index. Index data as of June 11. \
The Government’s Financial Accounts: What Are Uncle Sam's Largest Assets? - Pop Quiz! Without recourse to your text, your notes, or a Google search, which line item is one of the largest assets in Uncle Sam's financial accounts?
- A) Checkable Deposits and Currency
- B) Total Mortgages
- C) Taxes Receivable
- D) Student Loans
The correct answer, as of the latest quarterly data, is ... Student Loans! The rapid growth in student debt has been an ongoing topic in the financial press. A stunning chart that continues to haunt us illustrates the rapid growth in federal loans to students since the onset of the great recession. The chart is based on the Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data (available here) for the government's assets and liabilities. We've used a log-scale vertical axis. For a more dramatic look at the same data, here it is with a standard linear axis. As we point out on the chart, the two callouts are for Q4 2007, the quarter in which the Great Recession began (December 2007), and the most recent quarter on record, Q1 2021. The loan balance has risen an astonishing 1,120 percent over that time frame, most of which dates from after the recession. This chart only includes federal loans to students. Private loans increase the debt burden. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York regularly tracks household debt and credit. In their most recent update, they calculate student loan debt to be$1.58 trillion. However, "the share of student loans that are delinquent remains very low as the majority of outstanding federal student loans remain covered by CARES Act forbearances."But back to our quiz. Student loans may be a liability on the consumer balance sheet, but they constitute an asset for Uncle Sam. Just how big? It's about 34.7 percent of the total Federal assets. This is 11 times larger than the 3.2 percent for the Total Mortgages outstanding and 3.0 times the size of Taxes Receivable at 11.5 percent. The 34.7 percent referenced is below its peak. Here is a look at how this metric has changed since 1995.
House Democrats to kick off $1.5 trillion spending process without budget - House Democrats on Monday moved to advance the annual appropriations process for 2022 without a budget resolution. House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) filed with the House Rules Committee a $1.5 trillion deeming resolution, which would allow appropriators to begin writing their 12 annual spending bills. A committee vote is expected later on Monday. The process would postpone the debate over a budget resolution, which Democrats are eyeing as an alternative vehicle for passing President Biden's proposed jobs and families plans. If talks with Republicans fail on infrastructure, Democrats hope to use a budget process called reconciliation to sidestep the Senate filibuster, allowing them to advance the legislation without GOP support. In order to do that, however, they would need to carefully tailor the budget resolution to the bills they hope to pass through reconciliation, divvying up precise amounts that authorizing committees will be able to spend to match their legislative goals. The budget itself has proven to be a fraught undertaking for Democrats in recent years, who have chosen to deem numbers instead of passing a full resolution that split moderates and progressives. Yarmuth has said he still expects to advance a budget resolution in July, which would give the House time to start writing and advancing the appropriations bills before a final decision is reached on infrastructure. Republicans excoriated the move on Monday. “It has been nearly 900 days since Democrats became the majority in the House of Representatives and during that entire time they have failed to pass anything close to a real budget," said House Budget Committee ranking member Jason Smith (R-Mo.). He accused Democrats of violating the 1974 Budget Act. The legislation requires a budget resolution, though such resolutions have been avoided several times in the past. Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a budget watchdog, also slammed the decision, saying it would lead to significant spending increases without addressing how to pay for it. "Deeming discretionary levels should be a last resort, not a first resort. With a unified government, Congress has absolutely no excuse for not passing a budget," she said. "This is a clear-cut failure of leadership, and it is no way to run a country."
Unions Demand Pelosi and Schumer Include Lower Medicare Age, Drug Pricing Reform in Infrastructure Plan --Echoing earlier demands from progressive groups and lawmakers, over 100 labor unions and their allies on Wednesday called on the Biden administration and Democratic congressional leaders to include expanded Medicare eligibility and prescription drug pricing reform in the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, part of President Joe Biden’s three-part Build Back Bettereconomic and infrastructure proposal.In a letter (pdf) to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 103 labor, faith, healthcare, racial justice, and other allied groups urged Biden and Congress “to include robust Medicare drug price negotiation in the American Families Plan package and to reinvest significant savings from negotiations [in] the Medicare program, alongside other critical investments in health equity, coverage, and affordability.“By using the savings to improve dental, vision, and hearing services, capping out-of-pocket costs, lowering the Medicare eligibility age, and taking other bold steps to improve our nation’s health, the Biden administration and Congress would be delivering on key promises and improving the lives of millions,” the letter states. Currently, Americans are eligible for Medicare benefits at age 65.“The American Families Plan must center the needs and priorities of BIPOC communities and expanding Medicare would help to increase coverage and access to care for communities of color who are disproportionately uninsured or under-insured,” it says.The letter continues:The United States spends far more than any other country for prescription pharmaceuticals, and the largest purchaser in the world is the Medicare Part D program. High U.S. drug spending is driven by excessive prices charged by prescription drug corporations, which lead to treatment rationing and preventable negative health outcomes, including death. Enacting a robust system of direct government drug price negotiation and price spike protections that provides relief to patients regardless of medical condition, insurance provider, or status will save lives and prevent suffering and financial hardship for families across the nation. Bold drug pricing reform will support building a healthier America, as well as produce hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to reinvest in bolstering coverage,” the letter asserts. “With these significant estimated savings, over 10 years, it is a crucial time to address other needs of Medicare enrollees.”
Ocasio-Cortez Says ‘Elephant in the Room’ Is Senate Democrats Blocking Their Own Party’s Agenda- New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave voice Sunday to the growing frustration among progressives due to Democratic Senators who have become the clear obstructionists in enacting the bold agenda they promised U.S. voters in last year's election. Following a morning appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats "have an obligation to do the most we can for working people, civil right, and the planet with the power people have entrusted us, and stressed during her television appearance that her side of the aisle should bend no further to the demands of a minority Republican Party that has a demonstrated history of acting in bad faith while making clear that defeating progress on key issues like infrastructure, healthcare, climate action, and pro-democracy reforms is its top priority. Asked if she would possibly vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal unveiled last week by a small group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate—one that features just $580 billion in new spending, compared to the Biden administration's original $2.3 trillion package, and includes no new taxes—Ocasio-Cortez said, "I doubt it, frankly" as she highlighted the specific lack of climate action contained in the deal. "I think one of the things that's really important to communicate is this isn't just $1.7 trillion," the congresswoman said. "This is about an overall investment spread out anywhere between eight and 10 years, which is a very, very low amount of money. It's not going to create the millions of union jobs that we need in this country, particularly to recover from the pandemic. And it's not going to get us closer to meeting our climate goals, which are crucially important at this point in time." While CNN host Dana Bash pushed Ocasio-Cortez on whether she would vote for a compromised, watered-down infrastructure plan if progressives are told that's the best it's going to get, the New York Democrat responded, "Well, I think the thing is, is that this isn't the best that we can get." And then she turned her focus to Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Jon Tester of Montana, and others in the caucus—who have refused to embrace a more bold and visionary set of policies in the name of compromise with the GOP. "I do think that we need to talk about the elephant in the room," said Ocasio-Cortez, "which is Senate Democrats blocking crucial items in a Democratic agenda for reasons that I don't think hold a lot of water." "And for folks saying, 'OK, where are you going to get these 50 votes?'" she continued, "I think we really need to start asking some of these Democratic senators where they plan on getting 60 votes. These 10 Republican senators that there is a theory that we're going to get support for that out there, I think, is a claim that doesn't really hold water, particularly when we can't even get 10 senators to support a January 6 commission." Ocasio-Cortez went on to say that the U.S. is now at a "fork in the road" and asked the question: "Do we settle for much less and an infrastructure package that has been largely designed by Republicans in order to get 60 votes, or can we really transform this country, create millions of union jobs, revamp our power grid, get people's bridges fixed and schools rebuilt with 51 or 50 Democratic votes?"
Senate Democrats weigh $6T infrastructure bill, without GOP -Senate Democrats are weighing spending as much as $6 trillion on their own infrastructure package if the chamber's bipartisan talks fail, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has repeatedly insisted that infrastructure talks are currently on two tracks: The first track is bipartisan, while the second track will include priorities that have no chance of getting GOP support. He huddled on Wednesday afternoon with Democratic members of the Budget Committee to discuss strategy, with no firm decision reached. Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been pushing for an aggressive approach to the infrastructure talks and is angling to insert a large expansion of Medicare into Democrats' plan. Earlier this week, Sanders said he opposed the emerging bipartisan agreement. He acknowledged that the bipartisan talks could impact his plans but vowed to proceed. "It's what the American people want," Sanders said Thursday. "Virtually every proposal I've included in that budget is exactly what the American people want. They want us to create millions of good paying jobs and to do the other things that are long overdue." According to a tentative plan, half of the proposed Democrats-only alternative would be paid for. About $2.5 trillion would go through the Finance Committee, $185 billion through the Energy Committee and almost $500 billion through the Environment and Public Works Committee, one source said, while emphasizing that the discussions are fluid. The dollar amount, however, is likely to shrink as moderates weigh in. At the moment, it appears impossible that all 50 Democrats would get on board with such a large figure. A spokesperson for the Budget committee declined to comment. Moderate Democrats met with Schumer midday to discuss their bipartisan proposal, the budget and reconciliation, according to two sources familiar with the matter. They have signaled they are unlikely to go along with a package running into the multi-trillion-dollar range, but talks about a compromise are just beginning in earnest. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) laughed when asked if the $6 trillion number is too high. He said he was "open" to reconciliation but wants increases to the corporate income tax and capital gains to be more modest than as presented by Biden. "Can we keep [the bipartisan bill] alive and moving when we go ahead and start having some of the disagreements about reconciliation? Because I get that the Democrats are not going to go for the infrastructure plan, no matter how good it is, without at least giving it what I would term visibility with what's going to happen on reconciliation," Warner said in an interview. "I and others have to say: 'I can live with this part and not that part.'"
Bipartisan infrastructure pitch gains steam on Capitol Hill as Biden weighs in from Europe -A bipartisan group of senators sketching out an infrastructure proposal expanded their base of support Wednesday, even as they continue to haggle over how to pay for billions of dollars in new spending in line with President Biden’s vision for a massive overhaul of the nation’s public works system. The initial framework, written by the likes of Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and seven other senators, falls far short of the sweeping infrastructure proposal that Biden has pitched, yet aims to try to satisfy the president’s hunger for bipartisanship. But their efforts received a big boost Wednesday, when 11 more senators joined the original 10 and said they supported the still-unreleased blueprint of a deal. The group now includes 11 Republicans, nine Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats. All told, they account for a fifth of the entire chamber. The show of support, the senators said, marked an attempt to prove publicly that their new endeavor can win broad approval on Capitol Hill, even as an increasingly agitated liberal coalition has raised alarms that the drawn-out bipartisan talks have been fruitless — and some conservatives have questioned the need for another massive burst in federal spending. “We support this bipartisan framework that provides an historic investment in our nation’s core infrastructure needs without raising taxes,” the group of Democrats and Republicans said in the statement. “We look forward to working with our Republican and Democratic colleagues to develop legislation based on this framework to address America’s critical infrastructure challenges.” Even as they rallied support for their plan, however, Senate Democrats huddled privately Wednesday to devise a path forward for trillions of dollars in additional spending in infrastructure improvements and other economic initiatives that may not make it into a bipartisan deal. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) repeated his intention to pursue the party’s agenda on two tracks — brokering a compromise on infrastructure while advancing Biden’s other proposals using a process known as reconciliation, which requires 51 votes rather than the normal 60 for legislation to pass.
Why Are Infrastructure Costs So High In The US? -- Sorry, but anybody wanting some simple answer on this one, especially an ideologically neat one, sorry, there is not one, Indeed, on this important issue, there is a large problem, but not remotely a clear answer regarding why there is this large and important problem. For numbers on this problem, I draw on a Washington Post column yesterday by Catherine Rampell. Here are some of the crucial data. In the early 1930s, just to pick one major infrastructure project, the Oakland-Bay bridge was approved and built within four months. Yeah, the Great Depression. But now compared to Europe, where supposedly they have higher labor costs and more regulations, well: a tunnel in Seattle cost three times as much as one in Paris and seven times as one in Madrid. This is not an oddball, this is how it is. Infrastructure investments in the US now cost multiple times what it does abroad, and these are in nations where labor and environmental concerns are being taken seriously.So, what is going on here? The very bright and knowledgeable Rampell confesses that not only does she not know, but she cannot find anybody who can explain it. In a way this looks like the high costs of medical care in the US. This is a much more politicized matter, but when one digs seriously into the research there seems to be no single reason, a whole series of matters, not easily resolved.The issue of infrastructure lacks some of the matters healthcare has, such as how the US is the only nation in the world not having universal healthcare, which many of us think would lead to lower healthcare costs for various reasons. But what is responsible for the now high costs of infrastructure investment in the US, some of the obvious culprits there for healthcare are not there.Of course there are many things involved here, which Rampell lays out, but again there is not remotely a “smoking gun,” But her list contains the following: “poor planning, complicated procurement processes, our multilayered federalist system, NIMBY-ism, and risks of litigation.” Why all this is worse than so many other high-income nations I do not know.
Biden rallies NATO support ahead of confrontation with Putin (AP) — President Joe Biden used his first appearance at a NATO summit since taking office to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to step back from provocative actions targeting the U.S. and its allies on Monday. NATO leaders joined the United States in formally accusing Moscow and Beijing of malign actions. Biden’s sharp words for Russia and his friendly interactions with NATO allies marked a sharp shift in tone from the past four years and highlighted the renewed U.S. commitment to the 30-country alliance that was frequently maligned by predecessor Donald Trump. Biden, wearing a NATO lapel pin, said that in his extensive talks with NATO leaders about his planned meeting with Putin on Wednesday, all were supportive of his plans to press the Russian leader to halt Russian-originated cyber attacks against the West, end the violent stifling of political dissidents and stop interfering in elections outside its borders. “I’m going to make clear to President Putin that there are areas where we can cooperate, if he chooses,” Biden told reporters as he ended his day at NATO headquarters. “And if he chooses not to cooperate and acts in a way that he has in the past relative to cybersecurity and other activities, then we will respond, we will respond in kind.”
Biden: Ukraine must clean up corruption to be admitted to NATO -- President Biden on Monday said Ukraine must still root out corruption before it can become a full member of the NATO alliance, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed for. "It depends on whether they meet the criteria. The fact is, they still have to clean up corruption. The fact is, they have to meet other criteria to get into the action plan. And so, school’s out on that question. It remains to be seen," Biden said at a press conference at the NATO summit. "In the meantime, we will do all that we can to put Ukraine in the position to be able to continue to resist Russian physical aggression," he continued. "And it will not just depend on me, whether or not we conclude that Ukraine can become part of NATO, it will depend on the alliance and how they vote." Zelensky told news outlets earlier Monday he was looking for a clear "yes" or "no" answer from Biden on whether Ukraine would be admitted as a full member of NATO. The issue has become increasingly urgent as Russia amasses troops along the Ukrainian border and tensions escalate between the two nations. Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Given Russia technically has invaded Ukraine, other NATO nations would be compelled to defend Ukraine should it join NATO under Article 5 of the organization's treaty, which stipulates that member nations consider an attack on one ally an attack on all allies. Biden said that dynamic would not preclude Ukraine from being admitted as an alliance member.
What The Hell-! Biden Loses It After CNN Reporter Shouts Putin Question -President Biden finished fielding questions following his solo press conference after today's some two-and-a-half hour long bilateral summit with Putin in Geneva (shorter than widespread expectations). Just as he was walking away from the podium, reporters in the press pool continued shouting him down with questions. It seems many weren't satisfied with his apparently more amicable and conciliatory than expected stance on Putin and Russia generally.Specifically it seems some were disappointed that he didn't personally condemn Putin with harsher language, and that's when this unexpected scene played out... "What the Hell?" the US President shouted back at CNN's Kaitlan Collins after she got his attention by calling out his saying he was "confident" about the future trajectory of US-Russia dialogue. "What do you do all the time?... If you don't understand that, you're in the wrong business," a clearly agitated and angry Biden followed with, appearing to immediately 'get personal' instead of dealing directly with the question. The clip went viral in the moments after if happened, with some quipping that "Biden needs to take anger management classes."
Biden Tells Putin Certain Cyberattacks Should Be 'Off-Limits' (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that certain critical infrastructure should be "off-limits" to cyberattacks, but analysts said his efforts were unlikely to be more successful than previous attempts to carve out safe zones online.Biden wasn't explicit about which areas he wanted out of bounds, but spoke of 16 kinds of infrastructure - an apparent reference to the 16 sectors designated as critical by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, including telecommunications, healthcare, food and energy."We agreed to task experts in both our countries to work on specific understandings about what is off-limits," Biden said following a lakeside summit with Putin in Geneva. "We'll find out whether we have a cybersecurity arrangement that begins to bring some order." A senior administration official said that the proposal was focused on "destructive" hacks, as opposed to the conventional digital espionage operations carried out by intelligence agencies worldwide. Putin's response to the idea wasn't immediately clear. In a separate press conference, he said the two leaders had agreed to "begin consultations" on cybersecurity issues but didn't directly refer to Biden's proposal. The threat of destructive hacks aimed at critical infrastructure, a staple of disaster movies where renegade hackers trigger blackouts and mayhem, have long worried experts. The United States had its first serious taste of what that might mean last month, when ransom-seeking cybercriminals briefly triggered the closure of a major U.S. pipeline network, interrupting gasoline deliveries and sparking panic-buying up and down the East Coast. Earlier cyberattacks aimed at the Ukrainian power grid and a Saudi petrochemical plant have also drawn concern. In all those cases, the hackers involved are accused by the United States of either working directly for the Russian government or from Russian territory. Russian officials have repeatedly denied carrying out or tolerating cyberattacks, and Putin on Wednesday made no concessions on the issue.
President Biden and President Putin summit: US President says 'I did what I came to do' - President Joe Biden said he had raised human rights and cyberattacks during a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that provided an early and critical test of his diplomatic skills in the highest-stakes talks of his long career.Both Biden and Putin afterward described the three-hour-long summit as generally positive but without any major breakthroughs. Biden suggested the face-to-face was compulsory in a time of deeply strained ties between the United States and Russia. And he said proof of progress would come later, when the results of his diplomacy bear out."I did what I came to do," he said, describing a day that ended as expected: with a better understanding of a shrewd counterpart but without any new areas of agreement. Biden began a post-summit news conference emphasizing his focus on human rights during the meeting, including raising the case of jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Earlier, Putin said he had not detected any hostility between Biden and himself.There were a few modest outcomes following the talks, including an agreement to return each country's ambassador to their post and assigning experts to focus on the growing problem of cyberattacks. US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan will probably return to Moscow next week, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.But most of all, both Biden and Putin seemed to suggest the real upshot of their encounter was getting a read on each other ahead of what will likely still be a highly contentious relationship. "I told President Putin my agenda is not against Russia or anyone else, it's for the American people," Biden said. "I made it clear to President Putin that we'll continue to raise issues of fundamental human rights because that's who we are." Speaking during his own hourlong news conference just before Biden's, Putin called the talks "constructive" and said he had come away with a generally positive impression of the American leader."He's a balanced and professional man, and it's clear that he's very experienced," Putin said. "It seems to me that we did speak the same language."
Russian media apparently sees Biden as a shrewd statesman, not a bumbling dotard, after Putin meeting -We probably won't know for a while whether President Biden's sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva this week produced any tangible benefits for the U.S. But Biden did accomplish one thing, at least: Russia's pro-Kremlin media no longer views him as a dotard.For months, Russian state media ridiculed Biden "as bumbling, confused, and well past his prime," The New York Times reports. "But by Thursday, the mood had shifted: Here was a man in the White House, some said, who understands us, whom we can do business with." And leading the change in narrative was Putin himself."I want to say that the image of President Biden that our and even the American press paints has nothing to do with reality," Putin told university graduates in Moscow on Thursday. "He's a professional, and you have to be very careful in working with him to make sure you don't miss anything. He doesn't miss anything, I can assure you."Biden's main tricks for turning around his image in Russia were, apparently, flattery and evident competence. Biden's description of Putin as a "worthy adversary" caught Moscow's attention, as did his description of the U.S. and Russia as "two great powers." America's "earlier doctrine, put forward by President Obama, which dismissed Russia as just a regional power, has been rejected," said Nezavisimaya Gazeta editor Konstantin Remchukov said on state-run Channel One. And if Biden was more respectful of Russia's place in the world than Obama, he was also seen more a more predictable, professional, and effective head of government than former President Donald Trump. "The leaders' meeting fully justified the most optimistic expectations and delivered the most results of any in the last decades of the relationship between the powers," commentator Timofey Bordachev wrote in Vzglyad, a pro-Putin outlet. "Biden, believe it or not, looks to be the first American president in 30 years who is playing a 'long game.'"
'Going to get in trouble with staff': Biden lets slip how he's handled -- A slip by President Biden at the G-7 summit Sunday may have revealed just how carefully his staff tries to handle the commander-in-chief when he faces questions from the media.Biden cracked that he’d get “in trouble” with his handlers if he failed to take questions from just the pre-planned list of reporters at his news conferenceat the end of the three-day G-7 summit of world leaders in Britain on Sunday — or if he took one too many.“I’m sorry, I’m going to get in trouble with staff if I don’t do this the right way,” Biden said after calling on Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs.After making introductory remarks, the president kicked off the question-and-answer section of the presser by saying he was supposed to go to Jonathan Lemire of the Associated Press. “Now, why don’t I take some of your questions? And I’m told, Jonathan, I’m supposed to talk — recognize you first,” he said.Then at the conclusion of the news conference, Biden was walking away from the lectern when a reporter said he wanted to ask about his relationship with European allies.“I’m going to get in trouble with my staff. Yeah, go ahead. But pretend that I didn’t answer you,” Biden said, chuckling.
China Says U.S. Is 'Very Sick' After Joe Biden Rallies G7 and NATO -- China has dismissed the United States as "very sick" and needing "medication" after President Joe Biden rallied allies at the G7 and NATO summits this week and officially elevated Beijing in the West's security calculus."Gone are the days when one country or a group of countries dictated the world," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily press briefing on Tuesday. Zhao accused the G7 of "distorting facts" after the three-day summit in Englandconcluded on Sunday with a communique that rapped China multiple times for its policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as well as for its trade practices and technological standards.The document also made a historic mention of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a topic of immensely high sensitivity to the Chinese leadership.The communique seeks to "wantonly smear China and blatantly interfere in its internal affairs," said Zhao, who expressed Beijing's "firm opposition" to the joint statement by "a handful of countries.""The United States is sick, very sick," Zhao said in China's harshest criticism of the Biden administration to date. "The Group of Seven should take America's pulse and prescribe medication."Zhao's remarks about a "sick" Washington were cut from the English-language readout released by CGTN, the international arm of China's state broadcaster CCTV. His words echoed those in a fiery response published by the Chinese Embassy in London on Monday. A spokesperson for the office chided the G7's attempt to build an anti-China "clique," which it said was "intentionally sowing confrontation and division."
Biden’s first foreign trip as VP was a breeze; Harris’ was into the lion’s den - When Joe Biden was vice president, his first trip abroad was a cakewalk.That is, it was a breeze compared to Kamala Harris’ debut on the world stage this week in Latin America, where she tried to deliver a tough message on corruption and immigration to an unfamiliar crew of balky male leaders.Less than three weeks after President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, Biden attended an annual security-policy conference of world leaders in Munich, Germany, where he spoke to a friendly crowd that knew him well from his decades as a senator and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. And Biden delivered a message his audience longed to hear: After eight years of President George W. Bush’s go-it-alone foreign policy, Biden told European allies he came to “set a new tone.”Harris’ assignment would have been tough for anyone, even an experienced diplomat, to execute: dealing with a polarizing, intractable problem decades in the making, while meeting with leaders of a volatile, often violent region. It was a trial by fire for someone with relatively little experience abroad. The pressure was intensified by the inevitable scrutiny that comes from being both the first woman and first woman of color in the role.“It was a much tougher task: She walked into the lion’s den, whereas he walked into a clubhouse with some of his best mates,” said Ivo Daalder, the Obama administration’s ambassador to NATO. “It would have been difficult for Biden to make a misstep. ... He was sending a message, ‘We love you.’” Biden has often said that he wants to model Harris’ role in his administration on his own relationship with President Obama, who promised Biden he'd be the "last person in the room" advising him on big decisions. And Obama delegated a full portfolio of domestic and foreign policy issues to his vice president. In that spirit, Biden gave Harris responsibility for an especially nettlesome, politically sensitive problem of the highest order: how to address the root causes — poverty, violence and corruption — driving people to migrate from Central America in numbers that have caused crises at the U.S.-Mexico border. Harris embarked on her trip under the limelight that always shines on a barrier-breaker. She inspired intense curiosity about how she would perform on her two-day trip to Guatemala and Mexico, countries where racism and sexism remain commonplace. Major and minor news outlets swarmed, bringing klieg lights, persistent reporters and big-name anchors to capture a moment in history they expected to reveal much about a political figure that Americans are still getting to know. Everything she said and did was put under a microscope, magnifying her missteps like a clumsy answer on why she had not yet visited the U.S.-Mexico border. She responded defensively, saying she had not visited Europe either.
CNN panel criticize VP’s ‘cringeworthy’ and unprepared response to questions about when she would visit the border and warn her ‘allies’ in the White House are losing faith in her - Kamala Harris' unfortunate week came to a disappointing end on Sunday, when her trip to Guatemala and Mexico - the first foreign visit as vice president - was slammed by a CNN panel. Harris, tasked by President Joe Biden with working to stem soaring migration levels, found herself mocked for being unable to answer the obvious question as to when she would visit the U.S.-Mexico border during a Univision interview. To her visible irritation, she was asked multiple times by Univision anchor Ilia Calderón when she would go and see for herself - and each time, she stumbled over an answer. 'I've said I'm going to the border,' Harris told the anchor. 'And also if we are going to deal with the problems at the border, we have to deal with the problems that cause people to go to the border, to flee to the border. So my first trip as vice president of the United States was to go- in terms of a foreign trip- to Guatemala, to be on the ground there to address and to be informed of the root causes why are the people of Guatemala leaving.' 'Do you have a date for your trip to the border?' Calderón asked. 'I will keep you posted,' Harris replied. 'It's just a little cringeworthy, and I know that her allies in the White House and elsewhere are watching it and just kind of wondering what is going on,' said Abby Phillip, host of CNN's Inside Politics Sunday show. Panelist Laura Barron-Lopez, a CNN Political Analyst, agreed that it was a failure. 'It didn't go the way the White House wanted it to go,' she said. 'Again, immigration, as you mention, is a hot potato no one wants to touch, and Harris has been dealt it and so she has to handle now what Biden had to handle when he was VP which is relationships with the northern triangle.' The panel were also dismayed at Harris' interview with Lester Holt of NBC. 'At some point, you know, we are going to the border,' she told Holt. 'We've been to the border. So this whole thing about the border. We've been to the border. We've been to the border.'He replied: 'You haven't been to the border.' 'And I haven't been to Europe,' Harris snapped, then quickly laughed.
Biden Taps Lina Khan to Chair FTC -By Jerri-Lynn Scofield --Yesterday President Joe Biden tapped antitrust expert Lina Khan to chair the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), hours after the Senate voted 69-28 to confirm her nomination as an FTC commissioner. Khan, a Columbia University law professor, is a noted Big Tech critic. While still a student at Yale Law School, she penned an important article for the Yale Law Journal, Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox. . The WSJ. called selecting Khan to head the FTC “a move that caps the ascendancy of a progressive camp that favors far-reaching changes to antitrust enforcement.” Further:Ms. Khan has been the leader of that movement, which believes the current decades long approach has done too little to restrain corporate dominance and stop mergers that have eroded competition. She has argued in favor of blocking more mergers, aggressively attacking monopolistic practices and potentially breaking up some of America’s largest companies.By designating Khan as FTC chair, Biden is signaling that he favors tougher antitrust enforcement. Per the WSJ:While Democrats across the board have argued that antitrust enforcement has been too lax, they have been split on just how far the pendulum should swing. Some have questioned whether a wholesale philosophical shift is needed. Ms. Khan’s leading FTC role signals which way Mr. Biden is leaning in that debate, a warning shot to Silicon Valley and dominant firms in other industries.Senator Elizabeth Warren hailed Biden’s decision as “tremendous news,” according to Politico:“With Chair Khan at the helm, we have a huge opportunity to make big, structural change by reviving antitrust enforcement and fighting monopolies that threaten our economy, our society, and our democracy,” Warren said.
Why aren't more American women and men in the labor force? - An important question now facing the United States is: Why aren’t more American women and men participating in the labor force? U.S. economists say that America’s low labor force participation rate is holding the country back. If more Americans joined the job market, economists contend, the economy and wages would grow faster and there would be a reduction in the huge economic cost of having millions of potential workers outside the labor market. Prior to the pandemic, the labor force participation rate of Americans aged 25 to 64 years in 2019 was just below the average for OECD countries. Some 30 countries had a higher rate than America’s level of 78 percent, including Canada with 82 percent, Germany with 84 percent, Japan with 86 percent and Sweden with 89 percent. If the U.S. had Japan’s rate, America’s labor force would increase by 14 million, or twice the number of the country’s unauthorized migrant workers. In April the U.S. labor force participation rates of women and men in the prime working ages of 25 to 54 years were 75 and 88 percent, respectively, below the rates of the recent past and way below the rates of Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. With the economy picking up, many businesses report that they can’t get enough workers. This shortage of workers, they claim, is having undesirable consequences, including stifling growth, driving up wages and inflation. Others maintain that there is no labor shortage as many are returning to the improving job market, especially when businesses raise low wages. Some in Congress, state capitals, the business community and elsewhere argue that the availability of enhanced unemployment benefits, particularly the extra $300 a week in jobless benefits, and government financial assistance are functioning asdisincentives keeping many Americans from taking jobs. Those receiving enhanced benefits, they contend, are not eager to return to work for potentially less income. Accordingly, 25 state governors — all Republican — have recentlydecided to reject more than $26 billion in federal enhanced unemployment benefits. They believe that cutting off those enhanced unemployed benefits will drive people back to the workplace. Many economists have pushed back against blaming enhanced unemployment benefits, which expire in September, and offer other explanations for America’s low rates of labor participation. One explanation focuses on personal health conditions and illness concerns, in particular fears relating to the risk of contracting COVID-19 when returning to the workplace.
SCOTUS Rules 7-2 in Favor of ACA - Writing for the majority on the ACA ruling, Justice Breyer:“We do not reach these questions of the Act’s validity, Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them.”The lack of standing comes from:“The states having brought the suit could not show that they will suffer any injury from the fact that some form of the mandate is still in effect, and threw out the lawsuit as a result.”In the majority were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, accused the majority of ducking the constitutional issues that conservatives for years have argued make the federal healthcare overhaul unconstitutional.
Executive pay soared during the pandemic, widening the gulf between CEOs and employees. Executive pay soared during the pandemic, widening the gulf between CEOs and employees. These were the 5 execs who received the largest pay packages in 2020. For US executives, 2020 was a banner year. The New York Times partnered with executive compensation consulting firm Equilar to examine CEO pay during the pandemic, and how it compared to the average worker at the company. The data showed that not only is the gulf between employee and executive pay widening, but that executive compensation skyrocketed in 2020. The Times found that eight of the top earners received compensation packages worth over $100 million last year, a contrast from years past: In 2018, five execs earned over $100 million, and in 2019, only one did. On top of that, six out of the 10 largest executive pay packages were handed out in 2020, according to The Times. These were the five highest-paid execs in 2020: With a compensation package worth $1.1 billion, Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir was the highest-paid CEO of a publicly traded company last year, according to The Times. Karp's company, Palantir, officially became a public company last September via a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The secretive data-mining firm works primarily with government and law enforcement agencies worldwide. DoorDash's Tony Xu became the second-highest paid executive in 2020 with compensation valued at $414 million. 2020 was a breakout year for DoorDash as the pandemic forced people to stay at home and food delivery orders ballooned. DoorDash went public in a highly anticipated IPO in December. With compensation worth $370 million, Opendoor CEO Eric Wu was the third-highest paid executive in 2020. Opendoor is essentially a home-flipping company that uses technology to buy, renovate, and sell homes. The company went public last year via a SPAC led by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya. Paycom CEO Chad Richison earned compensation valued at $211 million in 2020, putting him in fourth place among top-earning executives. Paycom provides HR management software and pioneered the self-service approach that allows employees to enroll in benefits or check their paystub online. Joseph Levin, the CEO of IAC, was 2020's fifth-highest compensated executive at $184 million. IAC/InterActiveCorp owns a slew of internet platforms, media outlets, and ecommerce sites including Care.com and the Daily Beast. Disclosure: Palantir Technologies CEO Alexander Karp is a member of Axel Springer's shareholder committee. Axel Springer owns Insider Inc, Business Insider's parent company.
ProPublica’s Release of Leaked Tax Return Data for Billionaires: Why Wall Street’s Mega Banks Are Freaking Out - By Pam Martens - Last Tuesday, June 8, at 4:59 a.m. EDT, the public interest news outlet, ProPublica, dropped a bombshell. A source unknown to it had leaked “a vast trove of IRS data on the tax returns of thousands” of the richest Americans, including the top 25 billionaires in the country as of 2018. The data covered numerous years of tax filings and showed that some of the most well known billionaires in the U.S. had paid no income taxes in some years. Carefully reading through the ProPublica material, a few critical details emerge. First, ProPublica does not appear to have tax return data for years later than 2018. Since it’s now June of 2021, that suggests that someone in the Trump administration might have downloaded this data to a thumb drive and waited until recently to leak it. ProPublica acknowledges that it’s had the data for “months,” as its reporters attempted to analyze the data and verify its authenticity.Someone in the Trump camp might be attempting to normalize billionaires not paying taxes. The New York Times had obtained Donald Trump’s tax returns last year andpublished an article in September showing that he had “paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.”One aspect of the historic leak of IRS data that has failed to garner the interest of corporate media is the stunning rise of Jeff Bezos, founder, CEO and Chairman of Amazon, to the status of the richest man in the U.S. – in the span of one year.According to Forbes, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, ranked as number 1 on the Forbes list of U.S. billionaires for 24 consecutive years, running from 1994 through 2017.In announcing in 2018 that Bezos had eclipsed Gates in wealth and was now the richest American, Forbes wrote the following in October 2018: “Bezos is also the first person to appear in the ranks with a fortune of more than $100 billion — he clocked in at $160 billion. Bezos was also the biggest gainer on this year’s list: his fortune rose $78.5 billion since last year, thanks to the more than 100% runup in the price of Amazon stock, the biggest one-year gain since we’ve been tracking fortunes.”Amazon’s stock has been actively traded for years in the Dark Pools of Wall Street’s mega banks. Was the share price of Amazon manipulated by those Dark Pools in 2018? Nobody knows because…the trading is dark.These same mega banks are also allowed by Congress to issue buy ratings on companies whose stock they are trading in their own Dark Pools. For example, on May 26, JPMorgan Chase reiterated its “buy” rating on Amazon. Credit Suisse did the same thing on May 3. The stock currently has a PE ratio of 63 (Price-to-Earnings) which is nose bleed territory, but these banks and numerous others on Wall Street say it’s a buy.Wall Street may be helping Bezos build his astronomical wealth in other ways. Americans learned from the blowup of the Archegos family office hedge fund in late March that Wall Street’s mega banks are using tricked up derivatives to hide from the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission the stock trading of U.S. billionaires. The banks had allowed Archegos to keep its identity hidden as the beneficial owner of the stocks because the banks were reporting those stocks as if the banks actually owned them on their publicly-disclosed 13F filings with the SEC.Now here’s the really interesting part of the ProPublica story. The reporters tell us that included in the tax data they received for the billionaires are the “profits from their stock trades.” They also tell us that there will be more articles based on this data to come.According to media reports, the Justice Department has opened a probe into what the mega banks were actually doing in the Archegos-styled derivatives.
Private Inequity: NYT Examines How the Private Equity Industry Avoids Taxes Jerri-Lynn Scofield -The New York Times published a comprehensive piece Saturday discussing how the private equity industry avoids taxes, Private Inequity: How a Powerful Industry Conquered the Tax System.Regular readers won’t be surprised by any of the article’s revelations about these shenanigans, particularly over the carried interest loophole, a subject Yves has covered extensively, along with her broader coverage of the private equity industry (see, for example, this April post,Private Equity and Hedge Fund Barons Having a Hissy Over Carried Interest Grift Because Biden Isn’t Staying Bought): Tax professional cringe when normies use the term carried interest in the manner that has become pervasive in the fund management industry. What is called carried interest in the US is not actually “carried interest,” which comes about when a participant in a deal borrows money (typically from other principals) to buy his equity stake. Instead, what the press widely calls carried interest is a profits interest that gets preferential tax treatment. .To underscore the key point: the carried interest loophole allows private equity and hedge fund honchos to have their labor income taxed at more favorable capital gains rates. That preferential treatment is the reason someone going into asset management is twice as likely as someone going into tech to become a billionaire.The NYT takedown is well worth a read as it sets out in considerable detail the strategies private equity firms and their executives employ to minimize their taxes.A couple of issues. The rationale for taxing carried interest at a lower rate is that part of the investment at risk. But as Yves points out above, that’s not actually true. She was also not fooled by the noises Biden has made to close the carried interest loophole. The NYT article – from which I’ll quote extensively below – offers details on how Democrats and Republicans alike have whiffed on previous reform efforts. That means I too wouldn’t bet the farm on the prospects for closing the carried interest loophole anytime soon. The NYT piece tells the story of how over the past decade the private equity industry got even greedier. How? In seeking also to reclassify their “management fee” – that 2% levied on investments in their funds – as capital gains rather than ordinary income. That seems outrageous on its face. Yet the industry has largely succeeded in getting that interpretation accepted:
Exclusive: Democrat exploring 'patriot tax' on multimillionaires' wealth - Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said that he’s exploring the idea of a one-time tax on the wealth of the richest Americans as Democrats seek to increase taxes on the rich in order to pay for spending priorities. In an interview with The Hill on Friday, Suozzi said he’s in the early stages of looking at what he called a “patriot tax.” This would be a one-time surcharge of 2.5 percent on wealth between $50 million and $100 million and a 5 percent tax on wealth above $100 million. Wealthy people would be able to pay the tax over five years. Research provided by Suozzi’s office estimates that such a tax could raise about $450 billion. Suozzi said that the surcharge he’s exploring would reflect the fact that many wealthy Americans were less hurt by the coronavirus pandemic than people with less income. “We all know that people who are wealthy did very well during the pandemic and people that were low-income people did not do well,” he said. He said that for wealthy people, the surcharge would be “a way to help your country to build back better.” Suozzi has yet to introduce any legislation based on his idea, and the tax he's considering could face challenges with being enacted. The Biden administration has not endorsed proposals for wealth taxes, and the idea would be sure to face opposition from Republicans. Suozzi said that the revenue raised by the tax could help to offset the cost of President Biden’s infrastructure proposals, as well as restoring the full state and local tax deduction, a top priority for the New York congressman and other lawmakers in his state. Suozzi spoke to The Hill days after ProPublica published a report detailing how prominent U.S. billionaires pay little in taxes when compared to their wealth gains. The U.S. federal tax system is based on income, not wealth. Democrats in recent years have increasingly floated ideas aimed at making the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes. The idea from Suozzi, a member of the moderate, bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, has some similarities to wealth taxes proposed by progressive lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), but Warren’s proposal would create an annual tax rather than a one-time tax.
Matt Stoller: A Society Designed to Incentivize Criminal Behavior at the Highest Level (podcast interview by Rob Johnson with transcript) Lambert Strether: Invigorating and insightful discussion (though I’d slip the mutual self-congratulation with the interviewer at the very end).
Outrage grows as Justice seeks to contain subpoena fallout -Attorney General Merrick Garland is scrambling to contain the fallout of a widening Justice Department scandal as Democratic allies and the press express outrage over revelations that his agency secretly obtained records of lawmakers, reporters and dozens of others as it carried out aggressive leak investigations during the Trump presidency. Just three months on the job, Garland said Monday he has referred the matter to the agency’s inspector general to conduct a “thorough and independent” investigation. He’s also directed Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to scrutinize the agency’s policies and procedures for obtaining records from Congress. Monaco, he said, “is already working on surfacing potentially problematic matters deserving high level review.” Garland on Monday also met with executives from CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post to explain why the Department of Justice (DOJ) sought records from eight reporters from those outlets. Separately, the DOJ’s top national security lawyer, John Demers, is resigning from his post amid questions about what the Trump appointee knew about the agency’s efforts to secretly obtain phone, email and other records from reporters and a pair of vocal Trump critics on the House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). Demers’s departure, set for the end of the week, comes as Schiff and others have demanded that Garland “clean house” of any officials involved in partisan or politically motivated investigations. “What I think we are seeing is that it was worse than all of us even imagined. We knew the Department of Justice had become, in a sense, the personal arm of the Donald Trump protection racket,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Monday during a Washington Post Live event. “These stories sound Nixonian but they are actually worse than Nixonian.
McConnell warns he's willing to intervene in 2022 GOP primaries -Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned on Monday that he and his allies are willing to step into Republican Senate primaries to try to prevent a candidate they view as unelectable in November 2022 from advancing. McConnell, during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, was asked if he and the Senate Leadership Fund, an outside group closely aligned with the Kentucky Republican, would be willing to intervene in 2022 Republican primaries. "If necessary," McConnell told Hewitt about their willingness to get involved in Republican primaries. "There's no question that in order to win ... you have to appeal to the general election audience," McConnell added. "I'll be keeping an eye on that. Hopefully we won't have to intervene, but if we do, we will." Republicans are hoping to take back the Senate majority in 2022, where they are defending 20 seats compared to 14 for Democrats. Among those states are four open seats, and two seats in states won in 2020 by President Biden. They are also hoping to unseat Democrats in states like Georgia, Arizona and New Hampshire, states all carried by Biden last year. McConnell's warning comes as the party watched themselves lose seats they had hoped to flip in the 2010 and 2012 cycles after GOP candidates won the primary only to unravel in the general election.M
Police investigating death of TV anchor who uncovered Clinton tarmac meeting as suicide --Police in Alabama said this weekend they are investigating the death of the television news reporter who broke a story in 2016 about a secret tarmac meeting between former President Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch as a suicide. Lt. Keith Czeskleba with the Hoover Police Department told AL.com that Christopher Sign, who played football at the University of Alabama and spent years as a new broadcasters for various stations across the country, was found dead at a residence Saturday morning. Sign's death is being investigated as a suicide, Czeskleba said. “Our deepest sympathy is shared with Chris’s loving family and close friends,” said Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns the Birmingham-based station where Sign had worked since 2017, said in a statement. "We have lost a revered colleague whose indelible imprint will serve forever as a hallmark of decency, honesty and journalist integrity. We can only hope to carry on Chris’s legacy. May his memory be for blessing." Sign first worked at ABC 33/40 from 2000 to 2005, AL.com noted, covering many major stories in the region before a stint at ABC affiliate KNXV-TV in Phoenix. While in Phoenix, Sign broke the story about a tarmac meeting between Lynch and Clinton, which came as former President Obama's Justice Department was investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then running for president, over the use of her private e-mail server for official government business. "When I broke this story, we knew that something had occurred here that was a bit unusual," Sign said of the meeting during an appearance on Fox News that year. "It was a planned meeting. It was not a coincidence. This details everything they don't want you to know and everything they think you forgot."
Key capital measure not working as Fed intended, Powell says — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that regulators are weighing significant changes to a key capital requirement for large banks after market dislocations stemming from the pandemic revealed potential flaws in the measure. The largest banks must maintain a minimum supplementary leverage ratio of 5% at the holding company level. A complement to risk-based capital requirements, the SLR assesses capital strength without risk differentiation for varying asset types. The ratio effectively forces banks to set aside more capital for low-risk assets, which flooded the market last year when the Fed took action to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Regulators took short-term action to ease the impact on financial institutions. But many said the recent market tremors made the SLR a "binding" requirement, which was never intended.
It’s Now Official: The Financial House that Jamie Dimon Built Is the Riskiest Bank in the United States -Pam Martens -Corporate media outlets like Bloomberg News, the CBS news program 60 Minutes, and CNBC have been seduced into obsequious behavior when it comes to Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, despite the fact that Dimon has presided over the most unparalleled crime spree in the history of U.S. banking. Between 2014 and September of last year, JPMorgan Chase has been charged with five criminal felony counts by the U.S. Department of Justice. The bank admitted to all five counts. (See the bank’s detailed rap sheet here.)Despite this crime spree and endless probation periods followed by more crime, Dimon has further seduced federal bank regulators into allowing his unrepentant behemoth to become the most systemically risky bank in America. The National Information Center is a repository of bank data collected by the Federal Reserve. It is part of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which was created by federal legislation to create uniformity in the examination of U.S. financial institutions by the various banking regulators.Each year the National Information Center creates a graphic profile of banks measured by 12 systemic risk indicators. The data used to create these graphics come from the “Systemic Risk Report” or form FR Y-15 that banks are required to file with the Federal Reserve. To measure the systemic risk that a particular bank poses to the stability of the U.S. financial system, the data is broken down into five categories of system risk: size, interconnectedness, substitutability, complexity, and cross-jurisdictional activity. Those measurements consist of 12 pieces of financial information that banks have to provide on their Y-15 forms.The most recent data for the period ending December 31, 2019 indicates that in 8 out of 12 measurements – or two-thirds of all systemic risk measurements – JPMorgan Chase ranks at the top for having the riskiest footprint among its peer banks.To put it another way, the largest bank in the United States with an apparent insatiable appetite to commit felonies is also the riskiest bank based on other key metrics.
JPMorgan Chase said to order staff to save texts on personal phones -It’s an open secret that many Wall Street denizens have been taking a certain forbidden liberty while working from home: Tapping text messages to colleagues and clients on smartphones untethered to workplace surveillance systems. Now some of them are panicking. JPMorgan Chase — often a standard-setter for the industry — is ordering traders, bankers, financial advisers and even some branch employees to sift through years of text messages on personal devices and set aside any related to work, according to people with knowledge of the situation. One recent internal notice seen by Bloomberg directed recipients to not only root through their standard messages, but also platforms such as WeChat and WhatsApp, back to the start of 2018, and then save those related to work until the company’s legal department tells them otherwise. It notes that failure to comply could lead to “consequences” for violating the company’s code of conduct.
Banks, consumer advocates unite against tax reporting proposal -— Opposition is mounting to a Biden administration plan to require financial institutions to report customers’ account flow data to the Internal Revenue Service, with banks, credit unions and some consumer advocates warning it would be a massive invasion of consumer privacy.The Treasury Department outlined a proposal in its recent budget request for a regime requiring banks and other financial institutions to report inflows and outflows in consumer accounts with more than $600. The goal is to crack down on tax evasion by high earners and narrow the so-called tax gap between what Americans pay and what they owe.Financial institutions sounded the alarm over the new plan — meant to help the administration pay for the American Rescue Plan and infrastructure overhaul — before it was formally unveiled on May 20, noting the potential regulatory burden. But criticism has intensified from a broader array of stakeholders over concerns that consumers' private information could be compromised.
Bank capital and cryptocurrencies - Frances Coppola - The BIS's draft proposals for capital regulation of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies have just been released. The headline proposal was a risk weighting of 1250% for what the BIS called "Group 2 cryptoassets", which includes all cryptocurrencies, all algorithmic stablecoins, and reserved stablecoins that don't meet the capital, liquidity and disclosure requirements for "Group 1 cryptoassets" specified in the same document. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two major cryptocurrencies, would fall into Group 2, along with most existing stablecoins. The proposals were widely misunderstood in the crypto community. As ever, much of the misunderstanding was about the nature of bank capital. Many people confuse bank capital with reserves. Reserves are cash deposits at the central bank and vaulted currency. They enable customers to withdraw cash and make payments out of their deposit accounts. Without them, banks would have to go to the market for funding every time a customer withdrew money from their account. Banks famously don't keep enough reserves to enable all customers to withdraw all their funds all at the same time. Reserve requirements aim to ensure that a bank has sufficient liquidity to meet normal payment requests. The proportion of reserves to deposits that regulators require banks to keep is called the "reserve requirement", and it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and in some cases even from bank to bank. The most famous reserve requirement is the Federal Reserve's 10% of eligible deposits, which is the foundation of the well-known "money multiplier" model of bank lending. Sadly, it is no more. It was abolished in March 2020, superseded by the Basel Committee's liquidity regulations and additional Federal regulations such as living wills, and rendered obsolete anyway by the enormous excess reserve balances banks are carrying because of QE. But although fewer countries have formal reserve requirements now, banks these days are far more liquid than they were prior to the 2008 financial crisis. The risk that they will literally run out of money and have to close their doors is much lower than it was at the time of the run on Northern Rock. Banks also have far more capital than they had before the 2008 financial crisis. But capital is not about liquidity. It's about solvency. Capital requirements aim to ensure that banks don't become insolvent when asset prices fall or borrowers default. The whole point is to prevent any repeat of the taxpayer bailouts of 2008. I'm astonished how many people don't seem to know this.
