week ending Aug 21

Fed officials signal move toward tapering bond purchases -Federal Reserve officials are moving toward reducing the pace of the central bank’s monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds by the end of the year, according to minutes released Wednesday from a July meeting. A growing portion of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets Fed monetary policy, expressed support for paring down bond buying after several months of high inflation and accelerating job gains, the minutes showed. “Most participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year,” the minutes read. “Various participants commented that economic and financial conditions would likely warrant a reduction in coming months.” The Fed began buying up to $120 billion in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in March 2020 amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The asset purchases, coupled with a steep Fed rate cut, were meant to keep credit flowing through the economy as the financial sector worked through the shock of the coronavirus. Fifteen months later, an increasing number of Fed officials, lawmakers and investors are urging the bank to begin tapering its asset purchases. Those who support paring back bond purchases argue that the job market has recovered beyond the need for additional stimulus that could further fuel inflation, which reached an annualized rate of 5.4 percent in July. But some Fed officials argued at last month's meeting that it’s too soon to pull back, pointing to the temporary forces pushing inflation higher and a lack of sufficient progress toward replacing jobs lost during the pandemic. “Several others indicated … that a reduction in the pace of asset purchases was more likely to become appropriate early next year because they saw prevailing conditions in the labor market as not being close to meeting the Committee's ‘substantial further progress’ standard or because of uncertainty about the degree of progress toward the price-stability goal,” the minutes read. The FOMC has insisted for months that it will not raise interest rates or pare back bond purchases until it sees “substantial further progress” toward an annual inflation rate of 2 percent and full employment. Fed officials emphasized last month, however, that the tapering process wasn’t linked to an eventual interest rate hike. The Fed, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, is not expected to hike interest rates until the end of 2022 at the earliest, and many FOMC officials expressed support for ending bond purchases before the Fed increases its baseline interest rate range.The pace of the recovery will be a major test of President Biden's economic agenda, and may play a key role in determining whether Biden nominates Powell for another four-year term as Fed chairman. His term is slated to expire in February. FOMC members also discussed in July's meeting how the emergence of the delta variant of COVID-19 could complicate their efforts to guide the economy out of crisis-level stimulus without further disruptions. Many participants remarked that uncertainty was quite high, with slowing in progress on vaccinations and developments surrounding the delta variant posing downside risks to the economic outlook. A number of participants judged that the effects of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages would likely complicate the task of interpreting the incoming data and assessing "the speed at which these supply-side factors would dissipate,” the minutes read.

FOMC Minutes: "It could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year" -- From the Fed: Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, July 27-28, 2021. Excerpt on asset purchases: Participants discussed aspects of the Federal Reserve's asset purchases, including progress made toward the Committee's maximum-employment and price-stability goals since the adoption of the asset purchase guidance in December 2020. They also considered the question of how asset purchases might be adjusted once economic conditions met the standards of that guidance. No decisions regarding future adjustments to asset purchases were made at this meeting....In their discussion of considerations related to asset purchases, various participants noted that these purchases were an important part of the monetary policy toolkit and a critical aspect of the Federal Reserve's response to the economic effects of the pandemic, supporting smooth financial market functioning and accommodative financial conditions, which aided the flow of credit to households and businesses and supported the recovery. Participants discussed a broad range of labor market and inflation indicators. All participants assessed that the economy had made progress toward the Committee's maximum-employment and price-stability goals since the adoption of the guidance on asset purchases in December. Most participants judged that the Committee's standard of "substantial further progress" toward the maximum-employment goal had not yet been met. At the same time, most participants remarked that this standard had been achieved with respect to the price-stability goal... Looking ahead, most participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year because they saw the Committee's "substantial further progress" criterion as satisfied with respect to the price-stability goal and as close to being satisfied with respect to the maximum-employment goal. Various participants commented that economic and financial conditions would likely warrant a reduction in coming months. Several others indicated, however, that a reduction in the pace of asset purchases was more likely to become appropriate early next year because they saw prevailing conditions in the labor market as not being close to meeting the Committee's "substantial further progress" standard or because of uncertainty about the degree of progress toward the price-stability goal. Participants expressed a range of views on the appropriate pace of tapering asset purchases once economic conditions satisfied the criterion laid out in the Committee's guidance. Many participants saw potential benefits in a pace of tapering that would end net asset purchases before the conditions currently specified in the Committee's forward guidance on the federal funds rate were likely to be met. At the same time, participants indicated that the standards for raising the target range for the federal funds rate were distinct from those associated with tapering asset purchases and remarked that the timing of those actions would depend on the course of the economy.   Most participants remarked that they saw benefits in reducing the pace of net purchases of Treasury securities and agency MBS proportionally in order to end both sets of purchases at the same time. These participants observed that such an approach would be consistent with the Committee's understanding that purchases of Treasury securities and agency MBS had similar effects on broader financial conditions and played similar roles in the transmission of monetary policy, or that these purchases were not intended as credit allocation. Some of these participants remarked, however, that they welcomed further discussion of the appropriate composition of asset purchases during the tapering process. Several participants commented on the benefits that they saw in reducing agency MBS purchases more quickly than Treasury securities purchases, noting that the housing sector was exceptionally strong and did not need either actual or perceived support from the Federal Reserve in the form of agency MBS purchases or that such purchases could be interpreted as a type of credit allocation.