Mark Cuban Calls for Stablecoin Regulation After Trading Token That Crashed to Zero --Here’s a chart you never want to see. It’s of the DeFi Titanium token, which in one day went from being valued around $60 to $0. Even in the world of crypto, where massive drawdowns are commonplace, 100% washouts are pretty rare, especially in such short a time. The token is/was part of an algorithmic stablecoin project called Iron Finance. Stablecoins are pretty hot these days. Some (like USDT and USDC) maintain a peg to the dollar by holding a basket of dollar-denominated assets. Others (like Dai) are backed by overcollateralized crypto assets. And then there’s this breed of so-called algorithmic stablecoins, which use a dual-currency structure and attempt to hold a peg by creating arbitrage opportunities between coins. And it’s possible that Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban had something to do with the huge runup in the price of the token. Cuban, like a bunch of other people these days, has been going down the DeFi rabbit hole and he even wrote a blog post about his enthusiasm this Sunday, which included this paragraph where he highlights the TITAN token:[...] Last night on Twitter, Cuban acknowledged having gotten hit like everyone else: Mark Cuban writes in to talk about his experience and that, among other things, he thinks regulation should be put in place to define what a stablecoin actually is. Here’s his full email: "I read about it. Decided to try it. Got out. Then got back in when the TVL start to rise back up As a percentage of my crypto portfolio it was small. But it was enough that I wasn't happy about it.But in a larger context it is no different than the risks I take [in] angel investing. In any new industry, there are risks I take on with the goal of not just trying to make money but also to learn. Even though I got rugged on this, it's really on me for being lazy. The thing about de fi plays like this is that its all about revenue and math and I was too lazy to do the math to determine what the key metrics were.The investment wasn't so big that I felt the need to have to dot every I and cross every T. I took a flyer and lost. But if you are looking for a lesson learned , the real question is the regulatory one. There will be a lot of players trying to establish stable coins on every new l1 and L2. It can be a very lucrative fee and arb business for the winners.There should be regulation to define what a stable coin is and what collateralization is acceptable. Should we require $1 in us currency for every dollar or define acceptable collateralization options, like us treasuries or?To be able to call itself a stable coin? Where collateralization is not 1 to 1, should the math of the risks have to be clearly defined for all users and approved before release? Probably given stable coins most likely need to get to hundreds of millions or more in value in order to be useful, they should have to register.”
Ransomware group attacks a New Jersey bank — then shuts down A ransomware group called Avaddon recently attacked a New Jersey bank, and shortly after that, shut down its operations and released the keys victims could use to unlock their files. It's unclear why Avaddon suddenly shut down, but observers speculate that in this and other instances, attackers see law enforcement closing in them and try to back out before they get caught. The recent attacks on Colonial Pipeline and the meat company JBS drew public attention to this form of cyber threat. But ransomware has been on the rise for the past year and John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco Systems, said on Monday he expects U.S. companies to be hit with more than 65,000 ransomware attacks in 2021.
How banks can limit the financial impact of cyberattacks | American Banker - The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global markets, causing governments, organizations and consumers to lose trillions of dollars from the resultant surge in financial crime and fraud. Though the impact has been widespread, financial services have borne the brunt of these attacks, with 75% of financial institutions experiencing losses from pandemic-related cybercrime.The increase in remote work has seen gaps emerging in corporate networks, creating an attractive target for cybercriminals — so much so that 42% of banks and insurers in the United States admit that this model has made them less secure. Moreover, attackers are exploiting people's concerns about the pandemic by hiding malware in COVID-related content and scams. For instance, there was an increase of 83% in phishing (email), 22% in smishing (text messages), 79% vishing (phone calls).These attacks have been so prolific that 56% of financial institutions reported an increase in losses over the last 12 months. The average cost per institution over that period was $720,000. For consumers who had their lost money refunded, the average amount was $1,174, while those who did not lost an average of $743.
Bank, airline sites go dark briefly in broad internet outage -A slew of websites operated by financial institutions, governments and airlines including Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing and Australia’s central bank went down briefly Thursday in the second global internet outage in two weeks. Some of the outages, including those that affected Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, were linked to a failure at Akamai Technologies, which helps clients manage web services, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing internal affairs. The Reserve Bank of Australia was forced to cancel a scheduled bond-buying operation Thursday, blaming “technical difficulties.” The central bank said it had adopted workarounds and its website was now back up and running. The widespread downtime recalled an hourlong global outage earlier this month, triggered by a software failure at the content delivery platform Fastly. The resultant cascading failures, which affected services from Amazon.com to Shopify and Stripe, served as a stark reminder of how exposed the world’s biggest websites are to the impact of disruptions ranging from simple human error to coordinated cyberattack.
As credit unions resume M&A, bankers renew attacks on tax exemption -A resurgence of credit unions buying banks has led to a fresh outcry by bank industry lobbyists, who say the activity demonstrates how credit unions are taking advantage of their federal tax exemption in ways Congress never intended. Banking advocates claim credit unions are increasingly deploying cash generated by the tax exemption to offer prices banks often can’t afford to match. They also say it's bad public policy, arguing that such deals add to the federal deficit because they effectively remove taxpaying banks from federal tax rolls. While credit unions have been buying banks for years, the trend spiked in 2019, when 16 credit union acquisitions of banks were announced, up from nine in 2018. The count tumbled in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, but mergers and acquisitions bounced back in 2021 — prompting bankers to press the issue with lawmakers.
Bezos Has Dumped Over $16.6 Billion of Amazon Stock Over the Last 17 Months – That’s More than He Sold Over the Prior Decade. Should Shareholders Worry? By Pam Martens --Jeff Bezos, the founder and man at the helm of Amazon for the past 27 years, announced last month that he will be stepping down as CEO on July 5. Fifteen days later, according to Bezos, he and his brother Mark will take off on the first crewed space flight from his rocket company, Blue Origin. Following on the heels of Bezos’ 2019 announcement of his divorce to his wife of a quarter of a century, MacKenzie Bezos, and tabloid headlines over his accusations ofattempted extortion and blackmail by the National Inquirer over Bezos salacious texts to his girlfriend, shareholders were likely becoming eager for Bezos to hop aboard that spacecraft. What shareholders were apparently not thinking about was what was going to happen to Bezos’ 51.2 million shares of Amazon stock (valued at a cool $173 billion at yesterday’s close) when he was no longer constrained as an active member of management. (The Amazon Board plans to hand the CEO reins to Amazon Web Services CEO, Andy Jassy. Bezos is expected to stay on as Executive Chairman of the company.) Shareholders got a taste of the potential fallout last month when Bezos dumped $6.6 billion of his shares. The first of the sales came on Monday, May 3, just one trading session after the stock hit an all time intraday high of $3,554 on April 30.If one adds the tally of Bezos’ Amazon stock sales in May to the more than $10 billion he dumped in 2020, that’s a tidy $16.6 billion divestiture in less than a year and a half. Adding to the angst for shareholders, that $16.6 billion is more than the tally of Bezos’ total stock sales over the previous 10 year span.What has Bezos been doing with all that money? For starters, he’s been buying luxury real estate from coast to coast.One of those properties is the sprawling 27,000 square foot Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. which Bezos purchased in October 2016 for $23 million, according to the Washington Post, which Bezos added to his portfolio in 2013. If you own the biggest newspaper in your town, you might as well own the biggest home in your town as well. Bezos’ brick mansion in D.C. made an embarrassing appearance at a February 11, 2020 hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, which was convened to take testimony on monetary policy matters from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Congresswoman Katie Porter of California held up a photo of Powell and his friends decked out in black tie for a lavish party Bezos threw at his D.C. mansion in January 2020. While holding up the photo, Porter excoriated Powell with this:“Can you imagine how attending a lavish party at Jeff Bezos’ $23 million home, along with Jared and Ivanka and the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, might give off the sense to the public that you are not in fact immune from external pressures.” It might also give off the sense of just how well-connected Bezos is now that he owns the Washington Post and the biggest party space in all of D.C.
Margin Debt and the Market: Up 1.7% in May, Continues Record Trend -- Note: The NYSE suspended its NYSE Member Firm margin data as of December 2017. We have replaced our Margin Debt data with FINRA data, which includes data for all firms, not just NYSE member firms. Let's examine the numbers and study the relationship between margin debt and the market, using the S&P 500 as the surrogate for the latter. The first chart shows the two series in real terms — adjusted for inflation to today's dollar using the Consumer Price Index as the deflator. At the 1997 start date, we were well into the Boomer Bull Market that began in 1982 and approaching the start of the Tech Bubble that shaped investor sentiment during the second half of the decade. The astonishing surge in leverage in late 1999 peaked in March 2000, the same month that the S&P 500 hit its all-time daily high, although the highest monthly close for that year was five months later in August. A similar surge began in 2006, peaking in July 2007, three months before the market peak.Debt hit a trough in February 2009, a month before the March market bottom. It then began another major cycle of increases. FINRA has released new data for margin debt, now available through May. The latest debt level is up 1.7% month-over-month and is at a record high.
'If you can go out to eat, you can come back to work': Morgan Stanley CEO wants NYC staff back in the office full time by Labor Day and anyone who doesn't return may face a salary cut - Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said on Monday he expects all New York City staff to return to the office full time by Labor Day, and if they don't they may face salary cuts. Gorman was speaking at the firm's annual U.S. Financials, Payments & CRE Conference when he made the remarks, some of the strongest indicators yet of how big business will handle getting their staff back to work in person. Right now, the bank still isn't dictating how many days a week staff should come in, but Gorman says that'll change if people don't choose to come back themselves by the end of the summer. He goes in four days a week right now, he said. 'Make no mistake about it - we do our work inside Morgan Stanley offices, and that's where we teach, that's where our interns learn, that's how we develop people . 'On Labor Day, I'll be very disappointed if people haven't found their way into the office. Then, we'll have a different kind of conversation. 'If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office. We want you in the office,' he said.
Buckle up: CFPB bringing back regulation by enforcement | American Banker -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is making a comeback. The CFPB, which oversees financial institutions with a keen focus on consumer protection and ensuring financial markets are fair and equitable, was a diminished force during the Trump administration. Large financial institutions enjoyed both fewer enforcement actions and lower civil money penalties. Now, well into the second hundred days of the Biden administration, the tide is turning, driven in part by heightened recognition of the disparate financial impacts of the pandemic, and a national consciousness raised by the racial justice movement. This sea change will have significant implications for any bank seeking to approach customer, community and regulatory relations holistically, and especially for larger banks, which are more likely to draw close regulatory scrutiny. All large banks, in particular, should prepare for the return of “supervision by enforcement,” the philosophy that prevailed in the years following the financial crisis, out of which the CFPB was born. President Biden’s nominee to lead the CFPB, Federal Trade Commission member Rohit Chopra, was the bureau’s first student loan ombudsman under former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and is expected to return the bureau to its former place at the forefront of consumer protection in financial services.
CFPB restarts Military Lending Act exams After a three-year hiatus, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is getting back to examining lenders for potential violations of a law protecting service members from overpaying for financial services.The agency issued an interpretive rule Wednesday citing its authority to renew examinations under the Military Lending Act, which caps interest rates and provides other restrictions on a spectrum of products like payday and auto loans. The rule comes under CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio and essentially reverses a move made in 2018 under then-Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to cease conducting the exams. Mulvaney had argued the bureau did not have the authority to conduct the supervision under federal law.
Lenders should do more to alert homeowners of flood risks, lawmakers say — Mortgage lenders that finance properties prone to flood risk should do more than just require borrowers in federally desigated flood areas to buy insurance, lawmakers said Thursday. Congress has long tried to reform the National Flood Insurance Program but members of the House and Senate have been unable to agree on how to keep the program financially viable. By law, borrowers in flood zones identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency must purchase a policy before getting a loan. But senators said at a hearing that lenders' obligations should extend beyond that initial closing table, including disclosing upfront to borrowers the flood-related risk associated with properties both within and outside the federal flood zones. Homeowners living outside the FEMA-designated areas can still purchase insurance through the NFIP if they choose.
MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 4.04%" - Note: This is as of June 6th. From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 4.04%: The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 12 basis points from 4.16% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 4.04% as of June 6, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2 million homeowners are in forbearance plans. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 9 basis points to 2.09%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 32 basis points to 5.22%, while the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) increased 2 basis points to 8.33%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 13 basis points to 4.21%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 14 basis points to 4.19%. “MBA estimates that 2 million homeowners remain in forbearance as of June 6th. The share of loans in forbearance has now declined for 15 straight weeks, with a larger decline this week as many reached the 15-month mark,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Forbearance exits increased – as is typical in the beginning of a month – and reached the fastest pace since April. New forbearance requests, at 4 basis points, remained at an extremely low level.” , “We are seeing an increase in the share of forbearance exits, where borrowers do not have a loss mitigation plan in place. Homeowners who are reaching the end of their forbearance term need to contact their servicer to discuss the next steps in the process, as servicers cannot extend the forbearance term without talking to the borrower.” 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 2020, and has trended down since then. The MBA notes: "Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) remained the same relative to the prior week at 0.04%."
MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest Weekly Survey --From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey: Mortgage applications increased 4.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 11, 2021. The previous week’s results included an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday.... The Refinance Index increased 6 percent from the previous week and was 22 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 11 percent compared with the previous week and was 17 percent lower than the same week one year ago.“Mortgage applications bounced back after three weeks of declines, increasing over 4 percent last week. Both purchase and refinance applications were up, including a 5.5 percent gain in refinances. The jump in refinances was the result of the 30-year fixed rate falling for the third straight week to 3.11 percent – the lowest since early May. U.S. Treasury yields have slid because of the uncertainty in the financial markets regarding inflation and how the Federal Reserve may act over the next few months,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Purchase activity also rebounded, even as supply constraints continue to slow the housing market. An almost 5 percent increase in government purchase applications drove most of last week’s gain while also tempering the recent growth in loan sizes. Purchase applications were still down 17 percent from a year ago, which was when the mortgage market started seeing large post-shutdown increases in activity.”...The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($548,250 or less) decreased to 3.11 percent from 3.15 percent, with points increasing to 0.36 from 0.34 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.. The first graph shows the refinance index since 1990.
Mortgage rates shoot higher after Fed Chairman Powell's comments - The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage moved decidedly higher Thursday, hitting 3.25%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That is the highest rate since mid-April. The move was a reaction to comments made Wednesday by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell following the central bank's meeting this week. Fed officials indicated that rate hikes could come in 2023, although they didn't mention when they would start scaling back their massive bond-buying program. "You can think of this meeting that we had as the 'talking about talking about' meeting," Powell said, recalling a statement he made in 2020 that the bank wasn't "thinking about thinking about raising rates." Mortgage rates even moved higher Tuesday in anticipation of the Fed meeting. Mortgage rates do not follow the federal funds rate, which was unchanged Wednesday, but generally track the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which moved higher. Mortgage rates are also affected greatly by the amount of mortgage-backed bonds the Fed purchases. That's what caught some investors off guard and caused bond yields and mortgage rates to move higher than expected. "Markets were somewhat surprised by the Fed's rate hike outlook. Granted, the Fed Funds Rate doesn't control mortgage rates, but the outlook speaks to how quickly the Fed would need to dial back its bond buying programs (aka 'tapering'). Those programs definitely help keep rates low," noted Matthew Graham, chief operating officer of Mortgage News Daily. The sooner the Fed starts to taper, the sooner mortgage rates move higher, as happened in the last so-called taper tantrum in June 2013. Mortgage rates are now nearly a quarter of a percentage point higher than they were last Friday and about a quarter of a percentage point higher than they were a year ago. While that may not sound like a lot, it is significant for those looking to save on their monthly payments through a refinance. The general rule of thumb is that if you can't save at least half a percentage point on your rate, like going from 3.5% to 3.0%, then it's not worth the costs involved. Last fall, rates dropped dramatically, and by February of this year, the average rate on the 30-year fixed was at 2.75%. That caused a refinance boom. Now, applications to refinance a home loan are 22% lower than they were a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. There are now far fewer borrowers who can benefit from a refinance. As for homebuyers, given today's sky-high home prices, any move higher in rates is not only going to hit the monthly payment but may make it harder to qualify for the loan. "
Housing Starts increased to 1.572 Million Annual Rate in May -- From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions: Privately‐owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,572,000. This is 3.6 percent above the revised April estimate of 1,517,000 and is 50.3 percent above the May 2020 rate of 1,046,000. Single‐family housing starts in May were at a rate of 1,098,000; this is 4.2 percent above the revised April figure of 1,054,000. The May rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 465,000.:Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,681,000. This is 3.0 percent below the revised April rate of 1,733,000, but is 34.9 percent above the May 2020 rate of 1,246,000. Single‐family authorizations in May were at a rate of 1,130,000; this is 1.6 percent below the revised April figure of 1,148,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 494,000 in May. The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) increased slightly in May compared to April. Multi-family starts were up 50% year-over-year in May.Single-family starts (blue) increased in May, and were up 51% year-over-year (starts slumped at the beginning of the pandemic). The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery (but still not historically high).Total housing starts in May were below expectations, and starts in March and April were revised down.
US Housing Starts Disappoint In May; Permits Plunge To Lowest Since October - (grahps) Amid a wave of weaker than expected housing data (sales, mortgage apps, homebuyer sentiment, and homebuilder sentiment), Housing Starts were expected to rebound in May (while the more forward-looking Permits were expected to drop). Reality was worse in both cases as Housing Starts rose 3.6% MoM (less than the +3.9% MoM expected) after a massive downward revision to -12.1% MoM in April (from -9.5% MoM). Permits tumbled 3.0% MoM (notably worse than the 0.2% MoM drop).This drop pushed Permits to the lowest since October... Under the hood, both Single-fam permits (-1.6%) and Multi-fam permits (-7.7%) tumbled... And for permits it was the opposite with single-family starts up 4.2% and Multi-fam starts up 4.0% What are you going to do now Mr Powell?
New Residential Building Permits: Down 3% in May - The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have now published their findings for May new residential building permits. The latest reading of 1.681M was down 3% from the April reading and is below the Investing.com forecast of 1.730M. Here is the opening of this morning's monthly report, including a note regarding revisions: Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,681,000. This is 3.0 percent (±1.4 percent) below the revised April rate of 1,733,000, but is 34.9 percent (±2.4 percent) above the May 2020 rate of 1,246,000. Single‐family authorizations in May were at a rate of 1,130,000; this is 1.6 percent (±0.9 percent) below the revised April figure of 1,148,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 494,000 in May. [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.
May housing permits and starts continue down from recent peak - In May housing permits (blue in the graph below), including the least volatile single family permits (red, right scale), continued to decline from their January peak. Meanwhile the more volatile and slightly lagging housing starts (green) increased, but remained below their March peak:The level of construction activity as high as or higher than its pre-pandemic peak is continuing. On the other hand, with a 10% decline in permits, and 9% in starts, the minimum decline to be consistent with a possible upcoming recession has nearly been met (while a 20% decline is more typical). For now I interpret this to mean a sign of a slowing down of economic growth next year. Finally, here is the YoY change in mortgage rates (red), inverted so that up = economic positive, and down = economic negative, compared with total permits (blue)/10 for scale: As I have said many times before, mortgage rates lead permits and starts. The artifact of comparisons with the pandemic lockdown months will end next month, at which time I expect permits to be much more in line with their historical relationship with interest rates than they have been in the past few months.
Comments on May Housing Starts – McBride - Earlier: Housing Starts increased to 1.572 Million Annual Rate in May: Total housing starts in May were below expectations, and starts in March and April were revised down slightly. Supply constraints probably held back housing starts again in May. Single family starts increased in May, and were up 51% year-over-year (starts declined at the beginning of the pandemic). The volatile multi-family sector is up sharply year-over-year (apartments were under pressure from COVID). The housing starts report showed total starts were up 3.6% in May compared to the previous month, and total starts were up 50.3% year-over-year compared to May 2020.Low mortgage rates and limited existing home inventory have given a boost to single family housing starts.The first graph shows the month to month comparison for total starts between 2020 (blue) and 2021 (red). Starts were up 50.3% in May compared to May 2020. The year-over-year comparison will be easy again in June, but will be more difficult starting in July. 2020 was off to a strong start before the pandemic, and with low interest rates, and little competing existing home inventory, starts finished 2020 strong. Starts have started 2021 strong (February was impacted by the harsh weather).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- then starts picked up a little again late last year, but have fallen off with the pandemic. The last 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. Single family starts are getting back to more normal levels, but I still expect some further increases in single family starts and completions on a rolling 12 month basis - especially given the low level of existing home inventory.
NAHB: Builder Confidence Declined to 81 in May - The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 81, down from 83 in April. Any number above 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. From the NAHB: Rising Material Challenges, Declining Builder Sentiment: Rising material prices and supply chain shortages resulted in builder confidence dipping to its lowest level since August 2020. The latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today shows that builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell two points to 81 in June. Despite the monthly decline, the reading above 80 is still a signal of strong demand in a housing market lacking inventory. “Higher costs and declining availability for softwood lumber and other building materials pushed down builder sentiment in June,” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke. “These higher costs have moved some new homes beyond the budget of prospective buyers, which has slowed the strong pace of home building. Policymakers need to focus on supply-chain issues in order to allow the economic recovery to continue.” “While builders have adopted a variety of business strategies including price escalation clauses to deal with scarce building materials, labor and lots, unavoidable increases for new home prices are pushing some buyers to the sidelines,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Moreover, these supply-constraints are resulting in insufficient appraisals and making it more difficult for builders to access construction loans.” ... All three of the major HMI indices posted declines in June: current sales conditions fell two points to 86; sales expectations in the next six months posted a two-point decline to 79; and traffic of prospective buyers dropped two points to 71. Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores: the South rose one point to 85; the West fell one point to 89; the Midwest dropped three points to 72; and the Northeast posted a five-point decline to 78.. This graph show the NAHB index since Jan 1985. This was below the consensus forecast, but still a very strong reading - and lumber prices have fallen sharply recently.
Mortgage Equity Withdrawal in Q1 2021 - The following data is calculated from the Fed's Flow of Funds data (released last week) and the BEA supplement data on single family structure investment. This is an aggregate number, and is a combination of homeowners extracting equity - hence the name "MEW" - and normal principal payments and debt cancellation (modifications, short sales, and foreclosures). For Q1 2021, the Net Equity Extraction was $41 billion, or 0.8% of Disposable Personal Income (DPI) . This is nothing like the amount of equity extraction during the housing bubble as a percent of DPI. This graph shows the net equity extraction, or mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW), results, using the Flow of Funds (and BEA data) compared to the Kennedy-Greenspan method. MEW has been mostly positive for the last five years. The Fed's Flow of Funds report showed that the amount of mortgage debt outstanding increased by $117 billion in Q1.
Q1 2021 Household Net Worth: The "Real" Story - Let's take a long-term view of household net worth from the latest Z.1 release. A quick glance at the complete data series shows a distinct bubble in net worth that peaked in Q4 2007 with a trough in Q1 2009, the same quarter the stock market bottomed.The latest Fed balance sheet shows a total net worth that is 127% above the 2009 trough. The nominal Q1 net worth is up 3.8% from the previous quarter and up 23% year-over-year. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a clear impact on household net worth - notably the immediate decline due to income losses and the Federal government's reaction via the CARES Act.But there are problems with this analysis. Over the six decades of this data series, total net worth has grown about 10,920%. A linear vertical scale on the chart above is misleading because it fails to provide an accurate visual illustration of growth over time. It also gives an exaggerated dimension to the bubble that began in 2002.But there is another more serious problem, one that has to do with the data itself rather than the method of display. Over the same time frame that net worth grew more than 10,000%, the value of the 1950 dollar shrank to about $0.09. The Federal Reserve gives us the nominal value of total net worth, which is significantly skewed by money illusion. Here is a log scale chart adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.Here is the same chart with an exponential regression through the data. The regression helps us see the twin wealth bubbles peaking in Q1 2000 and Q1 2007, the Tech and Real Estate bubbles. The trough in real household net worth was in Q1 2009. This indicator is now 15.3% above trend. The annualized growth rate over this time frame is 3.15%.
Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 10% Compared to Same Week in 2019 --Note: The year-over-year occupancy comparisons are easy, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. So STR is comparing to the same week in 2019.The occupancy rate is down 10.3% compared to the same week in 2019. Leisure (weekend) occupancy has recovered, but weekday (more business) is still down double digits.From CoStar: STR: US Hotel Occupancy at Highest Weekly Level Since November 2019U.S. hotel occupancy reached its highest weekly level since early November 2019, according to STR‘s latest data through June 12.June 6-12, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):
• Occupancy: 66.0% (-10.3%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$125.16 (-7.0%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$82.65 (-16.6%)
While weekday occupancy was still down double digits from the corresponding days in 2019,weekend occupancy was 0.2% (Friday) and 3.2% (Saturday) higher than the 2019 comparables. On a total-room-inventory basis, which includes those hotels temporarily closed due to the pandemic, total week occupancy was higher than 60% for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. ADR and RevPAR were also the highest of the pandemic era on an absolute basis. The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average.
Retail Sales Decreased 1.3% in May --On a monthly basis, retail sales were decreased 1.3% from April to May (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 28.1 percent from May 2020. From the Census Bureau report: Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $620.2 billion,a decrease of 1.3% from the previous month, but 28.1 percent above May 2020. ... The March 2021 to April 2021 percent change was revised from virtually unchanged to up 0.9 percent. This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline). Retail sales ex-gasoline were down 1.5% in May. The stimulus checks boosted retail sales significantly in March and April. The second graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993. Retail and Food service sales, ex-gasoline, increased by 26.1% on a YoY basis. Sales in May were below expectations, however sales in March and April were revised up.
May retail sales decline, but 10%+ gain in retail sales since the onset of the pandemic remains intact - At first glance, May’s retail sales report, like April’s, looks like a big miss, as sales declined -1.3% nominally, and after adjusting for inflation, declined -2.0%. But the important point is that the big jump in March didn’t get taken back. As I wrote then: “if the big March gain in sales isn’t taken back in the next month or two, then there’s likely to be a similarly large jump in employment by the end of summer.” Further, I have fully expected the big jump in sales and income fueled by stimulus payments to peter out. In fact, some significant declines for a few months might actually be a *good* thing. Let’s take a look, and I’ll explain why. Here are nominal retail sales since the modern series started in 1994: It’s impossible to miss that there is a huge break to the trend - to the upside - due to the stimulus payments last year, and especially, this year. Retail sales are 18% higher than they were in February 2020. That kind of abrupt, huge increase is going to lead to shortages, which in turn are going to lead to rationing by price - i.e., inflation. A decrease to closer to the long term trend is still going to be better than the situation before February 2020, and won’t give rise to so much inflationary pressure. The big jump still exists even after we figure in consumer inflation, up 12% since February 2020: Now, let’s turn to employment, because as I have pointed out many times, real retail sales (blue) tend to lead employment (red) and aggregate hours (gold) by about 3-4 months. Here’s the long term YoY look from 1993 through the end of 2019: The long lags after the 2001 and 2008 recessions reflected the “China shock” as manufacturing jobs in particular were re-sourced to China in large wages after both recessions. Next, here is the monthly update since the beginning of 2020 (note the huge difference in scale!): But that there is likely to be a continuing big YoY jump in jobs in the next several months is hardly surprising, given the 22 million loss in jobs in April 2020. So the below graph compares the absolute data, normed to 100 as of February 2020: The most important takeaways are that, with the stimulus gains “sticking” so far, the large monthly jumps in employment are likely to continue. At the same time, there are legitimate inflationary pressures, as (1) there has been a quick, continuing 10%+ jump in demand; and (2) demand for new employees as indicated by the JOLTS reports of record job openings have remained unfulfilled for a variety of reasons (including lack of child care during in-home schooling) that is requiring big jumps in wages to attract applicants.
May Producer Price Index: Core Final Demand Up 0.7% MoM - This morning's release of the May Producer Price Index (PPI) for Final Demand was at 0.8% month-over-month seasonally adjusted, up from a 0.6% increase last month. It is at 6.6% year-over-year, up from 6.2% last month, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Core Final Demand (less food and energy) came in at 0.7% MoM, unchanged from the previous month and is up 4.8% YoY NSA. Investing.com MoM consensus forecasts were for 0.6% headline and 0.5% core. Here is the summary of the news release on Final Demand:The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.8 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices rose 0.6 percent in April and 1.0 percent in March. (See table A.) On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index advanced 6.6 percent for the 12 months ended in May, the largest increase since 12-month data were first calculated in November 2010.Nearly 60 percent of the May increase in the index for final demand can be traced to a 1.5-percent rise in prices for final demand goods. The index for final demand services moved up 0.6 percent.Prices for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services increased 0.7 percent in May, the same as in April. For the 12 months ended in May, the index for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services climbed 5.3 percent, the largest increase since 12-month data were first calculated in August 2014. More… Since our focus is on longer-term trends, we continue to track the legacy Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, which the BLS also includes in their monthly updates.As this (older) overlay illustrates, the Final Demand and Finished Goods indexes are highly correlated.
Producer prices climb 6.6% in May on annual basis, largest 12-month increase on record - Producer prices rose at their fastest annual clip in nearly 11 years in May as inflation continued to build in the U.S. economy, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The 6.6% surge was the biggest 12-month rise in the final demand index since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the data in November 2010. On a monthly basis, the producer price index for final demand rose 0.8%, ahead of the Dow Jones estimate of 0.5%. Those higher price pressures came amid a pronounced dip in retail sales, which fell 1.3% in May, worse than the 0.6% estimate, according to the Census Bureau. The disappointment in that number was tempered by a sharp upward revision to the April number, which went from flat to a gain of 0.9%. Goods inflation continued to be the dominant inflation force, rising 1.5% as opposed to a 0.6% increase in services. In the pandemic economy, goods have run well ahead of services as economic lockdowns constrained consumer demand for services-related purchases. Excluding food and energy, the 12-month final demand PPI rose 5.3%, which also was the biggest increase since that the BLS started tracking that number in August 2014. Substantial price increases at the producer end came from nonferrous metals, which jumped 6.9% for the month. Prices of grains also surged, rising 25.7%, while oilseeds increased 19.5% and beef and veal rose 10.5%. Fresh fruits and melons fell 1.9%, while basic organic chemicals and asphalt also declined. Though services continued to be a lower contributor to overall producer price pressures, the index rose for the fifth straight month. The higher numbers likely will add to an ongoing debate over whether the inflation pressures over the past several months will last. Federal Reserve officials believe the current increase will prove to be transitory as supply and demand issues balance out and low readings during the pandemic lockdown wash out of the system. However, several notable Wall Street names, including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, told CNBC on Monday that it's time for the Fed to pull back on the easy-money policy it instituted during the pandemic. The Fed begins a two-day meeting Tuesday, during which it is not expected to announce any major policy changes. While the inflation readings have been gathering the Street's attention, consumers have been pulling back on their purchases as the effects from government stimulus checks have worn off. Excluding autos, retail sales were down 0.7% in May, well off the estimate for a 0.5% increase. Excluding gas stations, sales fell 1.5%. Building material and garden supply sales tumbled 5.9% for the month, while miscellaneous store sales were off 5% and general merchandise sales fell 3.3%. Clothing and accessory stores rose 2%, while bars and restaurants wer
US Export Prices Explode At Fastest Pace On Record, Airfares Soaring -US import and export prices rose more than expected in May (+1.1% MoM and +2.2% MoM respectively). This pushedExport prices up by 17.4% YoY - the highest on record (since 1984) and import prices rose 11.3% YoY - the highest since 2011...Under the hood, Import prices ex-food and fuel rose 6% y/y in May
- Import prices ex-petroleum rose 0.9% m/m after rising 0.7% in April
- Import prices ex-fuels rose 0.9% m/m after rising 0.7% in April
Industrial supplies prices rose 4.5% after rising 2.4% in AprilAuto prices rose 0.1% m/m after rising 0.2% in AprilAnd May airfares to the US rose 13.5% YoY...you better hope this is transitory!
Broken records: ‘Historic cargo surge’ still making waves at US ports - Wednesday’s announcement from the Port of Long Beach said the United States’ second-busiest port “continued its unprecedented streak of single-month records in May by moving more than 900,000 cargo containers for the first time in its 110-year history.” The port handled 907,216 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in May, breaking the previous “best month” record set just two months earlier by 66,829 TEUs. As at other U.S. gateways, the enormous import-export imbalance continued at the Port of Long Beach. Imports were up 42.3% year-over-year to 444,736 TEUs. That jump of more than 40% is not surprising considering much of the world was shut down in May 2020 because of COVID-19. The port said exports were “relatively flat,” up 0.6% year-over-year to 135,345 TEUs. “E-commerce sales were higher in May compared to levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers continued to spend more money on goods rather than services such as restaurants, bars, sporting events and concerts — likely due to lingering capacity restrictions in many areas,” the port explained in Wednesday’s press release. “Additionally, demand was up for lumber, appliances and other durable goods due to a rise in housing sales and remodels.” The next statistic the Port of Long Beach shared illustrated that the container availability crunch continues. “Empty containers moved through the port increased 80.7% to 327,135 TEUs,” it said. Kinks in the supply chain developed when the tidal wave of imports began last summer and shippers struggled to quickly get empty containers back to Asia for refilling. “May was the 11th consecutive month that the Port of Long Beach has broken cargo movement records for a particular month amid a historic cargo surge that started in July 2020,” the port said. The South Carolina Ports Authority used the word “record” twice in the first sentence of its May volumes report: “South Carolina Ports had a record May for containers handled at the Port of Charleston, marking the third consecutive month of record volumes.” The SCPA said it had its best May ever for containers, moving 230,870 TEUs, a 36% year-over-year increase, across the Wando Welch, North Charleston and Hugh K. Leatherman terminals at the Port of Charleston. “While the strong comparisons are aided by low volumes in May 2020 due to the pandemic, SC Ports’ volumes consistently show a rebound in the booming Southeast market,” the port said in a press release. “Mega retailers and advanced manufacturers continue to drive volumes at the Port of Charleston. Loaded imports were up 46.5% and loaded exports were up 24.3% in May compared to a year ago.” Vehicles remain a particularly strong segment for the Port of Charleston. The SCPA handled 21,280 vehicles in May, up 818% year-over-year — a significant jump from last May when many automotive manufacturers were impacted by the pandemic. Georgia’s ports are on pace to move more than 5 million TEUs during a fiscal year for the first time. “Last year at this time we were uncertain of the road ahead and expecting a double-digit loss in business,” said Georgia Ports Authority Board Chairman Will McKnight in a statement Thursday. “To see how the GPA team and our supply chain partners have turned things around to achieve a string of the most successful months ever speaks volumes for this world-class workforce.” The Port of Savannah in May handled 478,620 TEUs, a 41.9% hike year-over-year. The GPA said it was the second-busiest month in the port’s history and the 10th consecutive month of year-over-year growth. The GPA said to keep up with the growth, it has accelerated its hiring efforts, bringing on nearly 150 new employees since January. Many are being trained to operate jockey trucks, yard cranes and other port equipment. The auto industry was hit particularly hard by COVID-19 as many manufacturers faced plant closures and supply chain disruptions. The bounce back was evident in the GPA’s trade in vehicles and machinery, which was up 347% year-over-year in May, from 14,043 units to 62,873.
LA Area Port Traffic: Record Imports in May . Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic. The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container). To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12 month average.On a rolling 12 month basis, inbound traffic was up 3.7% in May compared to the rolling 12 months ending in April. Outbound traffic was up 0.2% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month.The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports). Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday, and then decline sharply and bottom in February or March depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. 2021 has started off incredibly strong for imports. Imports were up 58% YoY in May (collapsed last year due to pandemic), and exports were up 2.6% YoY.
Industrial Production Increased 0.8 Percent in May - From the Fed: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization - Total industrial production increased 0.8 percent in May. Manufacturing production advanced 0.9 percent, reflecting, in part, a large gain in motor vehicle assemblies; factory output excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.5 percent. The indexes for mining and utilities rose 1.2 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. In May, at 99.9 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production was 16.3 percent higher than it was a year earlier but 1.4 percent lower than its pre-pandemic (February 2020) level.Capacity utilization for the industrial sector rose 0.6 percentage point in May to 75.2 percent, a rate that is 4.4 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2020) average. This graph shows Capacity Utilization. This series is up from the record low set in April, but still below the level in February 2020.Capacity utilization at 75.2% is 4.4% below the average from 1972 to 2020.. The second graph shows industrial production since 1967. Industrial production increased in May to 106.3. This is 1.4% below the February 2020 level.The change in industrial production was below consensus expectations.
Industrial production on the verge of exceeding pre-pandemic level --Industrial production is the King of Coincident Indicators. It is the single datum that most frequently coincides with the NBER determination of the beginning and end of recessions.In May, total production increased +0.8%. Manufacturing production increased +0.9%. Both current readings are the highest since the onset of the pandemic: 
Total production is only 1.4% below its February 2020 level, and manufacturing production is a mere 0.3% below that level.If there is another positive report next month, exceeding the February 2020 level, and Q2 GDP is as positive as has been forecast, then the NBER may well decide that the pandemic recession has officially ended (with the most likely trough date being set at April of last year).
Empire State Mfg Survey: Slower Expansion in June - This morning we got the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The diffusion index for General Business Conditions at 17.4 was a decrease of 6.9 from the previous month's 24.3. The Investing.com forecast was for a reading of 23.The Empire State Manufacturing Index rates the relative level of general business conditions in New York state. A level above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions. The reading is compiled from a survey of about 200 manufacturers in New York state.Here is the opening paragraph from the report. Business activity continued to expand in New York State, though at a slower pace than last month, according to firms responding to the June 2021 Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index fell seven points to 17.4. New orders and shipments increased moderately, and there was a rise in unfilled orders. Delivery times lengthened at a record-setting pace, and inventories edged lower. Employment levels and the average workweek continued to grow modestly, and both input prices and selling prices continued to rise sharply. Looking ahead, firms remained optimistic that conditions would improve over the next six months, with the index for future employment reaching a record high. [full report] Here is a chart of the current conditions and its 3-month moving average, which helps clarify the trend for this extremely volatile indicator:
Philly Fed Mfg Index: "Current Indicators Remain Elevated" - The Philly Fed's Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey is a monthly report for the Third Federal Reserve District, covers eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. While it focuses exclusively on business in this district, this regional survey gives a generally reliable clue as to the direction of the broader Chicago Fed's National Activity Index.The latest Manufacturing Index came in at 30.7, down 1.8 from last month's 31.5. The 3-month moving average came in at 37.5, down from 39.2 last month. Since this is a diffusion index, negative readings indicate contraction, positive ones indicate expansion. The Six-Month Outlook came in at 69.2, up 16.5 from the previous month's 52.7.The 30.7 headline number came in below the 31 forecast at Investing.com.Here is the introduction from the survey:Manufacturing activity in the region continued to grow, according to the firms responding to the June Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. The survey’s indicators for general activity, new orders, and shipments remained elevated, although movements were mixed. Additionally, the employment index increased, while the price indexes climbed above last month’s long-term highs. Most future indicators improved, suggesting that more firms expect overall growth over the next six months. (Full Report) The first chart below gives us a look at this diffusion index since 2000, which shows us how it has behaved in proximity to the two 21st century recessions. The red dots show the indicator itself, which is quite noisy, and the 3-month moving average, which is more useful as an indicator of coincident economic activity. We can see periods of contraction in 2011, 2012, and 2015, and a shallower contraction in 2013. The contraction due to COVID-19 is clear in 2020.
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 412,000 -The DOL reported: In the week ending June 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 412,000, an increase of 37,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 376,000 to 375,000. The 4-week moving average was 395,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 402,500 to 403,000. This does not include the 118,025 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was up from 71,303 the previous week. The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased to 395,000. The previous week was revised down. Regular state continued claims increased to 3,518,000 (SA) from 3,517,000 (SA) the previous week. Note: There are an additional 6,120,596 receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that decreased from 6,374,514 the previous week (there are questions about these numbers). This is a special program for business owners, self-employed, independent contractors or gig workers not receiving other unemployment insurance. And an additional 5,157,445 receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) down from 5,231,952.
Weekly claims were higher than the consensus forecast.
The decline in new jobless claims stalls, as the “delta” variant is ready to strike the unvaccinated States --New jobless claims continue to be the most important weekly economic datapoint, as increasing numbers of vaccinated people and outdoor activities have led to an abatement of the pandemic, with both new infections and deaths at their lowest point since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. I’ll have more to say on the intersection of the pandemic with claims in the conclusion.My final objective is for claims to average 325,000 or below, which would signify a return to normal expansion levels in the past 30 years.Turning to this week’s report, new jobless claims rose 37,000 to 412,000, the first increase in weekly claims in nearly 2 months. The 4 week average of claims declined by 8,000 to 395,000, a new pandemic low. (Note that I have discontinued comparisons of non-seasonally adjusted claims, as the period of lockdown distortions YoY has passed.) At the peak of the pandemic lockdowns, new claims were running 6 million to 7 million per week. Here is the trend since the beginning of last August:From late February into May, claims had trended down an average of roughly 100,000 per month. In the past few weeks, this has slowed to a rate of decline of roughly 50,000 per month, indicating that the “opening” of the economy is getting nearer to an endpoint. This also implies a slowing down of net job creation from the last 3 months’ levels. At their current level, claims are consistent with early mid-expansion levels in the past: 
Continuing claims, which are reported with a one week lag, and lag the trend of initial claims typically by a few weeks to several months, rose 1,000 from last week’s revised pandemic low of 3,517,000. Still, over the past 2 months these have only declined about 7% from roughly 3,750,000:The long term perspective again shows that these are equivalent to the worst levels of most previous recessions, or early in the expansions, versus at 2,000,000 or below later in strong expansions: I want to conclude with some remarks on how the new “delta” variant of COVID, together with the premature “victory” declaration in many States with low vaccination rates, who have also terminated enhanced unemployment benefits, may change the picture for the worse from here. I wrote last week that “I think we are going to see two tracks going forward from here, as near-normalcy does return to the more vaccinated parts of the country, while attempts to return to normalcy fail in the laggard regions.” Across the Deep South and most of the interior West, plus West Virginia, Indiana, and Missouri, less than 40% of the population is fully vaccinated. Most likely less than 50% of the population has received even one dose. Over the next 6 to 8 weeks, these States are ripe for a serious outbreak of the highly infectious new “delta” variant of the disease. Many people in those States are probably going to retreat to their prior, cautious behaviors to protect themselves - and that means decreased economic activity and increased layoffs in those States. The cutoff in pandemic benefits will further curtail spending in those States, which will also lead to increased layoffs. In short, I am even more convinced that the US is headed towards 2 separate tracks: one of growing vaccinated regions, and one of stagnating or renewed contraction in the unvaccinated regions.
Republican-led states begin cutting off federal unemployment benefits - On Saturday, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa and Alaska became the first four US states to eliminate the $300-a-week federal unemployment supplement authorized by the Biden administration’s “American Rescue Plan” enacted in March. The elimination of this vital, if inadequate, lifeline, set to expire nationally on September 6, will affect some 70,000 unemployed workers in Mississippi and roughly 300,000 workers across the four states that ended the benefit. To date, a total of 25 states, all controlled by the Republican Party, have announced plans to halt the federal jobless benefit by July 10, impacting an estimated total of 4 million workers. However, the Biden White House has made clear that it will do nothing to prevent state governments from prematurely ending the federal supplement and has reaffirmed its own determination to end the program nationwide in less than three months. On June 4, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Republican governors “have every right” to “not accept” the federal benefit, adding, “That’s OK.” Last month, Biden announced that he would allow states to revive a requirement, dropped last year due to the pandemic, that workers applying for unemployment benefits provide proof that they had sought work and not rejected a job offer. In line with his false claims that the pandemic is all but over in the US, that the economy is rapidly recovering and that previous social distancing and masking requirements are no longer needed, he stated that he would not let workers “game the system.” The bipartisan attack on jobless benefits is part of the deadly drive by the ruling class to blackmail workers back into factories, schools and work locations with virtually no protection against COVID-19. In many cases, the jobs on offer provide wages that are barely, if at all, higher than the combined state and federal jobless benefits laid-off workers are currently receiving. The Washington Post, owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who has become the world’s richest person by exploiting workers who toil in his global network of low-wage warehouses and distribution centers, has called the early termination of jobless benefits “a giant economic experiment.” The cut-off of unemployment benefits comes even as the pandemic continues to claim some 500 lives a day in the US, while less than 45 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated and new and more virulent strains of the virus, such as the Delta variant, are spreading in Europe and the US. More people have died from COVID-19 globally since the beginning of 2021 than in all of 2020.
Maine offering $1,500 payments to people on unemployment who go back to work -- The Maine state government on Tuesday announced it would be providing $1,500 payments to be given to employees who start working between June 15-30 to encourage unemployed residents to rejoin the workforce. In a press release, the state government said the payments are part of the state's “Back to Work” program and will be administered by the Maine Department of Labor and the Department of Economic and Community Development. Apart from the $1,500 payment, people who begin working in June will be eligible for another one-time payment of $1,000. The program is first-come, first-serve and uses $10 million in federal funding. These payments could potentially affect up to 7,500 Mainers. “We have worked hard over the last fifteen months to get the pandemic under control so that it’s safe for everyone to return to work. Now COVID cases are down, vaccines are widely available, and jobs are plentiful,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) said in the release. “Employers across the state are looking to staff up, which means there are opportunities for everyone to work, earn a living and contribute to our state’s economic recovery," Mills added. "With this new program, we are providing another tool to accelerate peoples’ transition back into the workforce, protecting their health and their long-term financial stability.” To be eligible to receive the payment, employees must have received unemployment for the week of May 29, 2021; accept a full-time job that pays less than $25 an hour and stay with the job for eight weeks; and not receive unemployment benefits for those eight weeks of unemployment. ..
A Nantucket restaurant is considering hiring 8th graders because of the lack of available workers amid the US labor shortage - A restaurant in Nantucket says it's struggling so much to find workers that it's interviewing eighth graders. Gabriel Frasca, a chef at the Massachusetts island's Straight Wharf Restaurant, told Fox Business that the restaurant was particularly hard hit by the labor shortage, because commuting was unviable. The island has a population of less than 12,000. "We're at the point in the hiring process where not only are we considering eighth graders, but we're interviewing them," Frasca said. "That's new … for me but hey, he's got housing." Industries from education and healthcare to hospitality and ride-hailing apps are scrambling to attract new hires as the US faces what the US Chamber of Commerce called a "national economic emergency." Full-service restaurants have around 14% fewer workers than they did before the pandemic. Younger people could stand to gain from this, with the number of teens in work at the highest rate since 2008. Frasca told Fox that Straight Wharf Restaurant had been hit by other worker shortages in recent years but that the current problem was "particularly acute." "There are no applicants out there," Frasca said. "Where we might, in the past, get 20 applicants a day, we're seeing one or two and usually without applicable experience." Frasca said that the upscale restaurant needs experienced staff, and that it's better to focus on the quality of new hires rather than the quantity.
There Is No Labor Shortage, Only Labor Exploitation --For the past few months, Republicans have been waging a ferocious political battle to end federal unemployment benefits, based upon stated desires of saving the U.S. economy from a serious labor shortage. The logic, in the words of Republican politicians like Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, goes like this: “the government pays folks more to stay home than to go to work,” and therefore, “[p]aying people not to work is not helpful.” The conservative Wall Street Journal has been beating the drum for the same argument, saying recently that it was a “terrible blunder” to pay jobless benefits to unemployed workers.If the hyperbolic claims are to be believed, one might imagine American workers are luxuriating in the largesse of taxpayer-funded payments, thumbing their noses at the earnest “job creators” who are taking far more seriously the importance of a post-pandemic economic growth spurt.It is true that there are currently millions of jobs going unfilled. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just released statistics showing that there were 9.3 million job openings in April and that the percentage of layoffs decreased while resignations increased. Taking these statistics at face value, one could conclude this means there is a labor shortage.But, as economist Heidi Shierholz explained in a New York Times op-ed, there is only a labor shortage if employers raise wages to match worker demands and subsequently still face a shortage of workers. Shierholz wrote, “When those measures [of raising wages] don’t result in a substantial increase in workers, that’s a labor shortage. Absent that dynamic, you can rest easy.” Perhaps this is the labor market’s way of saying, if you can’t afford higher salaries, you shouldn’t expect to fill jobs.
Covid-19 Visa Backlogs, Travel Curbs Strain Businesses in Need of Workers - Danish executive Mads Ryder recently quit his post as chief executive of fine-china manufacturer Lenox Corp., after tiring of international travel restrictions that hampered travel between his company in the U.S. and his family in Europe. For U.S. companies that rely on seasonal hires or foreign professionals like Mr. Ryder, an already tight labor market is being further strained by coronavirus-related immigration backlogs and travel restrictions that prevent employees from coming to the country. Since he was hired in 2018, Mr. Ryder had been flying back and forth between Lenox’s Bristol, Pa., headquarters and Denmark, where his wife and 23-year-old son live.But in March of this year, on another trip home, Mr. Ryder, who holds an O-1 extraordinary ability visa, got stuck in Denmark. The U.S. State Department’s waiver rules had tightened, eliminating an exemption for top executives as part of an effort to discourage travel, and he wasn’t allowed to return. He gave his notice the following month. Although federal officials have eased Covid-19 restriction guidelines, the U.S. still has kept travel bans on 33 countries, including the U.K., much of Europe, China and India. Citizens of those countries for the most part aren’t being granted work visas even if they are vaccinated or test negative for Covid-19. In countries that aren’t banned, monthslong backlogs at consulates make it difficult for foreign workers to get visas. Of the 223 U.S. consulates that normally process work visas, 160 are currently accepting appointments, the State Department said. Julie Stufft, who heads visa services for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, said most consulates abroad must limit service because of the pandemic, and the government is aware that reduced visa processing and the limited granting of exemptions have caused disruptions. The State Department has prioritized helping American citizens and people applying to immigrate rather than work temporarily. The shortage in foreign workers comes as the number of unfilled jobs in the U.S. rose to a record 9.3 million positions in April, the Labor Department said last week.Regions of the country that are centers for summer recreation but have small populations—such as Wisconsin Dells, Wis., and Cape Cod, Mass.—are normally dependent on foreign labor. Restaurant and resort owners can’t rely on those workers this year, and they have been reducing service despite surging demand from pandemic-weary customers.Summer camps, which typically hire about 25,000 camp counselors from abroad each year, are increasing camper-to-counselor ratios, reducing the number of campers and, in some cases, closing altogether, camp owners and industry officials said. The Labor Department has said the accommodation and food-service industries had 1.3 million vacant positions in April, along with 248,000 in arts, entertainment and recreation. Cedar Point, an amusement park in northern Ohio with some of the country’s tallest roller coasters, has been closing two days a week because of the worker shortage, said Richard Zimmerman, chief executive of the park’s parent, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. The park usually sponsors about 1,500 foreign college students to staff its rides and concession stands each summer, but it has gotten only a few hundred foreigners this year, he said. Cedar Fair also normally relies on U.S. college students, but they have been tougher to hire, Mr. Zimmerman said, despite the company’s raising wages by a few dollars to $20 an hour. Besides, he said, American students typically can’t work at either end of the season, when foreign college students with different summer break schedules would usually fill in.
New York lifts most virus restrictions after 70 percent of state adults have gotten at least one shot. -Restaurants in New York will no longer be forced to space tables six feet apart or use physical partitions; movie theaters will be allowed to pack their auditoriums without spacing seats apart; and entering commercial buildings won’t require a temperature check.With 70 percent of adults in New York having received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the state took a major step toward normalcy by eliminating nearly all restrictions on businesses and social gatherings, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Tuesday.The changes, which will take effect immediately, mark yet another milestone in the economic recovery of a state that was once an epicenter of the pandemic, and are expected to bring back the type of scenes familiar to most New Yorkers in prepandemic times.With the order, the state, in most cases, will end capacity limits and no longer require social distancing, disinfection protocols and health screenings, instead making it optional for businesses to impose such health precautions on their premises.“This is a momentous day and we deserve it because it has been a long, long road,” Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, said at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday. He added: “We can return to life as we know it.”In addition to the changes in protocols at restaurants, movie theaters and commercial buildings, barber shops and hair salons won’t need to ask their customers for contact tracing information and gyms and fitness centers won’t need to abide by strict disinfecting protocols to clean their exercise equipment.Mr. Cuomo set the 70 percent threshold that triggered the end of the restrictions last week as a way to spur on the state’s reopening and incentivize people to get vaccinated, saying “virtually all” coronavirus rules would expire. Fourteen other states and Washington, D.C., have all reached the same threshold, according to the latest federal data, with Vermont topping the list at 84 percent.Even so, the move in New York comes as health officials remain vexed by low vaccination rates in ZIP codes across the state, and in pockets of New York City.
New York City plans to move about 8,000 homeless people from hotels back into shelters by the end of July. New York City plans to move about 8,000 homeless people out of hotel rooms and back to barrackslike dorm shelters by the end of July so that the hotels can reopen to the general public, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday. When the pandemic lockdown began last spring, New York City moved the people out of the shelters, where in some cases as many as 60 adults stayed in a single room, to safeguard them from the coronavirus. Now, with social distancing restrictions lifted and an economic recovery on the line, the city is raring to fill those hotel rooms with tourists. “It is time to move homeless folks who were in hotels for a temporary period of time back to shelters where they can get the support they need,” Mr. de Blasio said at a morning news conference. The mayor said the city would need the state’s approval to remove the homeless people from 60 hotels, but a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that as long as all shelter residents — even vaccinated ones — wore masks, the state had no objections to the plan. On Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo announced that the state was lifting nearly all remaining coronavirus restrictions and social distancing measures, after more than 70 percent of the state’s adults had received at least a first dose of a vaccine. The hotels, many of them in densely populated parts of Manhattan, have been a source of friction with neighbors who have complained of noise, outdoor drug use and other nuisances and dangers from the hotel guests. Wednesday’s announcement signals the end to a social experiment that many homeless people gave high marks to, saying that having a private hotel room was a vastly better experience than sleeping in a room with up to 20 other adults, many of them battling mental illness or substance abuse or both. Some people said they would sooner live in the street. “I don’t want to go back — it’s like I’m going backward,” said Andrew Ward, 39, who has been staying at the Williams Hotel in Brownsville, Brooklyn, after nearly two years at a men’s shelter. “It’s not safe to go back there. You’ve got people bringing in knives.”
New York grapples with growing presence of homeless in midtown Manhattan - (Reuters) - An influx of homeless people into Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood after an emergency move by New York City to ease crowding in shelters has been a fact of pandemic life for the neighborhood since last spring. Many of the newcomers, living in nearby hotel rooms contracted by the city, have been largely inconspicuous. But others with mental health and drug problems have become a growing presence in Hell's Kitchen and adjacent Times Square. As the city looks to welcome back tourists and office workers a with the pandemic lifting, the complaints have grown louder. A city with people camped on sidewalks is much different than the one suburban commuters left when they started working from home as much of the country locked down in March 2020. "They make me feel like I wish I could do something," said Rachel Goldstein, an IT director, as she emerged from Penn Station, a major rail hub, last week for her first on-site workday since the pandemic began. Giselle Routhier, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless advocacy group, faulted the state and city for not providing enough mental health services and for "shuffling people" between locations. "What we actually need for the city to do is to offer folks on the streets access to single occupancy rooms where they can come inside and feel that they're safe from the elements and from the spread of the coronavirus," she said. Longer term, the city needs "more robust housing production for extremely low-income and homeless households, particularly for single adults," many of whom were pushed into homelessness by the economic fallout of the pandemic, Routhier said.
California, the most populous U.S. state, drops restrictions with a mix of joy, worry and anger.- California lifted most of its Covid-19 restrictions and officially reopened on Tuesday, marking the moment with state-subsidized vacation giveaways and $15 million in vaccine lottery prizes as it emerged from the pandemic politically divided but economically formidable.One of the last U.S. states to reopen, California had already relaxed many of its health restrictions; others will not be completely phased out until autumn. Still, the formal unwinding of pandemic rules in America’s most populous state is yet another signal of a national turn toward recovery. One out of every eight Americans lives in California, which generates 14.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.“There is no American recovery without California’s recovery,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in an interview Monday as merchants prepared to ditch the masks and occupancy constraints that have limited both commerce and the coronavirus. “The good news is the state’s economic recovery is well underway.”The coronavirus has infected some 3.8 million Californians and killed more than 63,000 since the pandemic started — more deaths than any other state, because of the size of California’s population. At the same time, the state has been especially aggressive in combating the virus, occasionally walking a fine legal line in balancing civil liberties with public health needs.
Michigan will reopen ahead of schedule, Whitmer says. -Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan announced Thursday that she would lift most of state’s remaining pandemic restrictions on June 22, ten days earlier than planned. She cited the state’s steady rate of vaccinations — 50 percent of its residents have received at least one dose — and the falling number of new cases and hospitalizations, which have plunged about 45 percent in the last two weeks.Michigan, one of the last states to fully reopen, has been home to some of the fiercest opposition to coronavirus protocols. In the early weeks of the pandemic, hundreds of people, some of them armed, converged on the State Capitol in Lansing to protest the state’s stay-at-home orders. Beginning Tuesday, the state will no longer have a mask mandate for unvaccinated people, and all indoor capacity limits — which were at 50 percent — will be lifted. But some executive orders will remain in place for prisons, long-term care facilities and agriculture.
Plan would raise, then replace, the gas tax to fund transportation in Pa. - A short-term solution to Pennsylvania’s transportation funding crisis may include a 4.2 cents a gallon increase in gasoline taxes with the ultimate goal of replacing the gas tax within a decade. The possible increase was discussed Monday during a virtual meeting of the 46-member Pennsylvania Transportation Revenue Options Commission, consisting of lawmakers, transportation leaders and others in the transportation industry. The commission is tasked with providing Gov. Tom Wolf with short-term and long-term recommendations by Aug. 1 to address an ongoing funding crisis resulting from a reduction in gas tax revenue and an increased use of electric vehicles. For every gallon of gas, there is a 57.6 cent tax that goes to PennDOT and an 18.5 cent tax to the federal government to pay for infrastructure improvements. The gas tax increase was one of several short-term solutions discussed to alleviate PennDOT’s $9.3 billion annual shortfall in revenue. PennDOT’s annual budget of $8.6 billion this year, includes $6.8 billion for highways and bridges.
Back to school: Mask, COVID-19 vaccine requirements and guidance --Most of the country's schools and day cares are preparing to reopen this fall for fully in-person instruction and care, if they haven't done so already. But will children and teachers have to wear masks, now that many more adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 – and many children ages 12 and over are as well? For that matter, can kids and teachers be required to get the vaccine? We rounded up the basic rules around masks, social distancing and vaccinations. Details can vary significantly between districts and states, and the guidelines are changing, but here's what we know right now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not updated its mask guidance for schools for fall 2021. For now, it recommends schools continue to require "universal and correct use of masks" – strictly interpreted, this means also on the playground – through the end of the 2020-21 academic year. But with national guidance slow to change, states and districts are already making decisions about in-school protocols on their own – which means policies vary widely depending on where families live. In Massachusetts, physical distancing can end when schools fully reopen this fall, but state officials said they haven't decided what to do about mask requirements, such as for elementary students. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan recently said children should not have to wear masks or socially distance in schoolsthis fall, because the state's virus positivity rates have dropped below 1%.Other districts plan to continue more strict mitigation measures. In Washington, D.C., public school staff, students and visitors must wear masks this fall, and desks should be separated "as far as possible," according to the district.Confusion reigns in other places, like New York. The state's Department of Health indicated it would lift the statewide mask requirement for schools on June 7. But then the state's Education Department emailed all districts to say officials would wait for a response from the CDC before lifting the mandate, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. For now, New York students must still wear masks in schools.Even after child care providers are vaccinated, COVID-19 restrictions are likely to continue in some fashion, according to the CDC. Right now, the agency recommends children 2 and older should wear masks in public settings, except when they're eating or sleeping. But mask requirements – including age thresholds – are typically dictated by local and state health departments and vary widely based on geography.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona tells White House reopening schools is 'challenging for all' – US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says there "is much work to be done" to continue the progress being made on school reopenings nationwide. He notes the biggest challenges include aging school buildings and ventilation, adequate transportation, and ensuring overall equity and access to education, according to a memo Cardona sent President Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Friday that was obtained exclusively by CNN. The memo outlines Cardona's findings from visiting 10 schools across nine states and Washington, DC, to observe how districts were handling reopening more than a year into the coronavirus pandemic. In some cases, he suggested the $130 billion of American Rescue Plan funding destined for schools could help districts address those challenges. "I saw firsthand during my tour how difficult the school year has been for students, parents, teachers, and school staff," Cardona wrote. "Whether the school had just recently transitioned into a hybrid model or been fully open for months, the work has been challenging for all." Since January, the number of public school districts offering hybrid or full-time in-person education has been on the rise, with more than 90% of K-8 schools open in April, according to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics. That does not, however, include high schools, which have reopened at a slower pace than elementary and middle schools. That number is also not reflective of student attendance, which hovers just over 50% for fourth-graders and just over 40% for eighth-graders attending school fully in-person for the month of April.
Suicide attempts among teen girls spiked by about 51% during the pandemic, the CDC says - Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says teen girl suicide attempts increased drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, published Friday, found that suspected suicide attempts among girls aged 12 to 17 went up by 50.6% between February 21 and March 20 of this year, compared to the same time period in 2019 before the pandemic. Suicide attempts among boys of the same age range also went up but by 3.7%. "Self-reported suicide attempts are consistently higher among adolescent females than among males, and research before the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that young females had both higher and increasing rates of ED visits for suicide attempts compared with males," researchers wrote in the study, suggesting this new data falls in line with previous research. "However, the findings from this study suggest more severe distress among young females than has been identified in previous reports during the pandemic, reinforcing the need for increased attention to, and prevention for, this population," the study continued. To conduct the study, researchers examined emergency room visits between January 1, 2019, and May 15, 2021. Visits to the emergency room by adolescents, especially girls, across 49 states and Washington, DC, began to increase around May 2020, the researchers noted. After May 2020, the rates at which adolescent girls visited the ER continued to stay elevated. The report comes as researchers release new information suggesting that the coronavirus pandemic might have led to higher rates of mental health problems among teenagers. Adolescents have been showing signs of anxiety and depression as virtual learning across the country keeps friends isolated and prohibits participation in regular, in-person extracurricular activities. "Young persons might represent a group at high risk because they might have been particularly affected by mitigation measures, such as physical distancing (including a lack of connectedness to schools, teachers, and peers); barriers to mental health treatment; increases in substance use; and anxiety about family health and economic problems, which are all risk factors for suicide," researchers who conducted the CDC study wrote.
Device Makers Have Funneled Billions to Orthopedic Surgeons Who Use Their Products --Dr. Kingsley R. Chin was little more than a decade out of Harvard Medical School when sales of his spine surgical implants took off. Chin has patented more than 40 pieces of such hardware, including doughnut-shaped plastic cages, titanium screws and other products used to repair spines — generating $100 million for his company SpineFrontier, according to government officials.Yet SpineFrontier’s success arose not from the quality of its goods, these officials say, but because it paid kickbacks to surgeons who agreed to implant the highly profitable devices in hundreds of patients.In March 2020, the Department of Justice accused Chin and SpineFrontier of illegally funneling more than $8 million to nearly three dozen spine surgeons through “sham consulting fees” that paid them handsomely for doing little or no work. Chin had no comment on the civil suit, one of more than a dozen he has faced as a spine surgeon and businessman. Chin and SpineFrontier have yet to file a response in court.Medical industry payments to orthopedists and neurosurgeons who operate on the spine have risen sharply, despite government accusations that some of these transactions may violate federal anti-kickback laws, drive up health care spending and put patients at risk of serious harm, a KHN investigation has found. These payments come in various forms, from royalties for helping to design implants to speakers’ fees for promoting devices at medical meetings to stock holdings in exchange for consulting work, according to government data.Health policy experts and regulators have focused for decades on pharmaceutical companies’ payments to doctors — which research has shown can influence which drugs they prescribe. But far less is known about the impact of similar payments from device companies to surgeons. A drug can readily be stopped if deemed harmful, while surgical devices are permanently implanted in the body and often replace native bone that has been removed.
The virus appeared in five U.S. states sooner than thought, scientists reported. -When did the coronavirus arrive in the United States?The first infection was confirmed on Jan. 21, 2020, in a resident of Washington State who had recently returned from Wuhan, China. Soon after, experts concluded that the virus had been in the country for weeks.A study published on Tuesday offers new evidence: Based on an analysis of antibodies in blood tests, scientists identified seven people in five states who may have been infected well before the first confirmed cases in those states. The results suggest that the virus may have been circulating in Illinois, for example, as early as Dec. 24, 2019, although the first Illinois case was confirmed a month later.But the new study is flawed, some experts said: It did not adequately address the possibility that the antibodies were in response to coronaviruses that cause common colds. The results could also be a quirk of the tests used. In addition, the researchers did not have travel information for any of the patients, which might have helped explain the test results.“This is an interesting paper because it raises the idea that everyone thinks is true, that there were infections that were going undiagnosed,” said Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania.But the small number of positive samples made it difficult to be sure that they were true cases of infection and not just a methodological error. “It’s hard to know what is a real signal and what isn’t,” he said.If the findings are accurate, however, they underscore the notion that poor testing in the United States missed most cases during the early weeks of the pandemic.“Without testing, you can’t see what’s going on,” said Keri Althoff, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “In these earlier months in some of these states where we were not suspecting, there was a lot of infection going on there.”
Medical problems can persist long after infection with the virus, even among those who don’t get Covid, a study found. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sought medical care for post-Covid health problems that they had not been diagnosed with before becoming infected with the coronavirus, according to the largest study to date of long-term symptoms in Covid-19 patients. The study, tracking the health insurance records of nearly 2 million people in the United States who contracted the coronavirus last year, found that one month or more after their infection, 23 percent of them sought medical treatment for new conditions. Those affected were all ages, including children. Their most common new health problems were pain, including in nerves and muscles; breathing difficulties; high cholesterol; malaise and fatigue; and high blood pressure. Post-Covid health problems were common even among people who had not gotten sick from the virus at all, the study found. While nearly half of patients who were hospitalized for Covid-19 experienced subsequent medical issues, so did 27 percent of people who had mild or moderate symptoms and 19 percent of people who said they were asymptomatic. “One thing that was surprising to us was the large percentage of asymptomatic patients that are in that category of long Covid,” More than half of the 1,959,982 patients whose records were evaluated reported no symptoms from their Covid infection. Forty percent had symptoms but didn’t require hospitalization, including 1 percent whose only symptom was loss of taste or smell; only 5 percent were hospitalized. Ms. Gelburd said the fact that asymptomatic people can have post-Covid symptoms is important to emphasize, so that patients and doctors know to consider the possibility that some health issues may be aftereffects of the coronavirus. “There are some people who may not have even known they had Covid,” she said, “but if they continue to present with some of these conditions that are unusual for their health history, it may be worth some further investigation by the medical professional that they’re working with.” The report analyzed records of people diagnosed with Covid-19 between February and December 2020, tracking them until February 2021. It found that 454,477 people consulted health providers for symptoms 30 days or more after their infection. FAIR Health said the analysis was evaluated by an independent academic reviewer but was not formally peer-reviewed. The report “drives home the point that long Covid can affect nearly every organ system,” and that some patients may experience “chronic conditions that will last a lifetime,” The most common issue for which patients sought medical care was pain — including nerve inflammation and aches and pains associated with nerves and muscles — which was reported by more than 5 percent of patients, more than a fifth of those who reported post-Covid problems. Breathing difficulties were experienced by 3.5 percent of post-Covid patients. Nearly 3 percent sought treatment for symptoms that were labeled with diagnostic codes for malaise and fatigue.
New COVID-19 sensor can smell virus in crowded room: researchers A new device can sniff out if someone in a crowded room has COVID-19, British researchers say. The highly accurate ceiling-mounted sensor takes as few as 15 minutes to raise a coronavirus alarm, says development firm RoboScientific. The room monitor, a little larger than a smoke detector, notices changes in odor to the skin or breath experienced by people during the illness, the company says. Samples are taken of the room for around 15 to 30 minutes to scan for the odor, which is unable to be picked up by a human nose, and then an alert is sent with the results, according to the company. Early studies from researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Durham University in the UK tested the device using body-odor samples from socks worn by infected and uninfected people. The scientists found that the device was able to correctly detect the virus from the samples with an accuracy rate of between 98 and 100 percent. The findings suggest that the electronic device is more accurate than PCR tests, since they don’t always pick up asymptomatic carriers, the Times of London reported.
Astra’s Antibody Cocktail Fails to Stop Covid-19 in Study - AstraZeneca Plc’s antibody cocktail was only 33% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in people who had been exposed to the virus, failing a study that was key to the drugmaker’s pandemic push. The trial of 1,121 adult volunteers looked at whether the long-acting antibody combination could protect people who had recently been in contact with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in places like care homes. The company said it’s running other studies of the medicine that could help clarify the findings. The outcome is a blow to Astra for a drug that was hoped to be a bright spot in the company’s pandemic efforts following the mixed success of its vaccine with the University of Oxford. Other drugmakers such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc have had some success in getting similar therapies through clinical tests and authorized for people who are at risk of severe disease or can’t get vaccinated. The study, conducted in the U.S. and U.K., showed 23 volunteers who got the AZD7442 cocktail developed symptomatic Covid-19 following exposure to the disease, compared with 17 cases in the placebo group. Twice as many participants got the antibody, but the difference between the two groups wasn’t considered statistically significant. The cocktail was well tolerated by participants.
Regeneron's antibody therapy cuts deaths among some hospitalised COVID-19 patients -study - (Reuters) - A COVID-19 antibody cocktail developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Roche reduced deaths in hospitalised patients whose own immune systems had failed to produce a response, a large British study found on Wednesday. The therapy, REGEN-COV, has been granted emergency use authorisation for people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in the United States, but results from the RECOVERY trial provide the clearest evidence of its effectiveness among hospitalised patients. It found that the antibody therapy reduced by a fifth the 28-day mortality of people admitted to hospital with COVID-19 whose immune system had not mounted an antibody response, known as seronegative. The result translates into six fewer deaths for every 100 seronegative patients treated with the therapy, researchers said. There was no discernible effect of the treatment on those who had generated natural antibody responses. “People have been very, very sceptical, that any treatment against this particular virus would work by the time people get in hospital,” Martin Landray, the joint chief investigator on the trial, told reporters.
UK study: Pfizer, AstraZeneca vaccines offer protection against Delta variant --A British study released on Monday found that the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines offer solid protection against hospitalization due to the Delta variant, which recently became the dominant strain in the country. Public Health England determined that the full two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offers 96 percent protection against hospitalization, and the AstraZeneca vaccine gives 92 percent protection against hospitalization. The preprinted analysis concluded that the protection rates are “comparable” to the vaccines’ effectiveness against the Alpha variant. The analysis involved 14,019 people in England infected with the Delta strain, including 166 who were hospitalized, between April 12 and June 4. Public Health England said more research was needed to determine the mortality rate from the Delta variant. Mary Ramsay, the head of immunization at Public Health England, said in a release that the “hugely important findings” show the vaccines give “significant protection” against hospitalization from the Delta strain. “It is absolutely vital to get both doses as soon as they are offered to you, to gain maximum protection against all existing and emerging variants,” she said. The Delta variant, also known by the scientific name B.1.617.2, was first discovered in India before it spread to at least 74 countries, including the United Kingdom, where it overtook the Alpha variant to become the dominant strain. Another analysis in Scotland published as a letter Monday in the Lancet medical journal concluded that the vaccines were slightly less effective against infection with the Delta strain than other variants. But protection against serious illness was similar to other strains in the analysis of 19,543 cases. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was found to give 92 percent protection against the Alpha strain and 79 percent against the Delta variant. The analysis determined the AstraZeneca vaccine was 73 percent effective against Alpha and 60 percent against Delta, after both doses. The studies were released as concerns have mounted about the Delta variant as it spreads. An earlier preprint study from Public Health England found that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca were 88 percent and 60 percent effective against symptomatic Delta cases, respectively. But the vaccines gave 33 percent protection to partially vaccinated people with both vaccines.
Novavax Offers U.S. a Fourth Strong Covid-19 Vaccine - NYT --Novavax, a small American company buoyed by lavish support from the U.S. government, announced on Monday the results of a clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States and Mexico, finding that its two-shot inoculation provides potent protection against the coronavirus.In the 29,960-person trial, the vaccine demonstrated an overall efficacy of 90.4 percent, on par with the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and higher than the one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. The Novavax vaccine showed an efficacy of 100 percent at preventing moderate or severe disease.Despite these impressive results, the vaccine’s future in the United States is uncertain and it might be needed more in other countries. Novavax says it may not seek emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration until the end of September. And with a plentiful supply of three other authorized vaccines, it’s possible that the agency may tell Novavax to apply instead for a full license — a process that could require several extra months.The company’s chief executive, Stanley Erck, acknowledged in an interview that Novavax would probably win its first authorization elsewhere. The company is also applying in Britain, the European Union, India and South Korea.“I think the good news is that the data are so compelling that it gives everybody an incentive to pay attention to our filings,” Mr. Erck said.By the time Novavax gets the green light from the U.S. government, it may be too late to contribute to the country’s first wave of vaccinations. But many vaccine experts expect that, with waning immunity and emerging variants, the country will need booster shots at some point. And the protein-based technology used in the Novavax vaccine may do a particularly good job at amplifying protection, even if people have previously been vaccinated with a different formulation.“They may be really the right ones for boosters,” said Dr. Luciana Borio, who was the acting chief scientist at the F.D.A. from 2015 to 2017.Last year, the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program awarded Novavax a $1.6 billion contract for 100 million future doses. The company won this tremendous support despite never having brought a vaccine to market in over three decades.In January, Novavax announced that its 15,000-person trial in Britain found that the vaccine had an efficacy of 96 percent against the original coronavirus. Against Alpha, a virus variant first identified in Britain, the efficacy fell slightly to 86 percent. In South Africa, where Novavax ran a smaller trial on 2,900 people and the Beta variant was dominant, the company found an efficacy of just 49 percent.
CureVac’s mRNA vaccine reaches an efficacy level of just 47 percent in a clinical trial. --The German company CureVac delivered disappointing preliminary results on Wednesday from a clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine, dimming hopes that it could help fill the world’s great need. The trial, which included 40,000 volunteers in Latin America and Europe, estimated that CureVac’s mRNA vaccine had an efficacy of just 47 percent, among the lowest reported so far from any Covid vaccine maker. The trial will continue as researchers monitor volunteers for new cases of Covid, with a final analysis expected in two to three weeks. “We’re going to full speed for the final readout,” Franz-Werner Haas, CureVac’s chief executive, said in an interview. “We are still planning for filing for approval.” CureVac plans to apply for approval initially to the European Medicines Agency. The European Union reached an agreement last year to purchase 405 million doses of the vaccine if the agency authorizes it. Independent experts, however, said it would be difficult for CureVac to recover. Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at the University of Florida, said that the vaccine’s efficacy rate might improve somewhat by the end of the trial. But because most of the data is already in, it’s unlikely the vaccine will turn out to be highly protective. “It’s not going to change dramatically,” she said. And with an efficacy rate that low — far less than the roughly 95 percent of competing mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — the results do not bode well for CureVac’s shots getting adopted. “This is pretty devastating for them,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, a vaccine supply expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank in Washington.
After reaping record profits from a federal contract, Emergent BioSolutions produced mostly unusable vaccines. - Record profits warranted record bonuses. That was the recommendation in January by executives at the biotech firm Emergent BioSolutions. The board of directors agreed, signing off on nearly $8 million in cash and stock awards for five company leaders.The bonuses arrived this spring even as Congress was investigating the company’s production of Covid-19 vaccines in Baltimore, where manufacturing mistakes have rendered 75 million doses unusable and forced a two-month-long shutdown of operations.Emergent has nonetheless enjoyed the best financial year in its two-decade history, thanks largely to the government, for its largess and its decision to sidestep competitive bidding and other typical processes, according to interviews and previously undisclosed documents.The lucrative agreement with Emergent reflects the early chaotic days of the pandemic, when the Trump administration was engaged in what one government official called “panic buying” with little outside scrutiny.Emergent was in a good position to benefit. A review of the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that its entire contract manufacturing business had never brought in anything close to the amount the federal government paid in 2020. Those payments exceeded the revenue the company had earned from all of its contract manufacturing in the previous three years combined.
The U.S. agrees to buy 200 million more doses of Moderna’s vaccine, in case boosters are needed. --The Biden administration, planning for the possibility that Americans could need booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine, has agreed to buy an additional 200 million doses from the drugmaker Moderna with the option to include any developed to fight variants as well as pediatric doses.The purchase, with delivery expected to begin this fall and continue into next year, gives the administration the flexibility to administer booster shots if they prove necessary, and to inoculate children under 12 if the Food and Drug Administration authorizes vaccination for that age group, according to two administration officials not authorized to discuss it publicly.Experts do not yet know whether, or when, booster shots might be necessary. The emergence of variants in recent months has accelerated research on boosters, and the current vaccines are considered effective against several variants, including the Alpha variant which was first identified in Britain and which became dominant in the United States.And this week, U.S. health officials classified the Delta variant, which was first found in India, as a “variant of concern,” sounding the alarm because it spreads rapidly and may cause more serious illness in unvaccinated people. Concern over Delta promptedEngland to delay lifting restrictions imposed because of the pandemic.Moderna, a company that had no products on the market until the F.D.A. granted its Covid vaccine emergency authorization last year, uses mRNA platform technology to make its vaccine — a so-called “plug and play” method that is especially adaptable to reformulation. Last month, the company announced preliminary data from a clinical trial of a booster vaccine matched to the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa; the study found an increased antibody response against Beta and Gamma, another variant of concern first identified in Brazil.
CDC says vaccine link to heart inflammation is stronger than previously thought -Last Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there is a stronger correlation between the coronavirus vaccine and heart inflammation. Males under the age of 30 may face heart complications after receiving a full shot, Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC's Immunization Safety Office, said during a Food and Drug Administration advisory group, NBC News reported. Although it has not been officially confirmed to be an associated problem, the agency is investigating 226 cases of myocarditis, the inflammation of the myocardium in the heart, and pericarditis, the inflammation of the pericardium, among young, vaccinated men. Myocarditis and pericarditis share the same symptoms, including fever, fatigue, shortness of breath and a particular type of chest pain. In most cases, an investigation would have been warranted if there were fewer than 100 cases, NBC News reported. America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. Myocarditis following vaccination tends to skew younger, with its victims being teenagers and men in their early 20s. It is important to note that myocarditis cases represent a small fraction of young men who received the shot and experienced no immediate after effects. "We clearly have an imbalance there," Shimabukuro told NBC News. The CDC said that among the 220 patients recovering, more than 80 percent of them got better on their own. Most cases of myocarditis can be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, and in some cases, IVIG, an intravenous medication.
CDC plans "emergency meeting" on rare heart inflammation following COVID-19 vaccines - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it will convene an "emergency meeting" of its advisers on June 18th to discuss rare but higher-than-expected reports of heart inflammation following doses of the mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.So far, the CDC has identified 226 reports that might meet the agency's "working case definition" of myocarditis and pericarditis following the shots, the agency disclosed Thursday. The vast majority have recovered, but 41 had ongoing symptoms, 15 are still hospitalized, and 3 are in the intensive care unit.The reports represent just a tiny fraction of the nearly 130 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated with either Pfizer or Moderna's doses. "It's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison because, again, these are preliminary reports. Not all these will turn out to be true myocarditis or pericarditis reports," cautioned Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC vaccine safety official.Shimabukuro said their findings were mostly "consistent" with reports of rare cases of heart inflammation that had been studied in Israel and reported from the U.S. Department of Defense earlier this year.The CDC is working on more data and analysis on the reports ahead of the emergency meeting of its own advisers next week, he said, and also planned to analyze the risk of heart inflammation posed by catching COVID-19.
Johns Hopkins Doctor Marty Makary Accuses CDC of 'Sitting on Data' to Suit Their Narrative - During a television appearance on Sunday night, Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins Hospital claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "sits on a lot of data." He also suggested the reason why the health organization holds back information is to better support their agenda. Along with being a healthy policy expert and surgeon, Makary is a Fox News contributor. It was on that network where he made the comments regarding the CDC not being forthcoming about its information. The claim came during the Sunday edition of the Fox News program The Next Revolution With Steve Hilton.While discussing the effects of COVID-19 on youth, Makary said, "The headlines that were not broadcast by the CDC, and the media did not cover, was that no child in that entire study died of COVID, number one.""And number two, the hospitalization rate was lower for COVID than it was of influenza. The CDC sits on a lot of data," he continued. "And by the way, why are we getting this data from February now in June, again, with the heart-swelling complications of over 300 kids? They had that data now for three weeks; they announced it last Wednesday. They're having their emergency meeting about a week and half later." His comments were made in reference to the CDC declaring an advisory panel will convene an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss reports of heart inflammation in adolescents who received the COVID-19 vaccine.The CDC said 226 confirmed cases of a heart-swelling condition, called myocarditis, have been reported in people under 30 who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Makary also said to host Steve Hilton on Sunday, "They [the CDC] sit on a lot of data, and they don't give the key data that tells us which kids are dying of COVID. If we had that data, we could target our strategy. It turns out that there's probably only been one child in the United States who has ever died of COVID, who was healthy, that is didn't have a comorbid condition."
CDC Continues on Form: Suppressing Aerosol Transmission in Covid FAQ, “See No Evil” Testing for Breakthrough Cases -Lambert Strether -The nation’s — some say the world’s — premier public health agency continues to butcher its messaging on how Covid is transmitted. I read their Covid FAQ the other day (Updated May 25, 2021) and nearly stroked out. Here from the Covid FAQ landing page is the second item, “Spread.” I have helpfully highlighted a few of the offending passages: [see embedded text] First and foremost, “close contact” should be expunged from Covid discourse entirely. Proximity is not transmission. A “close contact” model would permit infection by brainwaves, odor, visual cues, and so forth. CDC then compounds its initial error by repeating the 6-foot rule; readers know that Covid aerosols spread to fill a room, like cigarette smoke; social distancing is necessary but not sufficient. A busy school superintendent could read the FAQ and conclude that moving desks apart was sufficient to protect students; it isn’t (and lives could be lost because of CDC’s feckless and Romanov-like bureaucratic ineptitude).To be fair to CDC, I visited the link highlighted above (“How Covid-19 Spreads”). Here it is:So, one level down, CDC is still reinforcing “close contact” with “breathing in air when close,” and “coughing and sneezing.” They also introduce fomite transmission, with “touching eyes.” First, the risk of fomite transmission[1] is small (“Exaggerated risk of transmission of COVID-19 by fomites“). Second, mere breathing (aerosols) is also important, perhaps more than coughing and sneezing, so they at least deserve a mention (“COVID 19 can spread through breathing, talking, study estimates“). See generallly “Ten scientific reasons in support of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2” in the Lancet.To continue to be fair, when I finally arrived at the CDC’s section on ventilation, I found it to be pretty good: (I continue to see CDC’s “layered approach” as driven by institutional imperatives; everybody gets a slice of budgetary pie, even the fomite people.) They even get the idea that reducing concentration reduces the dose. Note, however, that this is true because aerosols fill indoor spaces, like cigarette smoke, which the “close contact” and “cough and sneeze” models do not support. Concentration affects all the people in a room regardless of “close contact.” So we see that the means of transmission here in CDC’s ventilation section completely contradicts the means of transmission presented earlier in the FAQ. In other words, CDC has no agreed upon means of transmission. How can we fight a pandemic if the world’s premier public health agency can’t get its story straight on how the germ that causes the pandemic is transmitted? Not well. Obviously. (Of course, if we simply vaccinate everybody, we don’t have to worry about such details.) As a palate cleanser, CDC does have a lot of well-thought-out suggestions on ventilation, even if the content of the “Spread” and “How Covid Spreads” sections mean that nobody will read them:
The U.S. will spend $3 billion on developing antiviral pills to treat Covid-19. The U.S. government spent more than $18 billion last year funding drugmakers to make a Covid vaccine, an effort that led to at least five highly effective shots in record time. Now it’s pouring more than $3 billion on a neglected area of research: developing pills to fight the virus early in the course of infection, potentially saving many lives in the years to come.The new program, announced on Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services, will speed up the clinical trials of a few promising drug candidates. If all goes well, some of those first pills could be ready by the end of the year. The Antiviral Program for Pandemics will also support research on entirely new drugs — not just for the coronavirus, but for viruses that could cause future pandemics.A number of other viruses, including influenza, H.I.V. and hepatitis C, can be treated with a simple pill. But despite more than a year of research, no such pill exists to treat someone with a coronavirus infection before it wreaks havoc. Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program for accelerating Covid-19 research,invested far more money in the development of vaccines than of treatments, a gap that the new program will try to fill.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key backer of the program, said he looked forward to a time when Covid-19 patients could pick up antiviral pills from a pharmacy as soon as they tested positive for the coronavirus or develop Covid-19 symptoms. His support for research on antiviral pills stems from his own experience fighting AIDS three decades ago.At the start of the pandemic, researchers began testing existing antivirals in people hospitalized with severe Covid-19. But many of those trials failed to show any benefit from the antivirals. In hindsight, the choice to work in hospitals was a mistake. Scientists now know that the best time to try to block the coronavirus is in the first few days of the disease, when the virus is replicating rapidly and the immune system has not yet mounted a defense. So far, only one antiviral has demonstrated a clear benefit to people in hospitals: remdesivir. Originally investigated as a potential cure for Ebola, the drug seems to shorten the course of Covid-19 when given intravenously to patients. In October, it became the first — and so far, the only — antiviral drug to gain full F.D.A. approval to treat the disease.
The C.D.C. designates the Delta version of the virus a ‘variant of concern.’ - Federal health officials have classified the Delta variant of the coronavirus now circulating in the United States as a “variant of concern,” sounding the alarm because it spreads rapidly and may partially sidestep certain antibody treatments. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday emphasized that the authorized vaccines are highly effective against the variant, however, and urged all Americans who have not yet been inoculated to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible. In England, the swift spread of Delta variant has forced government officials to postpone the lifting of pandemic restrictions, called Freedom Day, which was to be June 21. Now the government will maintain some restrictions for four additional weeks. Reports from Britain indicate that single doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine are only 33 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant.In the United States, about 44 percent of citizens are fully vaccinated, according to a database maintained by The Times. InCalifornia and New York, states in which vaccination rates are higher, governors are moving to lift restrictions altogether. “Even though our case counts are declining and people are getting vaccinated, we still have roughly half our population that is unvaccinated,” said Summer Galloway, a Covid-19 adviser to the C.D.C. and executive secretary of the SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Group, which characterizes emerging variants for the U.S. government.“We have circulation of a more transmissible variant that is definitely a concern, and our bottom line message here is we want to make sure people are taking this seriously and are getting vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible and it’s available to them.”The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, is now one of six variants of concern. The virus first was identified in India in December, and by June was found in 54 countries. It was detected in Britain in late March. Public Health England called it a variant of concern on April 28, and the World Health Organization followed suit in May.In the United States, the proportion of coronavirus infections attributed to the Delta variant has increased rapidly, from 2.7 percent during the two-week period ending May 22 to nearly 10 percent of cases during the two-week period ending June 5, according to modeling studies used by the C.D.C.
How do health officials know COVID vaccines work on variants? — The Delta COVID variant originated in India but spread worldwide. When health officials talk about the variant showing up in Colorado, it's quickly followed by telling people to get vaccinated because it will protect them. We chatted with infectious disease specialists about how they figured out the vaccine efficacy for a mutating virus. Vaccine efficacy? Dr. Michelle Barron with UCHealth said most information is coming from other countries. "Most data we have is coming out of Europe. This is where they experienced the Delta variant before we did and had high levels of vaccination rates," said Barron. Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), added: "The studies that were done specifically looked at the Pfizer vaccine and estimated that vaccine was about 88% effective." The same is anticipated for the Moderna vaccine. Experts said, overall, it's still very effective but a little lower than the 94 to 95% protection seen for other strains. Protection against the variant that originated in the U.K. is estimated to be in the 90th percentile. Barron emphasized it is very important for people to complete both doses of their vaccines. She said for the Delta variant, vaccine effectiveness dropped to around 33% in-between doses versus 60 to 80% found in studies for the original strain of COVID. As for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Barron said there isn't a ton of data yet. "I didn't see much data on J&J because J&J is not available in Europe. AstraZeneca, which is sort of similar equivalent to J&J, again showed in the 80% protection rate." While there is a lot to learn, the infectious disease doctors and CDPHE said the vaccines available now in the U.S. are all still very effective to protect people.
Covid: Is there a limit to how much worse variants can get? It is clear we are now dealing with a virus that spreads far more easily - probably more than twice as easily - as the version that emerged in Wuhan at the end of 2019. The Alpha variant, first identified in Kent, UK, performed a large jump in its ability to transmit. Now Delta, seen first in India, leapt further still. This is evolution in action. So are we doomed to a never-ending parade of new and improved variants that get harder and harder to contain? Or is there a limit to how much worse coronavirus can become? It's worth remembering the journey this virus is on. It has made the jump from infecting a completely different species - its closest relatives are in bats - to us. It's like you, starting a new job: you're competent, but not the finished article. The first variant was good enough to start a devastating pandemic, but now it's learning on the job. When viruses jump to humans it would be "very rare for them to be perfect," said Prof Wendy Barclay, a virologist from Imperial College London. "They settle in and then they have a great time." There are examples of viruses, she said, from flu pandemics to Ebola outbreaks, making the jump and then accelerating. So how far could it go? The cleanest way of comparing the pure biological spreading power of viruses is to look at their R0 (pronounced R-naught). It's the average number of people each infected person passes a virus on to if nobody were immune and nobody took extra precautions to avoid getting infected. That number was around 2.5 when the pandemic started in Wuhan and could be as high as 8.0 for the Delta variant, according to disease modellers at Imperial. "This virus has surprised us a lot. It is beyond anything we feared," said Dr Aris Katzourakis, who studies viral evolution at the University of Oxford. "The fact it has happened twice in 18 months, two lineages (Alpha and then Delta) each 50% more transmissible is a phenomenal amount of change." It's "foolish", he thinks, to attempt to put a number on how high it could go, but he can easily see further jumps in transmission over the next couple of years. Other viruses have far higher R0s and the record holder, measles, can cause explosive outbreaks. "Measles is between 14 and 30 depending on who you ask, I don't know how it's going to play out."
Covid has claimed more than 600,000 lives in the U.S. -- More than 600,000 people in the United States are known to have died of Covid-19 as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by The New York Times — a once-unthinkable number, 10 times the death toll that President Donald J. Trump once predicted. The milestone comes as the country’s fight against the coronavirus has made big gains but remains unfinished, with millions not yet vaccinated.“It’s a tragedy,” said Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center. “A lot of that tragedy was avoidable, and it’s still happening.” As many Americans celebrate the beginning of summer and states have relaxed restrictions, the virus is still killing hundreds of people daily, nearly all of them unvaccinated, experts say. Though the sheer number of total deaths in the United States is higher than anywhere else, the country’s toll is lower per capita than in many European and Latin American countries, including Peru, Brazil, Belgium and Italy. The first known Covid death in the United States occurred in February 2020. By the end of that May, 100,000 people had been confirmed dead, an average of more than 1,100 Covid deaths each day. The pace kept accelerating: It took close to four months for the nation to log another 100,000 Covid deaths; the next, about three months; the next, just five weeks. By late February 2021, just over a month later, half a million Americans had died with Covid.The most recent 100,000 deaths came more slowly, over about four months. About half of all Americans are protected with at least one dose of a vaccine, and public health experts say that has played the central role in slowing the death rate.
No Risk for Children from Covid? ? ? --There has been much conversation and arguing on whether there should be vaccinations for children. I have been waiting for something addressing the issues by those opposing it in a clear, concise, manner including some medical reasoning. “Let’s Recognize Childhood COVID as the Crisis It Is,” MedPage Today, June 2021 appears to do such. In approximately 1 year, COVID-19 killed twice as many children as influenza does most years, and hundreds more in the same interval of time, despite painstaking efforts to prevent infection. Dissenting views have drawn distinctions between the hospitalization of children with Covid-19 and from Covid-19.As explained, such a distinction has merit. As cases in children are usually milder, or asymptomatic, and are screened within the hospital; it can be said some cases certainly reflect incidental findings. Two such examinations have noted that nearly half of these pediatric hospitalizations were unrelated to COVID-19. Authorities should be cautious about accepting the generalizability of these reports. Applying the distinction to the entire U.S., Covid-19 still amounts to approximately 100,000 pediatric hospitalizations over the span of ~ one year This numeric is based on statistics generalized to the CDC estimates, or at least a minimum of 20,000, based on COVID- 19 NET data. All the Covid-19 estimates far exceed the number of hospitalizations during the pre-vaccine period for several vaccine-preventable diseases on the childhood vaccination schedule.
- Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a post-COVID-19 syndrome of the pediatric population, has a far greater risk of morbidity and mortality, and includes heart dysfunction. Initial infections resulting in MIS-C are frequently asymptomatic and the condition appears 4 to 6 weeks later. Of the documented cases in the U.S., an approximate 1% were fatal.
- Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) or commonly called “long COVID,” is also a risk. One estimated frequency of pediatric PASC comes from some studies note it to be as high as 42% of cases (as identified in the article, this is thought to be too high). medRxiv’s “Illness duration and symptom profile in a large cohort of symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2″ refined or calculated the percentage to be 1.8%.
Twenty-five (1.8%) of 1,379 children experienced symptoms for ≥56 days. Few children (15 children, 0.9%) in the negatively-tested cohort experienced prolonged symptom duration; however, these children experienced greater symptom burden (both throughout their illness and at day 28) than children positive for SARS-CoV-2. Illness duration and symptom profile in a large cohort of symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2, medRxivThe 1.8% statistic corresponds to 480,000 U.S. children having symptoms lasting longer than 56 days. Collecting additional data over time will clarify the significance of PASC as a pediatric health problem. Clinics have been opened specifically to treat the condition which suggests the burden is significant. Adults have been experiencingsimilar conditions after being cleared of Covid-19.
Delaying England’s Covid reopening ‘could keep thousands out of hospital’ - Ministers have been told that a four-week delay to easing all Covid restrictions would probably prevent thousands of hospitalisations, as Boris Johnsonprepares to tell the English public they will have to wait up to another month for “freedom day”.The government roadmap out of lockdown earmarks 21 June for the last remaining coronavirus restrictions to be lifted in England, but the prime minister is expected to announce on Monday that the timetable will be pushed back by two to four weeks amid a rapid rise in cases of the Delta variant first detected in India.The BBC reported that senior ministers had approved a four-week delay, during which most existing restrictions would remain in place.The Delta variant is rising across the UK, where it now makes up more than 90% of new coronavirus infectious. Public health officials are concerned about the variant because it partially evades vaccines, is at least 40% more transmissible than the Alpha variant first detected in Kent, and appears to double the risk of hospitalisation.The prime minister will attend a Nato summit in Brussels on Monday before returning to Downing Street to deliver the news.Any delay will infuriate lockdown sceptics on the Tory backbenches, who are concerned about the impact on hospitality businesses and have begun to claim they fear the government will never feel confident enough to lift restrictions. On Sunday, Johnson declined to answer the question of whether the delay could be for more than four weeks.
Vietnam Company Could Make Covid Shots in Tech Transfer Deal -Vietnam’s health ministry said a local company is expected to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines after negotiating a technology transfer deal with an unidentified U.S. producer.The vaccine will be mRNA-based, the health ministry said on its website on Saturday. It initially identified the company as Vingroup JSC before updating the statement to remove the reference.Vingroup declined to comment on the initial statement, while representatives for the health ministry couldn’t immediately be reached outside of business hours to comment on the change. Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. deploy the mRNA technology in their vaccines. The country has approved the use of Pfizer’s vaccine, a health ministry publication reported separately on Saturday. Other shots permitted include those made by China’s Sinopharm and AstraZeneca Plc. A factory that the local company invested in can produce as much as 200 million doses per year and is expected to start manufacturing the vaccines from the fourth quarter or the first quarter of 2022, the health ministry said.Vietnam has secured deals to purchase 170 million vaccine doses. While more than 1.4 million injections have been given, only just over 53,000 people in the nation of 98 million are fully vaccinated as of June 11. The Southeast Asian country is battling a major domestic outbreak. The nation had 10,241 total infections as of Saturday with 58 deaths.
Afghanistan, in Crisis, Gets 700,000 Vaccine Doses From China - Afghanistan received 700,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from China on Thursday amid a worsening crisis and record numbers of known cases, health ministry officials said. The Ministry of Public Health said it would prioritize people over the age of 55 and those with chronic diseases to receive the doses of the vaccine, made by the Chinese company Sinopharm. With hospital beds filling up, a persistent shortage of oxygen, and a general failure to adopt the elementary precautions common elsewhere — mask wearing, social distancing — Afghanistan is undergoing its severest period of the pandemic. Though Afghanistan’s testing capacity is severely limited, the country on Thursday recorded its highest ever number of virus cases in a 24-hour period: 1,822 positive tests of 5,343 total — a positivity rate of over 34 percent. There were 56 recorded deaths from Covid-19 over the preceding 24 hours, but the Afghan health system cannot always distinguish Covid from other causes of death in a country where disease and violence are endemic. “The situation is critical,” said Saeed Uddin Jami, a spokesman for the Afghan Public Health Ministry. “There are no empty bed for patients in Kabul hospitals,” he said. “Unfortunately, people do not cooperate with us, and they do not take the virus seriously. It is likely that the situation will worsen throughout Afghanistan.” Sinopharm’s vaccine uses inactivated coronaviruses to trigger an immune response in the body. Vaccines that use that approach have been shown in studies to be less effective than the vaccines developed by the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, which use newer mRNA technology. The Chinese donation of the doses of Sinopharm’s vaccine follows a February shipment of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India that failed to make much of a dent. Nor did a donation of 486,000 doses of AstraZeneca from the Covax global vaccine initiative shift the trajectory of the crisis. The United States on Friday announced some $266 million in additional aid for Afghanistan, primarily for Covid response.