FOMC Minutes Show "Most" Fed Members See Taper Starting This Year - Dovish Fed minutes note 'substantial further progress' not yet been made, but most see conditions being met later this year

• The FOMC July meeting minutes provided dovish offset from some of the hawkish Fedspeak that has been heard recently.
• The minutes suggested that participants generally judge that the standard of "substantial further progress" had not yet been met, particularly with respect to labor market conditions, and that risks to the economic outlook remained, although most judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year becausethey saw the Committee's "substantial further progress" criterion as satisfied with respect to the price-stability goal and as close to being satisfied with respect to the maximum-employment goal -- all dependent on progress towards the Fed's goals.
• There are still several participants that indicated that a taper was more likely to become appropriate early next year because they saw prevailing conditions in the labor market as not being close to meeting the Committee's "substantial further progress" standard or because of uncertainty about the degree of progress toward the price-stability goal.
• It is noteworthy that the minutes from the meeting, which was framed by market participants as hawkish, is being interpreted as dovish, particularly since the Committee will not have seen the downside surprises in recent economic data metrics, which suggest some weakening economic momentum.
• The minutes do not do much to alter the narrative that the taper will still be announced in Q4. Several noted that an earlier start to tapering could be accompanied by more gradual reductions in the purchase pace and that such a combination could mitigate the risk of an excessive tightening in financial conditions in response to a tapering announcement.
• There was no explicit hint about how long the Fed sees the taper process lasting, although there was an allusion to policy being set based on how the economy progresses.
• In terms of the sequencing between tapering and asset purchases, participants indicated that the standards for raising the target range for the federal funds rate were distinct from those associated with tapering asset purchases, and remarked that the timing of those actions would depend on the course of the economy, and many noted that, when a reduction in the pace of asset purchases became appropriate, it would be important that the Committee clearly reaffirm the absence of any mechanical link between the timing of tapering and that of an eventual increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.
• The debate on whether to taper mortgage-backed securities faster or earlier than Treasuries seems to be over, and the FOMC seems inclined to instead reduce them proportionally at the same rate. "Most participants remarked that they saw benefits in reducing the pace of net purchases of Treasury securities and agency MBS proportionally in order to end both sets of purchases at the same time.”
• As a reminder, the FOMC took place before payrolls, crash in consumer sentiment and retail sales miss

Kansas City Fed shifts Jackson Hole symposium to virtual event -The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, which was due to be held in person Aug. 26-28, is now shifting to a virtual format, the bank announced Friday.The regional Fed bank said it was making the move “due to the recently elevated COVID-19 health risk level in Teton County, Wyoming.” The symposium’s usual setting is in the Grand Teton National Park outside Jackson, Wyoming. The gathering of the world’s top central bankers and economists is traditionally scrutinized for hints on upcoming policy changes. Fed watchers will be looking for any signals about tapering its asset purchases and the outlook for the economy.

Who's in line for top Fed jobs | American Banker — The Biden administration has fast approaching decisions on how to fill top leadership positions at the Federal Reserve, from who takes a Fed board seat that has gone vacant for years, to whether Chair Jerome Powell gets reappointed.There are seven seats on the Fed board, six of which are currently occupied. Among the current members of the board, all but one — Gov. Lael Brainard — were appointed by former President Donald Trump.The White House has yet to make any personnel announcements for the central bank. The most immediate decision is who the administration will nominate to the open board seat. The Trump administration floated several names for the position — most recently Judy Shelton — none of whom were able to get approved by Congress.Meanwhile, the term of Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles will end in October, and President Biden is not expected to reappoint him. Another vice chair, Richard Clarida, has until January. Powell's term as chair ends in February. (Quarles can stay on the Fed board as a governor until 2032.)Many expect Biden will either renominate Powell as Fed chair and name Brainard as one of the vice chairs, or nominate Brainard to head the central bank while choosing outsiders for the vice chair roles.There is also always the chance that Biden could name outsiders to all of the top positions. There is no shortage of possible contenders, including officials who formerly served on the Fed board during past administrations.Biden is facing particular pressure from some corners of Washington to appoint a person of color to the Fed. In the history of the central bank, only three Fed governors have been Black and none of them were women.Here are candidates to take on key leadership roles as Biden seeks to reshape the Fed or maintain the status quo: Powell and Brainard are the two main contenders to get the nod as Fed chair once Powell’s term ends in February. Many expect Biden to renominate him to the position, but his record on bank regulation has some progressives pushing Biden to consider a new head of the central bank. Brainard would be his probable successor, given both her experience on the Fed and alignment with the Biden administration’s agenda. While at the Fed, Brainard has given detailed speeches on the risk that climate change poses to the financial system and has spearheaded the Fed’s efforts to revamp the Community Reinvestment Act. She was also mentioned as a candidate for Treasury secretary before Biden nominated Janet Yellen to the role. In the event that Biden renominates Powell, Brainard would likely be a favorite to take over as either vice chair or vice chair of supervision. The latter would give her a key role in making regulatory policy for the largest banks.

 Powell: Delta variant's impact on economy 'not yet clear' --Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday he’s unsure if the delta variant of the coronavirus will take a serious toll on the broader U.S. economy, citing the resilience of consumers and businesses throughout the pandemic. During a virtual question and answer session with students and teachers, Powell said “it's not yet clear whether the delta strain will have important effects on the economy.” Powell said though “COVID is still with us … and that is likely to continue to be the case for a while," the outbreak may not weigh heavily on the economy because “people and businesses have improvised and learned to adapt, to live their lives despite COVID." Powell’s remarks come amid growing concern and uncertainty about the impact of surging COVID-19 cases on the country's economic recovery. While states and cities have forgone lockdowns and business restrictions employed during the first wave of the pandemic, declining consumer confidence and school closures could weigh on further job gains and business activity. Like Powell, most economists say it’s still too soon to know how the delta variant will affect the economy as a whole. The July jobs report showed a stellar gain of 943,000 jobs last month, but the data was collected before federal health officials first urged all Americans to mask up indoors regardless of vaccination status. Economic data covering the second half of the month hasn’t shown clear signs of a slowdown yet either. Retail sales dropped by 1.1 percent in July, far steeper than economists had expected, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department. It’s unclear, however, how much of the slowdown was driven by the delta variant versus the declining impact of fiscal stimulus and a shift away from goods purchased during the pandemic. At the same time, industrial production rose 0.9 percent and output increased 1.4 percent in July, according to Fed data released Tuesday, despite pre-delta supply chain snarls and shortages of crucial parts. The uncertainty poses a significant challenge for Powell and the Fed, which is facing intense pressure from both outside and within to begin cutting back on the $120 billion in monthly bond purchases it began during the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. Supporters of a quicker taper say doing so will give the Fed more room to avoid interest rate hikes while inflation remains high, but left-leaning economists and policymakers say it may be too soon to pull back.