Fake coronavirus tests may have helped fuel Indian outbreaks. - The Indian authorities launched an investigation after an internal government report concluded that some private agencies responsible for coronavirus testing on pilgrims at a sprawling Hindu festival forged at least 100,000 results.The festival, Kumbh Mela, which ran throughout April, is widely believed to be responsible for a coronavirus surge in many parts of India, as the pilgrims returning from the festival tested positive days after returning to their villages.The festival drew millions of faithful to the town of Haridwar on the banks of the river Ganges in the northern state of Uttarakhand.“We have constituted a four-members committee that will submit its report in two weeks,” Dr. Arjun Singh Sengar, a Haridwar health officer who was in charge of testing for Kumbh Mela, said in an interview. “Initial investigations are pointing toward lapses and fake results.”Dr. Sengar said that out of 251,000 tests in his district, only 2,273 were positive.But health experts questioned those numbers, saying the state government underreported positive cases. That suggested it was safe to take part in the pilgrimage, despite evidence that the largely unmasked crowds provided an ideal environment for the virus to spread.According to a sprawling government report on the lab that conducted rapid antigen tests during the festival, at least 100,000 test results out of 400,000 were fake.Despite warnings by public health experts and doctors, the regional government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party advertised the festival in newspapers, inviting pilgrims from across the country.Before the event, Uttarakhand’s top elected official, Tirath Singh Rawat, mingled with huge crowds of pilgrims, without a mask. When questioned during one of his three visits to the holy site, Mr. Rawat said, “Faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.” He tested positive for the coronavirus two days after his last visit to the Ganges.
COVID cases rise in Russia as government fails to contain pandemic - New COVID-19 cases are once again rising rapidly in Russia, as the Kremlin’s effort to manage the pandemic through vaccinations flounders. Late last week the mayor of Moscow, where the outbreak is centered, announced a limited number of new restrictions to stem the crisis. Officials in Saint Petersburg, the country’s second largest city, followed suit on Monday. New infections in Russia climbed to 13,721 on June 14, a 50 percent increase compared to a week ago. Over the weekend they had hit more than 14,700, well above the peak witnessed at the onset of the pandemic and at a level not seen since February of this year. The recent spike brings the total number of officially recorded coronavirus cases in Russia to over 5.22 million. A woman wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus rides a subway car in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) More than half of the new cases are in Moscow and the surrounding area. Saint Petersburg, the Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Republic of Buryatia in southern Siberia have the next three largest concentrations. Russia’s consumer and health safety watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, reported last week that the young are a major source of new infections. Earlier, case numbers had plateaued at between 8,500 and 9,500 new cases per day. Daily deaths have been hovering in the range of 300 to 400 for several months now, with a total of 270,000 people having succumbed to the disease, according to the federal statistics agency. However, according to estimates by the Economist, excess deaths in Russia from COVID-19 are more than five times those officially recorded. As of Monday, employers in Moscow have been directed to switch their workers to remote work or place them on paid leave through June 19. Restaurants and bars in the capital must close by 11:00 p.m. Food courts, playgrounds and athletic fields are shuttered for the duration of the week. Masking is required in stores and on public transit, and workplaces must make sure their employees mask. In Saint Petersburg, food and drinking establishments cannot serve customers in the wee hours of the night, food courts cannot operate, and some children’s play spaces have to temporarily close. These measures, set to be in place for just a week, will do little, if anything, to control the outbreak. In both of the country’s major cities, where a total of more than 15 million people live, establishments can continue to serve food and drinks indoors 15 to 20 hours a day. In Saint Petersburg, the Euro 2021 football championship is continuing as scheduled. At the upcoming Poland-Slovakia game, more than 17,000 fans are expected.
A Deadly Superfungus Has Emerged in Brazil, Aided by Covid-19 - Late last year, a deadly yeast known as Candida auris was found in Brazil for the first time. In a new paper this week, the scientists who treated and investigated these initial cases say the covid-19 pandemic helped create a breeding ground for the fungus to emerge and spread inside a hospital’s intensive care unit. C. auris was first discovered by doctors from Japan in 2009, though it’s likely been infecting people since at least the 1990s. Its origins are still a mystery, but the leading theory is that it only recently began to cause trouble for humans. What makes the yeast so dangerous is that strains are often (or quickly become) resistant to multiple antifungal drugs. Its milder symptoms can include fever and chills, but in serious cases, it can invade the bloodstream and multiple organs, leading to organ damage and/or life-threatening sepsis. While not all infections make people sick, the yeast’s hardy resistance can make serious infections incredibly hard to treat and often fatal, especially for people already weakened in hospitals or otherwise immunocompromised. It’s also difficult to decontaminate the environments where the fungus colonizes outside the body, such as catheters or other medical equipment that provide an easy route for infection. Since 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have labeled C. auris an urgent superbug threat, while countries and hospitals around the world have been on high alert for it. In December 2020, Brazil became the latest country to report finding it. And on Monday, a new study detailed two of these first cases, both patients who were hospitalized for covid-19 in the same intensive care unit at a hospital in the city of Salvador. According to the report, published in the Journal of Fungi, the cases involved a 59-year-old man and 72-year-old woman, both of whom were hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome from covid-19 in October 2020 and November 2020, respectively. The two patients endured multiple other infections, including C. auris. Unlike past outbreaks, though, this strain seemed susceptible to many common antifungals. Both infections were treated, and the man eventually recovered enough to be discharged after 49 days; unfortunately, the woman wasn’t so lucky, succumbing to her many ailments in late January 2021. Since these first cases, public health officials documented nine other people with C. auris colonizing their body as of December 2020, all of whom had visited that same intensive care unit. The cases seem to trace back to a local source, with none of the patients having traveled recently and their respective fungi being closely related to one another. Right now, the authors speculate that the fungus may have arrived or emerged locally months before the first case. And though this strain still appears to be treatable with conventional drugs, the samples isolated from these patients have started to become more resistant to at least some anti-fungals over time. Other countries have recently reported their own outbreaks of C. auris among covid-19 patients. And in this outbreak, the severe illness brought on by covid-19 and resulting hospitalization likely enabled the colonizing fungus to become life-threatening and infect other sick people—a series of events that could be repeating elsewhere. “Thus, the covid-19 pandemic may be accelerating the introduction and/or spread of C. auris in previous C. auris-free hospital environments,” the authors wrote.
COVID-19 Creates Conditions for Emergence of Invasive "Superfungus" in Brazil -- Fully occupied intensive care units (ICUs). Physically and mentally exhausted health workers. Chaotically overcrowded hospitals. These and similar problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil have created ideal conditions for the emergence of Candida auris, a microorganism some are calling a “superfungus” because of the speed with which it has developed drug resistance. The first two cases were confirmed in December 2020 at a hospital in Salvador (state of Bahia, Northeast Brazil), and are described in the Journal of Fungi by a group of researchers led by Arnaldo Colombo, head of the Special Mycology Laboratory at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). The study was supported by FAPESP. “Nine other C. auris patients have since been diagnosed at the same hospital, some colonized [with the fungus in their organism but not doing harm] and others infected,” Colombo told Agência FAPESP. “No other cases have been reported in Brazil, but there are grounds for concern. We’re monitoring the evolutionary characteristics of C. auris isolates from patients at the hospital in Salvador, and we’ve already found samples with reduced sensitivity to fluconazole and echinocandins. The latter belong to the main class of drugs used to treat invasive candidiasis.” Except for C. auris, fungi of the genus Candida are part of the human gut microbiota and cause problems only when there are imbalances in the organism, Colombo explained. These include infections such as vaginal yeast infection and thrush (oral candidiasis), often caused by C. albicans. In some cases, however, the fungus enters the bloodstream and causes a systemic infection known as candidemia, the most common form of invasive candidiasis, similar to bacterial sepsis. Invasion of the bloodstream and the immune system’s exacerbated response to the pathogen can cause damage to several organs and even lead to death. According to scientific evidence, mortality among candidemia patients infected by C. auris can reach 60%.
COVID-19: Pregnant women and their unborn babies dying in Brazil as deaths set to pass 500k mark - Brazil is likely to pass the awful mark of 500,000 COVID-related deaths in the next two days. Only the United States has a higher number of dead across the world.Currently averaging 2,500 deaths a day, Brazil's P1 variant has long been identified as a highly virulent cause for concern, prompting travel bans to most countries.But researchers in Sao Paulo, one of the worst-hit cities in the country, say the P1 variant has started infecting and killing pregnant women and their unborn children in startling numbers.Currently 42 pregnant women die every week from COVID-19; many more women are being intubated and their premature children delivered by caesarean section without consultation with obstetricians, according to medical researchers at the Brazilian Obstetric Observatory. "The virus transmissibility is higher with this variant and I think the big problem is that the health system for maternal care in Brazil is very bad."In some states the patient starts treatment in one hospital, a general hospital, and when her condition starts to worsen, and she needs to deliver the baby, she will be transported while intubated because they're not at the right hospital to do the delivery."This, she believes, is part of the reason Brazil is seeing a higher rate of maternal mortality.She says obstetricians and intensivists should be working together to find the right outcomes for mother and child, otherwise it will be very difficult to stop maternal mortality during COVID. "I think we have more cases because of the variant, and because our maternal health system is very fragile, we have this result."
Why Are So Many Children in Brazil Dying From Covid-19? - The New York Times In the modern history of catastrophic infectious diseases in Brazil, children often suffer the most in terms of deaths and disability. When dengue epidemics emerged in Brazil in 2007 and 2008, children accounted for more than half of the fatalities. When pregnant women became infected with the Zika virus during an epidemic that began in 2015, more than 1,600 Brazilians were born with devastating microcephaly, far more than in any other nation. Respiratory viruses continue to disproportionately affect Brazil’s children, while hookworms and other intestinal parasites stunt childhood growth and development, especially in poor rural areas.Now the coronavirus is causing severe illness in young Brazilian children at levels not seen in other parts of the world. Research by Dr. Fatima Marinho of Vital Strategies, a nongovernmental organization, has found that more than 2,200 children under the age of 10 have died from Covid-19. While this number represents less than 0.5 percent of Brazil’s 467,000 Covid-19 deaths, more than 900 of the fatalities occurred in children under the age of 5. The United States has recorded nearly 600,000 deaths from Covid-19, but only 113 of those have been of children under the age of 5. When the pandemic began last year, the coronavirus appeared to affect children far less frequently, and less severely, than adults. So why are so many young children in Brazil being hospitalized with and dying from Covid-19? Identifying the answer is critical not just to the health of children in South America; it’s also vital to understanding what path the coronavirus pandemic may take in the future. One possible explanation lies in Brazil’s emerging variants of concern. The predominant variant of the coronavirus circulating in Brazil is P.1 — now called Gamma, according to an announcementfrom the World Health Organization this week. Like Beta (the new name for the B.1.351 variant, which was first identified in South Africa), the Gamma variant is more transmissible compared to earlier virus lineages, and it may be able to partially escape the antibodies produced by a Covid-19 infection or vaccine. It is possible that the same mutations that make Gamma more transmissible also contribute to higher rates of infections, hospitalizations and deaths among children.Of course, it’s equally likely that the rise in Covid-19 cases among children is part of an uncontrolled spread of Gamma across all age groups. Pregnant women who get Covid-19 are at a higher risk for severe illness and preterm births, and women who are infected may pass the coronavirus to their newborns.Given the presence of the Gamma variant in the United States — about 7 percent of Covid-19 cases in the United States can be attributed to this variant — it’s possible that pediatric and newborn Covid-19 cases could soon become more prevalent. This is cause for serious concern.
Brazil has 98,832 COVID cases, 2,495 deaths in 24 hours -ministry (Reuters) – Brazil has had 98,832 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 2,495 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said on Friday. The South American country has now registered 17,801,462 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 498,499, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.
Colombia Covid Deaths Surge Toward 100,000 as Economy Reopens - Protest-wracked Colombia is fast on track to surpass 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 as the government tries to balance letting citizens work -- and eat -- with protecting them from the pandemic by reopening large swathes of the economy. A slow vaccination rollout and social upheaval have meant that infections and mortality in Colombia continue to rise. Just in the past five days, the country of 50 million has marked new records in daily deaths, registering as many as 599 fatalities on Tuesday alone. At the current rate, Colombia will hit 100,000 deaths as soon as Sunday. Colombia has the fourth-highest per-capita death rate in the world over the past week, among more than 125 countries tracked by Bloomberg. New daily cases have topped 29,000 this month, threatening to overwhelm the health system, which is already facing shortages of supplies, including precious oxygen. Lockdowns and the closing of borders with neighboring countries failed to ease the crisis, but hobbled the economy. Latin America has seen more than 35 million infected with the coronavirus, and more than 1 million reported dead. Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa Etienne said recently that this year has been worse than last for the region. She called for an urgent increase in vaccination, warning that controlling the virus will take years otherwise. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization asked wealthy nations that have pledged to donate 1 billion vaccine doses to prioritize Latin America.
Delta variant spreads to 74 countries as data suggests it will become dominant coronavirus mutation worldwide - The Delta variant of the coronavirus, first detected in India, has now spread to at least 74 countries, according to reports aggregated by the World Health Organization, threatening a massive resurgence of the pandemic as reopenings worldwide continue apace. The variant was first sampled last October, and is most likely responsible for the 35-fold increase in cases reported in India from February to May, reaching a peak of more than 390,000 cases each day, with a corresponding 45-fold increase in daily deaths, topping out at 4,500 reported fatalities. To date, India has suffered 29.6 million known coronavirus cases and at least 377,000 officially counted deaths, a number widely understood to be far lower than the actual death toll. Now, the Delta variant is surging throughout the United Kingdom. Since mid-May, new cases in the country have more than tripled to nearly 7,500 a day, of which at least 90 percent are a result of the Delta variant, according to Public Health England (PHE). In the United States, there is a concern that a similar trend will occur. The mutation now accounts for about 10 percent of new cases, with former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warning on CBS that those with the Delta variant “have higher viral loads” and “shed more of the virus.” According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Delta is the third most common variant of coronavirus in the United States, after the Alpha (UK) and Gamma (Brazil) variants, and is the second most common variant in Health and Human Services regions 2, 7 and 8, encompassing Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Utah, the Virgin Islands and Wyoming. Moreover, the number of cases caused by the Delta variant have more than tripled in the past two weeks, a trend which indicates it will likely become dominant in the US by the end of June if it continues to spread at the same rate. Cases have also risen in Indonesia by 37 percent over the last seven days as a result of the new mutation. Further outbreaks have been detected in China, South Asia, the Pacific rim and across Africa. As a result of such outbreaks, the decline in daily cases worldwide has begun to slow. According to the World Health Organization, while the number of new cases has declined for seven weeks in a row largely thanks to vaccination efforts, the global decline is concealing a growth in cases caused by the Delta variant, especially in regions with low rates of vaccination. The risks are manifold. A study by PHE of Delta variant cases in England found that it causes 2.61 times more hospitalizations than the Alpha variant, and causes about 4.1 times more hospitalizations than the original variant. The Delta variant is also much more transmissible, somewhere between 50 to 60 percent more infectious than the Alpha variant, thus more than twice as infectious as the wild coronavirus. In Australia, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng noted that the reproduction number (R0) of the Delta variant is likely about 5, meaning that one person infected with the virus would spread it to five others if uncontrolled. Disease modelers at Imperial College London estimate the R0 value for the Delta variant could be as high as 8. In comparison, the R0 for the original coronavirus was estimated to be between 2.0 and 2.5. Put another way, if 10 people were infected with the original variant, about 1,520 people would be infected after four weeks if there were no measures to contain the virus. Ten people infected with the Delta variant, in contrast, would infect 4 million people over that same period. Such high reproduction rates are why viruses like measles are so dangerous and why so much effort is spent to develop and distribute vaccines.
How effective are vaccines against Delta variant? Reports vary as immunized patient dies in Calgary hospital -As confirmed cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 continue to rise in Alberta, there are conflicting statements regarding how effective the first dose of vaccine is at protecting against severe outcomes of infection.Alberta Health Services confirms a patient in their 80s, who had received two doses of MRNA vaccine before contracting the Delta variant, died in an outbreak at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. A second unvaccinated patient, who was also over the age of 80, also died in the outbreak.The outbreak at the hospital in northwest Calgary now spans two units with confirmed cases in 21 patients and nine staff members.In response to those outbreaks, AHS says vaccines were given to those in hospital at risk of exposure to the Delta variant — also known as B.1.617.2, that was first identified in India.Earlier this month, AHS officials told CTV news a first dose of an MRNA vaccine such as Pfizer or Moderna offers 33 per cent protection against the Delta variant with a single dose and coverage increased to 88 per cent with a second dose. Yet, on Monday, Premier Jason Kenney tweeted a report from the United Kingdom — where cases of the Delta variant are rising —indicating one dose of Pfizer vaccine is 94 per cent effective against hospitalizations involving the Delta variant and increases to 96 per cent after a second dose.Alberta confirmed its first case of this variant of concern on April 8. According to the latest data, it has spread to 356 confirmed cases, with more than 300 in the Calgary health zone.
Toxic 'Forever Chemicals' Found in Mainstream Cosmetics --A new study found toxic PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," in hundreds of widely used cosmetic products produced by major brands throughout the U.S. and Canada. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, found "high levels of organic fluorine," which is a prevalent indicator of PFAS, in over half of 231 makeup and personal care products. The specific products include lipstick, eyeliner foundation, concealer, lip balm, blush, and nail polish, according to The Guardian."This is the first study to look at total fluorine or PFAS in cosmetics so we just didn't know what we were going to find," Tom Burton, one author of the study, and a senior scientist with Green Science Policy Institute, said toThe Guardian. "This is a product that people are spreading on their skin day after day, so there's really a potential for significant exposure."Those who wear makeup may be absorbing these chemicals through their skin, tear ducts, or potentially by ingesting them."Lipstick wearers may inadvertently eat several pounds of lipstick in their lifetimes," Graham Peaslee, senior author of the study said to Eureka Alert. "But unlike food, chemicals in lipstick and other makeup and personal care products are almost entirely unregulated in the U.S. and Canada; as a result, millions of people are unknowingly wearing PFAS and other harmful chemicals on their faces and bodies daily."PFAS are not only in cosmetic products but also contaminate drinking water and are also tied to several negative health effects including cancer, obesity, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, decreased immunity, hormone disruption, and potentially more severe COVID-19 effects, according to Eureka Alert andThe Guardian.Each product tested in the study contained anywhere from four to 13 individual PFAS compounds. Brands tested include L'Oréal, Mac, Ulta, Cover Girl, Clinique, Nars, Smashbox, Estée Lauder, and many other commonly found makeup brands.
Antidepressants in the Water Change Crayfish Behavior - Antidepressants are designed to make humans feel better, but they can have a surprising impact on non-human animals when they enter the environment. That's the take-away of a study published in Ecosphere Tuesday, which tested the impact of antidepressants on crayfish, important players in freshwater ecosystems, and found that they altered the animals' behavior in ways that could threaten their survival."Our study is the first to look at how crayfish respond when exposed to antidepressants at levels typically found in the streams and ponds where they live," lead author and University of Florida assistant professor A.J. Reisinger said in a press release.To test the impact of common antidepressants on crayfish behavior, the researchers mimicked natural conditions in a lab. In one artificial stream, the water was not treated with any medication. In the other stream, the crayfish were exposed to 500 nanograms per liter of citalopram, a type of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), as National Geographic reported. The scientists observed the two groups over a two-week period and took notes on their behavior.What they found was that the crayfish exposed to the antidepressants stuck their heads out of their built-in shelters twice as quickly when they smelled food, emerged altogether almost one minute earlier and spent 400 percent more time in the food section of their environment. For crayfish in the wild, such actions could be dangerous. "This change in behavior could put them at greater risk of being eaten by a predator,"
Young Clownfish Likely to Die Faster When Exposed to Artificial Light, Study Finds -New research suggests that young clownfish who live in coastal reefs are dying faster due to artificial light exposure.An international team of scientists from France, the United Kingdom, Chile and Australia studied the coral reefs of Moorea, an island of French Polynesia. They found that a species of clownfish that were exposed to human-generated light for long periods of time were 36% less likely to live, as compared to clownfish residing farther from the coast, according to The Guardian. Of the clownfish that did survive, 44% of them grew slower than the fish who lived under natural lighting conditions."Clownfish exposed to light pollution were more likely to die than fish under natural light cycles," said Jules Schligler, lead author of the study, to ScienceDaily. "Like humans, fish need a period of inactivity, which is crucial for their well-being."One of the study's authors, Stephen Swearer, a marine biology professor at the University of Melbourne, said Moorea has many luxury hotels, and their bungalows hang over the water and cast light at night, according toThe Guardian.The researchers studied the young clownfish living close to the shore, and their counterparts who live in anemones away from areas inhabited by humans."Rooms have these little windows, like a portal in the floor, so you can turn the light on and look at the fish swimming around underneath," Swearer told The Guardian.It is unclear why fish exposed to artificial light grow at a reduced rate, and are more likely to die, Swearer said. A possible explanation is that the light attracts more predators. Another reason may be that long-term exposure to the light may have adverse physiological effects on the young clownfish.Swearer said that the clownfish are "just really tired" because they can't lower their activity levels at night time.
Could the 'Loneliest Whale' Teach Us About the Need to Connect? - For decades, legendary oceanographer and marine mammal researcher Bill Watkins tracked a mysterious creature without ever finding it. Watkins realized it was probably a whale. Researchers nicknamed it "The World's Loneliest Whale" because they hypothesized that it sang at a frequency that other whales could not hear or understand — one that rang out clearly at 52 hertz. They thought it might have spent its entire life in solitude, and they, and the rest of the world, found its existence captivating and almost haunting. Watkins often insisted, "What we can hear is sometimes more powerful than what we can see." In his new film, The Loneliest Whale, award-winning filmmaker Joshua Zeman takes up the mission to find the "52 Hertz Whale" and suggests that what we feel may perhaps eclipse both what can be seen and heard. Put forth by executive producers Leonardo DiCaprio and Adrian Grenier, the film uses the sciences of tracking whales and their songs to explore the human experiences of connection and communication. This all happens through the artistic lens of this solitary whale and the expedition searching for it. "It's been said this whale has spent its entire life swimming through the oceans, calling out and never once receiving a response. No one has heard from this whale since the Navy stopped listening 10 years ago. No one's ever seen this whale. No one knows if he's the first of his kind or the last," Zeman opens the film saying. "52," as the whale is also referred to, sings notes three times higher than those of other fin or blue whales, the species whose migratory patterns his most closely resemble. Key notes in 52's song fall at a frequency of 52 hertz and sound, to human ears, like low bass notes, BBC reported. Blue and fin whales, on the other hand, sing between 10 to 40Hz and at 20Hz, respectively. Some scientists have suggested that 52's song is too high a frequency for other whales to hear or too different for them to understand, Deep English reported. "Such an obscure song receives no response from other whales. Scientists are confused why a healthy creature doesn't change its tune and communicate in a regular pattern used by other whales," Deep English added. The leading hypothesis, according to BBC, is that 52 is a hybrid fin and blue whale, with an unusual body shape that might affect its song. Zeman and the scientists in the film follow a pod of blue whales to an area where 52 has been heard more recently and find one "interesting" looking individual — with apparent characteristics of both species. Before they can tag the whale, a ship blares into the scene, and the entire pod scatters.
Not Exactly a Silent Spring Due to Cicadas, but the Birds Are Dying Again - In the introduction to Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring. she wrote of a “Fable for Tomorrow” and a “strange blight” that had crept over the land, in the form of a white powder called DDT that was being sprayed all over the country to kill mosquitoes.“There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example — where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.”It took a decade, but DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, and in recent years, scientists have reported a strong return of the bald eagle and other birds. Another blight seems to be killing the birds in the D.C. Metro Area, now living under the once in a 17-year hum of the Brood X cicadas — first written about by William Bartram in 1732 in Philadelphia before the Unites States won its independence from Great Britain.Could this new blight be due to the birds eating the cicadas that have been waiting under pesticide soaked ground for 17 years to come out again to breed? That was the suggestion of one scientists interviewed on WAMU, the NPR radio station in Washington. Reports of blind and dead birds have been coming in from southern Maryland, the District of Columbia and across Northern Virginia into the West Virginia Panhandle since May, according to a recent report from the U.S. Geological Survey, which is now urging people to stop filling bird feeders and bird baths in case the cause is a communicable dsease.“Birds congregating at feeders and baths can transmit disease to one another,” the agency said. Therefore, the state and District agencies recommend that the public in the outbreak area:
- * Cease feeding birds until this wildlife mortality event has concluded.
- * Clean feeders and bird baths with a 10 percent bleach solution.
- * Avoid handling birds, but wear disposable gloves if handling is necessary.
- * Keep pets away from sick or dead birds as a standard precaution.
Solve nature and climate together or not at all − Two of the world’s leading scientific institutions have joined forces to arrive at a not very surprising conclusion: solve nature and climate together, or forget them both. If the world does not work to tackle the climate crisis and the extinction threat confronting millions of wild species together, it has little hope of solving either of them separately. So says a report published by the snappily-titled Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), each respected for their commanding knowledge in their own fields. The report, the IPBES/IPCC Workshop Report, which marks the first collaboration between the two bodies’ scientists, is not content simply to urge joint action on the intertwined problems threatening the world. It goes on to identify what it says are key options for solving them. Both biodiversity loss and climate change are driven by human economic activities and mutually reinforce each other, the report says. While previous policies have largely tackled the twin crises independently of each other, addressing the synergies between the two simultaneously offers hope of maximising benefits and meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.“Human-caused climate change is increasingly threatening nature and its contributions to people, including its ability to help mitigate climate change. The warmer the world gets, the less food, drinking water and other key contributions nature can make to our lives, in many regions”, said Prof. Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of the report’s scientific steering committee.“Changes in biodiversity, in turn, affect climate, especially through impacts on nitrogen, carbon and water cycles,” he said. “The evidence is clear: a sustainable global future for people and nature is still achievable, but it requires transformative change with rapid and far-reaching actions of a type never before attempted, building on ambitious emissions reductions.
'Rare, dangerous and deadly' heat wave tightens grip on western US - The magnitude of the heat across the western United States through the coming week will be one for the record books, according to forecasters. And it's not just how hot it will get that will set this particular heat wave apart from others the region has frequently endured in the past -- it's how long it will last.The hot pattern could set dozens of new daily record highs through the middle of June, in addition to potentially setting new all-time high marks for the month as a whole in some locations.This image captured early Monday morning, June 14, 2021, shows all of the alerts in effect for the Southwest, most of them related to excessive heat. (AccuWeather)The intense heat has prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) to issueexcessive heat watches and warnings throughout California, southern Nevada, western and southern Arizona and Utah. Many of these alerts last through Friday, June 18.The hot air began to build on Sunday with records falling from Arizona and California to Wyoming and Idaho. One of the longest-standing records to be broken was in Salt Lake City, where the mercury rose to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the date's record of 100 from 1918. June 13, 2021, is now also the earliest instance of a 102-degree temperature in Salt Lake City, breaking the previous record from June 15, 1974, according to the NWS. Other record highs fell in Stanley, Pocatello and Idaho Falls, Idaho; Safford, Tucson and Nogales, Arizona; Rock Springs and Laramie, Wyoming; and Anaheim, California, as highs in the 80s, 90s and 100s were recorded. Such temperatures are more typical of July and August.AccuWeather meteorologists expect these mid-summerlike conditions to persist as the jet stream bulges northward and keeps the hot air flowing into the region."The heat will only become more intense through the week," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said.In an area of the country that is no stranger to hot weather, the intensity and longevity of this heat wave is what has forecasters particularly concerned this go-round. Highs can trend as much as 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit above normal at the peak of the heat wave.
Dangerously High Temperatures in West Expected to Threaten Lives, Power Grids - Dangerously high temperatures are gripping the West with more to life- and grid-threatening heat expected in the coming days. Phoenix hit at least 113°F over the weekend and temperatures from the Southwest to Northern Rockies are forecast to be 15-25°F above average. Texas officials are already asking customers to conserve electricity as the extreme heat, combined with multiple gas and coal plants broken down and offline for repairs, have created an unusual early electricity shortfall just months after widespread blackouts lead to hundreds of deaths across the state.. Combined with the current climate-fueled megadrought, wildfire danger is also exceptionally high. Nearly 40 million people as far north as the Canadian Border could see triple-digit highs this week, and some parts of Arizona, including Phoenix, could see overnight lows in the 90s, which are often more dangerous because the human body is deprived of its nocturnal cool-down period and and cooling shelters for those without air-conditioners are closed. The heat will also be especially deadly for those who work outside, like farmworkers, and cannot escape the heat without risking loss of income. As reported by Earther:Extreme heat is becoming all the more common due to the climate crisis. It isn't just uncomfortable, it can also be deadly. Research shows that high temperatures are the deadliest form of extreme weather on the planet due to increased threat of conditions like heat stress, heatstroke, and cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Older people are especially at risk, and the National Weather Service underscored that in its warnings this week referring to the heat as "DEADLY" in all caps.⚠️Dangerous Heatwave!⚠️ Extreme heat arrives soon & will last several days. Many places are under an Excessive Hea… https://t.co/fYIdKsl1lx — NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas)
"Mega-drought" in West means threat of extreme fire season ahead - By almost any measure the drought in the Western states this year is about as bad as we've ever seen — perhaps the worst in modern history. A severe lack of rainfall over the past two years, combined with a steadily heating climate, has turned California into a tinderbox, setting the stage for what will likely be a catastrophic fire season ahead.This comes on the heels of the worst fire season in recorded history in the West, setting a new bar for what seemed possible. In 2020, more than 8 million acres burned, withCalifornia and Colorado experiencing their largest fires ever. That's why it's startling to see the comparison between last year's relatively modest drought and this year's record-setting drought. Drought conditions this time last year are a blip on the radar compared to where we are right now. The orange in the above map represents severe drought, the red is extreme drought and the dark red is exceptional drought. A total of 72% of the West is blanketed in one of these three categories and more than one-quarter is in exceptional drought — the highest category. Over the past 20 years, the coverage of exceptional drought has never surpassed 11%. Right now it is a staggering 27%.The escalating drought has severely dried out vegetation weeks before fire season really kicks in. The energy, or fuel, available to feed fires, technically called the Energy Release Component, is at a record level for this time of year. In the chart below for the Central Sierra mountains of California, the blue line represents the current energy available for fires, and the red line shows the previous highs. Although it appears that our current level is a record for all time, not just for the date, that needs some context. The data plotted for the Central Sierras only spans the last 10 years, so incorporating more years would likely show that the current amount of available energy is indeed a record for the date, but not for the entire fire season.
Unprecedented drought conditions across Western US fuel wildfires and water disputes - The wildfire season has arrived in the Western United States and once again revealed the glaring increase in drought conditions throughout the region. Experts predict that temperatures and blazes this year will likely surpass all-time records set last year. The National Weather Service (NWS) has recorded skyrocketing temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, which have reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit and 111 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Several other areas in the American West set new temperature records, with Salt Lake City hitting 107 degrees, a record that has only been reached twice before in 147 years of records, while Denver broke its seasonal record on June 15 of 97 degrees to reach 101 degrees. Direct exposure to such temperatures is unbearable to humans after just minutes. According to the June 8, 2021, US Drought Monitor, a project run by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, moderate to exceptional drought covers 37.8 percent of the US, an increase from last week’s 36.5 percent. The worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) increased from 17.5 percent last week to 17.8 percent. Abnormal dryness and drought are currently affecting over 143 million people across the continental US and Puerto Rico—about 45.9 percent of the population. As shown by the long-term forecasts for temperature and precipitation produced by NWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), drought conditions are likely to continue to become far worse, especially in the West and Southwest US. Record high temperatures and very low precipitation in the region create the conditions for wildfires to burst out of control during the entire year, well into the fall and winter of 2021. Sudden thunderstorms that move in after an area has been burned over by wildfire can create destructive mudslides and landslides that can destroy homes, farms and entire neighborhoods. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported Wednesday that “Currently, 33 large fires have burned more than 360,000 acres in 10 states. Eleven new large fires were reported yesterday. Wildland fire activity increased in the Northern Rockies and Rocky Mountain areas where seven new large fires were reported. More than half of the 33 uncontained large fires are in the Southwest and Great Basin areas.” Current and predicted weather conditions will likely further fan new flames. According to the NIFC, the strong high pressure weather front that remains over Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, the northern Rockies into Canada, and upper air moving into the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies, combined with very hot, record-setting temperatures in the Southwest, southern California, and the northern Rockies, are creating an extremely dangerous situation that will exacerbate wildfires in the region. Moreover, isolated dry thunderstorms are expected for the Southwest and southern Colorado. Lightning strikes during these extreme conditions can set off a massive wildfire that would be difficult to contain.
Rocky Mountain Forests Burning More Now Than Any Time in the Past 2,000 Years - The exceptional drought in the U.S. West has people across the region on edge after the record-setting fires of 2020. Last year, Colorado alone saw its three largest fires in recorded state history, one burning late in October and crossing the barren Continental Divide well above the tree line. Evidence now shows the 2020 fire season pushed these ecosystems to levels of burning unprecedented for at least 2,000 years.That evidence, which we describe in a study published June 14, 2021, serves as a sobering example of how climate change is altering the ecosystems on which lives and economies depend.A previous study nearly a decade ago warned that by the mid-21st century, climate warming could increase burning past historical levels and transform some Rocky Mountain forests. Our results show such changes in fire activity are now underway. Historically, fires burned in the subalpine central Rockies every 230 years, on average. That has increased significantly in the 21st century. Philip HigherAs paleoecologists we’ve spent decades researching how wildfires, climate and forests change over time.We used to be able to look to the past when rare events like large wildfires occurred and say “we’ve seen this before and our ecosystems have generally bounced back.” In the last few years, however, it’s become icreasingly clear that many ecosystems are entering uncharted territory.Witnessing the exceptionally large fires burning in high-elevation forests in 2020, unusually late in the season, we wondered if we were experiencing something truly unprecedented.In Colorado and Wyoming, the largest fires of 2020 were burning in a region where our researchteams have spent over 15 years developing records of fire history and ecosystem change from materials preserved in the bottom of lakes. By plunging a long tube into the mud and extracting a core, we can examine the history of the surrounding landscape – revealed in the layers of everything that sank to the bottom over thousands of years.Carbon dating of tree needles and twigs helps us determine the age of each layer in a core. Pollen preserved in the sediments can tell us what grew nearby. And dense charcoal layers tell us when fires burned.We used such records of past fires preserved in the sediments of 20 lakes in the central Rocky Mountains.The result: The extensive burning over the 21st century is unprecedented in this region in the past 2,000 years.
‘Death Valley, Las Vegas smash records as heat wave in West persists --A blistering heat wave lingering over the western U.S. has smashed record temperatures in multiple states, increasing wildfire danger and worsening historic and life-threatening drought. Triple-digit highs were felt in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada as well as in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an emergency proclamation on Thursday over concerns regarding energy grid capacity. To the south of Sacramento, the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Prediction Center (WPC) announced that California's Death Valley had reached a scorching 128 degrees Fahrenheit.The desert valley has long been the record-holder for the highest air temperature ever recorded on Earth – 134 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in 1913, though that figure is reportedly contested – and just last year the agency reported a temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, which the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said at the time would be the third-hottest temperature ever recorded if verified after a months-long analysis.In Nevada, the NWS and forecaster AccuWeather said Friday high temperatures in Las Vegas would peak at a toasty 114 degrees, challenging records.The NWS said Wednesday that that Sin City had broken a decades-old temperature record with a thermometer at McCarran International Airport recording a high of 116 degrees.The all-time high for Las Vegas is 117, reached in June 2017.In a release, the WMO noted that the extreme temperatures were part of a trend due to climate change, with heat waves "more frequent and more intense."
Apocalyptic’ heat wave scorches US Southwest again - An extreme heat wave that has already shattered temperature records across the U.S. Southwest threatened on Friday to push power systems to the brink of failure as residents cranked up air conditioners. California power grid operators, who have so far been able to keep the lights on, issued their latest "flex alert" for Friday, asking homeowners across the state to conserve energy in the late afternoon and evening when demand surges. The heat, which comes amid years of drought across the Southwest, has strained power grids in California and Texas and fueled the spread of wildfires. “It feels somewhat apocalyptic with the record high heat, the smoke from wildfires tearing through the Sonoran desert and the news on the drought,” said Emily Kirkland, a communications organizer for a Phoenix nonprofit group. The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings for five states - California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and parts of Colorado - warning that temperatures soaring well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) can be dangerous. "Very hot conditions will continue for interior areas through Saturday, followed by gradual cooling into next week. Until then, USE CAUTION as heat can be deadly! Most importantly, stay hydrated and never leave kids or pets in a hot car!!" the National Weather Service station for Los Angeles said on Twitter. Temperature records have already been tied or broken in Salt Lake City, Palm Springs and elsewhere and record highs were forecast for Phoenix on Friday at 117 degrees. Many other cities were expected to come close to tying or breaking their daily records, including Las Vegas where a high temperature of 114 degrees was forecast. Power systems in Texas and California have so far withstood the strain but operators said that if residents did not conserve energy in the late afternoon, rolling blackouts could be required to keep the system running. In Texas, where temperatures have moderated, demand hit a record on Monday, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). California's power demand peaked on Thursday at 41,364 megawatts and was expected to surpass that level on Friday, according to the California Independent System Operator, which operates the grid in most of the state. One megawatt can power about 200 homes on a hot day. The heat wave extended to the Midwest, prompting weather services to issue advisories for Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, before a strong cold front brings relief by the end of the weekend. Temperatures in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, were forecast to top 100 degrees on Friday.
The Record Temperatures Enveloping The West Are Not Your Average Heat Wave : NPR --It might be tempting to shrug at the scorching temperatures across large swaths of the West: This just in, it gets hot in the summer. But this record-setting heat wave's remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change.These sprawling, persistent high pressure zones popularly called "heat domes" are relatively common in later summer months. This current system is different. "It's not only unusual for June, but it is pretty extreme even in absolute terms," says Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. "It would be a pretty extreme event for August," Swain says, when these typically occur.This heat dome's reach is remarkable, too: It has set record highs stretching from the Great Plains to coastal California. And these aren't just records for that specific date or month but in a few spots they are records for the singularly hottest day in the entire period of record, sometimes stretching back 100 to 150 years. "That's a pretty big deal," Swain says."It's unusual in that it's more intense in terms of the maximum temperature," says Alison Bridger, a professor in the Meteorology and Climate Science department at San Jose State University. "And how widespread the impact is."For example, Palm Springs, Calif., recently hit 123 degrees, equaling its highest recorded temperature.Las Vegas set a daily record of 114 degrees. Phoenixreached a record 118 degrees, the earliest the city has hit that high a mark. It broke the previous record of 114 set in 2015.Sacramento, Calif., set a new daily record of 109 degrees. The National Weather Service just extended its excessive heat warning through Sunday night in the Central Valley and parts of northern California.Denver this week hit 100 for three straight days, the earliest date of such a streak on record, tweeted meteorologist Bob Henson. He noted that all of the 100 degree streaks in Denver's 150 years of climate record keeping have occurred in the last three decades. And in the Plains, several cities including Omaha, Neb., set records, including a dailyrecord high of 105 degrees. That breaks an Omaha daily record set in 1918.
Doctors Warn of Third-Degree Burns From Touching Pavement as Temperatures Soar and Grids Strain in West - Mutually worsening heat and drought are stifling the American West, stoking wildfire fears and straining electrical grids — and the worst is far from over."We could have two, three, four, five of these heat waves before the end of the summer," Park Williams, a UCLA climate and fire scientist, told the AP. A record-breaking heatwave trapped by an area of high atmospheric pressure, known as a heat dome, is pushing temperatures as much as 30°F above normal and subjecting 40 million people to temperatures over 100°F.Doctors in Arizona and Nevada warned touching pavement could cause third degree burns. The extreme heat is also straining electrical grids. California grid operators called for voluntary demand reduction and, for the second time in four months, Texas grid operators are asking their customers to reduce their energy usage — including using less air conditioning and putting off cooking and washing their clothes — prompting jokes that Sen. Ted Cruz would soon be flying to Alaska.The intense heat and drought are fueling wildfires across the region and stoking fears that more will come as the season is just starting. And so is the warming. "We're still a long way out from the peak of the wildfire season and the peak of the dry season," Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, told The New York Times. "Things are likely to get worse before they get better."Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, agreed. "As bad as it might seem today," he told the Times, "this is about as good as it's going to get if we don't get global warming under control."As reported by The Associated Press:In the Southwest, the problem of burns from hot surfaces is growing as temperatures rise due to climate change and increasing urbanization.And it shows up in emergency rooms like the one at the Arizona Burn Center in Phoenix, where director Dr. Kevin Foster said 104 people were admitted in June, July and August 2020 with serious burn injuries due to contact with scorching surfaces. Seven people died.Many more received outpatient treatment."It doesn't take much time to get a full thickness or third degree burn when exposed to hot pavement," Foster said in a press briefing last week. "Because if you look at hot pavement or asphalt at two o'clock in the afternoon in direct sunlight, the temperature is usually somewhere around 170 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit."
Rockton chemical plant explodes, residents evacuated; no injuries reported -— Residents within a one mile radius of Chemtool, 1165 Prairie Hill Road, are being asked to evacuate due to possible dangerous chemicals being released in a large fire at the facility Monday morning. A massive dark plume of smoke can be seen for miles, and as far away as DeKalb. According to Chemtool, the fire began around 7 a.m. “We have confirmed all on site are safe and accounted for. Our concern right now is for the safety of all our employees and the surrounding community. As a precaution, authorities have evacuated residents in a one-mile radius of the site. “We do not yet know what caused this incident, but we will be working with local authorities and with our own risk management team to determine what happened and identify any corrective actions. We will share more details as they are known.” The company manufactures fluids, lubricants and grease products which are distributed worldwide. Fire officials say residents and businesses within a one mile radius of Chemtool have been ordered to evacuate due to potentially hazardous chemicals in the air. “The center of this plume of smoke is dead-center where my property is,” a neighbor said. “The chemicals that go into that building all day long… (I) have no idea what’s going to happen to the neighborhood.” The Ogle County Sheriff released a statement at 10:50 a.m., saying: “The fire in Rockton has caused smoke to cover the eastern third of Ogle County. Close windows and doors if you live east of Meridian Rd and monitor your indoor air quality. Please do not call 911 unless you’re having an emergency.”
Massive Rockton chemical plant fire could burn for days, officials say (WTVO) — Officials say a massive fire at a Rockton chemical plant could burn for days.Residents within a one mile radius of Chemtool, 1165 Prairie Hill Road, were asked to evacuate due to possible dangerous chemicals being released in a large fire at the facility Monday morning. Approximately 70 employees were evacuated and were uninjured. Rockton Fire Chief Kirk Wilson said one firefighter was treated for injuries. Wilson also said air quality tests had been performed by the City of Rockford HAZMAT team, and “there is no danger to air quality” at ground level, but it is unknown when residents would be allowed back in their homes. A massive dark plume of smoke extended south-southeast from the fire, raining ash and debris on residents as far south as DeKalb. Wilson said about 150 residents and businesses within a one mile radius of Chemtool were “strongly suggested” to evacuate as a precaution, due to potentially hazardous chemicals stored at the facility.The fire chief also said that it will likely take several days for the oil-based fire to burn off. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has arrived on-scene to determine if hazardous chemicals are a danger to surrounding residents following Monday’s massive fire at Chemtool. Officials said the company stored lead, antifreeze, nitrogen, and sulfuric acid, among other chemicals. The Winnebago County Emergency Operations Center is tracking the smoke plume and wind direction, and says the area directly impacted is two miles to the south of Chemtool.The county health department is asking residents within one mile of Chemtool to evacuate, and those within 2 miles to stay indoors and close windows and doors, and turn off air conditioners. The Illinois Department of Public Health is advising those residents to wear a mask if they are within 3 miles of Chemtool. According to Chemtool, the fire began around 7 a.m. “We do not yet know what caused this incident, but we will be working with local authorities and with our own risk management team to determine what happened and identify any corrective actions. We will share more details as they are known.” The company manufactures fluids, lubricants and grease products which are distributed worldwide.
Rockton fire: Public health administrator urges residents near chemical fire to wear a mask and not pick up debris falling from the sky - A public health official is asking residents within a 3-mile radius of a chemical fire that broke out Monday to wear a mask when outside to avoid respiratory irritation. The fire at the Chemtool Inc. plant in Rockton, Illinois, broke out Monday morning and prompted the city fire department to order a mandatory evacuation for all residents and businesses in a 1-mile radius of the plant, police said in a message on Twitter.The mandatory 1-mile evacuation area around the site, as well as the mask wearing, is due to concerns about "particulate matter that can become pulmonary irritants," especially to those with compromised immune systems, said Dr. Sandra Martell, public health administrator for Winnebago County. "Please do not pick up waste that falls from the sky and is related to the fire," Martell advised at a news conference Monday evening. "We do not know what that waste contains. Please do not handle it with bare hands. Use a shovel, use gloves and sequester it -- meaning keep it separate from your household waste -- so that we know how to properly dispose of it. It's very important. We are reliant on our groundwater in this community and keeping that safe is of utmost importance to us."Rockton Fire Chief Kirk Wilson said the incident is expected to be a "several-day event" for the product to burn off. A large plume of smoke has been seen moving south and southeast of the explosion site. However, Wilson said, air quality analysis has shown no compromise of quality at ground level at this time. Wilson said the city hopes to avoid "an environmental nightmare" that could occur if any of Chemtool's oil-based lubricants ran off into the Rock River, about 300 meters (330 yards) west. One of their main concerns is product spilling into the river, he said. Speaking at a news conference earlier Monday, Wilson said the department's water-based firefighting suppression has stopped inside the building, and they're now letting the product "burn off." About 150 homes are in the evacuation zone, he said.The burn-off at the plant is expected to take several days. More than 40 agencies and 150-175 fire personnel are on the scene. The cause of the "catastrophic incident" has not been determined, Wilson said.The 70 employees at the factory were able to get out safely, Wilson said. When fire crews arrived, the flames were through the roof and clouds of smoke filled the sky, CNN affiliate WREXreported. Wilson said Monday night one firefighter was hospitalized with breathing difficulties.
Massive explosion at Rockton, Illinois Chemtool plant causes evacuations and environmental risk -Local emergency personnel responded to a massive explosion at the Chemtool Inc. plant in Rockton, Illinois north of Rockford at around 7 a.m. Monday. It was classified a four-alarm fire—defined as a “catastrophic” fire—due to its continuing explosive nature. The fire is being allowed to continue and flame out on its own and is not expected to go out for at least several days, according to Rockton Fire Chief Kirk Wilson. According to witnesses, one firework-sized explosion was first heard from the direction of the plant before more, louder explosions were heard. Soon, a large pillar of smoke was visible and citizens in Rockton were told to evacuate. At the plant itself, the 70 workers on site were evacuated safely with no one wounded except one firefighter, who was mildly injured in response. The plant is closed until further notice with no estimate done on the damage it has caused to the building. News coverage throughout the day showed more explosions in the plant going into the afternoon as the smoke continued to consume almost the entire plant. All those living within one mile of the plant (consisting of roughly 150 homes) were evacuated from the area, while those in the Rockford region are encouraged to wear masks and stay indoors as the fire continues. Forbes reported the smoke could be seen from Chicago as the wind continues to carry it south and southwest. On Monday afternoon, Governor JB Pritzker sent the Illinois National Guard to the plant to ensure its containment and assist local agencies in evacuating the town’s residents. At least 40 agencies and 175 firefighters were on scene with approximately 60 firefighters from 18 departments in Wisconsin also being sent across the state border to assist Rockton emergency responders.The black clouds of smoke from the explosion became so large they were visible on weather radar. The massive scale of the fire and its environmental risks bring up questions regarding the nature of the company itself. The Chemtool production facilities, owned by Lubrizol, are reported to contain some of the largest grease reactors in the world and the plant in Rockton is one of its largest sites. Still, there is little information regarding the cause of the fire or what lead it to spread so quickly to consume such an enormous facility. After the fire broke out and forced workers and residents to evacuate, Chemtool released a statement saying, “We do not yet know what caused this incident, but we will be working with local authorities and with our own risk management team to determine what happened and identify any corrective actions. We will share more details as they are known.” This statement will come as little comfort to Chemtool and Lubrizol workers in light of the company’s response to another massive fire in Rouen, France two years ago. On September 25-26 2019, an enormous fire broke out in the Rouen plant for causes that still remain unknown despite an investigation by the company. The plant contained toxic materials and chemicals that were released into the air at a rapid rate, causing numerous cases of headaches, vomiting, and eight hospitalizations. The plant already had multiple incidents in which harmful chemicals were released into the environment. Lubrizol still has yet to determine how the fire was started and has not officially acknowledged that toxic chemicals were released during the fire
Mumbai soaked by 6 months' worth of rain in 5 days, India (videos) India's largest city Mumbai registered a total of 715.3 mm (28.2 inches) from June 8 to 12, 2021 -- nearly six months' worth of June rain (126.1 mm (5 inches)). Heavy downpours are expected to continue until June 17. This year, the city may overtake its all-time June record of 1 106.7 mm (43.6 inches) set in 2015. From June 8 to 9, the city already received about 60 mm (2.4 inches) of rain in just an hour, leading to waterlogging in several places, including Hindmata, Milan Subway, and Sion. "BMC is working on war footing to drain out the excessive rainwater," said BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal. "Though the flooding disrupted traffic in some parts, in most areas there were no major disruptions. The local train services were suspended for a brief period." Heavy rains continued for days and from June 8 to 12, the total amount reached 715.3 mm (28.2 inches)-- almost six months the average rain for the month of June of 126.1 mm (5 inches). This year, the city may overtake its all-time high June record of 1 106.7 mm (43.6 inches) set in 2015. "With the active meteorological conditions hinting at vigorous monsoon rains, these records could go for a toss very soon," SkyMet Weather meteorologists said. A yellow alert is in place until June 17 as heavy downpours are expected to continue. "Cyclonic circulation earlier persisting over the Arabian Sea off the Konkan coast has weakened. However, an east-west trough still is marked across Konkan, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and the center of low pressure," SkyMet added. "Low pressure is expected to become more marked and westerly streams along the west coast will pick up strength. Monsoon rains will accentuate again in general over Konkan and Mumbai in particular." "South Konkan and Goa are heading for extremely heavy rains over the next three to four days. Mumbai, Thane, Alibag, and Palghar also will have intense rains over the next two to three days."