 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 7-day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Light Blue), 2020 (Blue) and 2021 (Red). The 7-day average is down 21.5% from the same day in 2019 (78.5% of 2019). (Dashed line) There was a slow increase from the bottom starting in May 2020 - and then TSA data picked up in 2021 - but the dashed line has mostly sideways over the last seven weeks. 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 August 14, 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 was generally picking up, but has moved down recently. The 7-day average for the US is down 11% compared to 2019. -- This data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue). The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through August 12th. Movie ticket sales were at $93 million last week, down about 56% 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). Occupancy is well above the horrible 2009 levels. With solid leisure travel, the Summer months have had decent occupancy - but it is uncertain what will happen in the Fall with business travel. This data is through August 7th. The occupancy rate is down 8.3% compared to the same week in 2019. Note: Occupancy was up year-over-year, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. 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 August 6th, gasoline supplied was down 5.1% compared to the same week in 2019. There have been four weeks so far this year when gasoline supplied was up compared to 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.This data is through August 14th for the United States and several selected cities. The graph is the running 7-day average to remove the impact of weekends.According to the Apple data directions requests, public transit in the 7 day average for the US is at 101% of the January 2020 level. Strangely, New York City is doing well by this metric, but subway usage in NYC is down sharply (next graph). 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, August 13th. Schneider has graphs for each borough, and links to all the data sources.

 Solid 20Y Treasury Auction Sees Highest Foreign Demand In 2021 - There was solid demand for today's $27 billion in 20Y notes, which came in well stronger then the recent 30Y auction, a surprise to some with the Fed's Minutes due in just an hour. Stopping at a high yield of 1.85%, the auction came on the screw with the When Issued which was also trading a 1.85% at 1pm; the high yield was a drop from last month's 1.89% and the lowest since January's 1.643%. The bid to cover of 2.44 was also an improvement from last month's 2.33, and the highest since March's 2.51. Finally, the internals is where today's auction really shone because with an Indirect award of 62.3%, this was the highest demand among foreign buyers going all the way back to October 2020. And with Directs taking down 18.7%, in line with recent auction, Dealers were left holding 19.0% of the auction, below last month's 20.9%, and below the six-auction average of 22.3%. Overall, a solid auction suggesting no nervous traders ahead of today's FOMC Minutes.

Pelosi seeks to advance bipartisan infrastructure bill and $3.5 trillion budget plan at same time - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she is looking to advance the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a broader $3.5 trillion budget framework simultaneously, an effort to keep House Democrats united as the chamber prepares to take up the plans.Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Sunday that she asked the House Rules Committee to "explore the possibility" of a rule, which governs floor debate, that moves forward the budget resolution and bipartisan infrastructure bill. Both measures passed the Senate last week. "This will put us on a path to advance the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill," the California Democrat said.Pelosi said her plan is for the House to pass the $3.5 trillion budget resolution the week of August 23, which would then pave the way for the Democratic-controlled House to approve its sweeping reconciliation bill encompassing President Biden's priorities for health care, child care and education "as soon as possible." Pelosi's plan to tie the bipartisan infrastructure bill with the budget resolution comes after a group of nine moderate Democrats told her last week they wouldn't vote for a budget resolution until the bipartisan infrastructure plan passes the House and is signed into law. But her effort to move the two simultaneously has already fallen flat with the moderate Democratic lawmakers, who reiterated in a statement later Sunday that their view was unchanged: vote first on the bipartisan bill swiftly and then consider the budget resolution. The pushback from moderate Democrats over how to proceed with moving the two measures complicates Pelosi's initial plan for the House not to vote on the bipartisan bill until the Senate passes the larger $3.5 trillion legislative package. Progressives, meanwhile, have said they won't back the bipartisan infrastructure plan until the broader legislation addressing social programs clears the upper chamber. The Senate approved the infrastructure bill with bipartisan support, a major victory for Mr. Biden as he looks to enact his economic agenda. Its passage was the culmination of months of negotiations between the White House and a bipartisan group of senators. The plan includes $550 billion in new spending to revitalize the nation's roads, bridges, railways and ports. The upper chamber then passed a budget resolution along party lines, which clears the way for it to craft its massive $3.5 trillion measure. Democrats are using a process called budget reconciliation to approve the sweeping plan, which allows the spending package to pass the Senate without GOP support. The budget resolution is the second plank of a two-track strategy employed by Democratic leaders to enact Mr. Biden's economic priorities.

Democrats play game of chicken over Biden agenda -- -- Democratic leaders are doubling down on their strategy to advance President Biden’s domestic agenda next week, daring a bloc of centrists in their party to object and risk derailing trillions in federal spending on infrastructure projects and social programs. During a private conference call Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) strongly urged rank-and-file Democrats to vote on a rule Monday night that would allow Democrats to move forward on their $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the $1.2 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure package and a voting rights bill named for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). However, the vote on the combined rule is only a procedural vote to greenlight the House floor process for considering those bills. While the House is expected to subsequently vote on adoption of the budget and passage of the voting rights bill, it could be months before the House votes on passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Democratic leaders made the case to their members during the Tuesday call that both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and budget resolution that kicks off the process for the $3.5 trillion spending package to expand social safety net programs need to move in tandem to accomplish the party’s agenda — not one at a time, as a handful of centrists are demanding.  By next Tuesday evening, Hoyer said, the House could pass both the voting rights legislation and the budget plan that would pave the way for Democrats this fall to pass Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package without the need for any Republican votes. Yet it’s unclear how exactly Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plan to win over a band of nine moderate House Democrats, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who are vowing to defeat the budget resolution unless leadership immediately calls a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that the Senate passed on a vote of 69-30 last week. Because of the narrow margin of her majority, Pelosi can only afford to lose three Democrats on the budget vote. But in this game of chicken, the Speaker is refusing to back down and betting that the moderates — or at least a handful of them — blink first and allow the budget to advance. In a brief exchange Tuesday, Gottheimer told The Hill his group is standing firm with its demand that Pelosi bring the infrastructure bill to the floor first, which would secure a quick, bipartisan victory for Biden. “We should immediately vote on infrastructure and then we should move to consideration of the budget resolution, just like in the Senate. Bernie Sanders, 50 Democrats in the Senate supported that approach. So we should take the same approach and get those shovels in the ground and get jobs,” Gottheimer said in a phone interview Tuesday. “The folks in my district, they're pretty clear that we can't afford to wait months for this and to risk this bipartisan, once-in-a-generation infrastructure legislation," he said. The White House backed Democratic leadership's strategy on Tuesday in a move that adds more pressure on centrists to fall in line. "The president strongly supports the rule, which provides the mechanism to bring the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Build Back Better plan, and voting rights legislation to the floor. All three are critical elements of the president’s agenda, and we hope that every Democratic member supports this effort to advance these important legislative actions," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. Up to 40 House Republicans are prepared to vote for the infrastructure package, GOP sources said. And Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who serves as co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus alongside Gottheimer, said he believes those Republican votes would be enough to offset the number of progressives who have vowed to oppose the infrastructure package until Congress sends the $3.5 trillion package to Biden’s desk.

Yellen pushes 'fiscally responsible' Biden agenda ahead of planned House vote -Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday touted President Biden's spending proposals, pushing back on criticisms about the big price tags on his infrastructure and social spending measures ahead of a key House vote next week."We are now engaged in the most important economic project in recent history: Repairing the broken foundations of our economy, and on top of them, building something stronger and fairer than what came before," Yellen wrote in a Yahoo Finance op-ed. Yellen's op-ed comes after the Senate last week passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill, as well as a budget resolution that paves the way for a forthcoming Democratic-only social spending package focused on areas such as child care and education. Both packages are key priorities for the Biden administration."The United States Senate began to turn the page on this unfortunate chapter in our economic history and, with two pieces of legislation, started building the economy that Americans should – and can – have," Yellen wrote. The House is expected to return to Washington next week to take up the budget resolution, but there are some obstacles to passage. A group of moderate Democrats want the infrastructure bill to get a vote before the budget resolution is considered, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House progressives don't want to vote on the infrastructure bill until after the Senate passes the social spending bill. Yellen said in her op-ed that the U.S. has long underinvested in things such as child care, education and infrastructure, which has contributed to "worrying trends" such as a decline in labor force participation. She said that Biden's plans can help to reverse these trends. "The Build Back Better agenda, much of which is contained in the reconciliation bill expected to move through the Senate this fall, will increase labor force participation because it makes those long-overdue investments in families," Yellen wrote. The Senate-passed budget resolution would allow Democrats to pass a bill with an additional $3.5 trillion in spending, but some moderate Democrats, such as Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), have already raised some concerns about the price tag. Yellen said there are several reasons why the amount of proposed investments isn't too great. She said that "now is the right time" to make the investments because of low interest rates, and that the proposals are "fiscally responsible" because the spending would be spread out over time and their costs would be offset by tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations. Additionally, Yellen argued that the cost of not enacting Biden's spending proposals is high. She questioned whether the U.S. can remain the greatest economic power in the world "if we remain a country where renting a home eats up the lion’s share of your paycheck, and owning one is out of the question; where young people can’t gain the skills to compete in the job market because they can’t afford the tuition bill; or where Americans must make a choice: have children or have a job." "The Build Back Better agenda will address these challenges," she added. "It will bolster our economic growth and productivity, while bringing down some of the largest cost drivers for American families."

 Pelosi presses moderate Democrats amid budget standoff - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday pressed members of her party to move forward on a $3.5 trillion budget bill amid a standoff with moderate Democrats who want to first vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure package. “Today, President Biden endorsed the House Rule which will allow us to consider the budget resolution, H.R. 4 and the bipartisan infrastructure bill next week,” Pelosi said at the beginning of the “dear colleague” letter written to Democrats. “The budget resolution is the key to unlocking the 51-vote privilege of the reconciliation path for our transformative Build Back Better bill,” she added. Nine moderate Democrats have banded together to go against Democratic leadership, threatening to block the budget resolution if the bipartisan infrastructure deal is not passed first. "With the livelihoods of hardworking American families at stake, we simply can’t afford months of unnecessary delays and risk squandering this once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastructure package,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is leading the group of moderates, told Pelosi last week. “It’s time to get shovels in the ground and people to work.” Pelosi wrote in her letter on Tuesday that “any delay in passing the budget resolution could threaten our ability to pass this essential legislation through reconciliation.” The Democrats need to move forward “united” to pass a motion to move the budget resolution forward on Aug. 23 so they can “deliver historic progress.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pushed colleagues on a private call Tuesday to vote for the infrastructure deal, budget resolution and voting rights legislation to move forward, "My premise is, we’re going to do 'all of the above.' It’s clear from the Senate, the House and the White House that reconciliation would be part of that 'all of the above' to realize the ‘Build Back Better’ agenda. I hope all will vote for the rule on Monday night," Hoyer said, a source on the call stated. Pelosi stressed all three bills not moving forward could threaten “the once-in-a-generation opportunity” to advance progressive legislation.