Major summer storm hits Greece with a month's worth of rain in just 40 minutes (videos) A major summer storm hit Greece, particularly the municipality of Attica, on Friday, June 11, 2021, bringing extremely heavy rain, lightning, and hail. A month's worth of rain fell in 40 minutes, causing traffic disruption across Athens and power outages to wide swaths of the city."The rainstorm, which produced what is usually a month’s worth of rain in Greece in just 40 minutes, caused major traffic jams across Athens, and even left large swaths of the city without power," the Greek Reporter reports.Meanwhile, an intense hailstorm hit Psychiko, Agia Paraskevi, and many areas in the northern suburbs. The severe weather caused power outages in Agia Paraskevi, Nea Ionia, Psychiko, Papagou, and Chalandri. Traffic lights were shut, mainly in Kifissia, according to authorities. A new atmospheric disturbance is forecast to reach northern parts of the country on Monday, June 14. Rains and thunderstorms are possible in Central and Eastern Macedonia, Thrace, and the islands of the Eastern Aegean.From Monday noon onwards, heavy rains are likely in Thrace, Thessaly, Eastern Sterea, Macedonia, Crete, and Eastern Aegean. There is a chance of hail mainly in the northern and eastern regions, as well as the mountainous areas of Western Greece.
Severe storms and flooding continue to batter northern Spain - Severe storms, including intense rain and hail, have been affecting northern Spain over the past 10 days, causing widespread flooding that led to hundreds of incident reports. On Monday, June 14, 2021, emergency services reported 54 weather-related incidents in a three-hour period in La Rioja, most of which involved people trapped in floodwaters. On Saturday, June 5, heavy rain, hail, and strong winds lashed Pozoblanco, Cabra, and Bujalance in the province of Cordoba, with some houses engulfed by floodwaters.Heavy rains continued into the next day, June 6 when around 70 mm (3 inches) of rain fell within just two hours, flooding areas in Tomelloso, Castile-La Mancha. 140 weather-related incidents were reported to authorities. Between June 5 and 6, the Emergency Coordination Center of the Region of Murcia attended to a total of 61 incidents.The worst-hit areas were Yecla with 15 incidents, Molina de Segura with 13, Murcia with 9, and Jumilla with 7.A powerful storm wreaked havoc in Ourense on Sunday, June 13, leaving a path of destruction. Authorities received hundreds of reports about flooded areas, uprooted trees, and damaged properties, describing the storm as the worst to hit the province in recent years.According to Meteo Galicia, 16 mm (0.62 inches) of rain felSevere weather continued into Monday, June 14, particularly affecting the province of La Rioja. SOS Rioja reported 54 incidents in a three-hour period, mostly in places between Haro and Logrono. In Navarrete, emergency services rescued a driver trapped in the flood as waters blocked roads in Briones and Urunuela. In Ezcaray, 31.1 mm (1.2 inches) of rain was registered, while in Haro and Najera, 19 mm (0.7 inches) fell, along with wind gusts of more than 70 km/h (43 mph). Among the worst-hit areas was the town of Fuenmayor, where two rivers burst their banks, damaging roads and buildings.
NIWA releases figures for historical 'one-in-200-year' event in Canterbury, New Zealand -Preliminary analysis by NIWA scientists has shown that the severe weather event in Canterbury, New Zealand, from May 29 to 31, 2021 was so extreme in some inland areas that it could be considered a "one-in-200-year" event. On May 29, extremely heavy rainfall hit north Canterbury, triggering rapid rise of rivers and widespread flooding. Many properties and roads were flooded, and hundreds of residents were evacuated. The New Zealand MetService has issued a rare Red Warning for Heavy Rain for the Canterbury region prior to the deluge.On Monday, June 14, NIWA has released the figures after conducting a preliminary analysis of the event. Between May 29 and 31, Environment Canterbury’s rain gauge near Mt. Somers recorded its largest 48-hour rainfall event totaling 526 mm (20.1 inches).Meanwhile, the nearby plains on the other side of Mt. Somers, just 10 km (6.2 miles) away, recorded only 310 mm (12.2 inches) in the same period, its largest-ever total. The data indicates that from May 29 to 31, the 48-hour rainfall totals registered at Mt. Somers, Geraldine, and Snowdon would all be expected on average only once in 200 years. These rain gauges span 100 km (62 miles) southwest to northeast in inland Canterbury. "These results show how widespread this event was, although it is interesting to note that the most extreme rainfall only occurred in a relatively thin strip along the Canterbury foothills,” said Dr. Carey-Smith, a climate scientist. Nearer to the coast, at places like Darfield, Oxford, Ashley, and Methven, the rainfall event observed was lower and reduces the expected probability of the event happening to about once in 50 years on average.
More than 260 000 affected as heavy rains hit Guatemala - At least five people have lost their lives and a total of 266 408 have been affected in Guatemala since the rainy season began in May, according to the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED). The latest fatalities were in Solola Department, where three people lost their lives in flash floods on Saturday, June 12.According to CONRED, 368 houses have been slightly damaged, 768 moderately, and 34 severely, while 39 roads have been affected. Five people have lost their lives so far this rainy season, with the latest fatalities coming from Solola Department.On Saturday, heavy rainfall caused the Quiba River to break its banks, flooding the village of Guineales, Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan.Around 30 houses were severely damaged, while 85 people have been transferred to safer grounds. Three people, two of whom were children, were swept away by the current.The Red Cross said they were working to accommodate around 10 000 residents who have been displaced in the village.In Amatitlan, a mudslide blocked a road on June 12, disrupting the travel of thousands of motorists. On the same day, 25 people have been displaced after flooding damaged buildings in San Cristobal Verapaz.
Severe floods and landslides wreak havoc across Nepal's Gandaki Province - (videos) Incessant heavy rainfall battering Nepal's Gandaki Province since Tuesday, June 15, 2021, resulted in damaging floods and landslides in which at least 7 people lost their lives. At least 19 others are still missing as of Thursday, June 17.Heavy monsoon rains began Tuesday, with the areas of the Sindhupalchok District the worst hit. Many residential building complexes were damaged in Helambu and Melamchi.According to chief district officer Bishnu Lamichhane, the complete assessment of damage is yet to be finalized, but reports have shown so far that flooding submerged 30 houses in Talgaun, 48 in Chame, and 15 in Dharapani, partially damaging or destroying them.Seven people were killed in floods and landslides. The bodies of the victims, who went missing on Tuesday, were retrieved Wednesday morning. At least 19 others are still missing.The victims were working in Melamchi trout farm, Sindhupalchok chief district officer Arun Kumar Pokharel told the media. The government has deployed the army to conduct rescue missions for people trapped in flooded houses, he added.Rudra Prasad Dulal, Ward Chair of Sindhupalchok, told ANI that the flooding incident could be the result of a glacial outburst near Tibetan territory. "The reason behind this flash flood is attributed to heavy rainfall in upper lying areas. Shaken by the 2072 (Nepali date of 2015 earthquake) earthquake, creeks on the inner areas of the hills are suspected to be swept by large masses of ice and muds contained by it. We have suspected it to be a reason for flooding," he explained. This year's monsoon season in Nepal started on June 12.
Relentless heavy rains trigger severe flash floods and landslides in Bhutan - (videos) At least 10 people have died as persistent heavy rains triggered major flash flooding in Bhutan, authorities reported on Wednesday, June 16, 2021. Residents in the Himalayan region were caught off guard by rising rivers and streams, inundating homes and buildings.Heavy monsoon rains caused rivers and streams to burst their banks, sending floodwaters to many areas.According to Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, at least 10 people have died and five others were hurt, two of whom sustained serious injuries. The victims are believed to be a group that was collecting cordyceps at the campsite near Laya."Our hearts are with the people of Laya today, as we hear about the tragedy that struck a group of cordyceps collectors in the highland," the PM said in a statement."Along with local authorities and medical teams, we have coordinated the rescue efforts since 09:00 UTC (15:00 LT). For now, as you have heard, we have lost 10 previous lives and five others are injured."Rescue operations are continuing while helicopters have been deployed to evacuate other victims. Crews, including military personnel, have been sent to an extremely remote area that was badly affected.Tshering urged people to avoid visiting or camping near rivers during this time, as well as to be aware of the hazards brought by the heavy monsoon rains. In the neighboring country of Nepal, monsoon rains have killed at least seven people and submerged almost 100 homes, with many others feared missing.
Floods, mudflows and rockfalls hit Dagestan after nearly half a month's worth of rain in a day, Russia - Severe thunderstorms triggered paralyzing flooding, mudflows, and rockfalls in the Russian Republic of Dagestan on Monday, June 14, 2021. Meteorological stations said the area registered between 21 and 33 mm (0.8 and 1.3 inches) of rain in a day, which is nearly half the monthly average for the month of June. Heavy rains hit the area on Monday, which was equivalent to nearly half the June average. As a result, mudflows and rockfalls blocked 11 roads in several districts, sweeping away vehicles. Authorities had to reroute motorists due to the debris. In the capital city of Makhachkala, a girl standing at an open window was killed by a lightning strike.
Tropical Storm "Koguma" makes landfall over Thanh Hoa, Vietnam - (videos)Tropical Storm "Koguma" -- the fourth named storm of the 2021 Pacific typhoon season -- made landfall over Thanh Hoa Province at 18:00 UTC on June 13, 2021, with winds of 65 km/h (40 mph) and barometric pressure of 996 hPa. The cyclone weakened shortly after landfall but continued to produce strong winds and damaging rainfall.According to the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority (VDMA), more than 130 homes were damaged due to strong winds, including 104 in Nam Dinh Province and 21 in Ha Nam.Heavy rain accompanied strong winds, with 321 mm (12.6 inches) recorded in Dau Lieu, Ha Tinh Province, and 240 mm (9.4 inches) in Vinh, Nghe An Province.A total of 19 733 ha (48 761 acres) of farmland was flooded, 15 400 ha (38 054 acres) in Ha Tinh, and 3 463 ha (8 557 acres) in Nghe An.Ahead of Koguma's approach to Vietnam from the Gulf of Tonkin, the city of Thai Bình ordered the suspension of all fishing activities (55 000+ fishing boats) in the area due to the forecasted rough waters and urged the individuals in the area to cut the trees that would disrupt major roadways and put support on their houses, warehouses, schools, hospitals, aquaculture, and fishing farms to prevent any damages.According to local media reports, many farmers also hurried to harvest the spring rice crops to prevent them from being destroyed and flooded.Evacuations in the area and its nearby cities and provinces were also ordered.
Tropical Storm "Bill" forms off the coast of North Carolina, U.S. - Tropical Storm "Bill" formed off the coast of North Carolina, U.S. at 03:00 UTC on June 15, 2021, as the 2nd named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Bill is moving fairly swiftly toward Newfoundland, Canada, and is expected to dissipate on June 16.At 03:00 UTC on June 15, the center of Tropical Storm "BIll" was located about 540 km (335 miles) ENE of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The system had maximum sustained winds of 75 km/h (45 mph) and was moving NE at 37 km/h (23 mph). Its minimum central pressure was 1 003 hPa.Bill is expected to continue moving NE through Wednesday, June 16 with increasing forward speed. Some additional short-term strengthening is possible today, however, the system is expected to become a post-tropical low and dissipate on June 16.
Tropical Storm Claudette forms and makes landfall along Gulf Coast - A Gulf storm was upgraded to Tropical Storm Claudette after coming ashore in southeast Louisiana on Saturday, as millions across the South are under storm warnings, according to the National Hurricane Center. Claudette, previously referred to as Potential Tropical Cyclone Three, upgraded to a tropical storm in the early morning hours as the center of the storm was about 45 miles southeast of New Orleans. The maximum sustained winds are at 45 mph, according to NHC. Tropical storm warnings remain unchanged throughout the region, and the main threats are heavy rainfall and tropical-storm-force winds. Claudette is forecast to weaken into a tropical depression by tonight and become post-tropical on Sunday. The system is then forecast to re-develop over the western Atlantic Ocean on Monday as it moves away from the East Coast of the US. Parts of Louisiana were bombarded with more than 9 inches of rain Friday into early Saturday, according to CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford. Residents have prepared over the last couple days for the storm. We’ve moved out cars, but we can’t move our house,” McCarthy told CNN affiliate WDSU. “We’ve got our sandbags ready. We’ve got our tarp ready and we’re just … hoping for the best.” In Mississippi, people started filling sandbags Thursday to help aid potential flooding, CNN affiliate WLOX reported. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a state of emergency on Thursday and activated the Crisis Action Team to support local agencies with resources needed beyond parish capabilities. A tornado watch was issued for the Gulf Coast including parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and the panhandle of Florida until 11 a.m. Central time, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Some of the cities under that watch are Gulfport, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida.
Tropical Storm Claudette Floods Streets, Spawns Tornadoes Across Upper Gulf Coast -Tropical Storm Claudette flooded streets and brought heavy winds and severe weather to some areas of the Gulf Coast as it moved across shore Saturday morning. The storm, brewing for several days in the Gulf, was named overnight. Claudette's effects are stretching from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle and are expected to move further inland throughout the day. Some of the worst damage reported so far is in Brewton, Alabama, where a tornado destroyed homes and other buildings. The town is about 60 miles north of Pensacola, Florida. At least three mobile homes were destroyed, according to WEAR-TV. There were reports of minor injuries. Aerial drone video showed splintered debris scattered across a neighborhood. Tornadoes were also reported in several other areas. Several houses were damaed in Pace, Florida, which is in Santa Rosa County between Pensacola where the other homes were damaged in Alabama. Highways and bridges were closed throughout the region Saturday morning, including parts of Highway 90 between Biloxi and Pass Christian, Mississippi. Flooding and sand covered much of the roadway, the Sun-Herald newspaper reported. A journalist for the Sun-Herald shared video of elevated homes surrounded by water in Hancock, Mississippi. In Slidell, Louisiana, police deployed high-water rescue vehicles due to widespread flooding in the city. "We are currently clearing/have cleared approximately 40 to 50 vehicles out of the roadways due to them being flooded with water," the agency said in a social media post at about 6:30 a.m. CDT. "Last night/early this morning, we had to rescue multiple people from their flooded cars, along with a woman, who was on her way to the hospital, possibly going into labor." There were no reports of major injuries or damage. "We ask people to please use caution when driving around this morning," the post continued. "There is still a lot of debris and stalled vehicles in the area. Water is still high in some neighborhoods. Drive slow through floodwaters, especially in neighborhoods." A wind gust of 81 mph was recorded in Pensacola Beach, Florida, where some windows were blown out of at least one hotel and a tractor trailer blew over on the Interstate 10 bridge across Escambia Bay. About 13,000 homes and businesses were without power early Saturday morning in the Florida Panhandle counties of Santa Rosa and Escambia, according to poweroutage.us. There were also reports of downed trees and power lines and damaged buildings in both those counties after high winds and possible tornado Saturday morning.
Tropical Storm Claudette is on the move. Louisiana to the Panhandle getting drenched - Tropical Storm Claudette is drenching Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle as it continues to move inland, marking the first storm this season to touch land. As of the 2 p.m. update, the National Hurricane Center says Claudette is still maintaining 40 mph sustained winds as it moves north-northeast at 14 mph. Claudette 80 miles north-northwest of Mobile, Alabama and 140 miles west-southwest of Montgomery, Alabama. Claudette’s tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles southeast of the center. It reached tropical storm status around 5 a.m. as it crossed the 40 mph sustained wind threshold to become the third named storm of the season. The tropical storm warning from the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Mouth of the Mississippi River had been discontinued by the 2 p.m. advisory. However, a tropical storm warning is still in place from the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Okaloosa/Walton County line in Florida. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Cape Fear to Duck, North Carolina, Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. Forecasters say Claudette is expected to weaken to a tropical depression later today as it continues to move farther inland across portions of the southeast U.S., however, it is forecast to become a tropical storm again when it moves across the Carolinas Sunday night or early Monday. By Monday, forecasters predict Claudette will be over the western Atlantic Ocean. Storm surge predictions for the area are low, around one to three feet, and there’s a potential for some tornadoes. But the real threat is rain, forecasters say.
Tropical Storm "Dolores" forecast to be near hurricane strength as it hits Mexico - Tropical Storm "Dolores" continues intensifying on its way toward Mexico. Landfall is expected today, June 19, or early June 20, 2021, along the southwest coast of Mexico. Dolores formed at 15:00 UTC on June 18 as the 4th named storm of the 2021 Pacific hurricane season. At the time, its center was located about 370 km (230 miles) S of Lazaro Cardenas and 515 km (320 miles) SSW of Manzanillo, Mexico.Dolores is expected to continue strengthening today up until landfall, and it could be near hurricane strength when it reaches the coast of west-central Mexico by this afternoon (LT). A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch are in effect for portions of the southwestern and west-central coasts of Mexico. Heavy rains are forecast over coastal sections of the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit during the next few days, which could result in life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.A Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch are in effect for Lazaro Cardenas to Cabo Corrientes, Mexico, and a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for areas north of Cabo Corrientes to Escuinapa, Mexico.At 09:00 UTC on June 19, the center of Tropical Storm "Dolores" was located about 145 km (90 miles) SW of Lazaro Cardenas and 225 km (160 miles) SSE of Manzanillo.Its maximum sustained winds were 95 km/h (60 mph) and minimum central pressure 995 hPa.The storm is moving NNW at 17 km/h (10 mph) and this motion is expected to continue with a gradual acceleration prior to landfall.Dolores is expected to make landfall along the southwest coast of Mexico later today (LT), NHC forecasters said.Additional intensification is expected prior to landfall, and Dolores is forecast to be near hurricane intensity when it makes landfall.Rapid weakening is expected after landfall and the system is expected to dissipate by the end of the weekend.
44% of Ocean Plastics Are Linked to Takeout Food - In recent years, it's been a fad to skip the straw to save the turtles, but what you may not know is that straws are not the biggest offenders when it comes to ocean plastic, according to a new study.Instead, researchers are turning their attention to takeout containers and convenience food as the worst offender in plastics polluting the ocean.Widespread plastic contaminants such as food containers and wrappers, single-use bags, and plastic bottles are the most widespread pollutants of the seas, making up almost half of human-made waste, according toThe Guardian."It was shocking to find out that bags, bottles, food containers and cutlery together with wrappers account for almost half of the human-made objects on a global scale," said study leader Dr. Carmen Morales of the University of Cadiz, Spain to BBC. "We found them in rivers, on the deep seabed, on shorelines and floating off our coasts."Only 10 plastic products make up 75% of the oceans' litter, the scientists found, due to the volume in which they are used and their slow degradation periods. The list also includes plastic lids and fishing gear, which are also huge plastic polluters. These findings are a result of collecting data from 36 global inventories.Eight of the 10 cataloged items were made of plastic, and 44% of the waste was from takeout food and beverages.Tackling the overconsumption of straws, cotton swabs, and drink stirrers has been popular, as they are easy to replace, but the researchers also recommended eliminating plastic from takeout food. Takeout containers are often discarded outside and soon after the food is purchased.
Ice Shelf Holding Pine Island Glacier Could Collapse Within a Decade - The Pine Island Glacier is currently Antarctica's greatest contributor to sea level rise, and, now, a new study warns that it could be closer to collapse than previously thought.The research, published in Science Advances Friday, found that the vulnerable glacier had sped up by 12 percent over the last three years as the ice shelf holding it in place breaks up. This finding could accelerate the timeline for when the entire glacier collapses into the sea, and underscores the urgency of acting to combat the climate crisis."These science results continue to highlight the vulnerability of Antarctica, a major reservoir for potential sea level rise," Twila Moon, a National Snow and Ice Data scientist who wasn't part of the research, told The AP. "Again and again, other research has confirmed how Antarctica evolves in the future will depend on human greenhouse gas emissions."The Pine Island Glacier is one of two Antarctic glaciers that most concerns scientists. It and the Thwaites Glacier sit side-by-side in western Antarctica, and keep the rest of the region's ice in check.If that happened, global sea levels would rise by several feet within a few centuries, a University of Washington (UW) press release explained. The Pine Island Glacier on its own contains enough ice to bump sea levels up by 1.6 feet if it melted. And it is already having an impact. It raises sea levels by a sixth of a millimeter each year and, according to The AP, accounts for about 25 percent of Antarctica's total ice loss.But the glacier is kept from retreating further by its ice shelf, which acts like a flying buttress on a cathedral, containing its mass, the press release explained. That is why Friday's study is concerning. It analyzed satellite images to show that the ice shelf lost a fifth of its area between 2017 and 2020, and retreated by 19 kilometers (approximately 12 miles) during that time, the study authors wrote. The images, recorded by the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, were taken every 12 days between 2015 and 2017, and every six days between 2017 and the present. They revealed that the ice shelf lost most of its mass in three big breakages, calving icebergs more than five miles long by 22 miles wide, according to The AP.
On Climate Crisis and COVID-19, G7 Is Judged a 'Colossal Failure' --Anti-poverty groups, climate campaigners, and public health experts reacted with outrage and howls of disappointment Sunday after the G7 leaders who spent the weekend at a summit in Cornwall, England issued a final communique that critics said represents an extreme abdication of responsibility in the face of the world's most pressing and intertwined crises — savage economic inequality, a rapidly-heating planet, and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic."This G7 summit will live on in infamy," declared Max Lawson, Oxfam's head of inequality policy, in a statement responding to the G7 communique at the conclusion of the weekend summit — a gathering characterized by the global progressive movement as an unmitigated disaster compared to what could have been achieved. "Faced with the biggest health emergency in a century and a climate catastrophe that is destroying our planet," Lawson said, the leaders of the richest nations "have completely failed to meet the challenges of our times. Never in the history of the G7 has there been a bigger gap between their actions and the needs of the world. In the face of these challenges the G7 have chosen to cook the books on vaccines and continue to cook the planet. We don't need to wait for history to judge this summit a colossal failure, it is plain for all to see." The G7 member nations pledged a collective 1 billion doses will be donated to benefit middle- and low-income nations. However, public health experts have been adamant that voluntary charity and empty rhetoric — especially in the the absence of a joint commitment to lift patent protections for life-saving vaccines at the World Trade Organization — makes clear the richest nations would still rather protect the profits of the pharmaceutical industry than serve the world's poor or see the pandemic eviscerated. Meanwhile, the G7's specific response to the climate crisis was seen as paltry, even if a modest step in the right direction. Thousands of climate activists demonstrated Saturday to demand the G7 leaders finally match their actions with some of their recent promises, but again the ambitions put forth Sunday by U.S. President Joe Biden, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and the other powerful leaders were seen as more of the same kind of failure that has become all too familiar."This summit feels like a broken record of the same old promises," said John Sauven, Greenpeace UK's executive director. "There's a new commitment to ending overseas investment in coal, which is their piece de resistance. But without agreeing to end all new fossil fuel projects — something that must be delivered this year if we are to limit dangerous rises in global temperature — this plan falls very short."
Climate Change Is Happening Faster Than Britain Can Manage - The U.K. is struggling to put in place adequate measures to deal with rising sea levels and warmer temperatures caused by pollution, the government’s independent adviser on climate matters has warned. Average land temperatures in the U.K. have risen by around 1.2-degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, while sea levels have risen by 16 centimeters since 1900, the Climate Change Committee said in a report. Yet adaptation isn’t happening fast enough. In the last five years, more than half a million new homes were built that won’t be resilient to future high temperatures, according to the panel. More than 4,000 heat related deaths have taken place in England alone since 2018. “The longer action to address these risks is delayed, the higher the costs the Government and the U.K. public will face,” the CCC said in a statement. The committee called on the country’s leaders to boost their efforts to address climate change, including delivering a better action plan to support adaptation planning. The U.K. is hosting global climate talks this year, culminating with the United Nations’ COP26 summit in Glasgow in November. At the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall last weekend, world leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson stopped short of setting concrete measures to limit global warming to well below 2-degrees Celsius. The CCC’s report highlighted eight areas where urgent action is needed, including managing risks to soil health from flooding and drought, and addressing risks to human health from increased exposure to heat.
China is kicking out all its bitcoin miners – and a lot of them could be headed to Texas -China has long been home to more than half the world's bitcoin miners, but now, Beijing wants them out ASAP. In May, the government called for a severe crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading, setting off what's being dubbed in crypto circles as "the great mining migration." This exodus is underway now, and it could be a game changer for Texas. Mining is the energy-intensive process which both creates new coins and maintains a log of all transactions of existing digital tokens. Despite a lack of reserves that caused dayslong blackouts last winter, Texas often has some of the world's lowest energy prices, and its share of renewables is growing over time, with 20% of its power coming from wind as of 2019. It has a deregulated power grid that lets customers choose between power providers, and crucially, its political leaders are very pro-crypto – dream conditions for a miner looking for a kind welcome and cheap energy sources. "You are going to see a dramatic shift over the next few months," said Brandon Arvanaghi, previously a security engineer at crypto exchange Gemini. "We have governors like Greg Abbott in Texas who are promoting mining. It is going to become a real industry in the United States, which is going to be incredible." 2021 data for the global distribution of mining power is not yet available, but past estimates have shown that 65% to 75% of the world's bitcoin mining happened in China – mostly in four Chinese provinces: Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Yunnan. Sichuan and Yunnan's hydropower make them renewable energy meccas, while Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are home to many of China's coal plants. The drawdown in miners has already begun in Inner Mongolia. After failing to meet Beijing's climate targets, province leaders decided to give bitcoin miners two months to clear out, explicitly blaming its energy misses on crypto mines. Castle Island Ventures founding partner Nic Carter says that while it's not totally clear how China will handle next steps, a phased rollout is likely. "It seems like we're going from policy statement to actual implementation in relatively short order," he said. The way this exodus is measured is by looking at hashrate, an industry term used to describe the computing power of all miners in the bitcoin network. "Given the drop in hashrate, it appears likely that installations are being turned off throughout the country," continued Carter, who also thinks that probably 50% to 60% of bitcoin's entire hashrate will ultimately leave China. Although China's announcement hasn't been cemented in policy, that isn't stopping miners like Alejandro De La Torre from cutting their losses and making an exit. "We do not want to face every single year, some sort of new ban coming in China," said De La Torre, vice president of Hong Kong-headquartered mining pool Poolin. "So we're trying to diversify our global mining hashrate, and that's why we are moving to the United States and to Canada." One of bitcoin's greatest features is that it is totally location agnostic. Miners only require an internet connection, unlike other industries that must be relatively close to their end users.
Elon Musk says Tesla will accept Bitcoin payments again once miners use 50% clean energy -- Tesla will resume accepting bitcoin payments for its cars once miners of the cryptocurrency can show they are using roughly 50% clean energy, CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet on Sunday. "When there's confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions," he said. This is the first time Musk has detailed the conditions where the company would start accepting Bitcoin again.Musk announced in March that Tesla would accept payment in Bitcoin, then reversed this position in May when he said the company would no longer accept Bitcoin because is was too environmentally costly to mine the cryptocurrency. He said at the time that Tesla intended to use Bitcoin again in future "as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy."Musk's Sunday tweet caused the price of Bitcoin to jump to almost $40,000. His tweet was a response to a Cointelegraph article that contained quotes from Magda Wierzycka, the CEO of asset manager Sygnia. Wierzycka said Musk had deliberately pumped up the price of Bitcoin so Tesla could sell off a big chunk of it. Musk disputed this."This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market," Musk said. He said in April that Tesla had sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings to prove it was a viable alternative to cash. The electric-car maker bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin in February.
What you need to know about El Salvador’s plan to use volcano-powered bitcoin as legal tender - When El Salvador voted this week to make bitcoin legal tender, it marked the start of an experiment sure to draw close attention amid a global surge in interest in cryptocurrency. Nayib Bukele, the Latin American nation’s meme-loving millennial leader, claims that embracing the cryptocurrency “will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy.” Remittances from citizens living abroad make up about a fifth of El Salvador’s gross domestic product, according to World Bank figures, and Bukele believes that bitcoin has the potential to transform the way that money is sent across borders. But critics suspect that the move is a publicity stunt intended to distract from what they see as Bukele’s authoritarian tendencies, including his party’s ouster of El Salvador’s attorney general and several top judges.The new law has also raised numerous questions about how goods and services will be priced, and the environmental ramifications of bitcoin mining. Here’s what we know so far. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, is a decentralized digital currency that has gained traction as an alternative to money issued by governments. Its value has been highly volatile.Merchants in El Salvador were already free to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. Once the new law goes into effect several months from now, however, they’ll be required to do so unless they lack access to the necessary technology. People will also be permitted to pay their taxes in bitcoin.The U.S. dollar will remain El Salvador’s main currency, Miguel Kattán, El Salvador’s secretary of commerce and investment said Monday, according to El Mundo, a Salvadoran newspaper. Goods are to be priced in U.S. dollars, rather than bitcoin, which tends to fluctuate wildly and involve long strings of decimals. The law passed by El Salvador’s legislative assembly makes no mention of mining. But during a live conversation on Twitter Spaces on Tuesday night, Bukele announced an idea that had suddenly occurred to him: El Salvador’s volcanoes could be used as a renewable source of geothermal energy.“Every day is going to be a new idea,” Bukele told the audience of over 25,000,according to Coindesk. The following day, he announced on Twitter that he had directed the country’s state-owned geothermal electricity company to develop a plan that would allow bitcoin miners to tap into “very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanoes.”Hours later, Bukele said that engineers had already dug a new well that would become the center of a new bitcoin mining hub, and shared a video of the steam pouring out.
Is the Only Green Thing about Cannabis the Almighty Dollar? -- Lambert Strether In my day cannabis seemed like a small-scale affair. One purchased a baggie and shared it with friends. Rolling a joint was a skill both necessary and shared with others.Fast forward to 2021, where cannabis is the #1 cash crop in the United States, valued at $35.8 billion (2006), compared to corn ($23.3 billion), and wheat ($7.5 billion). Then fast foward to 2021:06, vaccination summer. Forbes: Ben Kovler, the founder and chief executive of Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, a cannabis company with operations across 12 states, is getting ready to sell more weed than ever this summer.On Wednesday, Kovler held a ribbon cutting after expanding capacity at GTI’s 250,000-square-foot production facility in Oglesby, Illinois, where his company grows -end cannabis flower, produces pre-rolled joints, manufactures THC-infused edibles, and runs a cannabis beverage line. Right before Memorial Day weekend, as Covid-19 restrictions around the country ease and nearly half of Americans are now vaccinated, Kovler says GTI is focused on its goal to produce as much as product as possible to keep up with what will be a summer-long surge of demand.“The Roaring Twenties is on,” says Kovler. “It’s unprecedented demand and we’re making supply—nothing fancy from us.”Throughout the pandemic, the cannabis industry saw record levels of consumption. Americans bought $17.5 billion worth of marijuana in 2020, a 46% increase from 2019, and annual legal sales will reach $41 billion by 2025, according to Cowen. Yet, now that the economy is opening back up another demand surge is hitting the cannabis industry. “People also want to consume during high-energy good times—it’s a tidal wave of demand,” says Kovler. “The sun is out, people are seeing friends they haven’t seen for a long time coming out of the pandemic. Cannabis is evolving the American experience.” Nice little industry. The only cloud on the horizon is that “evolving the American experience” with cannabis is an ecological disaster, the very reverse of the green that the green leaves of cannabis suggests. From Jason Quinn and Hailey Summers in Nature, “The greenhouse gas emissions of indoor cannabis production in the United States“: In this study we analysed the energy and materials required to grow cannabis indoors and quantified the corresponding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using life cycle assessment methodology for a cradle-to-gate system boundary. The analysis was performed across the United States, accounting for geographic variations in meteorological and electrical grid emissions data. The resulting life cycle GHG emissions range, based on location, from 2,283 to 5,184 kg CO2-equivalent per kg of dried flower. The life cycle GHG emissions are largely attributed to electricity production and natural gas consumption from indoor environmental controls, high-intensity grow lights and the supply of carbon dioxide for accelerated plant growth.
Haaland recommends full restoration of monuments Trump altered: report -- Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recommended fully restoring protections to three national monuments that former President Trump either shrunk or otherwise rolled back, The Washington Post reported on Monday. She reportedly recommended the changes to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in Utah, as well as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Massachusetts. Trump reduced the size of Bears Ears, designated by former President Obama, by about 85 percent, and Grand Staircase-Escalante, designated by former President Clinton, by nearly half. He also decided to allow commercial fishing in the marine monument. Two sources told the Post of Haaland’s recommendations. They also said that the White House hasn’t made a final decision, but that President Biden favors undoing his predecessor’s actions. Spokespeople for the White House and the Interior Department declined The Hill’s request for comment. In an executive order, Biden directed Haaland to review monument boundaries and conditions changed under Trump to decide whether “restoration of the monument boundaries and conditions that existed as of January 20, 2017, would be appropriate.” He also directed her to submit a report detailing her findings. In April, Haaland visited Utah to meet with stakeholders on the matter. Many tribes and environmental groups have pushed for restoring the monuments, while some fishing groups, Utah politicians and ranchers have favored the Trump-era changes.
Nebraska ethanol plants could soon store carbon dioxide underground - A new industry is set to take off in Nebraska. If it works out as backers hope, it would create jobs in the state and offer financial advantages for the state’s ethanol producers. In addition, the industry could have significant implications in the effort to combat climate change. The groundwork was laid by State Sen. Mike Flood’s Legislative Bill 650, which all but one legislator voted to pass last month. Since then, multiple companies have announced plans to contract with ethanol producers in Nebraska to filter carbon dioxide and permanently store that element in the ground — either in the state or piped elsewhere. Other production facilities, such as power and fertilizer plants, are also eligible to participate. Here’s how it essentially works: Instead of allowing carbon dioxide to emit from a producer’s stacks, those stacks would be capped and route the carbon dioxide to a series of compressors. The carbon dioxide is then converted into a transportable form such as liquid and stored well below the surface — at least 2,600 feet below. The specific storage plan varies. Research and development organization Battelle and investment firm Catahoula Resources, for example, want to put the carbon dioxide underneath the ethanol plants or, at most, a few miles away. According to Jon Cartlidge, commercial sales director at Battelle, the companies expect to spend anywhere between $20 million and $50 million per plant. The companies do not intend to seek public financing. Cartlidge said the company is exploring locations in the state where the rock below the surface is porous and thus conducive to carbon storage.
U.S. lawmakers urge EPA to reject exempting refiners from biofuel mandates - Democratic U.S. congressional members sent a letter on Wednesday to the Environmental Protection Agency, urging it to reject any action that would exempt oil refiners from obligations to blend biofuels into the nation's fuel mix. The letter comes after a report from Reuters last week that said President Joe Biden's administration, under pressure from labor unions and U.S. senators, including from his home state of Delaware, is considering ways to provide relief to U.S. oil refiners from the mandates. The letter was signed by lawmakers from both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and states, including Iowa and Illinois. It included Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota and Representative Cheri Bustos from Illinois. The letter was also addressed to the National Economic Council. "We support your efforts to address climate change, but we are concerned that rolling back the RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard) obligation for refiners directly contradicts this work," the letter said. "Following through on the actions reportedly under discussion would directly undermine your commitment to address climate change and restore integrity to the RFS and we urge you to reject them." Under the RFS, refiners must blend biofuels into their fuel or buy credits, known as RINs, from those that do. Refiners can apply for exemptions to the obligations if they prove the mandates harm them financially. In the letter, the lawmakers asked the EPA instead to issue a proposed rule for renewable volume blending obligations for 2021 and 2022 with "strong blending targets." It also asked the agency to respond to a court remand to reinstate 500 million gallons of blending requirements waived from 2016 blending targets. The lawmakers behind Wednesday's letter represent corn farmers. The RFS policy has pitted some oil refiners and corn groups against each other, as oil refiners find the mandates expensive, while farmers and biofuel producers say they help boost demand for corn-based ethan
A power play? Steam plant owner aims to decarbonize downtown with huge building project - The owner of the steam plants that heat and cool much of downtown Boston has teamed up with a prominent local builder on an ambitious plan to both decarbonize a broad swath of office towers and medical buildings and finally redevelop a long-underused stretch of land above the O’Neill Tunnel. It could be a neat trick, if they pull it off. But first the partners need to navigate the bureaucracy at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which controls the property at the heart of this proposal. The state agency already has several bidders jockeying for one section, a 1.3-acre vacant parcel on Kneeland Street that Vicinity Energy and National Development say is crucial to their plan to convert the main source of the city’s steam to electricity from natural gas.
Texas, California Gird for Power Shortfalls as Heat Bakes West - -Electric grid operators in California and Texas are struggling to keep up with crushing demand for power this week as a sprawling heat wave smothers the western U.S.Heat watches and warnings stretch for more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers), from Northern Montana to Southern California. Temperatures are forecast to reach 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) in Sacramento later this week, according to the National Weather Service. Dallas could hit a sultry 98.Texas grid operators said they didn’t expect power shortfalls Tuesday night. But they’re asking residents to cut back on electricity use through Friday to avoid blackouts because so many plants are down for repairs. California officials warned that power demand could outstrip supply later in the week. The searing weather marks the first heat-related stress tests of the year for U.S. grids as a historicdrought grips the western half of the nation. It comes nearly one year after California’s rolling blackouts last summer and four months after Texas’s energy crisis in February, when a deep freeze paralyzed power plants, blacked out much of the state and left more than 150 people dead. In California, power supplies could be tightest on Thursday, when demand could top 43 gigawatts, or about 3.4 gigawatts more than projected supplies, according to the California Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state’s power grid. Though it often relies on electricity from neighboring states during heat waves, this week’s heat is expected to stretch clear to the Canadian border, limiting imports, the operator said.Officials in California have ordered utilities to line up extra power supplies and giant batteries to prepare for this summer, but they warn the system could still face shortfalls.By Tuesday afternoon, the Texas grid operator said the grid remained stable despite crushing demand. It reported having about 3.4 gigawatts of power reserves, representing a extra-supply margin of about 10%. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said it would call the first stage of a grid emergency should reserves fall below 2.3 gigawatts and would start rolling blackouts if they fell below 1 gigawatt.
Texans asked to conserve energy as temperatures approach records Texans are being asked to conserve energy through Friday as temperatures in the state climb, approaching record levels.The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a news release on Monday urging Texans to “reduce electric use as much as possible” through the end of the work week. “A significant number of forced generation outages combined with potential record electric use for the month of June has resulted in tight grid conditions,” ERCOT wrote. ERCOT recommended that Texans take “simple actions to help reduce electric use,” including setting thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, turning off lights and pool pumps, and avoiding using large appliances such as ovens, washing machines and dryers. “If you don’t need something — we are asking you to turn it off and unplug if possible,” ERCOT wrote. According to ABC13, officials are basing the tight grid conditions on a notable number of forced generation outages as well as the potential for record electric use this month. Data from ERCOT shows that electric demand is expected to exceed supply on Monday afternoon as temperatures rise into triple digits throughout the state, according to WFAA. “We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service,” ERCOT's vice president of grid planning and operations, Woody Rickerson, said in a statement. He added that the situation is “unusual for this early in the summer season."
Texas power grid manager issues weeklong conservation alert — On the cusp of summer, the electric power grid manager for most of Texas on Monday issued its second conservation alert since the deadly February blackout, calling on users to dial back energy consumption through Friday to avert an emergency. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said many forced generation outages and record June demand has squeezed the power supply. It appeals to users to lower thermostats to 78 degrees and avoid using large electric appliances until demand decreased late in the day. ERCOT predicted a peak demand load on its system of 73,000 megawatts, far above the June record of 69,123 megawatts set between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on June 27, 2018. However, as of 2:30 p.m. Monday, 12,178 megawatts of the grid’s 86,862 megawatts of generating capacity was offline, ERCOT said, leaving a razor-thin margin of reserve capacity of about 2,000 megawatts. “We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service,” Woody Rickerson, ERCOT vice president of grid planning and operations, said in a statement. “This is unusual for this early in the summer season.” ERCOT spokeswoman Leslie Sopko said 9,066 megawatts of the idled capacity were from steam-powered generator units fueled by gas, coal or nuclear fission. “We’re currently seeing three to four times the number of forced thermal (steam-powered) generation outages on our system than we would typically expect to see this time of year,” Sopko said in an afternoon telephone conference. “All of these thermal units are offline due to mechanical failure or the need for repairs,” she said. Also, wind-powered generator output was producing 3,500 to 6,000 megawatts between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday, about 1,500 megawatts less than what is typically available for peak conditions, according to an ERCOT statement. Solar power was producing more than 5,000 megawatts, Sopko said. “ A megawatt usually powers about 200 homes on a summer day. Summer officially begins on Sunday.
As Temperatures Soar, So Does Demand for Home Generators – Soaring temperatures and ERCOT’s request for consumers to conserve energy means the demand for home generators is sky-high. “In the North Texas area, this is the highest we’ve ever seen,” said Travis Burns, owner of Generator Superstore in Denton. From small businesses to big-box retailers, fear of a repeat of power outages, like what happened during the February freeze, is driving demand. Generator Superstore sells permanent home standby generators and phones were ringing nonstop. “How fast can they get it? They want it and they want it now, so that's the typical question,” Burns said. Since the winter storm, Burns said demand remained high but spiked Monday following ERCOT’s energy alert. Burns said Generac, the manufacturer he uses, can't make the generators fast enough. As a result, customers who order now won't receive their generator until next year. “Probably February for the most common models,” Burns said. With scorching temperatures already upon us, those unwilling to wait headed to stores like Home Depot and Lowe's to buy portable generators. Many were surprised to see ERCOT’s energy alert before summer officially starts June 20. “It was one of those things, like, ‘Oh, here we go again,'” homeowner Pedro Garcia said. Garcia said he just bought a large portable generator to power his home in Houston.
What Caused ERCOT Call to Conserve Energy Monday – The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is urging Texans to conserve power after a large number of power plants unexpectedly shut down in the summer heat. ERCOT said Monday that the number of plants offline for maintenance issues was three to four times the usual number for this time of year. The broken plants put Texas at risk of power outages again in extreme temperatures, just four months after dozens of power plants broke down in the winter cold triggering the worst electricity crisis in Texas history. The February outages left millions of Texans freezing, some even dying in their homes. During a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon, ERCOT said it would investigate why so many plants were apparently unprepared to deal with the early summer heat. At 12:15 p.m. ERCOT issued an unprecedented conservation alert -- asking Texans to cut back on power not just Monday but for an entire workweek. The alert was issued after demand for power appeared to be on track to exceed the level of supply on Monday afternoon. “We are deeply concerned about the issues associated with these plants that are offline at this time and we will be doing a thorough investigation to understand what the issues are and to assess what the implications are for the grid,” said Warren Lasher, ERCOT senior director of system planning.
Did Lawmakers Fix Texas’s Electric Grid? – Governor Greg Abbott had just signed into law two bills meant to ensure that the state’s grid would never again collapse, as it had in February when blackouts left millions of Texans without heat or power and killed an estimated seven hundred. Despite the criticism by many former industry experts and Democrats, Abbott said the legislation would “fix all the flaws” that led to the blackouts and that “everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas.” Senate Bill 2 reorganizes the governance of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, the state’s main grid operator, a third of whose board members lived out of state at the time of the blackouts. Senate Bill 3 requires the Public Utility Commission and the Railroad Commission, which oversee the electric and natural gas industries, respectively, to establish rules for the weatherization of power plants, transmission lines, and gas facilities deemed critical to the electricity supply chain. Both commissions are tasked with inspecting facilities and can levy fines as large as $1 million to those that don’t comply with weatherization rules within an unspecified “reasonable period of time.” The legislation also requires natural gas facilities along the electricity supply chain to register as “critical infrastructure” so their electricity is kept on during blackouts. Lawmakers also passed four “securitization” bills. Securitization is admittedly a bit of a wonky topic, but it’s the primary financial tool by which lawmakers are managing the $10 to $16 billion in costs incurred by utilities and suppliers during the blackouts. Recall that the Public Utility Commission, overseen by Abbott’s appointees, forced wholesale power prices to remain at maximum levels for 32 hours longer than an independent market monitor determined was necessary. Not everyone shared Abbott’s conviction that the bills that did pass were comprehensive enough to prevent future grid failure, including the man who had carried SB 2 and SB 3 through the House, Chris Paddie, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee. “There’s more to be done,” Paddie said at the Tuesday bill signing. Other experts agree. Last week, five former Public Utility Commission commissioners made twenty recommendations for actions that go beyond what the Legislature did this year—including requiring weatherization of a larger pool of natural gas plants and requiring new buildings to be more energy-efficient. Other critics include Democrats who unsuccessfully tried to increase fines for poor compliance and require that facilities weatherize within six months of the PUC and RRC approving standards. Then, on Monday, ERCOT asked Texans to voluntarily conserve energy when electricity demand threatened again to outpace supply because of unexpected plant outages that caught regulators flat-footed. Texas Monthly spoke with four experts from across the energy and electric industries to make sense of what the bills do and whether they will go far enough to prevent future blackouts. The interviews have been lightly edited for clarity.
Higher temps, statewide shortfall a boon for Denton power plant --With four days remaining before the official start to summer, high temperatures have climbed into the 90s, two generation facilities in Texas are offline, and the agency that operates the statewide power grid continues to ask residents to conserve energy to avoid blackouts. But in Denton, Tony Puente, the general manager ofDenton Municipal Electric, says the city-owned Denton Energy Center has sold more than $2 million in electricity to the Electric Reliability Company of Texas — the agency it sued following February’s snowstorm — since June 1. That lawsuit has been dismissed, the city announced Wednesday, but may be refiled by the city. “Certainly, what’s driving this is the recent shortages in generation,” Puente said of the plant’s electricity sales. “Also, it’s the fact that prices for electricity hit the cap of $2,000 per megawatt. From June 1 through June 15, our operating revenue for DEC is about $2.3 million.” Puente said for the same period last year, DEC received $237,000 in revenue. ERCOT continues to remain under a conservation alert because of demand after two power plants — Colorado Bend southwest of Houston and Comanche Peak southwest of Fort Worth — went offline. In a news release on Monday, ERCOT asked for conservation at least through Friday, urging people to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, turn off lights or pool pumps and avoid using large appliances such as ovens, washing machines and dryers. The Denton Energy Center, one of the largest natural gas-fired power plants in the country, buys power from and sells it to ERCOT, helping to keep rates low for residential Denton Municipal Electric customers, officials have said. “Typically, [the city] is making money to basically cover the high expense that we incur” to produce energy, Denton City Council member Paul Meltzer said. “The purpose of the DEC is a hedge.”
Texas thermostats adjusted remotely during heat wave residents claim – Some residents in Texas are feeling the heat despite setting their home thermostats at a comfortable temperature. Brandon English said his wife had turned on their home’s air conditioning this week and then she and their daughters took a nap. When English got home, the house inside was 78, hotter than what the family expected with the air conditioning running. “They woke up sweating,” English told KHOU. He said that no one adjusted the thermostat but it was changed as the family slept, making the house potentially too hot for his 3-month-old daughter. “Was my daughter at the point of overheating? She’s 3 months old. They dehydrate very quickly,” English told KHOU. Apparently English was enrolled in a program called Smart Savers Texas operated by EnergyHub. When users sign up for perks to save money, they give permission to the company to remotely adjust smart thermostats, like the one that was installed in English’s home, when energy demand is high. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) asked customers to set their thermostats at 78 to cut power usage as temperatures climbed into the high 90s, The Verge reported.English wasn’t the only one who was surprised with a warm home. KHOU found complaints on Reddit where others claim their smart thermostats were turned up remotely.Scientific America reported about how utility companies can control Nest thermostats remotely when energy demand is high back in 2013.It is called demand response, and allows companies to tweak how much energy customers use, Scientific American reported.
California just avoided blackouts, but experts say the risk remains for the rest of the season - California avoided blackouts from the latest drought, but the threat is far from over for this summer, experts warned on Saturday. Power grids were under severe strain from from heat waves and low reservoir levels, and operators asked residents to conserve electricity to prevent the blackouts the state suffered in 2020. On Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency as record high temperatures hit the Western US. The excessive heat "has and will continue to put significant demand and strain on California's energy grid," he said. Meteorologists expect conditions to become less dangerous as cool air moves inland by Sunday, relieving the blackout threat temporarily. Californians aren't from safe from blackouts, though California Independent System Operator (California ISO) CEO Elliot Mainzer said that the power grid is in a better position than it was last year. "We've characterized the situation going into this summer as guarded optimism," Manzier told the AP. The drought in the West and Southwest US is more widespread and intense than ever before in the 20 years they've been monitored, Morgan McFall-Johnson reported for Insider. Heat waves lead to greater demand for energy as people try to keep their homes cool — if the strain becomes enough on the power grid, the state risks rolling blackouts. Depleting reservoirs exacerbate this problem. Water levels at Lake Orville, that second largest in the state, reached "alarming levels" of just 35% of capacity. The reservoir provides power to 800,000 California homes through a hydroelectric power plant. Officials say they'll likely be forced to close the plant for this first time ever within a few months as drought conditions continue. Long-term forecasts predict higher than usual temperatures through at least September, meaning the threat of blackouts will be ongoing. "It's not just whether there is enough water -- there's not -- and whether there's enough power or whether there are wildfires. If you have a combination of all those things, you have an Armageddon on your hands,"
N.C. energy bill revealed after months of secret talks | Energy News Network -After months of secret negotiations between Duke Energy, House Republican leaders, and other select stakeholders in North Carolina, sweeping energy legislation has been unveiled at last. But the 47-page bill (pdf) is no grand compromise. Duke and other groups involved in the closed-door talks were seeing the proposal for the first time Tuesday afternoon, and one — the state’s leading clean energy nonprofit — announced its opposition hours later.The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association took particular issue with the bill’s initial pages, which call for shuttering five of Duke’s coal-fired power plants but ushering mostly new gas plants in their place. While only 900 megawatts of new gas infrastructure is spelled out in one provision, another section requires state regulators to approve coal-replacement units that meet criteria only natural gas could satisfy. This “mandate to replace costly coal with risky natural gas” must be “eliminated,” the association said.Environmental advocates, excluded from the last several months of talks, agreed. “This legislation appears to bind the hands of the commission by mandating new fossil-fuel power plant construction, irrespective of how those projects stack up against alternatives,” David Kelly, director of North Carolina political affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. As a result, the measure would push the state “perilously close to trading one fossil-fueled future for another.”Duke is also limited to retiring only $200 million of its coal assets using securitization, a tool that allows it to repay its debt to investors using ratepayer-backed bonds that bring a lower interest rate.“Duke has control over what they propose to securitize, so why do we need a cap?” asked David Rogers, Southeast deputy campaign director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “They’ve got $6 billion in plant balances remaining.” The legislation curbs utility-sector carbon emissions by 61% from 2005 levels by 2030, while the administration of Gov. Roy Cooper has set a 70% reduction target in the same time frame. By mandating new gas and leaving several coal units online, the bill could actually prevent further pollution cuts, Rogers said. “This bill will make it harder to hit the governor’s 70% goal,” he said, “not easier.”
Ohio bill would let locals ban wind and solar (but not fossil fuels) - The Ohio State Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee will consider Senate Bill 52 today, which would allow townships to designate “energy development districts” for wind and solar farms or just veto them altogether. However, locals would not have the same rights when it comes to fossil fuel plants. Energy News Network elaborates on the bill, which has a companion bill in the House, Bill 118: The latest version of Senate Bill 52 would prevent wind or solar companies from applying to build projects unless townships first set up an ‘energy development district.’ As few as 50 people in the smallest townships could force a referendum on the districts, and local boards would be able to veto projects even after they are approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board. Fossil fuel, nuclear, and other energy projects would not be affected by the legislation… The state – the only US state to do so – sets Ohio’s wind property line setbacks. (So, to recap, the state sets the property line setbacks, but legislators want to allow townships to create clean energy districts.) Ohio has some of the strictest setback regulations in the US, and that impedes clean energy growth. And the latest legislation would expand property line setbacks for wind and solar even further. S&P Global Market Intelligence wrote in February 2020: ‘The biggest impediment to development in Ohio are the setback regulations that were enacted in 2014,’ Amy Kurt, senior manager of regional government affairs at project developer EDP Renewables North America LLC, said in an early January interview. Jane Harf, executive director of Green Energy Ohio, said of SB 52 [via ENN]: There is just no reason why you would invest in Ohio if this bill passes. So that would be why the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) isn’t so keen on this bill. The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, which declares that its mission “is to protect and grow Ohio manufacturing,” says that it “is monitoring the legislation with interest and will be advocating for professional siting policies that allow markets to work, including markets for renewable energy and other energy innovations.” It also states that the bills “would deter development of new wind farms or solar arrays, which already face heavy restrictions in Ohio.” And no wonder the OMA is concerned: An Ohio University study concluded that utility-scale solar projects could support between 18,000 and 54,000 jobs during construction over several decades. The Ohio Pork Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Affiliated Construction Trades Ohio testified against the bill on May 19, reports WKBN [via Farm and Dairy]. Ohio farmers’ reactions to the bill were split. Dairy farmer Connie Schoultheis, who opposes the bill, said: Senate Bill 52 is unfair because it penalizes the farmer. We pay the mortgage, insurance, and taxes on our farm land. This is our land to do with what we please. I support private property rights, and if you do as well then you should be against Senate Bill 52.
Ohio’s ‘Voltage Valley’ looks to develop EV workforce - eAuto industry jobs are returning to Ohio’s Mahoning Valley with the growth of a fledgling electric vehicle manufacturing cluster. Now, local leaders are taking steps to make sure there will be enough qualified workers to fill those new positions. Youngstown State University is hosting a virtual job fair Wednesday for the region’s emerging electric vehicle, energy storage and other tech companies, as well as other employers. The school is also launching a “skills accelerator” program to help train workers. Despite decades of layoffs, Ohio still ranks second only to Michigan in jobs making automotive parts and third nationwide in jobs for manufacturing motor vehicles. Some jobs in the electric vehicle industry will resemble those for fuel-powered cars. Others will be dramatically different. “There is not repetitive work in our environment,” said Tom Gallagher, chief operating officer at Ultium Cells, a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution, which is set to open a battery factory in Warren next year. He spoke at a June 7 panel that was part of Green Energy Ohio’s 2021 Electric Vehicle Tour. Work with raw materials at the front end of the process requires an understanding of chemistry. Battery assembly will take place in an automated clean-room environment. Gallagher said the company is seeking employees who can work with programmable logic controllers and handle troubleshooting and other aspects of automation. That demands skills in STEM fields — science, engineering, technology and math. “You may not necessarily need an advanced degree, but you need more than a high school diploma,” said Jennifer Oddo, who heads Youngstown State University’s division of workforce education and innovation. In January, the Department of Energy announced a $1 million project to help Youngstown State and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory set up an energy storage workforce training center. Labor unions also will play a role. The Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce is actively recruiting more companies in the supply chain. BRITE Energy Innovators has a growing e-mobility practice. And auto parts maker Aptiv has an electric vehicle charging research center in the area.
Lordstown Motors CEO, CFO resign - The top two executives of electric pickup truck maker Lordstown Motors have resigned, possibly further clouding the company's future even as some industry analysts approve of the management changes. Lordstown Motors on Monday announced that company founder Steve Burns resigned as chief executive officer and from the board of directors. Also resigning was Julio Rodriguez, chief financial officer. The resignations took place Sunday, with letters from the Northeast Ohio company saying the employment of both men had been terminated. The announcement sent Lordstown Motors stock down sharply Monday. Shares closed down $2.15, or 18.8%, to $9.26. The company did not cite specific reasons for the two resignations in its filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But in a separate news release, Lordstown Motors said the company has made inaccurate statements tied to non-binding pre-orders of its Endurance full-size electric pickup truck. That announcement comes after the company last week said it needs significant infusions of money to remain in operation. The second release was in response to a highly critical March analysis of the company by Hindenburg Research, a firm that specializes in short selling, that Lordstown Motors referred to as the Hindenburg Report. Lordstown Motors said its investigation of the Hindenburg Report concluded that the report "is, in significant respects, false and misleading. In particular, its challenges to the viability of Lordstown Motors’ technology and timeline to start of production are not accurate. The investigation did, however, identify issues regarding the accuracy of certain statements regarding the company’s pre-orders." Lordstown Motors made periodic disclosures regarding pre-orders that were, "in certain respects, inaccurate," the company said. "Lordstown Motors has stated on several occasions that its pre-orders were from, or 'primarily' from commercial fleets," the company said. "In fact, many pre-orders were obtained from ... fleet management companies or other end users that indicated interest in purchasing Endurance trucks, similar to commercial fleets, and so-called 'influencers' or other potential strategic partners that committed to attempt to secure pre-orders from other entities, but did not intend to purchase Endurance trucks directly." "One entity that provided a large number of pre-orders does not appear to have the resources to complete large purchases of trucks," Lordstown Motors said. "Other entities provided commitments that appear too vague or infirm to be appropriately included in the total number of pre-orders disclosed." The SEC earlier this year subpoened Lordstown Motors for documents and information related to the merger between DiamondPeak and Legacy Lordstown that created the publicly traded company, and pre-orders of vehicles. The company said it is cooperating with the SEC.
Illinois poised to ban coal-fired power plants - Chicago Tribune - Illinois, one of the nation’s largest producers of coal, is on the verge of becoming the first Midwest state to ban energy companies from burning the lung-damaging, climate-changing fossil fuel to generate electricity. The end of gas-fired power might not be far behind. Phasing out the combustion fuels — coal by 2035 and gas a decade later — is a key element of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plans to move Illinois into a clean energy future. If the Chicago Democrat can muscle his legislation through the General Assembly this week, new government requirements would speed up a transition to climate-friendly electric generation and transportation that already is embraced by some in the private sector.Among other things, the bill would double the state’s commitment to renewable energy, with a goal of raising the amount of wind and solar power to 40% of the state’s electric generation by the end of the decade, up from 8% in 2019. Several hurdles remain, in particular opposition from five Chicago suburbs and dozens of Downstate communities that during the mid-2000s agreed to help pay off more than $5 billion in debt for the Prairie State Generating Station — one of the Top 10 industrial sources of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the United States.Municipal investors in the massive coal burner, including Batavia, Geneva, Naperville, St. Charles and Winnetka, want Prairie State exempted from the governor’s fossil fuel phaseout. So does Springfield, which built a new coal plant around the same time even as private investors abandoned dozens of similar projects, scared off by skyrocketing construction costs and the likelihood that climate pollution would eventually be regulated
ENERGY TRANSITIONS: Midwest coal plant in crosshairs of Ill. energy bill -- Monday, June 14, 2021 -- The Prairie State Energy Campus hasn't celebrated its 10th birthday. But the hulking coal plant southwest of St. Louis could face a death sentence if Illinois lawmakers vote next week to approve a wide-ranging energy proposal backed by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
WV lawmakers shuffle responsibility on "billion-dollar" mine reclamation problem --Moments after West Virginia lawmakers received copies of an audit report warning that state mine cleanup funds are nearing insolvency, the Senate president sought to put the problem on someone else’s table. “We need to be able to take your report and repackage it in such a way that we can actually put that on Senator Manchin’s desk,” state Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said to Patrick Renick, the legislative auditor who spent 20 minutes Monday guiding senators and delegates through the 80-page report filed by the state Post Audit Division. Blair recalled a meeting with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in Morgantown. The session highlighted $38 billion in federal funding that a White House-formed federal work group has identified as available for communities hit hard by the nation’s transition from fossil fuels. “When they were asking how they could help,” Blair said, “I brought up this issue.” But the report that Blair wanted on Manchin’s desk calls for West Virginia legislators and environmental regulators to fix the mine cleanup fund themselves, something they have put off for years. In its 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 annual reports, the fund’s advisory council called for a legislative study of the reclamation program. The Legislature has conducted no such studies to analyze the program’s efficacy or solvency. So the audit of the state’s reclamation funds calls on the Legislature to commission a study to evaluate the state’s mining reclamation program. Legislative audits have found extended vacancies and expired terms dating to 2012 for members of the advisory council statutorily responsible for ensuring the financial stability of state reclamation funding. Governors appoint advisory council members with Senate approval. A previous audit found members weren’t updated on key factors affecting the funding. The state Department of Environmental Protection has shared in the lax state mine cleanup fund oversight, the audit found. The agency has failed to comply with state and federal law in its reclamation program oversight, resulting in missed opportunities to financially shore up a program that will need hundreds of millions of dollars to reclaim permit sites under federal regulations.
House hearing highlights concerns with federal mine reclamation oversight as state leaders look to feds for reclamation help -After years of overseeing a rise in abandoned mine liability in West Virginia, the eyes entrusted to look out for the state’s coal communities have turned to the federal government.A U.S. House subcommittee hearing Tuesday focused on how the feds should respond.The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources virtual hearing on environmental justice for coal communities highlighted the threat of abandoned, unreclaimed mines throughout Appalachia.Witnesses argued that federal regulators need to do more to hold coal companies accountable to contain that threat through more stringent mine reclamation bonding requirements — and do it quickly.“In short, the window is closing fast on the opportunity to ensure that the coal industry pays to clean up its own mess,” said Mary Cromer, attorney at Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, a Whitesburg, Kentucky-based nonprofit representing miners, individuals and communities affected by coal mining in Central Appalachia. “The industry will never have more money than it has now to pay for reclamation.”Cromer called on the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which works with states to oversee mine cleanup, to require strict enforcement and forfeiture of all permits for sites on which coal companies are neither mining nor reclaiming, actively engage in all coal bankruptcies to oppose attempts to sidestep federal enforcement and issue a directive asserting that reclamation includes long-term water treatment. The House hearing came six days after a legislative audit report found that state government leaders and environmental regulators have put West Virginia’s reclamation funds at risk of insolvency through lax permitting and statutory oversight of coal companies.
With ominous mine reclamation liability, West Virginia looks to federal dollars - West Virginia lawmakers are aiming to draw down millions of federal dollars to help assuage the increasing possibility that mine reclamation costs could spiral out of control and swamp the state budget. During interim meetings last week, legislative leaders agreed to establish a Joint Committee on Mine Reclamation. Its mission is to establish a plan to access federal stimulus money for mine reclamation and report back by June 25. The Biden administration has made clear that it has identified hundreds of millions of dollars meant to revitalize coalfield communities and to bolster employment while also improving the environment. West Virginia lawmakers see yet another need: economic support for the increasingly perilous problem of mine reclamation. Funding for mine reclamation in West Virginia has become such a question that environmental groups including the Sierra Club filed a federal lawsuit last month aimed at pressuring the federal government to intervene. This past week, lawmakers had just heard the summary of a 52-page report laying out the likelihood of mine reclamation as a budget bomb when Senate President Craig Blair proposed getting into position for a federal lifeline.
I-TEAM: Email reveals how much coal ash has leaked from stranded barge – An internal email obtained by the News4JAX I-TEAM from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission details how much coal ash has spilled from a leaking barge off the coast of Atlantic Beach. The barge has been stuck for more than two months. The email reveals at least 9,300 tons of coal ash -- referred to as Agremax -- has leaked from the 418-foot barge and coal ash is sitting on the ocean floor. In March, a Moran tugboat that was pushing the vessel from Puerto Rico lost control near the mouth of the St. Johns River, causing it to crash into the jetties. The state’s pollution response team coordinator writes: “Heavy weather/seas during the night of May 14, turned the barge 90 degrees and also blew most of the cargo hatch covers off. The cargo hold and Agremax product are now open to the elements with a noticeable turbidity plume around the barge. Our initial resources at-risk report indicate that Agremax toxicity is low in seawater, but the primary concern being physical smothering of benthic resources.” ″This is different than what we initially believed when we heard about this incident,” said Rod Sullivan, a maritime attorney. Sullivan said the amount of coal ash that spilled is alarming. He fears it’s having a negative impact on the ocean environment. “Agremax is used as a cap on landfills. Once it covers over the bottom of that area, nothing will get through it. So any sea life that was underneath it won’t survive, and I doubt anything is going to grow on top of it. So while I don’t have a concern of Agremax itself being poisonous to the water, it will destroy any sea life that it falls on,” Sullivan said. Dr. Quinton White, executive director of the Marine Science Research Center at Jacksonville University, has also shared grave concerns over the ash.
ENERGY TRANSITIONS: Democrats vow fossil fuel areas be prioritized for jobs -- Thursday, June 17, 2021 -- Democrats in a House oversight hearing yesterday said climate policies must first create new employment opportunities in areas reliant on fossil fuel industries instead of subtracting existing jobs.
US and Japan leave G7 stuck on coal – — At a global summit meant to showcase their efforts to rescue the climate, the leaders of the richest, most advanced countries on the planet were left stuck on the rock that fueled the 19th century. Days of negotiations at the G7 leaders summit in Cornwall failed to set an end-date for coal after the U.S. and Japan blocked a deal. The meeting was pitched as a moment for the group to set a benchmark for other countries to tackle emissions and scrub out fossil fuels ahead of the COP26 U.N. climate talks this November. “We were clear this weekend that action has to start with us,” U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters immediately after the meeting ended Sunday. But the Biden administration — fixated on cultivating the Democrats’ razor-thin Senate majority and the coal mining sympathies of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin — was wary of any language specifically clamping down on coal. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: “We sought language that aligns with the president’s domestic commitments, including a carbon pollution free power sector by 2035. We secured that language.” The 25-page final statement committed to “an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s” and to “accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity,” meaning coal without carbon capture technology. The “overwhelming majority” of G7 members backed a phaseout in the 2030s, an EU official said. But Japan, which since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident has viewed coal power as critical to its energy security, was also opposed, according to someone with knowledge of the discussions. “No specific date could be named, that was not our doing,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in response to a question from POLITICO. Of the G7 countries that have set a coal phaseout date, Germany is the latest at 2038. “We are setting a good example,” Merkel said. “Others have not yet verified their plans so far.”
Tester Urges State Department to Tackle Transboundary Water Pollution – The uninterrupted passage of Canadian mining waste into Montana’s transboundary waterways continues to gain urgency as proposals for new mines in British Columbia file into the provincial government’s regulatory queue, prompting U.S. Sen. Jon Tester to ramp up pressure on the State Department for intervention, a move the Montana Democrat says is years overdue. In a June 9 letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Tester described the environmental concerns in grave terms, requesting an immediate referral to the independent commission charged with resolving cross-border environmental conflicts after negotiations between the two governments stall. In the letter, Tester urged Blinken to request a referral to the International Joint Commission (IJC) concerning the increasing levels of the mining contaminant selenium in Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River watershed, which spans the border with British Columbia, and for the State Department to engage with the Canadian government and the IJC “to resolve this critical transboundary water quality issue.”It marks the third time in 15 years that a member of Montana’s congressional delegation has pressed the nation’s top diplomat to make a referral for IJC intervention, which is testament to the scope of the contamination as well as the influence of B.C.’s mining industry and the challenge of stemming the flow of pollution from one nation into another. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest mining companies are proposing new mines and mine expansions without a tested plan in place to control the inrush of selenium, nitrates, and other contaminants, which are harmful to aquatic species. In March, federal prosecutors with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) laid a $60 million fine against Teck Coal Limited, the largest punishment ever brought under the Canadian Fisheries Act. Teck’s top executives pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawfully depositing deleterious substances into water frequented by fish, admitting that their operations on the Fording River, a tributary of the Elk River near Elkford, B.C., as well as at nearby Greenhills, caused the mining contaminants selenium and calcite to leach from spoils of waste rock and into downstream tributaries, having an adverse effect on native westslope cutthroat trout, including causing fish deformities and mortalities.
Seabrook nuclear plant safe NRC reports despite alkali-silica reaction– According to federal experts, annual inspections throughout 2020 show NextEra Energy Seabrook’s nuclear power plant again ran safely over the past year. According to Chris Newport, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s senior on-site resident inspector at the Seabrook plant, in 2020 the facility operated in a manner that preserved public safety and protected the environment. That evaluation came after 6,000 hours of inspections and related activities, encompassing maintenance, surveillance, adverse weather preparedness, operator performance and emergency preparedness, as well as other issues specific to the Seabrook facility. The report was presented on June 8, at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual safety assessment meeting. Each year the NRC holds a meeting to discuss its findings in relation to the safety of each of the 90-plus nuclear power plants in the nation. Traditionally, meetings take place in the community where the plant is located. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, for the past two years the meetings have been held remotely. At last week’s meeting, NRC staff held the remote meeting, which included reports from a number of specialists who deal with the nuclear plant located in Seabrook. Involved were the two full-time NRC resident inspectors who are onsite at Seabrook Station daily, living in nearby communities for 24/7 availability. They have “unfettered access” to all the plant’s activities for daily evaluations, according to the NRC. Evaluation of NextEra’s plant in Seabrook also included inspections by Nuclear Regulatory Commission specialist teams. Periodically throughout the year, specialist teams traveled to the plant to scrutinize issues such as the fitness for duty of the plant’s operators, fire protection, security, as well as alkali-silica reaction, a concrete concern peculiar to Seabrook Station since it was discovered in its walls in 2009. NextEra Energy Seabrook is the only American nuclear power plant so far exhibiting ASR. A slow-developing type of degradation found in some concrete when moisture is present, ASR is most commonly found in dams, bridges and highways, but it has been found in nuclear power plants elsewhere in the world. ASR manifests as micro-cracking, staining and deformation of concrete. So far, the NRC’s has determined ASR in Seabrook Station’s structures poses no immediate public safety concerns because of the significant safety margins built into the plant, such as its steel-reinforced, two-feet thick walls.
U.S. nuclear regulator approves fuel for next-generation reactors - (Reuters) -The U.S. nuclear power regulator has approved production of uranium fuel that is far more enriched than fuel for conventional nuclear power plants, the company aiming to make the material said on Monday. The fuel is known as high-assay, low-enriched uranium, or HALEU. Nonproliferation experts are concerned about the fuel as it is easier to convert into fissile material, the key component of nuclear weapons, than conventional reactor fuel. Centrus Energy Corp said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, approved the company’s request to produce HALEU at a Piketon, Ohio, plant, and it expects to be demonstrating production of the fuel early in 2022. “This approval is a major milestone in our contract with the Department of Energy,” said Daniel Poneman, Centrus’ president and chief executive. Under a 2019 contract with the Energy Department, Centrus is constructing AC100M centrifuges to demonstrate HALEU production. The $115 million, cost-shared contract runs through mid-2022. Centrus said HALEU offers advantages for both existing and next-generation reactors, including “greater power density, improved reactor performance, fewer refueling outages, improved proliferation resistance, and smaller volumes of waste.” The fuel will be allowed to be enriched to 5% to 20% uranium-235. That is less than the enrichment level of about 90% used in a nuclear weapon, but is far higher than fuel used in conventional nuclear reactors, which is about 3% to 5% enriched.
Exclusive: US assessing reported leak at Chinese nuclear power facility - The US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an "imminent radiological threat," according to US officials and documents reviewed by CNN. The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from the French company to the US Department of Energy obtained by CNN. Despite the alarming notification from Framatome, the French company, the Biden administration believes the facility is not yet at a "crisis level," one of the sources said.While US officials have deemed the situation does not currently pose a severe safety threat to workers at the plant or Chinese public, it is unusual that a foreign company would unilaterally reach out to the American government for help when its Chinese state-owned partner is yet to acknowledge a problem exists. The scenario could put the US in a complicated situation should the leak continue or become more severe without being fixed.
Biden administration eyes step toward Trump-era proposal for uranium reserve -- The Biden administration will take a step toward establishing a reserve for uranium, a proposal pushed by the prior Trump administration that could boost mining of the mineral as well as nuclear energy potential. Testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said her department would take a step this month toward establishing the reserve. “We’re about to issue a request for information [RFI] regarding establishing a reserve,” Granholm said. “We are, I think this month, issuing an RFI on that.” Late last year, Congress provided money to establish the strategic reserve, which would buy U.S.-mined uranium from domestic producers, as one of many provisions in a major government funding bill. Asked why the administration’s budget request for next year didn’t include funding for the reserve, Granholm cited the current funding for the project. “It had been appropriated for last year so it’s carrying over,” she said. A 2020 Trump administration report endorsed spending millions on the reserve, which would aim to boost domestic mining. The concept is similar to that of the already existing strategic petroleum reserve, where the government can hold up to 714 million barrels of that fuel in case of an emergency. During her testimony on Capitol Hill, Granholm also promoted President Biden’s infrastructure proposal, touting it as a way to boost low-carbon technology, among other things. "We need to be exporting technologies that can ensure a decarbonized future around the world and new need to deploy them here, which is why the American Jobs Plan has such a big commitment on demonstration projects ... both in carbon capture and in hydrogen," she said.
‘This is all purely political’ Former Ohio House Speaker to address lawmakers mulling his ouster - Ohio lawmakers could move closer Tuesday to expelling fellow State Rep. Larry Householder, who faces charges in what federal prosecutors say is likely the biggest public corruption scandal in state history. The proposal would require a two-thirds vote in the Ohio House of Representatives, or 66 members out of 99. If it happens, it would be the first time in more than a century lawmakers ousted one of their own. In 1857, a Democrat from Hamilton County, Rep. John P. Slough, was kicked out after punching another lawmaker in the mouth on the House floor, according to our media partner, the Cincinnati Enquirer. Now, both Democrat and Republican lawmakers are backing resolutions saying Householder should not continue to serve in public office in light of his indictment on bribery and racketeering charges. They heard arguments for and against expelling him last week. On Tuesday, Householder has the chance to speak during the 4 p.m. House Rules and Reference Committee meeting. Householder, R-Glenford, tells FOX19 NOW he will address the committee in person at the statehouse. “This is a big day for me. This is a coming out party for me,” Householder said. “This is the first time since July 20 last year I have a stage to be able to talk.” He’s fighting their attempts to remove him from office and all federal charges, saying “This is all purely political.” He cites “the left who spent millions trying to beat me in the primaries,” “the globalists movement backed by George Soros” and “the socialist playfield” that “totally goes against our constitutional republic democracy that we have in the United States that the people elect the representatives.” “They try to defame you, they investigate you and they indict you. They did it to me, and they are trying to do it to (former President) Donald Trump,” Householder said. “The next thing they do is try to remove you from office. If all else fails, they just try to reverse the will of the voters and the election and if that happens it’s just a terrible, horrible day for voters all over the state of Ohio.”
Larry Householder makes case against Ohio House expulsion - — Larry Householder has found himself under the cloud of a federal investigation before. The last time it happened, the once-powerful Ohio state lawmaker was ultimately never charged, bided his time and then returned to the House and eventually to his second stretch as House speaker. In politics, sometimes what's past is prologue. If he manages to prevent the bipartisan effort to remove him now, it could set the stage for yet another political comeback by the Perry County Republican. The difference this time is that Householder is under federal indictment. And while he has pleaded not guilty, two co-defendants and an involved nonprofit have all pleaded guilty in the case and FirstEnergy, the energy company at the heart of the latest scandal, has acknowledged in court filings making the bulk of the payments in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme. Householder made an impassioned case Tuesday for not being expelled as a House member while he awaits the outcome of his criminal case, declaring his innocence and asserting that charges against him do not constitute “disorderly conduct” warranting removal. “I have not nor have I ever taken a bribe or solicited or been solicited for taking a bribe,” Householder told a House committee weighing an expulsion resolution, saying he was in “complete shock” when charges were leveled against him. Before Republican and Democratic colleagues, Householder made references to the Civil War and how that was the last time the Ohio House expelled a sitting lawmaker, John P. Slough for punching a fellow legislator. “To say the resolution pending before this committee is unprecedented is an understatement,” Householder said. “Ohioans were traveling around in buggies and carriages the last time the House exercised its authority to expel a member." Householder suggested that physical acts like Slough's are appropriately defined as “disorderly conduct,” while his criminal charges are not. He declined upon repeated questioning to provide any precedent for his legal argument, calling one such question “preposterous.”
Ohio House expels former Republican speaker in historic vote (AP) — Members of the Ohio House expelled Rep. Larry Householder, the federally indicted Republican ex-speaker, Wednesday in a bipartisan vote that invoked their powers to remove a member for the first time in 150 years. The GOP-controlled House voted 75-21 to remove Householder, of Perry County, approving a resolution that stated he was not suited for office because of the indictment. The state Constitution allows expulsion for “disorderly conduct” without defining it. Defiant to the end, Householder reiterated his innocence in a House floor speech before the vote and predicted again he would be acquitted of accusations that he orchestrated a $60 million bribery scheme meant to approve legislation to prop up two nuclear power plants and then kill a ballot issue trying to overturn the law. “I have not nor have I ever taken a bribe or solicited or been solicited for taking a bribe,” Householder said. After the vote, Speaker Bob Cupp paused the House session briefly while Householder left without incident, trailed by reporters. The full House took to a vote after Republican lawmakers forced the measure to the floor instead of waiting for the expulsion resolution to work through the committee process. Reps. Brian Stewart and Mark Fraizer, both Republicans representing districts that border Householder’s, encouraged their colleagues to “do the right thing” and remove Householder from his seat. “If racketeering, bribery and money laundering do not constitute disorderly conduct, then frankly nothing ever could,” Stewart said. Fraizer called the indictment a stain on the institution and said, “it is time for us to come together as one body.” Among other Republicans voting to expel their GOP colleague were eight of the 13 remaining members Householder had recruited to help him win the speakership and Cupp. Cupp said the federal grand jury indictment was the deciding factor for him. “It seems to me that clearly meets the definition in the Ohio Constitution of disorderly conduct,” he said.
Coal plants' owners fight to protect 'worst of the bad subsidies' - Subsidy? What subsidy?Three Ohio utilities and a representative of the coal-fired power plants they jointly own appeared before a Senate committee Tuesday to defend an estimated $700 million subsidy they’re set to receive from ratepayers through 2030.The committee met to consider a bipartisan effort to repeal the subsidy, which was codified in 2019 via legislation that’s now at the center of a criminal prosecution against the former Speaker of the House and his allies.Sen. Mark Romanchuk, the lead Republican from Ontario seeking to repeal the bailout, said Ohio’s 1999 energy deregulation law requires a utility to operate “fully on its own” in the market. So why, he asked Duke Energy executive Amy Spiller, is Duke receiving a subsidy for its losses incurred through its equity in the Ohio Valley Electric Corp.?“This is not a subsidy,” she said. “The OVEC plants, as has been confirmed this morning, are in fact economic, they are participating in the wholesale market in addition to serving other purposes. This is not a subsidy that ensures the ongoing operation of uneconomic generating resources.”Whatever the label used, the utilities recoup their OVEC losses through all Ohio ratepayers. Ownership of OVEC, formed in the 1950s to power a now-shuttered nuclear facility for the federal government in Piketon, is split between American Electric Power (43% equity), Buckeye Power (18%), Duke Energy (9%), AES Ohio (4.9%), and others.The companies charged $114 million in 2020 alone from ratepayers via the “legacy generation resource” rider, according to a spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.OVEC owns two plants, one in Indiana and one in Ohio, that are laden in debt from large capital investments. An analysis by the Ohio Manufacturer’s Association, which opposed the bailout, also found OVEC has sold power at a loss since 2012.OMA estimated the bailouts will amount to $700 million by 2030, though it’s ultimately dependent on energy markets. U.S. coal production has plummeted since 2012, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Ohio produced about 26,000 tons of coal that year and less than 8,000 in 2019. Meanwhile, domestic natural gas production has boomed.
Senate committee eyes vote to shield natural gas from cities' bans - An Ohio Senate committee could vote out legislation Tuesday that would shield the natural gas industry from the potential of cities seeking to crack down on fossil fuel emissions. If passed, House Bill 201 would block any city or county from issuing any law or zoning code that “limits, prohibits, or prevents” people and businesses from obtaining natural gas or propane service. At least 14 states have passed similar preemption bills this year, according to a runningcount from the National Resources Defense Council, with similar efforts underway in another five.A small but growing list of progressive cities around the U.S. have passed legislation banning new buildings from obtaining natural gas hookups, an effort to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.No Ohio cities have joined in, although some (including Cincinnati, Lakewood, and Cleveland) have passed resolutions establishing goals of becoming carbon neutral in the coming years.About two in three Ohio households use natural gas for heat, far more than electricity (25%), propane (5%), or other sources, according to U.S. Census data compiled by the Legislative Service Commission, which conducts policy analysis for lawmakers. The House passed the bill in mid-May on a 65-32 vote, with all Republicans and two Democrats in support. Supporters say the legislation preserves consumers’ rights of choice as to the energy they purchase. Also, they say allowing cities or counties to restrict natural gas development would create a labyrinth of local regulations for the industry to work around. Update: The Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee passed House Bill 201 at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Ohio's HB No. 152 Sponsors Amend Forced-Pooling Bill, But Gateway Royalty Says Not Enough -- After sounding the alarm, in a press release dated May 25, 2021, concerning an industry backed bill before the Ohio House Energy and Natural Resources Committee that would have required forced-pooled mineral owners to accept large cost deductions from their monthly royalties, These cost deductions, which are sometimes paid to affiliates of the oil and gas producers, "are as much as 95% of the sale price and can reduce the royalty payments to almost nothing," says Chris Oldham, the president of Gateway Royalty LLC, a company that invests in oil and gas by buying a portion of mineral owners' royalty interests.Facing public outrage over forcing out-sized costs on mineral owners, oil and gas producers have backed away from the bill, and Ohio's sponsors of H.B. No. 152 have put forward a substitute bill that requires the royalties to be paid on the gross proceeds of the sale of the oil and gas.Gateway Royalty has been advised on very short notice that there will be a hearing on the substitute bill this week before the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, at 10:30 AM, in Room 116 of the Ohio State House."The new bill is certainly better than the original," says Oldham, "but unleased mineral owners can still get stuck with huge cost deductions because operators have figured out clever ways to deduct costs, even if the lease says the royalties will be paid on the gross proceeds."One way, Oldham says, is by selling the oil and gas to a marketing affiliate. "The operator sells the oil and gas to the affiliate at the well, the affiliate processes the oil and gas and sells it downstream of the well, and then the affiliate pays the operator the price it receives less all costs between the well and the downstream point of sale." Oldham says. "This two-step marketing gambit allows the operator to say it deducted no costs," Oldham says, "when in fact costs were netted out of the true gross sale price by the affiliate."Another ploy used by operators, Oldham says, is to add a "market enhancement" clause to a gross proceeds lease. "The lease will say the royalty will be on the gross proceeds and list all the costs that can't be deducted but will then have a clause that says costs can be deducted if they enhance the value of an already marketable product," Oldham explains. "The operator then says that the oil and gas was in marketable condition the moment it left the ground, meaning that all costs between the well and the point of sale can be deducted, including the long list of costs the lease just said would not be deducted."
Pennsylvania's gas-well revenue down as price, drilling drop – Pennsylvania’s counties and municipal governments will see the lowest level of annual fee revenue they get from Marcellus Shale gas wells, as drilling slowed and prices sank during the pandemic, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said Monday. Impact fee revenue from Marcellus Shale wells sank to $146 million from drilling activity in 2020, down $54 million from the year before, the commission said. Lawmakers authorized the fee in 2012, pinning it to new wells and the price of natural gas. But the average price of natural gas in 2020 was $2.08 per million British thermal units, down from $2.63 in 2019. Pennsylvania also saw the fewest number of new wells drilled than in any year since the law was enacted, the commission said. Most of the money, about $71.5 million, goes to county and municipal governments, while smaller amounts are earmarked for environmental improvement programs, roadway repairs and water and sewer infrastructure upgrades.
Impact fee payments shrink as natural gas price, drilling declined in 2020 -Low natural gas prices and scant new drilling sent Pennsylvania’s impact fee revenue from shale gas wells plummeting to the lowest level on record for the 2020 reporting year, according to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission data released this week.Companies operating Marcellus and Utica shale wells paid $146 million — about $54 million less than the year before. The annual fee was driven down by the lowest average annual price of natural gas and the fewest number of new wells drilled since the impact fee was established in 2012, the PUC said.Impact fees are collected in April and distributed in July.County and municipal governments that host shale wells will receive $71 million of the total revenue, while state agencies will get $24 million and the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which pays for environmental, highway and water projects throughout the state, will get $51 million.In a sharp reversal prompted by the pandemic and a mild winter, the local share of impact fee revenue was nearly cut in half from the 2018 reporting year, when the levy hit a record high.About $33 million of the fees will go to Southwestern Pennsylvania counties and municipalities, according to an analysis by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, with Washington and Greene county communities receiving $21 million of the region’s share.The impact fee is charged per well to compensate the state and local communities for the industry’s demands on roads, public services and the environment. Most gas-producing states implement severance taxes on natural gas that are based on price and production volumes, but those are secondary factors in calculating Pennsylvania’s impact fees.According to a report last week from the Independent Fiscal Office, the total impact fee revenue relative to the market value of the gas produced in 2020 amounted to an annual average effective tax rate of 3.3%.Companies pay lower impact fees for wells as they age, so the revenue relies on new drilling. This was the first year that fees from new wells were not enough to fully offset lost fees from aging wells, the fiscal office said. There were only 475 new wells subject to the fee in 2020. The previous record low collection was $173 million for the 2016 reporting year. The impact fee has raised $2 billion over the last decade.
Who pays for the care of "orphaned" oil and gas wells? You do -- When oil and gas wells end their useful life, one of two things happens: 1) They are plugged and capped to prevent further flows or 2) they are simply abandoned.When they fall into the second category, they are called "orphaned" wells and they become the responsibility of the government to secure. But that's if the government actually knows about them. Records of well placements are not always so carefully maintained and can get lost during bankruptcies and changes in ownership or due to sheer carelessness. As a result, there appear to be far more abandoned wells than the orphaned ones that governments know about.Companies are required to post bonds to pay for the plugging and capping of wells by the state if the companies fail to plug and cap them. However, these bonds are entirely inadequate. According to Grist, in Texas the bonds covered just 16 percent of the costs incurred by the state in 2015. In New Mexico the number was 18 percent.The pattern here is a familiar one. The profits of oil and gas production get privatized and the costs—in this case, environmental and health costs—get socialized, that is, members of the public get saddled with the costs either through clean-up or damage to health and property.The environmental costs include damage to soil, air and water. But perhaps the most enduring damage is to aquifers as briny water from brackish aquifers, chemicals used in well operations, and hydrocarbons migrate upward to poison drinkable groundwater wherever well casings are cracked and leaking. This is something that proper plugging can prevent. Such pollution of aquifers can render groundwater unfit for human or animal consumption for any time frame relevant to human societies.And there is the leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from abandoned gas wells and wells that produced both oil and what is called associated gas.There have been millions of oil and gas wells drilled in the United States since the beginning of the oil age and millions more drilled throughout the world. The carelessness of those who drilled and prospered by them is now turning into an ugly and persistent legacy of the industrial age.
Clean-up continues at Brookhaven spill site as residents worry about long-term effects —The clean-up of a fuel spill that killed numerous aquatic creatures and forced Coebourn Elementary School to go virtual continues as officials work to determine the extent of the damage and cause. Borough officials were out along the 2300 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue Monday, talking with neighbors and checking the sanitary sewers Monday for any additional contamination. “The clean-up is ongoing and we are trying to reassure the residents that everything is okay and if they have any questions or concerns to contact the borough,” Crews were busy using a giant vacuum truck to remove the petroleum from a marshy retention pond next to the school as well as soiled and debris from behind the gas station where the spill began. Borough engineers along with the county hazmat team were performing a smoke test of the sanitary sewer lines to check for any infiltration of water getting in and going back to the water treatment plant, Montella said. “Our home values just went down,” said Ginny McKee, a resident along Mt. Vernon Avenue which backs up directly behind the school. ”You’re also talking about the environment. We run our dogs back here, the kids play back here.” McKee said the stench from the gas irritated her eyes and throat and neighbor Fred Lincoln agreed. “It actually gave me a headache Saturday afternoon,'' said Lincoln, who was out walking his dog, Buttercup, when he got a whiff of the fumes. Montella said a company will also test the tightness of the tanks and lines at the gas station to rule out the possibility of a leak. He said the tanks at the station have not been drained and the monitoring system indicates the levels are stable. An overflow alarm first sounded at 10:53 p.m. Friday; however, first responders didn’t get a call until 6:15 Saturday morning which came from a resident some distance away on Brookhaven Road who reported an odor of gas. Firefighters quickly tracked the smell back to the Gas-N-Go station at 4612 Edgmont Ave. They also found much of the fuel ponding in the retention basin on the other side of the elementary school. Schultz said fish and waterways officials said the damage was contained to two small creeks Shepherds run and Coebourn run. “We’re trying to prevent it from getting into the large creek.” Mondella said. As to pinpointing the source of the spill, officials are still investigating and cautious to lay blame. “We don’t know if the release was related to the delivery of the product, we know there was a truck delivering product at roughly the time the alarm went off," Montella said. “The gas station is tight and the lines are tight but we lost a lot of product. We’re trying to determine why that happened. Was it a catastrophic failure, was it negligence on the driver? We just don’t know. We’re investigating all ends."
Sewer contractor demands $13M from O&R utility for putting it between rock and hard place - A New Jersey contractor is demanding $13 million from Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc. for allegedly blocking completion of a sewer project. Metra Industries Inc. of Little Falls accused the electric and gas utility of fraud, defamation and tortious interference, in a complaint filed June 11 in U.S. District Court, White Plains. The utility caused “massive delays and cost overruns,” Metra claims, “due to O&R’s failure to … relocate its gas mains.” The Rockland County Sewer District awarded Metra a $14.7 million contract in 2014 to extend a sewer line three miles from a wastewater treatment plant in Hillburn to homes in Sloatsburg. Time was of the essence, according to the Route 17 Project specifications. The job had to be completed in 365 days. Parts of the sewer line had to be installed under 15 to 25 feet of ledge rock in a public right-of-way that O&R used for gas lines. Rock had to be blasted and removed. Plans allowed for low peak particle velocity explosions – a measure of movement or vibration within the ground – so as to prevent damage to existing pipes. The contract also allowed for the possibility of moving the gas lines, the lawsuit states, and New York law requires utilities to relocate pipes at their own expense when required for public health and safety or convenience. Metra states it had installed about 74% of the pipes by February 2016, all in places with little rock. But when it came time to break rock, the project ground to a near standstill. Metra claims it was not possible to break the rock with low velocity blasts, and O&R refused to move its gas lines.
Pipeline moves forward, Longmeadow Select Board approves MSBA requests - Michelle Marantz, chair of the Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness Group, informed the Longmeadow Select Board of movement in the gas pipeline issue. “Eversource recently told me that they will move forward with the old Columbia Gas plan to build a high-pressure pipeline starting at a proposed metering station on [Longmeadow Country Club (LCC)] property and ending in Springfield.” She said that Eversource plans to announce the pipeline route and get feedback from the town beginning in July. Eversource confirmed to Reminder Publishing that it is “evaluating options for a Western Massachusetts Reliability Project,” which includes the pipeline through Longmeadow. The project seeks to serve 58,000 customers in Agawam, West Springfield, Southwick, Springfield, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow and Chicopee by replacing the existing pipeline, which Eversource Spokesperson Priscilla Ress described as “aged” and “a significant risk” of future outages. She said the company is exploring safe service to customers “while balancing environmental impacts and cost.” Marantz stated that Eversource’s plans ignore the state’s 2021 climate bill, “An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy,” which sets an emissions reduction mandate of 50 percent by the year 2030. She also balked at the company’s declaration that it is working toward a “clean-energy future.” She emphasized the potential danger of pipelines by citing the Marshfield Pipeline Fire and held up Easthampton as a model the town should aspire toward. Its municipal buildings are scheduled to run on 40 percent solar power by August.
Flooding effects of Mountain Valley Pipeline under scrutiny after weekend damage in central WV-- Long beleaguered by erosion concerns, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is facing complaints that it exacerbated adverse effects from flooding that hit central West Virginia this weekend. Environmental control devices installed along the route were overwhelmed by a large amount of rain in a short period of time, said Natalie Cox, spokeswoman for Equitrans Midstream Corp., the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based developer of the pipeline. Cox noted that rainfall averaged 4 to 6 inches across all areas of the route from Monday through Sunday. Mountain Valley Pipeline reported to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s state spill line that it lost timber mats because of high water and crossed a creek in Braxton County. It lists Clover Fork as the affected stream. Monroe County resident and pipeline opponent Maury Johnson notified the DEP of reports he received of sediment control issues in Lewis, Braxton and Webster counties, sending state environmental regulators photos of damage near U.S. 19, in Braxton County. “They’re trying to build across these steep, slip-prone soils that we have,” Johnson said. A Lewis County landowner reported to environmental regulators that extreme flash-flooding exceeded 6 feet near Second Big Run, destroying the pipeline’s silt barriers and fencing, washing out the base of timber mats and suggesting that the area is unstable because of deforestation and saturated soil increasing the risk for mass flooding in the valley. Johnson contended that erosion issues with the pipeline will persist until the pipeline is removed from steep slopes and trees are reestablished on them. Cox said the pipeline has paused construction to focus on environmental compliance and right-of-way stabilization. Each specific location along the route will resume full activities as permitted, once erosion and sediment control measures are evaluated and found to be meeting or exceeding compliance requirements, she added. Fines and concerns over lack of erosion controls have dogged the Mountain Valley Pipeline project. An analysis that the anti-pipeline group Mountain Valley Watch submitted to federal regulators in February argued that an increased risk of landslides along the project route in Lewis County remains, despite efforts to stabilize slide areas. The filing cites topographic and rainfall studies, past filings with federal regulators and aerial photographs of the pipeline to make a case that highly erodible soils, above average annual precipitation rates and steep mountain slopes have produced an ideal situation for landslides to occur.
TETCO Pipe Throttling 40% of MU Southbound Gas to Last All Summer --Traders are crediting news from Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline that a recent flow restriction enforced by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) will continue through the end of summer with helping to spike the Henry Hub futures price of natgas, up 4.5% on Friday to close at $3.30/MMBtu. Last week MDN brought you the news that TETCO was denied permission to continue operating its pipeline system (three pipelines, actually) at full pressure (see PHMSA Forces TETCO Pipe to Throttle 40% of M-U Southbound Gas). The 20% reduction in pressure translates to some 40% of the gas that was flowing from the Marcellus/Utica to the Gulf Coast via TETCO disappearing. At least until “late in the third quarter” of this year, meaning the end of summer.PHMSA ordered the reduction in pressure after TETCO found “an anomaly” during a recent inspection that the agency wants to investigate. Since TETCO has had three explosions in various locations since 2016, it’s probably a good idea to back off on the pressure for now. However, reduced flows mean higher prices at the Henry Hub and (gulp) lower spot prices in the M-U region. We can’t get our gas out to other markets willing to pay more.Enbridge Inc’s ENB.TO Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) unit said late Thursday it anticipated the earliest its 30-inch natural gas pipe from Pennsylvania to Mississippi could return to full pressure was late in the third quarter of 2021.TETCO declared a force majeure on May 28 after the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) required the company to reinstate a 20% pressure restriction on two of three lines (Lines 10 and 15) that make up the 30-inch system between its Kosciusko, Mississippi, and Uniontown, Pennsylvania, compressor stations effective June 1.That reduction cut flows from Appalachia to the Gulf Coast on the 30-inch system at the Owningsville compressor station in Kentucky to 1.0 billion cubic feet per day(bcfd) so far in June from an average of 1.9 bcfd in May, according to Refinitiv data.Even though analysts said most of that gas could travel on other pipes, the premium of next-day gas at the Henry Hub NG-W-HH-SNL benchmark in Louisiana over the Dominion South hub NG-PCN-APP-SNL in Pennsylvania rose to $1.08 per million British thermal units so far in June from an average of 66 cents in May.Traders said that wider spread was a sign that at least some lower-cost gas from Appalachia was no longer reaching the Gulf Coast.PHMSA’s order came as part of the agency’s increased monitoring of TETCO after three recent explosions. The first was in January 2019 in Ohio, the second in August 2019 in Kentucky, which was fatal, and the third in May 2020 in Kentucky.PHMSA ordered the reduction after TETCO found “an anomaly” during a recent inspection that the agency wants to investigate. (1) Reuters/Nasdaq (Jun 11, 2021) – Enbridge U.S. TETCO natgas pipe likely to remain reduced until Q3
Solution to TETCO (& Other) Southbound Pipes? New NE Refineries - As we report today, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline will not be back to full pressure flowing Marcellus/Utica gas south (some of it to the Gulf Coast) until the end of summer. Last week MDN brought you the news that TETCO was denied permission to continue operating its pipeline system (three pipelines, actually) at full pressure (see PHMSA Forces TETCO Pipe to Throttle 40% of M-U Southbound Gas). The reduced pressure of 20% means some 40% of the gas that was flowing from the Marcellus/Utica to the Gulf Coast via TETCO is now gone. Following that post, we received an email from one of our favorite industry observers, Garland Thompson, who proposes the ultimate solution to the problem of decreased flows on TETCO (and other pipelines) to the Gulf Coast.Garland’s solution? Quit sending our gas south! Instead, let’s build refineries and new export facilities in the northeast to process and use that gas. Let’s build petrochemical plants here, in our own neighborhood, to use the natural gas that has been feeding petchem plants and LNG facilities along the Gulf Coast. We think Garland’s suggestion makes eminent good sense.mHere’s the note we received from Garland last week, reproduced here with his permission:The true problem this story illustrates, painfully, is that TETCO, the former “Little Big Inch” constructed in Jig-Time during World War II and repurposed for natural-gas delivery after the war, is old technology, as far as pipeline construction goes. Metal fatigue in a transport vessel never intended to contain the pressures now experienced due to the Gulf Coast’s increased demand for Appalachian Mountain gas thus could be expected to produce failures.What’s really needed here is a wide recognition that the U.S. Gulf Coast is truthfully not the ideal place from which to export Appalachia’s gas. It just happens that the Gulf Coast has good facilities to do so, because for the last 100 years the Oil Patch was the main U.S. source of petroleum and its associated natural gas, emerging as the headquarters of the world oil industry. What’s really needed badly in the U.S. petroleum and gas industry is a Northern alternative terminal capacity: Not decreased oil refining, such as occurred when the plants along the Hudson River and the Delaware shut down, but increased refining capacity. Look what’s happened: * At the end of the day, what’s urgently needed is a new appreciation for the opportunities opened to Eastern business leaders–and the workers they could employ–by the advantageous development of newly recoverable gas and oil reserves from the Marcellus and Utica shales, less than a quarter of the distance away from the Delaware River ports than their distance to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Those gas and NGL exports– bigger from the Gulf Coast ports than from Marcus Hook or even from Cove Point, Maryland, on the Chesapeake–could be exported in bigger volumes with lowered pipe-transport costs from the Delaware. But pipeline opponents, “activist investors” seeking capitalist rents from solar and wind-power development growth, and other environmental activists continue to fight the building of East Coast transmission lines while they also blithely continue their everyday use of the products made from petroleum, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Just as long as the plants making those products are located elsewhere–preferably foreign elsewhere–the activists pretend not to know the origins of their favorate consumer products while they stay focused on fighting U.S. production.