 Manchin and Sinema lead the Democrat mutiny against Nancy Pelosi by telling moderates NOT to back the $3.2TRILLION budget until the $1.2trillion infrastructure deal is signed - Moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are reportedly throwing support behind nine House lawmakers threatening to derail President Biden's $3.5 trillion infrastructure deal if Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn't first schedule a vote on a smaller bipartisan compromise bill.The two senators are privately advising and encouraging the group of centrist Democrats, nicknamed the 'unbreakable nine,' on negotiations with Pelosi and White House officials.They're supporting the group's attempt to leverage passage of the Democrat-backed reconciliation bill by vowing to tank the measure in the House if a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal that passed the Senate isn't sent to Biden's desk for a signature.Those conversations are emboldening the lawmakers to stand against the heftier bill,Axios reports. By joining forced with ideological counterparts in the lower chamber Manchin and Sinema, who both voted in favor of a fiscal blueprint of the $3.5 trillion bill earlier this month, are signaling that their priority is with them more modest measure. The House vote would be for advancing the hefty legislation through to committees, not final passage. Pelosi dismissed the holdouts' threats as 'amateur hour' earlier this week, Politico reports. One source told the outlet that Pelosi is standing firm on the sequence of votes and will likely call moderates' bluff. 'For the first time, America’s children have leverage. I will not surrender that leverage,' she said according to one Democrat. But the stand-off could also end with Pelosi promising the nine lawmakers a vote on the bipartisan deal by the end of next month. Pelosi scheduled a vote for the $3.5 trillion bill when the House returns from recess next week. After threats from progressive representatives to vote down the bipartisan bill, the speaker promised to bring the larger bill to a vote first. The White House issued a statement publicly supporting Pelosi's plan of action on Tuesday. If passed the $3.5 trillion measure will allow Biden to reshape the federal government's spending priorities in time for the 2022 election. White House officials have also reportedly been contacting lawmakers to ramp up pressure in favor of Pelosi's timeline. Democrats can only afford to lose three votes in the House for any legislation to pass. Pelosi's hands are tied by both factions having the ability to kill the bills.

Biden administration approves largest increase to food assistance benefits in SNAP program history – The Biden administration has approved the largest increase to food assistance benefits in the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a move that will substantially retool the program to provide the targeted assistance advocates have long argued is desperately needed by poor families.U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to announce Monday morning that benefit amounts for the program, formerly known as food stamps, will rise an average of 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. First reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a spokeswoman at the Agriculture Department, average monthly benefits, which were $121 per person before the pandemic, will rise by $36 under the new rules.The increase is based on an update to the algorithm that governs the Thrifty Food Plan, which tracks the cost of 58 different categories of groceries needed to provide a budget-conscious diet for a family of four. In response to the economic downturn and widespread unemployment due to the pandemic, many Americans have relied on coronavirus-relief legislation passed by Congress that temporarily increased unemployment benefits, halted evictions and suspended student loan payments.This aid represents a dramatic, but largely temporary, expansion of the social safety net — one that many advocates argue should be permanently enshrined. With many of these key provisions set to expire in September, federal lawmakers are under urgent deadlines to decide what policies might endure.

 Biden's Food Stamp Increase Means Higher Food Prices For All - With the stock market banging out new record highs each day and so many jobs available, it is odd the Biden Administration feels the need to boost the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP by 25 percent. This constitutes the largest single increase in the program’s history. This significant and permanent increase in benefits will be available indefinitely to all 42 million SNAP beneficiaries. The increase is projected to cost taxpayers an additional $20 billion per year. It coincides with the end of a 15 percent boost in SNAP benefits that was ordered as a "pandemic protection measure." Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the change means the U.S. “will do a better job of providing healthy food for low-income families.” It will move the amount of the average monthly per-person benefits for qualified recipients from $121 to $157. Never think for a moment this is all about feeding the poor, it is also about pumping up the GDP and profits of many big companies. Unfortunately, whenever the government increases its role in any sector of the economy history shows it generally has a profound effect on the prices charged to consumers. For proof, we only need to look at healthcare costs and college tuition. In this case, we should expect the same thing to occur to food prices. What does the big increase in the SNAP program mean to consumers both on this program and the rest of us? It means we should expect a big jump in prices in supermarkets across America. This is not about just simple supply and demand, it goes beyond hunger and directly towards what people "want to eat" which is not necessarily what is good for them. Of course, there are a lot more people concerned about raising the funding for this program than those that care about the needs of the poor and downtrodden. Some of the biggest supporters of SNAP are the companies selling food to those on the program. A person that has grown cynical about government spending might even go so far as to say SNAP is more about enriching food producers and grocers than feeding the hungry.

US Treasury Freezes Billions In Afghan Reserves, Depriving Taliban Of Cash - After handing the Taliban US-supplied military hardware on a silver platter thanks to the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the Biden administration scrambled to deprive the terrorist organization of funding - freezing Afghan government reserves held in US bank accounts, and blocking the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars held in US institutions, according to the Washington Post, citing two people familiar with the matter.The decision was made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and officials in Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the people said. The State Department was also involved in discussions this weekend, with officials in the White House monitoring the developments. An administration official said in a statement, “Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban.” The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss government policy not yet made public.As of April, the Afghan central bank held $9.4 billion reserve assets according to the International Monetary Fund - roughly one third of the country's annual economic output. The vast majority are held outside of the country, according to the Post, billions of which are in the United States.According to the report, the freeze took effect on Sunday. As the situation was rapidly deteriorating over the weekend, Afghani Central Bank governor Ajmal Ahmady tweeted that they were told they wouldn't receive any more dollar shipments.