July Natural Gas Futures, Cash Prices Soar Amid Blistering Heat -- Natural gas futures on Monday rallied for a fifth consecutive day as simmering summer heat, a recovery in liquefied natural gas (LNG) levels and supply pressures collectively provided further price support. The July Nymex contract settled at $3.352/MMBtu, up 5.6 cents day/day. August rose 5.6 cents to $3.367. Strong near-term weather demand also boosted cash prices. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. soared 26.5 cents to $3.325. The prompt month gain followed a nearly 15-cent surge last Friday, boosted by weather demand and festering worries associated with potentially prolonged restrictions on the Texas Eastern Transmission Co. (Tetco) system. Tetco said a 20% pressure reduction that began this month on part of its 30-inch diameter system could last until late in the third quarter. This developed after Tetco reported an anomaly that was identified during recent inspections. “We believe the market may still be underestimating the impact of the anomaly discovered on Tetco’s 30-inch pipeline,” analysts at EBW Analytics Group said Monday. EBW is watching to see if “it is found to extend into other segments of the line or takes many more months to repair than the time frame specified in the Tetco notice, as we believe is likely to occur.” “It may take weeks or even months before the gas market fully recognizes the extent of the impact,” the EBW analysts added. Meanwhile, hotter-than-normal conditions could persist for the rest of June over parts of the West, Midwest and Southeast, bolstering natural gas demand, while production is holding steady at around 91-92 Bcf/d. Bespoke Weather Services expects a “hotter overall base state” over the next two weeks. “Best heat in the near term remains in the western half of the nation, where some records likely fall this week, though as we move closer to the end of the month, some modest above normal temperatures can return to the eastern U.S.,” Bespoke said.
U.S. natgas falls from 7-month high on lower power generator gas use (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures fell over 3% on Tuesday from a seven-month high in the prior session as Monday's high prices prompted power generators to burn more coal and less gas to keep air conditioners humming. Traders noted the decline in futures came even though next-day power and gas prices in Texas and California spiked to multimonth highs as homes and businesses cranked up their air conditioners to escape brutal heat waves. Front-month gas futures NGc1 fell 11.2 cents, or 3.3%, to settle at $3.240 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Monday, the contract closed at $3.352, its highest since October 2020. Data provider Refinitiv said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states averaged 91.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in June, up from 91.0 bcfd in May but still well below the monthly record high of 95.4 bcfd recorded in November 2019. With warmer weather on the horizon, Refinitiv projected average gas demand, including exports, would rise from 89.1 bcfd this week to 89.6 bcfd next week. Those demand forecasts were lower than Refinitiv projected on Monday on expectations of lower power generator demand. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants slid to an average of 9.7 bcfd so far in June, down from 10.8 bcfd in May and an all-time high of 11.5 bcfd in April. Traders noted LNG feedgas was down due to short-term maintenance at the Sabine Pass and Cameron export plants in Louisiana and some of the pipelines that provide them with fuel. But with European and Asian gas prices both trading over $10 per mmBtu, analysts said they expect buyers around the world to keep purchasing all the LNG the United States can produce.
US working natural gas net build drops on reclassification to base gas: EIA Due to a massive reclassification of working natural gas to base gas in the Pacific storage region, the US Energy Information Administration reported a paltry 16 Bcf net injection to inventories for the week ended June 11 as below-average builds ahead look to drive up the deficit further. Storage inventories increased by an implied flow of 67 Bcf for the week ended June 11, according to EIA data released June 17. However, due to the 51 Bcf reclassification in Pacific Gas & Electric’s storage system in California, the net change resulted in a 16 Bcf injection for the week. This proved well below the five-year average of 87 Bcf. Storage volumes now stand 453 Bcf, or 16%, less than the year-ago level of 2.88 Tcf and 126 Bcf, or 5%, less than the five-year average of 2.553 Tcf. The NYMEX Henry Hub July contract dipped 2 cents to $3.23/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report. Prices through balance of summer were trading roughly 3 cents lower on the day, bringing the July-October Henry Hub contract strip down to an average $3.24/MMBtu. This extends the volatility that has marked the gas markets over the last week. Prices rose from $3.16/MMBtu to $3.30/MMBtu June 11 following news from Texas Eastern Pipelines that its 30-inch system would be operating at a reduced pressure through the end of Q3, limiting supplies from reaching the Gulf Coast region. The upward pressure continued to mount in the days that followed, culminating in a settlement of $3.36/MMBtu on June 14 before falling sharply in the following days. Overall, prices are up roughly 5 cents from where they were a week ago, but they are down nearly 15 cents from where they were only a few days ago. Platts Analytics’ supply and demand model currently forecasts a 58 Bcf injection for the week ending June 18, which would measure 25 Bcf less than the five-year average and 57 Bcf below last year.
July Natural Gas Futures Falter After EIA Posts Light Storage Injection - The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 16 Bcf into natural gas storage for the week ended June 11. Natural gas futures dived lower after the report. The result was skewed by a one-time adjustment in the Pacific that resulted in a steep decrease in working gas stocks in that region. EIA announced an implied build of 67 Bcf for the week, a few below median estimates. However, the large reclassification in the West made the actual storage change only 16 Bcf. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said it reclassified 51 Bcf from working gas to cushion gas, effectively removing that amount from the available inventory. PG&E initially reported that the change would take effect with next week’s storage report, but EIA pushed up the timeline. The PG&E adjustment reflected a change in the company’s accounting methodology.Analysts on The Desk’s online energy platform Enelyst said the magnitude and accelerated timing of the adjustment likely caused some traders to pause to digest the change. It marked the largest reclassification in any one region to date.“The scale of this is preposterous,” said one participant on The Desk. Ahead of the EIA report, the July contract was down 3.2 cents at $3.219/MMBtu. The prompt month picked up a cent when the EIA data was released at 10:30 ET. Within a half an hour, though, it was down 6.0 cents to $3.191.
U.S. natural gas flat as small storage build offsets milder forecasts - U.S. natural gas futures were little changed on Thursday as a smaller than expected storage build offset forecasts for less hot weather over the next two weeks following heatwaves in Texas and California this week. Those heatwaves caused some power prices in the U.S. West to hit multiyear highs and boosted power demand in Texas to a June record as homes and businesses cranked up their air conditioners. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 67 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended June 11. Analysts said that was smaller than usual because the weather last week was warmer than normal and exports to Mexico were at record highs. That was lower than the 72-bcf build analysts projected in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 87 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2016-2020) average increase of 86 bcf. Last week's injection, which included a reclassification of 51 bcf of working gas (gas that can be used) into base gas (gas left in storage to maintain pressure) by PG&E Corp in California, boosted stockpiles to 2.427 trillion cubic feet (tcf). That is 4.9% below the five-year average of 2.553 tcf for this time of year. Front-month gas futures rose 0.2 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $3.253 per million British thermal units. Data provider Refinitiv said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states averaged 91.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in June, up from 91.0 bcfd in May but still well below the monthly record high of 95.4 bcfd recorded in November 2019. Despite forecasts for a gradual increase in average nationwide temperatures in coming weeks, Refinitiv projected average gas demand, including exports, would slip from 89.5 bcfd this week to 87.8 bcfd next week as power generators burn more coal and less gas to keep air conditioners humming. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants slid to an average of 9.7 bcfd so far in June, down from 10.8 bcfd in May and an all-time high of 11.5 bcfd in April.
Weekly Natural Gas Prices Advance Amid Sweltering Western Heat - Natural Gas Intelligence - Weekly cash prices gained ground amid scorching temperatures and strong cooling demand across much of the western Lower 48, highlighted by whopping surges in California. NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the June 14-18 period climbed 24.0 cents to $3.170.Blistering heat moved in early across the Plains, Mountain West, Southwest and California and hung around most of the week, driving up demand and prices. High temperatures ranged from the high 90s in the Dakotas to 120 in the deserts of the Southwest, baking Las Vegas, Phoenix and other major markets.It was hot over most of the South and Texas, as well, throughout the week. Citing sustained highs in the 90s and forced power outages, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas asked Texans during the week to conserve as much energy as possible to avoid blackouts.As the trading week closed in California, SoCal Citygate was up $2.550 to $6.330 and SoCal Border Avg. was ahead $1.725 to $4.835. In the Southwest, El Paso S. Mainline/N. Baja surged $2.560 to $5.745. The July Nymex futures contract, meanwhile, finished a bumpy trading week on a sour note. The prompt month settled at $3.215/MMBtu to close the trading week Friday, down 3.8 cents day/day.Futures stumbled as weather forecasts for the week ahead shifted cooler and a storm in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) threatened to curb demand. A record reclassification that altered the latest government inventory report also weighed on markets.Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said it reclassified 51 Bcf from working gas to cushion gas, effectively removing that amount from the available inventory. The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced an implied build of 67 Bcf for the week ended June 11, but the PG&E accounting adjustment reduced totals in the Pacific region, and the official injection into storage fell to 16 Bcf.
TSA working on additional pipeline security regulations following Colonial Pipeline hack - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is working on an additional cybersecurity directive for pipeline companies in the wake of the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline. “We are continuing to develop additional measures for pipeline companies, and we are developing now a second security directive which would have the force of a regulation,” Sonya Proctor, the assistant administrator for Surface Operations at TSA, testified during a hearing held by two House Homeland Security Committee subcommittees on Tuesday. The new directive will be the second issued by TSA, with the agency rolling out a directive last month that required pipeline owners and operators to report cybersecurity incidents within 12 hours of discovery to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). It also increased coordination between pipeline owners and both CISA and TSA. Proctor said Tuesday that the upcoming second directive would be classified as more sensitive in nature than the first directive due to “the nature of the mitigating measures that are going to be required.” She noted that the directive “will require more specific mitigation measures, and it will ultimately include more specific requirements with regard to assessments,” and that TSA inspectors trained in both pipeline operations and cybersecurity will be tasked with ensuring pipeline companies adhere to both directives. “As recently evidenced, cyber intrusions into pipeline computer networks have the potential to negatively impact our national security, economy, commerce, and wellbeing,” Proctor said as part of her prepared statement for the hearing. “For these reasons, TSA remains committed to securing our Nation’s pipelines against evolving and emerging risks.” Both directives are being put together by TSA in the wake of the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline last month. The company provides 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supply, and major gas shortages were seen in several states when Colonial was forced to shut down the entire pipeline for nearly a week to protect operational controls from attack. Colonial subsequently revealed that it had opted to pay the attackers around $4.4 million in Bitcoin demanded to regain control of its systems, though the Justice Department announced last week that it had been able to recover the majority of those funds. House lawmakers Tuesday stressed the need for both TSA and CISA to have more visibility and powers when it came to responding to a cyberattack on critical systems such as pipelines, and criticized Colonial for not accepting CISA’s assistance in investigating its networks following the attack. ”Colonial still has not agreed to participate in the physical assessment, and only agreed to cooperate with TSA’s cybersecurity assessment three weeks after the ransomware attack occurred,” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), chair of the committee’s subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, testified. “If this is at all indicative of how pipeline owners and operators view their regulators, we have a problem.”
Gulf County Exploratory Oil And Gas Well A Dry Hole - Oil and natural gas exploration in the Apalachicola River basin has encountered a setback. For the second time in three years, an exploratory well in the area has found nothing worth developing. Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman said the latest attempt to find oil and natural gas in the area has been unsuccessful. "The Bear Creek well that Spooner Petroleum was drilling in Gulf County near the Wetappo Creek headwaters has come up dry." Ackerman said the wellhead has now been permanently capped. Although that doesn't mean exploration in the area has totally ceased. "Currently in Calhoun County, Cholla Petroleum of Dallas, Texas has 6 oil and gas permits that are active. Drilling has not begun. As we understand it, the buildout for some of those pads has begun. So we'll continue to monitor to stay abreast of what's happening out there." Nearly three years ago, another exploratory well in Calhoun County also turned out nonproductive.
OIL AND GAS: Interior faults major drilling company on worker safety -- Wednesday, June 16, 2021 --The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement yesterday faulted one of the world's largest offshore drilling companies for trying to ride out a hurricane last year, risking workers and causing nearly $6 million in damages to equipment.
Oil Companies Evacuating U.S. Gulf of Mexico Platforms ahead of Storm -Chevron Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp said on Thursday they were withdrawing staff and implementing storm precautions at their U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore facilities ahead of a brewing tropical storm. A weather disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico could become a tropical storm by Friday and take aim at the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, the U.S. National Weather Service said on Thursday. “All of our facilities have plans to prepare for weather-related events and are implementing those procedures,” Occidental said on its website. It did not comment on production. Chevron said it had removed non-essential staff from three U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil platforms and fully evacuated a fourth. Output remains at normal levels, the company said. “We will continue to closely monitor the storm and we remain focused on the safety of our workforce, the integrity of our facilities and the protection of the environment,” spokesperson Deena McMullen said. All workers were evacuated from Chevron’s Genesis facility, located about 150 miles (240 km) off the coast of Louisiana, and non-essential workers were removed from its Big Foot, Jack/St. Malo and Tahiti production platforms. BP and Shell said they were monitoring the situation. Tropical storm conditions could begin Friday along portions of the central Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Alabama/Florida border. Rainfall of up to 12 inches in isolated areas could hit the Gulf Coast and the Southern Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.
Federal Judge Deals Major Blow To Biden's "Green" Agenda, Orders Resumption In Federal Drilling Auctions A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday blocked the Biden administration’s pause on oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, dealing a setback to a key White House effort to address climate change. The order granted a preliminary injunction to Louisiana and 12 other states that sued Democratic President Joe Biden and the Interior Department over the freeze on new drilling auctions. Louisiana is a major hub for offshore oil and gas production. Biden paused the government’s leasing auctions in January pending a review that is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. The move was part of a sweeping plan to rein in fossil-fuel extraction and combat the effects of climate change. The Interior Department said it would comply with the ruling, but did not say when auctions might resume. The nation’s top oil and gas trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, issued a statement urging the administration “to move expeditiously to follow the court’s order and lift the federal leasing pause.” The Center for Biological Diversity environmental group said in a statement the order “turns a blind eye to runaway climate pollution that’s devastating our planet.” The judge’s decision, which applies to onshore and offshore leasing nationwide, will remain in effect pending the final resolution of the case or orders from higher courts, according to a court document. In the ruling, Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said the states had met the requirements to establish that they would suffer injury from the pause on new oil and gas leases. “Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake,” Doughty wrote.
Amid oil and gas buildout, Louisiana industry pushes for less oversight - When a natural gas pipeline fire in Paradis killed one worker and burned three others in 2017, the Louisiana State Police ordered Phillips 66 to pay a $22,000 fine for failing to immediately report the incident. The fire burned for four days before first responders could put it out. But the company ultimately didn’t pay any police fine, ending up with just a warning. That story is common, according to public records reviewed by the Louisiana Illuminator and Floodlight with The Guardian. The Louisiana State Police – which oversees pipeline safety – issued 34 fines and five warning letters in the past five years. A quarter of those penalties were reduced: three were lowered, five were replaced with warning letters, and two were dismissed. The fines that did stick were low, between $2,250 to $8,000. Aside from the obvious potential harms to workers, gas leaks pose fire risks and can cause respiratory problems for people in nearby communities. The company was separately fined $20,000 over the incident by the Department of Natural Resources. Despite the record of lax enforcement by the State Police, gas companies in the state say they are being treated unfairly and have lobbied for legislation to loosen requirements around reporting pipeline leaks. Louisiana has more gas pipelines than any other state except Texas, and more gas pipeline projects are planned in the state to support the growing demand for US natural gas exports. The proposal, House Bill 549 from state Rep. Danny McCormick (R-Oil City), was approved by the Legislature and has been sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ desk. It is one of many efforts by the influential oil and gas industry to avoid regulation and keep its tax rates low in the state. If signed into law,it would absolve companies from reporting natural gas leaks of less than 1,000 pounds, unless they cause hospitalization or death.
New plant proposals on the table as power outages threaten Texas again (Reuters) - A proposal to spend $8 billion on new power plants in Texas has stalled, Starwood Energy Group's chief executive said on Monday, as the state's grid operator called for conservation amid record demand. In April, the Connecticut investment firm proposed the construction of 11 natural-gas fired power plants, aiming to improve grid reliability during times of extreme demand. State grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), on Monday asked residents to reduce electricity use "as much as possible" through Friday, citing plants supplying 11,000 megawatts that were offline as temperatures hit 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius). Starwood's proposal to build "peaker plants" for such outages was the second presented to Texas this year. A similar plan for 10 plants was submitted in March by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.The company has held early conversations with stakeholders, Saxena said, and lawmakers have looked at proposals submitted to ERCOT and state regulator the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), according to a spokesperson for the PUCT.
Exclusive-Shell weighs blockbuster sale of Texas shale assets - (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is reviewing its holdings in the largest U.S. oil field for a potential sale, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a key moment in its shift away from fossil fuels as it faces growing pressure to slash carbon emissions. The sale could be for part or all of Shell’s position in the U.S. Permian Basin, located mostly in Texas, which accounted for around 6% of the Anglo-Dutch company’s total oil and gas output last year. The holdings could be worth more than $10 billion, the people said. Shell declined to comment. There was no guarantee Shell would end up striking a deal for the assets, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information. Shell, the second largest western energy company, and its peers have come under investor pressure to increase profits and slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, including by shedding assets. Any retreat from the Permian would mark a major shift from an area previously identified as one of nine core basins in its energy transition strategy to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. For all the activity in the Permian, profits have remained elusive because of scale and constant drilling required to boost output.
Interest in Shell's Permian assets seen as a bellwether for shale demand - (Reuters) - A cadre of oil companies, seeing continued profits in shale, are mulling Royal Dutch Shell’s holdings in the largest U.S. oil field as the European giant considers an exit from the Permian Basin, according to market experts. The potential sale of Shell’s Permian holdings, located in Texas, would be a litmus test of whether rivals are willing to bet on shale’s profitability through the energy transition to reduce carbon emissions. Shell would follow in the footsteps of other producers, including Equinor and Occidental Petroleum that have shed shale assets this year, looking to cut debt and reduce carbon output in the face of investor pressure. Shell, which declined to confirm on Reuters’ report on Sunday that it was weighing the blockbuster sale of its Texas shale assets, also did not comment for this story. To showcase its 260,000 acres (105,200 hectares) in the Permian, Shell has opened a data room, according to two people familiar with the matter. ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, Chevron Corp , EOG Resources and some private energy houses are all potential bidders for some or all of Shell’s Permian assets, according to analysts. None of the four publicly-traded companies immediately responded to comment requests. U.S. oil output is still roughly 2 million barrels per day below its all-time record production of nearly 13 million bpd hit before the coronavirus pandemic, that made it the world’s top producer. Oil prices have rebounded in 2021 with fuel demand rising as the pandemic ebbs. Benchmark U.S. crude futures are up 49% this year to nearly $72 per barrel, more than double their 2020 lows. Against this backdrop, estimates for Shell’s acreage run from $7 billion to over $10 billion, the latter implying a valuation of almost $40,000 an acre. That would be in line with the per-acre price Pioneer Natural Resources paid for DoublePoint Energy in April, the most costly deal since a 2014-2016 rush by producers to grab positions in the Permian. Most Permian deals this year have closed between $7,000 and $12,000 per acre, said Andrew Dittmar, senior mergers and acquisitions analyst at data provider Enverus.
Shale Oil Fraud Case Reveals Executives Ignore Their Own Engineers and Mislead Investors - In April, a judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by former investors in the shale oil company Alta Mesa could proceed. Their case alleges multiple instances of fraud and reveals that not only did engineers in the company warn executives that they were lying to investors about oil production estimates but that executives went on to ignore those warnings. Alta Mesa is among a string of oil and gas companies that in recent years have either been accused or found guilty of fraud, including ExxonMobil and Miller Energy. Many of these emerging fraud cases show a consistent pattern of employees warning leadership that they were misleading investors about how much oil the companies could reasonably produce in the future, but rather than changing course the employees were ignored or fired. This scenario is repeatedly playing out in the shale oil and gas industry where the people who are paid to estimate how much oil is in the ground — the petroleum engineers — are told their estimates are not high enough, and executives then claim more optimistic numbers instead. Most cases of oil industry fraud involve a simple concept. Oil companies are able to raise money based on how much oil they say is in the land they own — that’s known as oil reserves. The higher the value the company claims for its reserves, the more money it can borrow or attract from investors. These fraud cases are very similar to housing appraisal fraud. What some of these oil companies are doing is the equivalent of owning a house worth $250,000, telling the bank it’s worth $500,000, and then borrowing money based on that inflated value. These oil executives then pay themselves high salaries and often cash in large amounts of stock options, until the investors’ money runs out and it’s revealed that the overly optimistic oil reserves predictions were not true.ExxonMobil is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for overvaluing assets despite reports that employees disagreed with the valuations. There are also two separate whistleblower filings with the SEC that accuse Exxon of intentionally overstating the value of its oil and gas–producing properties by tens of billions of dollars.In January, the Wall Street Journal reported on the case that spurred the SEC investigation and reportedly resulted in the firing of at least one ExxonMobil employee, who later filed one of the whistleblower complaints. According to that complaint, an employee who was pressured to redo oil well production forecasts numbers to make management happy reportedly named a file with the inflated numbers, “This is a lie.”According to the Wall Street Journal, this whistleblower noted the widespread internal pressure to support the CEO’s unrealistic claims for potential oil production from its acreage in the Permian region, a top U.S. oil field. “No one I knew in the organization thought this was possible; the pressure to deliver on Woods’s promise to the market permeated the organization,” the whistleblower said, referring to ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods’ goal at the time to produce one million barrels a day from the Permian by 2024.
US oil, gas rig count jumps 7 to 567 amid buoyant $70/b crude prices: Enverus -The US oil and gas rig count jumped 7 to 567 in the week ended June 16, Enverus said, as crude demand continued buoyant and pushed prices above $70/b for a solid week. Natural gas rigs working in domestic fields surged by six to 135, while oil rigs were up one to 431. But the trend of gas gains was not reflected in the gas-weighted fields of the Marcellus Shale, mostly sited in Pennsylvania, where the rig count was unchanged at 35 for the week, or in the Haynesville Shale of East Texas/Northwest Louisiana, where the rig count was down one, leaving 52. The largest change in rig counts came from the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, which gained four rigs, for a total 41. The giant Permian Basin of West Texas/New Mexico was down one rig on the week, leaving 252. The play is the largest oil reservoir in the US, with about 4.6 million b/d of current crude production, according to US Energy Information Administration figures. "It is fair to assume that higher oil prices could lead to more rigs, but it's more about the long-term trend," S&P Global Platts Analytics analyst Taylor Cavey said. "Operators are nimble, but likely not enough to go well above and beyond their current plans in the near term. We're forecasting prices to peak in July with summer demand and dwindle thereafter." Other large domestic basins barely changed this week. Gaining one rig were the DJ Basin, largely located in Colorado, and the Utica Shale, mostly sited in Ohio, making totals of 16 and 11, respectively. Basins which registered no change in rig counts were the SCOOP/STACK of Oklahoma and the Bakken Shale of North Dakota/Montana, leaving totals of 24 and 19, respectively.
When the Frackers Get Too Close for Comfort – When Wanda Vincent looks out the windows of her daycare center in Arlington, Texas, past the playground, she sees a row of enormous beige storage tanks. They’re connected to two wells that produce natural gas for Total, one the world’s largest fossil fuel companies. No government agency—city, state or federal—monitors the air here or inspects regularly for emissions. So Vincent has no way of knowing whether dangerous gases are leaking out of all that equipment, potentially harming the children and staff who spend their days so close to those wells. She feels surrounded. Within two miles of her daycare, 35 wells produce gas at six different sites, most of them operated by TEP Barnett USA, a subsidiary of the French energy giant Total, the dominant gas producer in Arlington. The diverse Dallas suburb of 400,000 has the fortune and misfortune of sitting atop one of the country’s largest onshore natural gas fields, the Barnett Shale. “No one is held accountable to determine whether it’s safe or not, and yet they allow them to be there,” Vincent said. “There’s not any documentation showing we’ve done testing and you’re safe.” Last year, as the Black and Latinx neighborhood around her daycare was grappling with high COVID-19 numbers, Vincent learned from a local activist that Total wanted to drill three more wells behind her playground. Neither the company nor the city had informed her, and she took that personally. “I’m African American, and it makes me feel like they don’t value our lives.” Twenty years of fracking in the United States has delivered not only energy independence, but also an expanding export industry in oil, natural gas and liquified natural gas. America’s drilling boom, led by Texas, has also brought heavy industry into many rural and urban communities. Millions of people now live in the shadow of oil and gas wells, unwitting participants in a massive experiment with their health. That drilling poses substantial risks to the climate as well, because methane, the main component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. Arlington itself is home to 52 gas well sites and hundreds of wellheads. These wells are often near residential neighborhoods, commercial strips and doctor’s offices. More than 30,000 Arlington children go to public school within half a mile of wells, according to an analysis by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, and up to 7,600 infants and young children attend private daycares within that radius. Eighty-five percent of the public school students are children of color, and more than two-thirds live in poverty. Altogether, more than half of Arlington’s public schools and daycare facilities are within a half-mile of active gas production. Eight daycare centers are within 600 feet, the standard setback in Arlington.
Biden Pause on Oil Leases on Public Lands Blocked by Judge - A federal judge lifted the Biden administration’s temporary ban on new oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters. In a victory for 13 red states that filed the legal challenge in Louisiana, U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking President Joe Biden’s Jan. 27 executive order while the litigation continues. Biden’s order called for a 60-day pause during which the Interior Department would conduct a “comprehensive review” of its leasing program. The president said the agency should consider its “broad stewardship responsibilities,” including the impact of global warming. Oil industry advocates cheered the ruling after warning that any long-term halt in leasing jeopardizes jobs and domestic energy production. Environmental groups countered that the judge’s order fails to account for the damage done by climate pollution. The Interior Department said it’s reviewing the ruling and will comply with it. The agency said it’s working on an interim report that will “outline next steps and recommendations for the department and Congress to improve stewardship of public lands and waters, create jobs and build a just and equitable energy future,” according to an emailed statement. Read More: Biden ‘Moratorium’ on Oil Leasing Targeted by GOP-Led States Doughty’s ruling requires the Interior Department to immediately restart its leasing program, even as the agency continues its review of the effects of drilling.
Keystone XL-Quashing Activists Demand Biden Block Other Pipelines - Environmentalists emboldened by this week’s defeat of Keystone XL are pressuring President Joe Biden to revoke permits for other oil and gas pipelines, warning their votes depend on the administration blocking fossil fuel infrastructure.“If you need and want us -- as I know the Biden team does -- to come out in stronger numbers for 2022, then you have to do right by our community,” Jane Kleeb, the president of Bold Alliance, who spent more than a decade battling TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL, said in a call with reporters Friday. “You have to stand up to these big oil and fracked-gas pipelines and say ‘no more.’” Pipelines have been a focal point in the fight against climate change, putting leaders such as Biden and Canada’s Justin Trudeau in a tough spot as they pledge to help cut global carbon dioxide emissions at a Group of Seven summit in the U.K. The U.S. is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of oil, and it’s still unclear how plans to wean Americans off gasoline will pan out. Canada holds the world’s third-largest crude reserves and its economy benefits enormously from their development.Environmentalists and indigenous groups in both countries are putting mounting pressure on the two leaders to stop pipeline developments, with protests in Minnesota against Canadian giant Enbridge Inc.’s expansion of its Line 3 oil-sands conduit turning violent this week.Other projects activists are targeting include Energy Transfer LP’s Dakota Access pipeline, which has been shipping crude from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois for four years, and the proposed Byhalia Connection Pipeline, a joint venture betweenPlains All American Pipeline LP and Valero Energy Corp. to carry oil from Memphis to Mississippi.The Enbridge project, permitted by the Army Corps of Engineers under former President Donald Trump, involves the replacement and expansion of an existing pipeline, which will enable it to carry 760,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude across about 350 miles on the U.S. side.Opponents say it imperils indigenous land and watersheds throughout Minnesota, and they argue it is not compatible with Biden’s ambitions to combat climate change. About 200 anti-pipeline activists were arrested after clashes with law enforcement along Line 3’s route through the state earlier this week, in an episode recalling altercations over the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Activists are still camped at multiple spots along the pipeline’s path, with Winona La Duke, executive director of Honor the Earth, vowing to keep up the pressure. “We will be on the rivers -- protecting our rivers -- as long as needed,” she said.
Michigan’s indigenous tribes ramp up efforts to shut down oil pipeline through sacred waters - Indigenous tribes are asserting their rights under a treaty that predates Michigan’s statehood while pursuing strategies to stop the construction of a new oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. Tribes concerned about the destructive potential of an oil spill in the Great Lakes have long been opposed to Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, which was built in 1953 without their input. As Enbridge moves forward with plans to replace its 68-year-old pipeline with a tunnel buried under the lakebed, members of 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan are using newfound political pressure and legal tools to protect their sacred waters. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer acknowledged tribal treaty rights when she yanked an easement that allows Enbridge to transport, on average, 22.6 million gallons of crude oil per day through the Great Lakes region. But Whitmer’s May 12 deadline to shut down Line 5 came and went, and Enbridge is still operating the pipeline. David Arroyo, tribal chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said Whitmer’s recognition of treaty rights represented a “paradigm shift” in how U.S. governments view their responsibility to protect the Great Lakes. “We were here for millennia and this is the land of our ancestors,” Arroyo said. “We should have been part of the conversation decades ago.” The Grand Traverse Band was among the signatories of the 1836 Treaty of Washington, which ceded nearly 14 million acres to the United States in exchange for the right to fish, hunt and gather throughout the territory. The tribe is also joined in legal efforts to shut down Line 5. An oil spill would “change the universe” of tribal communities that depend on the Great Lakes for survival and assign significant historic and cultural value to the area, Arroyo said. The Tribal Council formally called for the removal of Line 5 in 2015. “There should have been meaningful consultation before the pipeline was put in,” Arroyo said. “Not that I’m saying we would have approved it, but we were never even considered. I think there’s outreach now, but it’s too late.” Enbridge said it is committed to engaging with tribes in a statement. “Engagement with and respect for First Nations, Tribes and Indigenous peoples where we do business is very important to us,” the statement read. “Enbridge recognizes the legal rights of Indigenous Peoples and the important relationship they have with their traditional lands and resources. We work with Indigenous communities in a manner that recognizes and respects these rights.” Matthew Fletcher, a member of the Grand Traverse Band and director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center at Michigan State University, said the pipeline itself likely represents a violation of the treaty. But those rights haven’t been historically recognized.
Appeals court backs Minnesota approval of new Enbridge Line 3 -The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed the state's approval of Enbridge's controversial new pipeline, a blow to environmental groups and Ojibwe tribes trying to halt its construction. Opponents of the project, a replacement for the current Line 3, had appealed the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's 2020 approval of a certificate of need for the $3 billion-plus, 340-mile pipeline across northern Minnesota. They had hoped the appellate court would halt or otherwise delay the pipeline's construction. On Monday, a three-judge panel handed down its decision, with judges Lucinda Jesson and Michael Kirk upholding the commission's decision and Peter Reyes Jr. dissenting. "While reasonable minds may differ on the central question of need for replacement Line 3, substantial evidence supports the commission's decision to issue a certificate of need," Jesson wrote in the majority opinion. Enbridge's current Line 3 is corroding and operating at only half-capacity. Calgary-based Enbridge said the ruling "is an important acknowledgement of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's thorough review of the Line 3 replacement project — and confirmation that commissioners appropriately approved" its permits. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) declined to comment. Pipeline opponents were disappointed with the decision, though some said they weren't surprised. "I guess I didn't have any hope in our court — I wanted to, but I did not," said Dawn Goodwin,a leader of RISE Coalition, an indigenous-led group opposing Line 3. "The good thing is that one of those judges gave a powerful dissent."
“Activism Uncensored”: The Line 3 Pipeline Protests -- Matt Taibbi.and Ford Fischer --In late May, Biden administration lawyers went into court to defend the Willow project, a huge oil and gas endeavor on the North Slope of Alaska. This followed an earlier decision not to intervene to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline thatdisappointed activists, who feel they’ve been getting mixed signals from an administration whose president made a lot of promises on environmental issues as a candidate.In this segment of “Activism Uncensored,” Ford Fischer travels to northern Minnesota and films the arrest of dozens of activists protesting the Line 3 Pipeline, a $9 billion project run by a Canadian company called Enbridge that’s slated to bring hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through tribal lands. Activists say the development violates treaties and will have serious environmental consequences, and the Biden administration has been conspicuously silent about it.Biden got a lot of kudos from environmental activists early on for canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, but in recent months has settled into a Star Trek-ian pattern of obeying the Prime Directive when it comes to energy deals. Protests of Line 3 ended in mass arrests, shown here, and reportedly, the use of a “crowd-dispersing sonic device” as well as bolt cutters and saws to cut down activists who chained themselves to equipment.Stay tuned in this space for more footage, from here and abroad.
'We held a lot of good ground': Line 3 protest and prayer camp disbands near Mississippi River crossing - An eight-day occupation of one of the two spots in northern Minnesota where the Line 3 oil pipeline will cross underneath the Mississippi River ended peacefully on Monday. A group of about 100 people who oppose the pipeline that is primed to be laid here this summer had pitched tents, built compost toilets and established a camp along the timber-mat boardwalk that extends to the riverbanks. After Canadian company Enbridge Energy sent a formal letter asking Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson to evict the campers, Halverson notified the campers that they had the day on Monday to pack up and leave. Most did, marching down the boardwalk and out of the gate without incident around 5 p.m. But about 50 opponents of the pipeline stayed, choosing to receive a citation for misdemeanor trespassing that they hope to fight in court. One person wanted to be arrested and was taken to jail, Halverson said. The leaders of the Fire Light Camp, Dawn Goodwin and Nancy Beaulieu, are the founders of the RISE Coalition — Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging with our Allies — formed, in part, in opposition to Line 3. “I just want to reassure you that we held a lot of good ground,” Beaulieu told the pipeline opponents, who call themselves water protectors. “Our story is being heard loud and clear. And when we do an exit today, it is not a surrender.” The 340-mile crude oil replacement pipeline has been contentious since it was first introduced in 2014. Enbridge says the existing Line 3 needs to be replaced because it was built in the 1960s and is deteriorating.
Protests continue at Minnesota Line 3 oil pipeline project Opponents of the Enbridge Energy Line 3 oil pipeline project in northwestern Minnesota continued their protests this week by disrupting traffic in front of an Enbridge equipment site, leading to 31 arrests. Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes said the incident began about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday when a van pulled in front of the semitrailer and forced it to stop on a county highway. One woman crawled under the semi and attached herself to the rear axle and another person clipped on to an item on top of the trailer, Aukes said. Several carloads of protesters arrived and gathered on the side of the roadway, at which point Aukes said they were told by deputies they were breaking Minnesota's public nuisance and unlawful assembly laws. Aukes said deputies began arresting demonstrators after they began “yelling vulgarities, being a traffic hazard, and refusing to leave.” The protesters were brought to the Hubbard County Jail, where they were charged with public nuisance, unlawful assembly, and disorderly conduct, Aukes said. At least 1,000 activists from across the country gathered at construction sites near the headwaters of the Mississippi River last week. Nearly 250 people were arrested. The Line 3 replacement would carry Canadian tar sands oil and regular crude from Alberta to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The project is nearly done except for the Minnesota leg, which is about 60% complete.
U.S. judge orders resumption in federal drilling auctions in setback for Biden - (Reuters) - A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday blocked the Biden administration's pause on oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters, dealing a setback to a key White House effort to address climate change. The order granted a preliminary injunction to Louisiana and 12 other states that sued Democratic President Joe Biden and the Interior Department over the freeze on new drilling auctions. Louisiana is a major hub for offshore oil and gas production. Biden paused the government's leasing auctions in January pending a review that is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. The move was part of a sweeping plan to rein in fossil-fuel extraction and combat the effects of climate change. The Interior Department said it would comply with the ruling, but did not say when auctions might resume. The nation's top oil and gas trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, issued a statement urging the administration "to move expeditiously to follow the court's order and lift the federal leasing pause." The Center for Biological Diversity environmental group said in a statement the order "turns a blind eye to runaway climate pollution that's devastating our planet." The judge's decision, which applies to onshore and offshore leasing nationwide, will remain in effect pending the final resolution of the case or orders from higher courts, according to a court document. In the ruling, Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said the states had met the requirements to establish that they would suffer injury from the pause on new oil and gas leases. "Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake," Doughty wrote. He also said the states had a "substantial likelihood of success" with their lawsuit. In a statement, an Interior Department spokesperson said the agency's upcoming report "will include initial findings on the state of the federal conventional energy programs, as well as outline next steps and recommendations for the Department and Congress to improve stewardship of public lands and waters, create jobs, and build a just and equitable energy future."
Federal Judge Says Biden Cannot Pause New Leases for Drilling on Public Lands - The New York Times — A federal judge in Louisiana has blocked the Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, in the first major legal roadblock for President Biden’s quest to cut fossil fuel pollution and conserve public lands. Judge Terry A. Doughty of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday against the administration, saying that the power to pause offshore oil and gas leases “lies solely with Congress” because it was the legislative branch that originally made federal lands and waters available for leasing. Judge Doughty also ruled that 13 states that are suing the administration over its temporary halt to new leases “have made a showing that there is a substantial likelihood that President Biden exceeded his powers.” Jeff Landry, the Republican attorney general of Louisiana and attorneys general from 12 other states, all Republicans, filed suit in March to lift the White House executive order that temporarily halted new drilling leases on federal lands and waters. Mr. Biden had signed the order during his first week in office in January, saying he wanted a pause in order to conduct a comprehensive review of the program. Judge Doughty ruled that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and her agency “are hereby enjoined and restrained from implementing the pause of new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters.” until the states’ legal case against the administration is decided. He wrote that the pause on new leasing should end nationwide and noted that such sweeping preliminary injunctions against federal actions were exceedingly rare. But the judge, who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, concluded that the 13 states had demonstrated that their economies could be irreparably harmed by the pause on drilling. Joining Louisiana were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. The suspension of the leases has been one of the most high-profile and controversial policy moves by a president who has made climate action central to his agenda. Environmentalists celebrated the pause as a sign that Mr. Biden is serious about shutting down production of fossil fuels, the burning of which is the chief cause of global warming.Scientists have warned that the world needs to urgently cut emissions if it has any chance to keep average global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels. That’s the threshold beyond which experts say the planet will experience catastrophic, irreversible damage. Temperature change is not even around the globe; some regions have already reached an increase of 2 degrees Celsius.
Dakota Access foes seek environmental review updates from US - (AP) — Dakota Access oil pipeline opponents asked a judge Friday to require the pipeline company and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide detailed monthly status reports while the federal government conducts an extensive environmental review of the project. The request comes after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled in May that the pipeline, which carries oil from North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois, may continue operating while the Army Corps of Engineers conducts the review known as an environmental impact statement. In court documents, attorneys for the pipeline company said Boasberg should not require the monthly reports and also renewed their longstanding request to have the case dismissed. Boasberg issued his May ruling after attorneys for the pipeline’s Texas-based owner, Energy Transfer, argued that shuttering the pipeline would be a major economic blow to several entities, including North Dakota, and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, in the heart of the state’s oil patch. Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who represents the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes, said a decision on whether to appeal that order could come later. Attorneys for the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes say the pipeline is operating illegally without a federal permit granting easement to cross beneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir near the Standing Rock reservation that is maintained by the Corps. They said preventing financial loss should not come at the expense of the other tribes, “especially when the law has not been followed.” The Standing Rock Sioux, which more than four years ago sued the Corps for granting permits that led then-President Donald Trump to approve pipeline construction, draws its water from the Missouri River and says it fears pollution. The company has said the pipeline is safe. The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) pipeline began operating in 2017, after being the subject of months of protests during its construction. Environmental groups, encouraged by some of President Joe Biden’s recent moves on climate change and fossil fuels, were hoping he would step in and shut down the pipeline.. But the Biden administration left it up to Boasberg. Attorneys for the tribes on Friday also requested that Boasberg’s court retain jurisdiction over the litigation until the environmental work is completed and a new easement is issued. Boasberg ordered further environmental study in April 2020, after determining the Corps had not adequately considered how an oil spill under the Missouri River might affect Standing Rock’s fishing and hunting rights, or whether it might disproportionately affect the tribal community.
Pipeline leaks saltwater into McKenzie County wheat field – An equipment failure caused a pipeline to spill saltwater into a McKenzie County wheat field. Goodnight Midstream estimated that 1,800 barrels or 75,600 gallons of fluid spilled from its pipeline last Thursday. Saltwater is known as brine or produced water within the oil industry. It's a byproduct of oil production and is typically injected deep underground for permanent storage. It can render land infertile when it spills. "We had cleanup crews there within hours and they were already moving out water and soil that afternoon," Goodnight Midstream CEO Patrick Walker said. "We are optimistic we have already cleaned most of the affected area." The response involved putting up berms to contain the spill, he said. A report maintained by the state Department of Environmental Quality indicated that cleanup efforts continued Monday. The spill began on a hill and the fluid flowed downward through the wheat field, traveling along "many small paths," the report said. The spill involved a pipeline made out of a fiberglass-reinforced material known as Fiberspar LinePipe, Walker said. That material has been tied to several major saltwater spills within North Dakota in years past. Walker said Goodnight Midstream has had a good safety record with Fiberspar. The company is still investigating what caused the pipeline to leak, but it likely involved an issue with a valve set at a junction with stainless steel. The incident happened about 3 miles north of Johnsons Corner, which lies east of Watford City. Environmental Quality staff are inspecting the site and will continue to monitor cleanup, the agency said.
As Harsh Financial Realities Emerge, St. Croix’s Limetree Bay Refinery Could Be Facing Bankruptcy - When the long-mothballed Limetree Bay oil refinery reopened in February, environmentalists saw it as a parting gift from the Trump administration to the deeply divided people of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Some thought the massive facility would help revive the island’s economy while others feared environmental disaster and a looming climate nightmare. The Environmental Protection Agency discovered as far back as 1982 that the Caribbean refinery was leaking tens of millions of gallons of oil into St. Croix’s groundwater. And in 2011, regulators required the plant to make hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades and slapped it with environmental penalties for violating the Clean Air Act—moves that inevitably pushed its owner to close the facility for good in 2012. But after reopening earlier this year under new ownership, thanks to what activists and analysts considered highly favorable regulatory consideration from Trump officials, the refinery has been plagued by environmental scandals, including two incidents where an oil mist was sprayed onto nearby homes and into residents’ drinking water. The accidents prompted federal regulators in May to order the facility to fully shut down for 60 days, pending further investigation into the cause of the accidents and possible permit violations. Now, some oil and gas experts say Limetree Bay could be at risk of bankruptcy, as the harsh financial realities the plant faces begin to emerge, including significant loan defaults and a growing number of lawsuits. The refinery has lost investors hundreds of millions of dollars since restarting and Limetree Bay Ventures—its managing company—has dissolved, according to a report last week from Reuters. The refinery also faces four class action lawsuits from local residents seeking compensation for property damage and medical expenses related to recent accidents, the St. Thomas Source reported Thursday. Financial analysts who have looked at the circumstances facing the refinery say it might not be able to recoup its losses, even with oil prices returning to pre-pandemic levels as economies reopen and travel rebounds, making bankruptcy a likely possibility.
Equinor progress on Grand Bahama oil spill - Joseph Darville is pleased with the efforts being made by Equinor to clean up the oil spill in East Grand Bahama, but has indicated there is still lots of remediation work to be done. #On Monday, Equinor met with representatives from Save The Bays (STB) and the Grand Bahama Utility Company at the Pelican Bay Resort, where they gave a comprehensive update of the oil spill clean up. #The Tribune was informed that corporate executives at Equinor also attended via Zoom, but did not participate. #STB and Waterkeepers Bahamas have been closely monitoring the cleanup efforts of the oil spill in East Grand Bahama. They have made regular visits to the area to inspect, collect samples and take photographs of the affected forest and wetlands. #Mr Darville said they were informed on Monday by a technician at Equinor that their findings show no penetration of oil to the water table in the area. #“The technician… gave a detailed analysis of what has been done so far. They dug 24 to 27 wells in the area and there is no sort of penetration of petroleum or oil products into the water table from those wells that they have dug. They have been monitoring that for over a year and they plan to do so for a certain period into the future.” #However, the environmental activist noted that there was no mention of the affected wetlands. #“One of the areas that were not covered was the wetlands for any monitoring of oil in the water, but I brought that up,” he said. #According to Mr Darville, during their initial and previous follow-up visits to the area, including one not more than three weeks ago, STB had observed oil sheen on the wetlands. #The technician, he said, had indicated that going into the wetland to try to collect the oil residue from the plants would cause more damage. #“I agreed with that because the wetlands are extremely delicate,” Mr Darville added. #He noted that Waterkeepers Bahamas and Save the Bays are the only groups that have been regularly monitoring that area almost every other week. #“We go and take samples and see how the cleaning is being done by workers in that area, and we make suggestions to the workers,” Mr Darville said.
Equinor plans upstream exit from three countries --Norway's state-controlled Equinor plans to exit Nicaragua, Mexico and Australia and sell or relinquish some of its oil and gas assets in the Americas as it looks to optimise its upstream portfolio.The plan was announced by executive vice-president of international upstream operations Al Cook at today's strategy update. In addition to its exploration assets in Nicaragua, Mexico and Australia, Equinor is looking to offload its stake in Canada's Terra Nova oil field offshore Newfoundland, its operated onshore position in Louisiana's Austin Chalk in the US and its interests in the Aguila Mara Noreste and Baja del Toro Este onshore exploration licences in Argentina. It also plans to relinquish its operated Utica shale acreage in the US.The plan is part of Equinor's strategy to no longer operate onshore unconventional oil and gas assets and to partner local companies onshore instead. "That way we can enjoy regional expertise and economies of scale in a way we never could as an onshore operator," Cook said, adding that confining its operatorships to offshore projects will allow the firm to focus efforts in its areas of expertise.Equinor has previously acknowledged that its foray into the US onshore sector has been far from smooth sailing. The firm disposed of its operated assets in the Eagle Ford shale in 2019, and sold its entire operated and non-operated acreage in the Bakken shale earlier this year.
16km slick off Brittany coast after ship accidentally dumps oil in sea - A 16km-long oil slick has been reported off the Brittany coast, after a drilling ship helping to build a new wind farm accidentally dumped oil into the sea. The 138-metre-long drill ship Aeolus was working in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, near the site of a future wind farm run by Breton wind farm company Ailes Marines, when the accident happened yesterday, at around 06:30 on June 14. The commander of the ship raised the alert.
French authorities race to clean up oil spill drifting to Corsica's coast - French authorities were racing to clean up an oil spill approaching the island of Corsica on Saturday, launching an "anti-pollution plan" to prevent the slick from reaching sunbathers on the coast. The spill was spotted on Friday by the French navy during an exercise carried out from the Solenzara air base in Ventiseri, Corsica, according to maritime officials. By Saturday morning, officials had detected two oil slicks over 19 nautical miles (35 kilometers), which were drifting about 5 nautical miles from Corsica's east coast, between Aléria and Solenzara, France's Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture said in a statement. Pollution experts concluded the spill was heavy-grade oil and likely the result of a "degassing," which involves the release of any gases left in fuel tanks or crude oil tanks after they've been emptied. "The size and nature of the products involved do not allow for natural dilution and require specific anti-pollution units and equipment," the prefecture said, adding that "the pollution (is) currently drifting towards the coast." "Some materials are visible up to 800 meters from the coast," Christine Ribbe, a prefecture spokeswoman told French radio station France Inter on Saturday morning. "We fear that some of this pollution will reach the Corsican coast today," she added.
Oil spill drifts away from Corsica coast Fears two oil slicks would pollute eastern Corsica's holiday beaches eased Saturday after French officials prepared for the worst and naval boats armed with clean-up equipment arrived off the Mediterranean island. "We are more reassured now because the pollution is drifting away from the coast," maritime prefecture spokesperson Christine Ribbe told AFP. "The pollution is breaking up and now about 10 kilometres (six miles) or so offshore. But we have to remain very careful because the situation can change with the currents." The authorities had voiced concern the oil would pollute the coast from Aleria to Ventiseri on Saturday and closed beaches along the 40-kilometre stretch and banned fishing. Two naval ships, equipped with "anti-pollution material and specialised staff" were already picking up oil from the surface of the sea. Some 80 members of the security forces and rescue services were also being drafted in to aid with any clean-up. The heavy-grade oil, which local authorities said appears to have come from a ship cleaning out fuel tanks, was first detected around midday Friday during an aerial surveillance operation. By Saturday, officials had detected two large slicks stretching over 19 nautical miles (35 kilometres), one 800 metres offshore, the other 3.5 kilometres. Francis Giudici, mayor of Ghisonaccia, where the beach was closed, told AFP: "We are hoping we'll avoid the pollution, but it will be complicated. "There's also been a lot of anger," he said. "We really don't need this at the start of the (holiday) season." France's Minister for the Sea Annick Girardin told reporters: "We have come here determined to find those who" caused the oil spill. "They are thugs and should be treated as thugs." Prosecutor Dominique Laurens said France's maritime gendarmerie had opened an investigation and the polluting vessel would be identified.