Biden says troops will stay in Afghanistan until all Americans are out - President Biden said Wednesday that U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan until all Americans who want to get out of the country have been evacuated, even if it means staying beyond the Aug. 31 deadline set for the withdrawal of forces. "If there's American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out," Biden told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview. Biden's commitment comes as government officials have estimated there are more than 10,000 Americans still in Afghanistan as the U.S. drawdown nears its completion. The president vowed that the government will do "everything in our power to get all Americans out and our allies out," but acknowledged doing so by the end of the month would require significantly increasing the number of individuals evacuated on flights each day. "Are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out is out?" Stephanopoulos asked. "Yes," Biden responded. The president estimated there are between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghan allies, including family members, who are also waiting to be evacuated. That process has been slowed by paperwork issues and logistical barriers getting those individuals safely to the Kabul airport to be evacuated either to the U.S. or third-party countries. "Americans should understand that we’re going to try to get it done before Aug. 31," Biden said when asked about the prospect of troops remaining in Afghanistan beyond that deadline. Biden has come under enormous pressure to get U.S. personnel and Afghan allies out of the country after the Taliban took control of the capital city of Kabul following the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The U.S. has attempted to surge the number of flights out of the country in an effort to evacuate some 5,000 to 9,000 people per day. But the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan on Wednesday said it “cannot guarantee safe passage” to the Kabul airport, complicating efforts to do so.

State Dept. will not charge for evacuation flights from Afghanistan -People evacuated from Afghanistan by the U.S. will not be charged the cost of their flight, State Department spokesman Ned Price told The Hill."In these unique circumstances, we have no intention of seeking any reimbursement from those fleeing Afghanistan," he said. The statement provides a point of clarification over federal law that mandates the State Department seek reimbursement for U.S.-chartered evacuation flights.The law requires that Americans or other foreign nationals agree to pay back the cost of an evacuation, which is typically comparable to the cost of a full fare economy flight, or comparable transportation to the designated destination.The Biden administration’s evacuation efforts in Afghanistan are in chaos amid the Taliban’s takeover of the country and control over the capital city of Kabul that occurred at a breakneck pace. The administration has evacuated 7,000 people from Afghanistan since Saturday, including 2,000 Americans.The Department of Defense says it is hoping to scale up efforts and evacuate between 5,000 and 9,000 people per day, but chaos on roads leading to the airport and at its gates are hampering efforts for the State Department to process those for evacuation flights. Price on Thursday said that about 6,000 people have been processed for evacuation at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International AirportHis statement on the free flights pushes back against reports that those seeking to board American evacuation aircraft have been told they must pay for the flights. Politico reported in its National Security newsletter on Thursday that at least one person said State Department staff were seeking large payments — up to $2,000 from American passengers and even more from non-U.S. citizens. A State Department spokesperson referred Politico to federal law that calls for evacuees to reimburse their evacuations.

US Senator’s tweet over Taiwan provokes Chinese threats of war - Just days after the fall of Kabul, the danger of an even more disastrous conflict between the US and China over Taiwan has erupted into the media. In the fractious debate over the Afghan debacle, US Republican Senator John Cornyn in a tweet yesterday argued that the retention of a relatively small US force of 2,500 troops could have prevented the ignominious collapse of the Kabul regime. By way of comparison, he highlighted far larger American troop numbers in Germany, Japan, South Korea… and 30,000 in Taiwan.The tweet prompted an immediate response in the Chinese state-run Global Times warning that, if true, China would never accept it. “It is believed that China will immediately put the Anti-Secession Law into use, destroy and expel US troops in Taiwan by military means, and at the same time realize reunification by force,” it stated.“The US stationing troops in the Taiwan island severely violates the agreements signed when China and the US established their diplomatic ties as well as all political documents between the two countries. It also critically runs counter to international law and even US domestic law. It is equivalent to a military invasion and occupation of the Taiwan Province of China. It is an act of declaring war on the People’s Republic of China.”It is unlikely that the US has secretly deployed 30,000 troops on Taiwan, and Cornyn deleted his comments without further explanation. However, Cornyn’s tweet underscores the extraordinary tensions between Washington and Beijing that have been ramped up under the Obama, Trump and now Biden administrations, and the explosive character of Taiwan as a trigger for war.Biden following Trump has called into question the One China policy that treats Beijing as the legitimate government of all China including Taiwan and has been the bedrock of US-China relations for more than 40 years. While not explicitly adopting the policy, the US nevertheless de facto recognised One China when it established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979 and broke off all formal ties with Taipei.

Democrat unveils bill to redirect Pentagon spending toward global vaccination efforts --Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would shift about $9.6 billion in U.S. defense spending toward global COVID-19 vaccination efforts as much of the world's population remains without access to vaccines.Pocan estimated that nearly $10 billion directed to the COVAX initiative, ajoint effort between the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other international organizations, could help vaccinate another 30 percent of the population in low-income countries based on an equivalent amount of funding already pledged."Right now, COVID is the greatest risk to our national security as well as the world’s security. Shifting funds from weaponry and military contractors to producing COVID vaccines will save hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of lives around the world," Pocan said in a statement."At a time when America spends more on its military than the next 11 closest nations combined, we should be able to sacrifice a little over one percent of that to save lives, build global goodwill, and actually make the world a safer, healthier place," he added.President Biden announced earlier this month that the U.S. has already donated and shipped more than 110 million doses of American-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines to more than 60 countries. The White House said that the majority of the vaccines were shipped through COVAX.While COVID-19 vaccines are widely available to anyone over the age of 12 in the U.S., and with about 51 percent of the population now fully vaccinated, vaccine access is far more limited in most other countries.About 24 percent of the world's population is fully vaccinated, and just 1.3 percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is recommending vaccine booster doses for most Americans to address evidence of waning immunity over time and the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. Global health advocates pushed back on the administration's recommendation for booster shots, arguing the move will exacerbate global inequalities if Americans start receiving boosters before people in other countries have yet to receive any shot of protection at all.