Spain detains tanker Aldan for oil spill - The Spanish government has detained an oil tanker for allegedly spilling a large quantity of hydrocarbons in the Atlantic off the Canary Islands. TheAldan's most recent port of call may have been in Venezuela. Spain's transport ministry Mitma said the Liberia-flagged Aldan is being held in the port of Almeria after a spill that spread across a 55km² area."The ship will remain detained until its managers proceed to deposit the fixed bond," Mitma said. "Given the seriousness of the events, they could face one of the highest sanctions imposed so far."The Aldan's ultimate owner is probably Muhit Maritime FZE, which is headquartered in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, UAE, according to IMO registration documents.It is unclear what the tanker was carrying. Last month it loaded 150,000 bl of gasoline on behalf of Switzerland-based ES Euro Shipping from Trinidad's state-owned Paria Fuel Trading, and was bound for Aruba. But multiple shipping sources said that it instead entered Venezuelan waters. Venezeula is suffering an acute gasoline shortage. If the Aldan did call at a Venezuelan port, there is a possibility it could be carrying that country's heavy crude or fuel oil. Oil trade with Venezuela brings acute political sensitivities, because of US sanctions that were imposed by Washington in January 2019. Most of Venezuela's crude exports end up in China's Shandong province, home to much of thatg country's independent refining sector, but even this could be shut off by Beijing's recent imposition of a new import tax.
Cleanup of oil spill on Northern Sakhalin shore to take 3 days – Authorities - It will take three days to clean up the coast of the Russian town of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy, on northern Sakhalin Island, following an oil spill, the regional government said on Monday. On Sunday, the authorities reported that algae presumably covered with fuel oil were washed ashore off the Tatar Strait. The initial evaluation showed that the shore near the village of Due, the Three Brothers rocks, a former oil depot, and the village of Polovinka were all polluted. A probe into the incident was launched. "The cleanup of the sea coast from oil products has begun in Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy . .. The operation is set to last three days," the government said, specifying that water and soil samples were earlier taken from different areas of the spill. The specialists plan to clean up the territory near the former oil depot on Monday. They will pick off the contaminated algae and place them in sealed plastic bags, which will then be transported to the south of the island for decontamination. The residents of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky are also offering their help in cleaning up the coast.
The Emirati oil deal that has infuriated Israeli environmentalists - The first cargo ships from Dubaithat docked last year in the Mediterranean port of Haifa were met by celebration in Israel. Flags waved. Reporters gathered. The prime minister walked the pier and gave a speech about the fruits of making peace. There was zero fanfare, however, when oiltankers began arriving at the smaller Israeli port of Eilat on the Red Sea in an arrangement with Emirati partners. Rather than washing machines and cleaning supplies for consumers, the ships unloaded oilto be transferred through a pipeline across Israelto the Mediterranean. The influx of ships set to dock alongside the fragile coralreefs in Eilat and the large amounts of oilto pass through Israel have outraged the country's biggest environmental advocates. Fresh in their minds is an owshore oil spill in February that blackened much of Israel's Mediterranean coast with tar. And in 2014, one of EAPC's own pipelines ruptured, spilling 5 million litres of crude oil into a desert nature reserve. "Most of the details (of the deal) are confidential by law. We know just a little bit, but the little bit makes us very anxious," saidNoa Yayon, head of the legal department at the Society for the Protection of Nature. Eilat's coralreef is unique in that it has proved to be more resilient to climate change, when many reefs around the globe are dying. It is also a big tourism draw. But its proximity to the port means that even the smallest leak from one tankers would cause big, possibly irreversible, damage, Yayon said. "We are of course very happy with the current geopolitical status with the Arab countries in our area, but we don't think that it has to come with the super-specific risks to our environment," she said. "We think that we better promote business with these countries based on clean energy and not oil." Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel last Tuesday sent a letter to Israel's national security adviser saying "the warning lights are already flashing" and demanded the deal be scrapped. Too much was decided behind closed doors and remains secret, she said. EAPC has not made public details of the deal. "From a rate of six tankers a year, we expect an increase to more than 50 tankers a year docking in Eilat," Gamliel wrote. "The continuation of this deal will be a tragedy for generations, whether from mishaps that may occur or in a wartime scenario."
Indian Coast Guard on alert after oil spill from Haldia-bound Portuguese ship - Indian Coast Guard is on alert as an oil spill from the Haldia-bound Portuguese flag container ship was reported on June 16 about 450 km southeast of Chennai, the Ministry of Defence reported on Friday.The investigation has revealed that a Portuguese flag container ship MV Devon, on passage from Colombo to Haldia, West Bengal, developed an underwater crack in the fuel tank containing about 120 KL of very low sulphur fuel oil, resulting in spillage of about 10 KL, before any preventive action was taken, the ministry added. The remaining oil in the tank was transferred to another tank by the ship's crew, the ministry reported.Manned by a crew of 17, the vessel is carrying 10,795 tonnes of general cargo in 382 containers. The ship continued its voyage to Haldia and is likely to reach today."The ICG is in continuous contact with MV Devon and the master has reported that the vessel is stable. ICG pollution response team at Chennai has been alerted and kept on standby. In addition, ICG ships and aircraft deployed at sea are also put on alert in pollution response configuration," the ministry said.
Shell records 51 oil spills in six months - Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria says it recorded 51 spills from oil production activities in the Niger Delta within the past six months. Over the years, Shell has been accused of negligence on Niger Delta communities over the adverse effects of its production activities.Earlier this year, a Dutch appeal court ruled against the Nigerian arm of the British-Dutch oil company, asking it to pay for damages caused by oil spills in the Niger Delta. According to the spill incident data published on its website, 44 of the spill incidents were traced to sabotage, while seven of the leaks were caused by operational factors. “In May, eight spills which discharged 253.07 barrels of SPDC’s bonny light crude blended into the environment,” the firm stated. “Of the eight spills recorded, six were caused by sabotage whereas two were from operational factors.” The data also showed that operational spills accounted for 6.07 barrels of the 253.07 barrels, while sabotage accounted for 247 barrels. In 2020, the oil company reported a total of 159 spills, with sabotage responsible for 140 incidents, while operational factors were responsible for 19.
Total awards $1.9b oil project deal to British, Chinese firms - French company Total has awarded the $1.9 billion deal for the construction of its Lake Albert oil production Tilenga project in Uganda to a consortium led by British and Chinese firms, the company announced on Monday. Total, the lead investor in Uganda’s oil projects, said it signed contracts for the main surface facilities Engineering, Procurement, Supply, Construction and Commissioning (EPSCC) contracts as well as five drilling packages for the Tilenga project located in Nwoya and Buliisa Districts. The companies that won the lucrative deal include CB&I UK Limited, a McDermott subsidiary company, and Chinese firm Sinopec International Petroleum Corporation the EPSCC of the central processing facility, flowlines and other associated surface facilities. The deal also includes contracts with Schlumberger Oilfield Eastern Limited for three well engineering packages that include upper completions, artificial lift and associated services, directional drilling, well logging, measurement while drilling, buttonhole assembly, data transmission and real time operation centre services, as well as wellheads, Christmas trees and associated services. Other firms in the deal are Vallourec Oil and Gas France which was awarded the contract for one well procurement package, which also includes casing, tubing and associated services, and ZPEB Uganda Co. Limited for one oil rig package that comprises onshore drilling rigs, tubular running and fishing services. “Following a comprehensive, competitive and thorough tender evaluation and contracting process that began with the phased submission of Front-End Engineering and Design proposals to ensure project optimisation, we are pleased to sign these conditional letters of award for the Tilenga project to these five highly qualified industry players.
The Retreat of Exxon and the Oil Majors Won’t Stop Fossil Fuel -- When Exxon Mobil Corp. decided to get out of a big oil field in Iraq, the government took on the unusual role of salesman. Iraqi officials pitched West Qurna-1 to likely buyers from among Exxon’s supermajor peers, including arch-rival Chevron Corp. There weren’t any takers. That left Iraq with narrowed options: sell to one of China’s state-backed oil majors, or else buy back Exxon’s stake itself. The sale process remains unresolved but either outcome would stand as a powerful indicator of what’s become of the global oil market. With supermajors from the U.S. and Europe in retreat around the world, national oil champions are set to fill the void. The supermajors — a group that, in addition to Exxon and Chevron, includes BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE, and Eni SpA — are shrinking even while fossil-fuel demand holds strong. These companies are under growing pressure to pay down debt while cutting greenhouse gas and, for some, transitioning to renewable energy. Recent weeks saw Exxon and Chevron rebuked by their own shareholders over climate concerns, while Shell lost a lawsuit in the Hague over the pace of its shift away from oil and gas. National oil companies, or NOCs, are largely shielded from those pressures. When the owners are governments, not shareholders, there aren’t dissident board members like those now sitting inside Exxon. That means state oil producers like those who populate OPEC+ can be the buyers of last resort for fossil-fuel projects cast off by the shrinking supermajors. READ MORE: What Happens When an Oil Giant Walks Away State companies can also gobble market share by simply producing oil that their private-sector rivals won’t. Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. are spending billions to boost their respective output capacities by a million barrels per day each, and Qatar Petroleum is spending more than $30 billion to increase its liquefied natural gas exports by more than 50%. (Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil declined to comment.)
World oil demand ‘will rebound to pre-Covid levels by end of 2022’ - The world’s demand for oil will rebound to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022, as recovering economies require oil-producing countries to pump more fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and their allies, including Russia, collectively known as Opec+, will need to “open the taps to keep the world oil markets adequately supplied”, the global energy watchdog said in its monthly oil report. Oil demand is expected to bounce back by 5.4m barrels a day this year, one of the fastest climbs on record, and by a further 3.1m in 2022, pushing consumption of crude above 100m for the first time by the end of next year, the IEA said. It follows a record decline in 2020 as Covid-19 took hold around the world, temporarily closing factories, interrupting trade and applying the brakes to international travel, which caused demand to sink by 9m barrels a day. The watchdog’s forecast of rising appetite for crude threatens to disappoint those who had hoped that global oil use might have peaked in 2019 before the pandemic, and underlines the “enormous effort required to get on track” to reach the energy sector’s goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, seen as crucial for fighting the climate emergency. The IEA’s had warned a year ago that the world’s daily oil demand could climb faster in 2021 than ever seen before, unless more green policies are adopted to dampen consumption.
Oil Ends Little Changed After Hitting 2-Year Highs on Demand Hopes -- Crude oil prices settled little changed Monday after hitting their highest levels in more than two years, boosted by renewed confidence in the economic revival and an associated jump in oil demand. West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled down 3 cents at $70.88, after soaring to $71.78 earlier, its highest since October 2018. Brent, the gauge for global crude, settled up 17 cents at $72.86, after surging to $73.63, its highest since May 2019. Oil prices have gained over 40% this year to date, supported by economic recovery and the prospect of fuel demand growth as vaccination campaigns in developed countries accelerate. “The June preliminary reading for the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index shows confidence moved higher” on Friday, said analysts at ING, in a research note. “This is encouraging for the growth outlook given the historically strong correlation between the overall expectations indicator and consumer spending.” Additionally, U.S. daily air travelers have topped 2 million for the first time since the pandemic began with traffic returning to pre-pandemic levels in North America and much of Europe as lockdowns and other restrictions are being eased, even if England does decide to delay its full reopening later Monday. The International Energy Agency predicted last week that global oil demand will recover to pre-pandemic levels late next year, tying in with a bullish forecast from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that demand in 2021 would rise by 5.95 million barrels per day, up 6.6% from a year earlier. Also helping the tone was the tone of cooperation at the weekend’s G7 summit, where the world's wealthiest democracies announced plans to donate 1 billion vaccine doses to poor nations. As far as additional supply from Iran is concerned, the Persian Gulf country said earlier Monday that it has reached a broad agreement with the U.S. over the lifting of sanctions on its industrial sectors, including energy, but warned there was “very little time left” for world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.
Oil futures ended slightly lower on Monday - Oil futures ended slightly lower on Monday, reversing earlier gains, as traders continued to monitor demand for crude oil. The rally is being fueled by bullish demand optimism and steady OPEC+ supply cuts. Demand growth is expected to increase and more economies to reopen. WTI has risen about 8% so far this month as air travel and road traffic picks up in both the U.S. and Europe amid an acceleration in COVID-19 vaccination programs. In the U.S; daily air travelers topped 2 million for the first time since the pandemic began. Speculators are the most bullish in WTI in about three years. July WTI slipped 3 cents, or 0.04%, to settle at $70.88 a barrel, its first loss in three sessions. August Brent tacked on 17 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $72.86 a barrel, the highest finish since April 2019. Petroleum products slipped a bit, with July RBOB down 0.7%, to $2.17 a gallon and July heating oil shedding 0.4%, to $2.11 a gallon. While stronger fundamentals will continue to push this market higher, there is potential of running into headwinds. Among these headwinds are concern over gasoline demand and the potential for new oil supply from Iran. India, the third largest importer of crude oil, continues to suffer from resurging virus attacks, heavily impacting demand. There are expectations of achieving more gains, as more drivers take to the roads and air travel returns to pre-pandemic levels. That being said, we anticipate WTI reaching toward $75, but facing an uphill battle. Above $75, there is resistance set at $78. Support is seen at $69.29 and below that at $66.43. Refinitiv Oil Research said it was tracking exports of Northwest European gasoline to the United States at 407,000 tons last week, aboard eleven medium-range tankers. Gasoline exports increased by 47% on the week, as favorable arbitrage conditions supported chartering activity. Total June loadings are currently just under 760,000 tons. Analysts they expect a slowdown in bookings given the substantial build in U.S. stockpiles last week, suggesting weaker-than-expected fuel demand at the start of summer. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed a state regulator's decision that there is sufficient oil demand for Enbridge Inc to justify the replacement of its Line 3 pipeline. The decision marks another hurdle cleared for the Canadian pipeline company's efforts to replace an aging pipeline that carries Alberta oil sands crude through the state. Replacing the pipeline would allow Enbridge to roughly double its capacity to 760,000 barrels per day. Enbridge expects the line to come into service in the fourth quarter of this year. IIR Energy reported that U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in 313,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending June 18th, increasing available refining capacity by 88,000 bpd from the previous week. Offline capacity is expected to fall to 207,000 bpd in the week ending June 25th. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to increase by about 38,000 bpd in July to about 7.8 million bpd.
Oil up nearly 2% to multi-year highs on demand expectations - Oil prices rose nearly 2% to their highest in more than two years on Tuesday, buoyed by expectations demand will recover rapidly in the second half of 2021. Brent crude rose $1.13, or 1.6%, to settle at $73.99 a barrel. The global benchmark during the session hit $74.07 a barrel, its highest since April 2019. US oil rose $1.24, or 1.8%, to settle at $72.12 a barrel. It hit a session high of $72.19 a barrel, its highest since October 2018. Boosting prices, the world's biggest oil traders said on Tuesday they see oil prices staying above $70 a barrel with demand expected to return to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2022. Vitol Chief Executive Russell Hardy sees the oil moving between $70 and $80 a barrel for the remainder of 2021 on the expectation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) keep supply discipline, even as Iran's exports may resume if the United States rejoins a nuclear agreement with Tehran. "We have had those stock draws for a couple months, the market is heading in the right direction," Russell Hardy told the FT Commodities Global Summit. Trafigura Chief Executive Jeremy Weir told the same event there was a good chance prices could reach $100 a barrel because of falling reserves before the world reaches peak oil demand. OPEC+ producers have been gradually relaxing record output curbs in recent months. "The decision by OPEC+ to be overly cautious in returning supply to the market, whether this is true caution or they are intentionally stoking oil prices higher, has been a main tenant in seeing $73 per barrel Brent," said Louise Dickson, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy. Analysts polled by Reuters expect U.S. crude stocks to have fallen for a fourth week in a row, dropping by about 3.3 million barrels last week. Industry data is due at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, followed by official figures on Wednesday morning. Investors and traders are also watching the outcome of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that starts on Tuesday for signals on when it will start to scale back monetary stimulus.
U.S. oil futures settle at highest in over 2 1/2 years - U.S. oil futures topped $72 a barrel on Tuesday to climb back to their highest finish in over two-and-a-half years. Prices got a boost from expectations of higher energy demand, ahead of a weekly U.S. government report that's expected to show a fourth-straight weekly decline in crude inventories. On average, analysts expect the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday to report a fall of 4.2 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended June 11, following three consecutive weekly declines. On Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate oil for July delivery rose $1.24, or nearly 1.8%, to settle at $72.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest front-month contract finish since October 2018, FactSet data show.
WTI Extends Gains After Biggest Crude Draw In 5 Months - Oil prices extended their recent (meteoric) rise with WTI topping $72 - 32 month highs - as investors weighed the outlook for rising demand (hopes on gasoline and aviation fuel use rise from pandemic lows and global stockpiles are drawn down) against extended anti-virus curbs in some economies (with officials tackling the challenge posed by more infectious variants)."The continuing good news on the demand front and upbeat sentiment on the financial markets as the key reasons for the latest upswing," Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg said in a note." ... In our opinion, however, the crucial (fundamental) test for the oil market and its subsequent price performance is yet to come - will demand continue to recover as dynamically as it has been doing in recent weeks despite the new virus variants that keep sparking renewed restrictions?"The latest test for this thesis will be tonight's inventory sneak peek ahead of tomorrow's official data. API
- Crude -8.537mm (-4.2mm exp) - biggest draw since January
- Cushing -1.526mm
- Gasoline +2.852mm (unch exp)
- Distillates +1.956mm (+200k exp)
Analysts expected crude stocks to fall for the 4th straight week and were right as Crude stocks fell by the most since January (as product inventories rose for the 3rd straight week)...WTI hovered around $72.25 (the highest since Oct 2018) ahead of the print and spiked higher on the big crude draw...
WTI Bounces On Big Crude Draw, Gasoline Demand Pick-Up --Oil prices round-tripped overnight after a big crude draw (reported by API), along with fuel sales in India showing signs of recovery, sparked a push for $73 for WTI."Demand growth is outpacing supply and will continue to do so over the coming months," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM, adding that "ongoing efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear deal have so far failed to bear any fruits."Global oil demand will get back to pre-pandemic levels late next year, according to the International Energy Agency. If DOE confirms API's data, this will be the biggest crude draw since January.... DOE:
- Crude -7.335mm (-4.2mm exp)
- Cushing -2.15mm
- Gasoline +1.954mm (unch exp)
- Distillates -1.023mm (+200k exp)
US crude inventories fell for the 4th straight week - with the biggest draw since April. Graphics Source: Bloomberg US crude output rose notably last week (+200k b/d) as firms perhaps finally take advantage of rising prices and rig counts... All eyes were on U.S gasoline demand today (as they have been since the start of spring and during the oil comeback from the pandemic) as the recent tumble is definitely not in keeping with the recovery narrative. The good news is... gasoline demand rebounded nicely...WTI hovered around $72.25 (right where it was before API) ahead of the official data and rebounded as DOE confirmed a notable crude draw..."The fact that oil prices are still showing few signs of slowing means there has to be some concern that if we go too much higher, we could start to see some early signs of demand destruction,"
Oil Prices Finish Higher at Midweek -- Oil was virtually unchanged as gains driven by diminishing crude inventories were tugged lower after Federal Reserve officials suggested they expect two interest rate increases by the end of 2023. Futures in New York rose three cents on Wednesday. Equities fell and the dollar surged, reducing the appeal of commodities priced in the currency. Earlier, oil rose as much as 1.2% after a U.S. government report showed domestic crude supplies tumbled last week and inventories at the nation’s biggest supply hub in Oklahoma dropped to the lowest since March 2020. “If you’re holding oil, you’re going to be cautious that we could see a dip here,” . Brent futures traded in London are approaching the key psychological level of $75 as leading economies continue to reopen in the midst of widespread Covid-19 vaccination programs. That’s boosting the consumption outlook and driving prominent traders like Glencore Plc and Vitol Group to forecast further gains in oil. Exports of U.S. crude and fuels soared last week, the Energy Information Administration report showed. Chinese refiners recently raised activity to a record while gasoline and diesel sales in India have rebounded. Saudi Arabia issued a stark warning that an oil-price “supercycle” may be triggered by a lack of new exploration spending. “The rest of the world is finally getting better,” Moya said. “We’re seeing availability of vaccines has improved dramatically.” West Texas Intermediate crude futures for July delivery rose 3 cents to settle at $72.15 a barrel. Brent for August settlement climbed 40 cents to end session at $74.39 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. However, the Energy Information Administration report showed U.S. gasoline supplies ticked higher, despite rising demand, with refineries ramping up with the summer driving season underway. Refinery utilization has improved steadily for five weeks in a row.
Oil Falls From Multi-Year Highs on Firmer Dollar, Hike in UK COVID Cases (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell nearly 2% from their highest level in years on Thursday as the dollar strengthened after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it might raise interest rates as soon as 2023. Oil demand worries resurfaced after new coronavirus cases jumped in Britain, while supply concerns over the return of Iranian barrels also weighed on the market. Traders, however, said Friday's presidential elections in Iran could scuttle nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran and leave U.S. sanction on Iran's oil exports in place. Brent futures fell $1.31, or 1.8%, to settle at $73.08 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.11, or 1.5%, to settle at $71.04. On Wednesday, Brent settled at its highest since April 2019 and WTI at its highest since October 2018. Even though Thursday's declines were the biggest daily percentage drops since May, both benchmarks were still up over 40% so far this year. The U.S. dollar strengthened to its highest since mid April against a basket of other currencies after the Fed signaled it might raise interest rates at a much faster pace than assumed. A firmer greenback makes oil more expensive in other currencies, which could dent demand. Britain reported its biggest daily rise in new cases of COVID-19 since Feb. 19 on Thursday, according to government figures which showed 11,007 new infections, up from 9,055 the day before. "This UK surge in COVID cases despite rapid vaccinations will raise many alarms over how quickly the rest of Europe will reopen," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, noting "crude could be ripe for further profit-taking if more optimistic comments come from the latest round of Iran nuclear talks." Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have come closer than ever to an agreement, but essential issues remain to be negotiated, the top Iranian negotiator said on Thursday. Iran is heading to presidential polls on Friday, with hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi among the front runners. "It is very possible that nuclear talks could fall apart if a deal is not done by August (when) the current reform president Hassan Rouhani will leave the government,"
Oil Futures Lose Luster As Greenback Strengthens -- Oil slumped the most in a month as a rising dollar pushed financial investors, who had piled into commodities to guard against inflation, toward the exits for other sectors. Futures in New York fell 1.5% on Thursday. A strengthening U.S. dollar reduced the appeal of commodities priced in the currency a day after the Federal Reserve signaled its ultra-easy monetary policy will soon come to an end. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed for a fifth straight session, the longest streak of gains since March 2020. “Everything commodity-related is down big,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. “This is a liquidation that had been building up for weeks.” Despite the weakness in headline crude prices on Thursday, the oil market continues to display signs of strength as the pandemic ebbs. Citigroup Inc. said the international benchmark Brent could soon top $80 a barrel and pent-up leisure demand, enabled by vaccine roll-outs, will underpin global consumption. Exports of U.S. crude and fuels soared last week, according to a U.S. government report on Wednesday. Yet, oil as a hedge against inflation has lost its shine after the Fed announcement, prompting some investors to rotate into growth-oriented stocks. There were other signs that oil was due for a pause: technical indicators earlier this week suggested crude had become overbought and Brent prices struggled to make headway near the key, psychological $75-a-barrel level. Many momentum traders have been long on oil since the day after the approval of the first vaccine against Covid-19, a “Those guys are just pulling the plug.” The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index, which tracks prices for 23 raw materials, fell for a sixth session. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell $1.11 to settle at $71.04 a barrel. Brent for August settlement slid $1.31 to end the session at $73.08 a barrel. Meanwhile, Iranian remarks suggesting a nuclear deal is close to being revived sparked concerns about a potential flood of crude exports from the Islamic Republic. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said fundamental issues still remain to be negotiated and negotiators will continue talks regardless of the country’s June 18 election.
Oil slips again on surging US dollar, but holds above $70 - The dollar has rocketed in the two sessions since the US Fed Reserve projected possible rate hikes in 2023 Oil prices fell for a second consecutive day on Friday as the US dollar soared on the prospect of interest rate hikes in the United States, but were nevertheless on track to finish the week flat - only slightly off multi-year highs. Brent crude futures were down 52 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at $72.56 a barrel as of 0227 GMT, extending a 1.8 per cent decline on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 48 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at $70.56 a barrel, after retreating 1.5 per cent on Thursday. On Wednesday, Brent settled at its highest price since April 2019 while WTI settled at its highest since October 2018. Also read: Transporters’ union to protest surge in fuel prices The dollar has rocketed in the two sessions since the US Federal Reserve projected possible rate hikes in 2023, earlier than market watchers previously expected. A rising dollar make soil more expensive in other currencies, curbing demand. The prospect of rate hikes also weighed on the longer-term growth outlook, which would eventually hurt oil demand, in contrast to the near-term outlook for growth in demand as Covid-19 related curbs on movement and business activity ease and road and air travel pick up, said West pac senior economist Justin Smirk. “The near term’s all very positive. The question is how much further can it rise, how much scope is there if you’re looking at an environment where interest rates are going to rise,” Smirk said. Oil prices also fell after Britain on Thursday reported its biggest daily rise in new cases of Covid-19 since February 19, with government figures showing 11,007 new infections versus 9,055 a day earlier. Also read: A déjà vu of sorts in commodities market Adding to negative sentiment were remarks from Iran’s top negotiator on Thursday saying talks between Tehran and Washington on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have come closer than ever to an agreement. “Renewed negotiations have sparked concerns that this would lead to the US removing sanctions, resulting in a flood of oil hitting the market,”
Oil Gains on OPEC Outlook that U.S. Output Growth Will Slow (Reuters) -Oil futures rose on Friday, reversing early losses and set for a fourth week of gains after OPEC sources said the producer group expected limited U.S. oil output growth this year despite rising prices. Officials at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries got the U.S. production outlook from industry experts, OPEC sources said. This would give the producer group more power to manage the market before a potential surge in shale output in 2022. Brent crude futures rose 43 cents, or 0.6% to settle at $73.51 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 60 cents, or 0.8% to $71.64 a barrel. Both benchmarks were headed for a weekly gain of about 1.1%. “Oil markets are rallying because OPEC is skeptical that the increase in U.S. oil production is going to be enough to change their plans to support prices,” On Wednesday, Brent settled at its highest price since April 2019 and WTI closed at its highest since October 2018. Gains were capped by lingering concerns about the pandemic and a stronger U.S. dollar, which makes oil more expensive in other currencies. Sources told Reuters that on Tuesday, officials from OPEC’s Economic Commission Board (ECB) and external presenters attended a meeting focused on U.S. output. OPEC heard from more forecasters on the outlook for 2021 and 2022 at a separate meeting on Thursday. While there was general agreement on limited U.S. supply growth this year, an industry source said for 2022 forecasts ranged from growth of between 500,000 and 1.3 million barrels per day. “The general sentiment regarding shale was it will come back as prices go up but not super fast,” said a source at one of the companies that provided forecasts to OPEC. Higher oil prices have spurred some U.S. energy firms back to the well pad. The oil rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose eight this week to 373, the highest since April 2020, according to energy services firm Baker Hughes Co. On Thursday, Iran’s top negotiator indicated an agreement was close in talks between Tehran and Washington on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. This added to pressure on prices.
Oil Prices Climb for Fourth Straight Week | Rigzone -- Oil posted a fourth straight weekly gain as signs of a global demand recovery and supply discipline among producers encouraged investors. Futures in New York rose 1% this week. Strong U.S. demand growth is being passed on to Europe and emerging markets, where India is also starting to show improvements, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In a Bloomberg Television interview on Friday, Energy Aspects Ltd.’s Amrita Sen said the oil market could see an “incredibly” tight summer, and earlier this week, Morgan Stanley boosted its crude price forecasts. Prices are continuing to be supported by OPEC+ producers’ discipline in returning supply to the market. “We continue to expect a demand rebound in the second half of the year,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. “We’re seeing vaccine programs being rolled out in earnest around the world, and much of America is already opening up as the driving season is starting.” Oil has rallied nearly 50% this year with widespread vaccinations boosting demand, while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies have been cautious about returning shuttered supply to the market. Shale producers in the oil-rich Permian Basin have been largely holding back, too. The U.S. is pumping about 1.9 million fewer barrels a day since Covid-19 caused prices to tumble last year, a reduction that’s bigger than Nigeria and Venezuela’s production combined. “The proof is in the pudding,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. “We haven’t seen a real strong rebound in Permian activity, and we’re continuing to watch pipelines out of that area be underutilized.” Global oil demand has likely hit 97 million barrels a day recently, up from 95 million a few weeks ago, according to Goldman Sachs. Consumption before the pandemic stood at around 100 million barrels a day. The bank said oil is its “highest conviction” bullish call in commodities. Earlier in the session, West Texas Intermediate crude’s discount to the global benchmark narrowed to less than $2 a barrel for the first time since November. The spread has shrunk significantly in recent weeks on signs of higher U.S. refining throughput and continued supply discipline by American producers. Prices: West Texas Intermediate for July delivery rose 60 cents to settle at $71.64 a barrel in New York. Brent for August settlement climbed 43 cents to end the session at $73.51 a barrel. The Federal Reserve’s announcement this week of two prospective interest rate hikes by 2023 contributed to a stronger dollar, making commodities priced in the currency more costly. That triggered a commodity selloff earlier in the week. “The prospect of earlier interest-rate rises propelled the dollar higher and provided traders with an excuse to take profit,”
The fraud of Israel’s new “government of change” Israel’s new coalition government was sworn in on Sunday, with far-right leader and settler advocate Naftali Bennett replacing Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest serving prime minister. It required a razor-thin confidence vote of 60 to 59 in the 120-seat Knesset, with one legislator from the United Arab List abstaining, to install the “government of change”—a motley crew assembled by opposition leader, Yair Lapid, a former TV news anchor, who heads the second largest party Yesh Atid. Under a power-sharing agreement, Lapid will take over as premier in two years’ time, in the event the highly unstable eight-party coalition lasts that long. In the meantime, he will serve as foreign minister. Lapid was tasked with forming a government after Netanyahu, who despite heading the largest party—Likud—in the March 23 elections, the fourth in two years, failed to do so. Two key small parties, Bennett’s Yamina Party and Mansour Abbas’ conservative Islamic Movement-affiliated United Arab List, or Ra’am, with seven and four seats, agreed to join forces with Lapid. While Bennett had indicated his willingness to join a coalition with Netanyahu, this was not enough to secure a majority in the Knesset, leading Bennett to switch sides to prevent a fifth election that was expected to cost him votes. The two-year long deadlock has left Israel without a budget, amid a soaring social and economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, and ethnic strife in the country’s mixed population cities, whipped up by far-right vigilantes from the settlements in the occupied West Bank with the backing of Netanyahu and the security establishment. Several thousand Israelis, many of whom have demonstrated for months against Netanyahu under the vacuous anti-corruption slogan of “Anyone but Bibi” (Netanyahu's nickname), took to the streets of Tel Aviv to celebrate the end of his 12 years as head of government. This ignores the reality that Bennett, a 49-year-old millionaire businessman, is an ideologue further to the right than Netanyahu—a fervent annexationist and implacable opponent of Palestinian statehood, who has admitted he has no problem killing lots of Arabs. All of his senior colleagues have for years sat in government with Netanyahu and/or acted as aides to him. They include Avigdor Lieberman of the Israel is our Home Party, who served as finance and later defence minister; Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid as finance minister; Benny Gantz as Defence Minister and before that as chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF); and Ayelet Shaked of Bennett’s Yamina Party as interior minister. Gideon Sa’ar of the New Hope Party, a more recent deserter from Likud, has held numerous portfolios, while Bennett has served as defence minister.
Israel’s new government sends planes to bomb Gaza - On Tuesday, in line with his hostile stance towards the Palestinians, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett authorised a new series of attacks on the Palestinians, including airstrikes on Gaza and a crackdown on protesters in East Jerusalem. While the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that it had struck military compounds in Gaza City and the southern town of Khan Younis belonging to Hamas, the Muslim-Brotherhood-affiliated group that controls Gaza, Palestinian media reported that one of the strikes had caused property damage. There have been no immediate reports of casualties. The IDF said that it was “ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting in the face of continued terrorist acts emanating from Gaza.” According to Al Arabiya, Egypt asked Hamas and Islamic Jihad not to escalate the crisis and the two groups told Cairo they were not seeking to do so. These latest airstrikes follow the launching of incendiary balloons from Gaza that caused some fires in open fields in southern Israel. Bennett, the multi-millionaire businessman, religious nationalist and settler advocate who was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday, is notorious for his hard-line response to the Palestinians, having boasted of killing “lots of Arabs” and criticised previous governments for failing to respond to incendiary balloons. Before becoming defence minister in 2019, he tweeted that those launching the balloons were “terrorists” who should be killed. According to the news site Ynet, he denounced these home-made devices as life-threatening and said, “An explosive balloon is like an anti-tank missile ...Whoever launches one is a terrorist who is trying to murder Israelis and must be hit,” he added. The airstrikes come just four weeks after a fragile ceasefire on May 21 ended Israel’s criminal 11-day assault on the besieged enclave that killed more than 250 Palestinians, including 66 children and 39 women, injured 1,900 more and destroyed numerous buildings, displacing at least 60,000 people. These horrifying figures contradict Israel’s claims to have solely targeted Hamas’s arsenals, weapons manufacturing facilities and underground infrastructure network. They demonstrate, coming atop of Israel’s 2008-09, 2012 and 2014 wars and its lethal repression of the 2018-19 Great March of Return, that the bombing is aimed at terrorising the Palestinians into submission.
Russia Launches Biggest Pacific Exercise Since Cold War As Putin And Biden Meet -- On the other side of the world, President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin are meeting for their first face-to-face talkssince Biden ascended to the American presidency. But 300 miles off the coast of Hawaii, Russia is quietly launching one of the largest naval exercises since the Cold War.Russian ships have been dispatched to conduct the largest military exercises since the Cold War off the coast of Hawaii, sending the US Air Force scrambling F-22 stealth fighters from its base in Hawaii just hours before the two world leaders were set to meet. They were sent to meet a contingent of assets that included long-range bombers, surface ships and anti-submarine aircraft on the mission.Though the provocation was unmistakable, Russian bombers were careful not to enter the Air Defense Identification Zone, which could have prompted the US Air Force to scramble interceptors.Photos from the exercises were released by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ironically, Biden appeared to walk back some of his more aggressive criticisms of his Russian counterpart, calling Putin "bright," "tough" and "a worthy adversary." Putin has been flexing his military muscle around the world in recent months, though mostly closer to Russia's shores. Forces have massed on the border with Ukraine, raising anxieties about a Russian escalation in the still-smouldering Ukrainian civil war, which prompted Biden to call a national emergency before slapping sanctions on dozens of Russians and expelling diplomats. But we can't help but notice the similarities between Wednesday's exercise, and the "Freedom of Navigation" operations that the US Navy used to run against China in the Pacific.Meanwhile, back in New York, the American media is doubling down on its criticisms of Putin, as NYT columnist Thomas Friedman, a longtime Russia hawk (and friend of the Saudi Royal Family) essentially read off the talking points from a February editorial, while cracking jokes about "mistresses", during an interview with his NYT colleague, Andrew Ross Sorkin.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul locks down, hit by a coronavirus outbreak surging across Afghanistan.— The U.S. Embassy in Kabul went into lockdown on Thursday, citing a surge in coronavirus cases that has swamped the medical facilities that remain open to American diplomats as the U.S. military and international forces depart the country. “Military hospital I.C.U. resources are at full capacity, forcing our health units to create temporary on-compound Covid-19 wards to care for oxygen-dependent patients,” the embassy said in a management notice released on Thursday. The notice said that one person associated with the embassy had died, several had been medically evacuated and 114 people were infected and in isolation. The document said that 95 percent of the current cases were in people who were “unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated,” even though vaccines were available at the embassy. It noted that 90 percent of the Afghans and people from other countries on the embassy staff had been vaccinated. In Washington, the State Department’s spokesman, Ned Price, said the embassy could not require its employees to be vaccinated and confirmed that nearly all of the cases in this “significant outbreak” were among those who were not fully immunized. He said that Covid vaccines had been made available to the Kabul embassy workers over the last several months. Embassy operations have been adjusted as a result of the outbreak, Mr. Price said, with employees required to work from home and take all necessary precautions, including wearing masks and social distancing, as Afghanistan grapples with what he described as its third wave of coronavirus. The embassy and U.S. military forces in Afghanistan contended with an earlier coronavirus outbreak, one that paralyzed the advising mission for the Afghan military and prompted a lockdown of the diplomatic mission. The notice on Thursday warned that “failure to abide by the Mission’s Covid policies will result in consequences up to and including removal from the post on the next available flight.”
Unvaccinated in Pakistan? You might lose your cellphone service. -Concerned about the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations, the Pakistani authorities have decided to take drastic measures, including blocking people’s cellphone service in two provinces and suspending the salaries of some government employees who have not been vaccinated. They say the measures are needed to address deep skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines, and about inoculations more broadly. Pakistan has long struggled with disinformation about vaccines that have been proven safe and effective, particularly for polio. Parents commonly refuse polio immunization for their children, falsely believing that the vaccine is harmful and part of an American plot to sterilize the children. That refusal has made Pakistan the last refuge for the polio virus in the world, besides neighboring Afghanistan. And now conspiracy theories about the side effects of the coronavirus vaccine have become widespread in Pakistan. “I have heard that people, after getting the coronavirus jab, will die within the two years,” said Ehsan Ahmed, a truck driver in Karachi. “It is the reason that in our extended family of at least 25 people, no one is willing to vaccinate themselves.” The government has set a goal of vaccinating between 45 million and 65 million people by the end of this year, and it recently announced plans to spend $1.1 billion to procure doses. However, as of Tuesday, Pakistan had fully vaccinated roughly 3 million people — less than 2 percent of its population — since the vaccination drive started on Feb. 3, according to government data. The country has recorded nearly 22,000 deaths from Covid-19 and nearly one million people have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Five weeks before the Olympics, Tokyo’s state of emergency will be eased. -The government in Japan said on Thursday that it would relax emergency measures in Tokyo and other areas as the country’s latest coronavirus outbreak recedes, and with the Olympic Games scheduled to begin in just over five weeks.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga made the announcement at a meeting of the government’s coronavirus task force, saying that new infections had declined over the past month and that the strain on the nation’s hospitals had eased.On Sunday, the state of emergency will be lifted in nine prefectures, but some restrictions will remain in place in Tokyo and in six other areas until at least July 11, the government said. Emergency measures in Okinawa will remain in effect for three more weeks, officials said.The announcement comes as new daily cases reported in Japan have fallen by 48 percent over the past two weeks, to an average of 1,625 a day, according to a New York Times database. More than 684,000 vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday, twice as many as a month ago, based on government data.Still, Japan’s vaccination drive remains one of the slowest among richer nations: About 26 million vaccine doses have been administered, with 15 percent of the population having received at least one shot, Times data shows.Tokyo has been under a state of emergency since late April, the third since the start of the pandemic. Under the rules that go into effect on Monday, alcohol sales will be allowed to resume, but only until 7 p.m., while dining establishments will still be asked to close by 8 p.m. The chief medical adviser to Japan’s government, Shigeru Omi, said that officials must remain vigilant and “take strong measures without hesitation” if cases begin to rise again.
Colombia coronavirus: Pandemic gutted Latin America’s middle class - Marlon Mendoza, certified Cartagena tour guide, stopped in the shade of a Spanish Colonial balcony and scanned the old slave market for prospects.The stocky 36-year-old sized up the slim pickings and zeroed in on a pale European couple.He hesitated. He is a Black Colombian, and his market was African Americans. They’d filled his Afro-centric tours exposing the heroes of Colombia’s showcase city as slavers. But that was before the pandemic punched a hole in the developing world’s middle class, sending millions careening back down the social ladders they’d spent lifetimes ascending.If history were any guide, it would take a Black man in Latin America far longer to recover. And Mendoza was down deep. In the 15 months since Colombia’s first confirmed coronavirus case, he’d been evicted from his office and pulled his 7-year-old out of private school. He’d moved his family out of the city and back to the dirt-road village of his birth.The rent was due in five days and he was still short $60. A day’s worth of tips before, a king’s ransom today.Business card out, he approached the Europeans.The pandemic has pushed tens of millions of people worldwide into poverty. Fears are growing that worsening inequality — within and between nations — could be one of its longest-lasting effects.“It will take years to reverse,” World Bank President David Malpass said.Take Latin America, the region that has sustained the world’s sharpest economic blow. In the past two decades, the number of people living in poverty in Latin America was almost halved. The commodities boom in the 2000s generated jobs in mining, oil and agriculture. But the middle class — a relative term, for people earning $13 to $70 a day — was still populated largely by the ranks of the self-employed, including small entrepreneurs and informal workers. They were grocers, jewelers, street vendors and tour operators. Recent years of economic stagnation imperiled those gains, but they more or less held on. So much so that two years before the pandemic struck, one of the world’s most unequal regions achieved a milestone: For the first time in history, the middle class became Latin America’s largest income group. For millions, the moment would prove fleeting. Factoring out Brazil, where temporary government aid skewed regional numbers, 12 million Latin Americans tumbled out of the middle class last year, knocking the region from its perch as a middle-class society, according to a World Bank study to be published next month.
Will Chinese Tourists Visit A Re-Opened Europe? --- France released a color-coded map laying out eased entry protocols for the summer travel season, featuring eased restrictions that apply to seven countries deemed “green.” Meanwhile, visitors from countries colored “orange” will need a negative COVID-19 test even if vaccinated. China, among other countries such as Britain and the US, is counted as orange.A plan to start lifting border controls should assist France’s crucial tourism industry as the country emerges from its third pandemic lockdown. However, Chinese netizens had negative reactions toward the new policy, and many commented that they would not visit France at the current stage except for necessary business travel. According to the Institute of Medical Biology at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China has administered more than 845 million vaccine doses as of June 10. Despite the massive vaccine injections, many Chinese are still conservative about traveling abroad. Given the multiple outbreaks overseas, Chinese citizens have reservations about the credibility of foreign governments on their pandemic control. Meanwhile, France is hurting its chances at drawing Chinese luxury shoppers to its shores now that luxury houses have rolled out aggressive China strategies to leverage consumption repatriation while also taking advantage of domestic duty-free retail in the post-pandemic era. Given that health concerns are still the priority for Chinese travelers and China has been building up its local luxury scene, welcoming back one of the segments with the strongest buying power is knotty for Europe in the short-medium term.
Davos is dead, and the coronavirus killed it --A few weeks ago, the World Economic Forum (WEF) pulled the plug on its gathering in Singapore in August. The reasons invoked by the organisers for this third cancellation (plans for an alternative, exceptional meeting in Lucerne in May were also scrapped earlier this year) centred around health concerns and logistics. The truth is more complex and the malaise runs deeper. The pandemic has exposed the contradictions of the WEF as a project and its terminal lack of legitimacy and credibility in the post-Covid era. My inkling as an addict in recovery, is that the organisers are unable to come to terms with this because, just like others in the throes of active addiction, they are in denial. The pandemic has sparked a global existential crisis in many of us, including pillars of the Davos establishment. It has been about recognising, belatedly, that what we’ve been calling “normal” is a form of civilisational suicide. Many of us are coming to terms with the fact that we don’t know how to decorrelate greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth and that the phrase green growth is, for now and the foreseeable future, an oxymoron. In a world where about 50 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the 10 per cent wealthiest humans — those of us who earned not millions but $38,000 or more in 2015 — the climate crisis is fundamentally an inequality crisis. Yet from its inception, the WEF has hence been engaged in an exercise of contortion to not have a meaningful conversation on growth. It has since then been paid hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars (governed by Swiss law, the finances of the WEF are frighteningly opaque) by entities whose shareholders are eager to avoid it. If we have indeed become addicted to carbon, growth and extraction, the techno-utopian verbiage which has become the lingua franca of Davos has become a liability. The author Lewis Hyde once wrote that the spread of alcoholism happens when a culture is dying. A healthy, functioning culture turns its children into grown-ups. Addicts in contrast are defined by Jung’s characterisation of the puer aeternus. That prism of addiction helps explain our culture’s childish “solutionism”. Like addicts in recovery who get a daily reprieve but are never “cured”, what we are dealing with are predicaments not problems. Problems, like the equations schoolchildren are asked to solve, have solutions. In contrast, you can respond to predicaments in a more or less constructive and healthy way but they cannot be solved. You have to live with them. The current, dominant, “feelgood” approach mirrors that of an addict, in recovery but secretly hoping that they will one day be able to “manage” their substance use. The Davos crowd seek quick fixes, takeaways, action points and deliverables, rather than dwelling on the thoroughly uncomfortable reality of our condition, for fear of going into depression or becoming paralysed by inertia. The sooner that is ditched, the better. “The highest form of hope,” the French author George Bernanos once wrote, “is despair overcome.” But to overcome it, you first need to go through the despair. You need to hit rock bottom. I am convinced the WEF was founded with the best of intentions. The time has come to move on. What we require today is a Mile Deep, Inch Wide approach. Instead of meeting once a year in huge numbers at the top of the Magic Mountain, let us take part in ongoing, regular virtual processes in relatively small numbers over years, punctuated here and there with in-person gatherings down in the plains. Let us bring together people from all around the world and society with widely different Weltanschauungs but with a genuine commitment to the slow, painstaking process of getting well.
UK's Johnson pushes back lifting restrictions by a month as variants spread -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday that his government would be delaying plans to lift COVID-19 restrictions for a month due to the rise of the Delta variant of the virus, which was first detected in India. The planned relaxation of coronavirus restrictions will now be scheduled for July 19, The Associated Press reports. During a press briefing, Johnson expressed confidence that, as vaccination efforts continue, there would be no need for any further delays following this most recent one. “I think it is sensible to wait just a little longer,” he said. “Now is the time to ease off the accelerator, because by being cautious now we have the chance in the next four weeks to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people.” The original date for when COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted had been set for next Monday. Along with pushing back the date on relaxations, Johnson announced that the date for when all British adults over the age of 18 could get a vaccine dose would be brought forward from the end of July to July 19, the AP reports. “It’s unmistakably clear the vaccines are working and the sheer scale of the vaccine roll out has made our position incomparably better than in previous waves,” Johnson said. It was reported on Sunday that Johnson would make an announcement delaying the easing of restrictions, though the prime minister said at the time that "no final decision" had been made yet. "We're continuing to look at the data. No final decision has been taken and the right time to fill everybody in on what we're going to do with ... June the 21st is tomorrow," he told reporters after the end of the Group of Seven summit. The British government has been cautious on lifting restrictions, saying any changes made would be "irreversible." The AP reports that daily infectious rates in the United Kingdom have risen in recent weeks as the Delta variant has quickly become the dominant strain in the country. The Delta variant is believed to be 60 percent more infectious than the previous dominant strain, and it is believed to cause a quicker onset of illness. A British study released on Monday found that the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca offer strong protection against the Delta variant, highlighting the need for a quick vaccine administration.
England’s delayed reopening is a blow to culture and nightlife. - — Andrew Lloyd Webber last week promised to open his musical “Cinderella” in London’s West End on June 25 — even if it were illegal to do so.“We are going to open come hell or high water,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. If Britain’s government tried to stop him because of rising coronavirus cases, he had one response, he added: “We will say: Come to the theater and arrest us.”Now, Mr. Lloyd Webber, 73, has his chance to go to prison — although he doesn’t appear to want to take it.On Monday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain said that social distancing would continue in England until July 19, at least — almost a month later than originally planned. The decision, announced at a televised news conference, was made because of a rise in coronavirus cases linked to the Delta variant. An average of 7,278 cases per day were reported in United Kingdom in the last week, an increase of 127 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths are rising but still very low, with an average of nine a day over two weeks.Scientists remain at odds over exactly how serious a threat it poses in Britain, however, with some arguing that the most dire predictions about rising hospitalizations underestimate the effect even the current level of vaccinations has on breaking the link between the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths.“I think it’s sensible to wait just a little bit longer,” Mr. Johnson said, adding that the delay would allow more people to be fully vaccinated.The delay was a gut punch to the British cultural world, which has been desperately seeking an end to social distancing.The delay leaves “thousands of jobs hanging in the balance,” Julian Bird, chief executive of UK Theater, a trade body, said in a statement. A quarter of nighttime businesses cannot survive longer than a month without new government support, the Night Times Industries Association, which represents clubs and pubs,said in a news release.The biggest blow may be to England’s nightclubs, which were told for the fourth time that they could not reopen at all, even with distancing. Nightclubs in Britain have been closed since March 2020, and over 150 events were planned in London alone for the weekend of June 25, including a sold-out 42-hour-long party atFabric, a famed club that can hold 1,500 people.Those were all immediately canceled.
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