 Biden to extend mask mandate for travelers until January -The Biden administration will extend the federal mask mandate for all transportation networks through January 18. “TSA will extend the directives through January 18, 2022. The purpose of TSA’s mask directive is to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on public transportation,” a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson told The Hill. TSA informed major U.S. airlines of the extension Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing three sources. The mask mandate for travel on airplanes, in airports, on buses and on rail systems is currently set to expire on Sept. 13. It initially went into effect with an expiration date of May 11, but the agency first extended it in April. President Biden signed an executive order on his first full day in office directing federal agencies to “immediately take action” to mandate the use of masks on trains, intercity buses, ferries and in airports. The federal rule allows TSA to fine passengers who refuse to wear a mask while traveling. The fine structure will also stay in place through September, which starts at $250 and can rise to $1,500 for repeat offenders. The new threat of the delta variant of the coronavirus led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month to update federal guidance, recommending that vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks indoors in certain areas where there is a substantial rise in COVID-19 infections. The Biden administration has been under pressure from Republicans to end the mask mandate before the current September deadline. In July, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced legislation to repeal the mandate and prohibit the federal government from imposing a mandate when using any “conveyance” or “transportation hub.” In June, other Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), introduced a resolution calling for the CDC to lift the public transportation mask mandate.

US extending travel restrictions with Mexico, Canada - The U.S. is extending the nonessential closure of its borders with Canada and Mexico to at least Sept. 21 due to the delta variant of the coronavirus, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. "In coordination with public health and medical experts, DHS continues working closely with its partners across the United States and internationally to determine how to safely and sustainably resume normal travel," the agency tweeted. The extraordinary closures have been extended monthly since they were put in place at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Canada began letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents into the country on Aug. 9, but Canadians still can't travel into the U.S. unless it is for an essential purpose. The current rules have prompted backlash from the travel and tourism industry, as well as from lawmakers in border states who claim the rules are inconsistently applied. Biden administration officials in June formed working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to weigh when to lift international travel restrictions, but so far nothing has come from the effort. The administration has not said when it plans to loosen restrictions on international travel. Earlier this month, the White House hinted that the U.S. would require foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but a final decision has not been adopted. Former President Trump moved to lift restrictions on Europe and Brazil in the waning days of his term, but President Biden kept them in place once he took office. Biden also added restrictions on India amid a surge of COVID-19 infections there. But experts have said picking and choosing countries based off of COVID-19 infections is arbitrary because the disease is already entrenched in the U.S.

Biden administration to require COVID-19 vaccination of all nursing home staff -President Biden on Wednesday said his administration will require nursing home staff across the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and will withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from those facilities that don't comply. The new regulations would apply to over 15,000 nursing home facilities, which employ approximately 1.3 million workers and serve approximately 1.6 million nursing home residents. "More than 130,000 residents of nursing homes have sadly, sadly, over the period of this virus, passed away. At the same time, vaccination rates among nursing home staff significantly trail the rest of the country," Biden said in remarks at the White House. "With this announcement, I'm using the power of the federal government as a payer of health care costs to make sure we reduce those risks to our most vulnerable seniors. These steps are all about keeping people safe and out of harm's way." Vaccination rates among nursing home staff are lagging, threatening the progress the nation has made in protecting the vulnerable elderly. More than seven months after becoming eligible, only about 60 percent of staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide are partially or fully vaccinated, according to federal data compiled by CMS. Only about one-quarter of nursing homes had at least 75 percent of staff vaccinated, which is the benchmark goal the industry has set for vaccinations in facilities. Nursing homes have been devastated by COVID-19. Residents make up only about 1 percent of the U.S. population, but account for more than 20 percent of all deaths nationwide. According to Medicare data, the disease has killed more than 133,000 residents and nearly 2,000 staff members. That's also likely an undercounted figure, since facilities only began reporting at the end of May 2020. The authorized vaccines have been shown to greatly reduce serious illness and death in elderly people, but the delta variant is fueling new concerns, and infections are rising among residents. According to CMS, cases spiked from a low of 319 on June 27, to nearly 2,700 cases on August 8, with many of the recent outbreaks occurring in facilities located in areas of the United States with the lowest staff vaccination rates. A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday showed vaccine effectiveness is waning in nursing home residents as the variant spreads. The announcement is part of the administration's increasingly firm approach to increasing vaccination rates in the country.

Biden Administration to Withhold Medicare and Medicaid $ from Nursing Homes Not Having Fully Vaxxed Staff --Yves Smith -The Biden Adminstration’s latest gambit to combat Covid by increasing vaccination levels among nursing homes’ staffers via coercion shows a lack of appreciation of what is at stake. If this works at all, it will be in the nature of “Burn the village to save it” in too many instances.As I wrote to or Covid brain trust:Oh, this is going to work well. All stick no carrot.94% of facilities already have staff shortages.Of the 40% not vaccinated, not a hard guesstimate that at least 10% will quit. Can they take another 4% staff loss?IM Doc replied: “Put simply – no”Now let’s go through this situation in more detail. First, the Biden policy, according to the Associated Press:President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that his administration will require that nursing home staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.Biden unveiled the new policy Wednesday afternoon in a White House address as the administration continues to look for ways to use mandates to encourage vaccine holdouts to get shots.“If you visit, live or work in a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk for contracting COVID from unvaccinated employees,” Biden said.Let us put aside for the moment that Biden is not “following the science” in the framing of this policy. The reason to get vaccinated is to lower the odds of getting a bad case of Covid. It would be perfectly reasonable to push for higher levels of vaccination in any workplace where employees are in close physical proximity with each other and with patients/customers, to keep them from getting sick and overloading hospitals. Covid-jammed hospitals have all sorts of bad knock-on effects, like delays in administering ER care, staff Covid cases, burnout and resignations, postponement of elective surgeries, and higher medical system costs due to all of us indirectly paying for Covid care costs via medical system costs (the piper has to be paid somehow). The evidence is not as strong as vaccine proponents would like to believe that the current vaccines prevent the transmission of the Delta variant, as a new UK study suggests, confirming the CDC finding in Provincetown of similar levels of Covid virus in the nasal passages of the vaxxed and unvaxxed in Provincetown:

Three fully vaccinated US Senators have COVID -Three fully vaccinated senators have been infected with COVID-19 and are experiencing mild symptoms, becoming the latest members of the chamber to contract breakthrough infections. Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) announced Thursday they tested positive for the coronavirus. King said despite taking precautions to protect himself, such as wearing face masks and practicing social distancing, he still contracted the virus. He praised the vaccine for preventing a possibly worse outcome. “Despite all my efforts, when I began feeling mildly feverish yesterday, I took a test this morning at my doctor’s suggestion, and it came back positive. While I am not feeling great, I’m definitely feeling much better than I would have without the vaccine,” King said in a statement, adding that he’s now quarantining at home. Wicker tested positive Thursday as well and his office said in a statement he is in good health and in isolation. “Everyone with whom Senator Wicker has come in close contact recently has been notified,” his office said in a release. Hickenlooper said he’s feeling better and thanked researchers who developed the crucial vaccine. He encouraged Americans to get vaccinated. “I’m grateful for the vaccine (and the scientists behind it) for limiting my symptoms and allowing us to continue our work for Colorado. If you haven’t been vaccinated, don’t wait for the virus — get the shot doay, and a booster when it’s available too!” he said in a statement. The breakthrough infections come as the Biden administration is recommending booster doses for individuals who were fully vaccinated early on in the vaccination rollout due to the prevalence of the highly infectious delta variant. Those groups include health care workers, nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations, including those over 60.

Social Media, the CDC and COVID-19 Collaboration -- During the pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that the main players along with social media platforms are "singing from the same hymn book". Thanks to Judicial Watch, we now have some idea why at least two of the biggest players are hand-in-hand when it comes to the COVID-19 narrative. In this case, Judicial Watch launched legal actions against the United States Department of Health and Human Services to force compliance with the Freedom of Information Act after Judicial Watch sent an FOIA request to the Centers for Disease Control on September 15, 2020, asking for access to: "Any and all records of communication between CDC officials and/or employees and employees, agents, and/or representatives of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube concerning, regarding, or relating to COVID-19 related content on company platforms. Such records include, but are not limited to, any advice or instructions issued on disinformation re COVID-19." Since the first request was not fulfilled, Judicial Watch filed a second FOIA request on March 9, 2021 as shown here: In response, Judicial Watch received 2,469 pages of documents from the CDC which clearly reveal close cooperation between the CDC and Facebook about the COVID-19 narrative and so-called "misinformation". Let's look at some of the more interesting documents which show links between Big Tech and the CDC. Here is a document from Google showing the launching of a COVID-19 alert on its products which provides consumers with the CDC's latest recommendations with most of the information redacted (pages 4 to 8 inclusive with pages 6, 7 and 8 being completely redacted): Here is another email showing the link between Google's YouTube and the CDC (pages 14 to 16): Here is an email showing the link between LinkedIn and the CDC (pages 27 to 35): Here is an email showing how Facebook supplied the CDC with $2 million worth of advertising credits (second round) dated March 8, 2020, very early in the pandemic (page 36): According to Judicial Watch, there is another email from mid-2020 showing additional funding from Facebook to the CDC for another $1 million worth of advertising. Here is another email from the CDC to Facebook wondering if Facebook needed any assistance in providing credible content for coronavirus searches on Facebook dated January 31, 2020: (page 39) Here is an email from Facebook and Instagram to the CDC regarding a product solution to support the CDC's efforts to get targeted information to specific populations (page 40): Here is an email exchange between WhatsApp and the CDC offering support for the CDC's narrative on the COVID-19 issue (page 172 - 173): I believe that is enough for this posting. As you can see, right from the very beginning of the pandemic (and even before it was officially proclaimed by the WHO), the world's most influential social media companies picked their narrative which was in sharp contrast to the narrative of the Trump Administration and worked hand-in-hand with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure that the CDC's narrative on COVID-19 remained dominant in their online ecosystem. This goes a long way to explaining why there has been so little long-lasting coverage of dissenting views (i.e. the heavy-handed use of censorship) on the science of the pandemic from the other side of the narrative and why all of the social media outlets seem to be using the same playbook.

Kushner associate pardoned by Trump charged with 2 felonies in New York - Volume 90% An associate of former President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was charged Wednesday with eavesdropping and computer trespass for allegedly using spyware to monitor his former wife's online activity. Ken Kurson, who was pardoned by Trump and is a close friend of Kushner's, was charged with two felonies by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, it announced in a statement. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said the two felonies are connected to the 52-year-old going through his then-wife’s communications September 2015 to March 2016. Vance alleged Kurson used “spyware” at his office when he was editor-in-chief of the Observer Media Group, which Kushner once owned, to access his former wife's passwords, emails and social media accounts. Kurson faced charges last year after federal prosecutors alleged Kurson threatened and stalked several people during his divorce proceedings years ago. He was then charged with federal cyberstalking crimes. Kurson was in plea negotiations with prosecutors when Trump pardoned him right before leaving office, The New York Times reported. Vance noted that the federal pardon did not prevent Kurson from being charged on a state level. “We will not accept presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for the well-connected in New York,” Vance said. “As alleged in the complaint, Mr. Kurson launched a campaign of cybercrime, manipulation, and abuse from his perch at the New York Observer, and now the people of New York will hold him accountable. We encourage all survivors and witnesses of this type of cybercrime and intimate partner abuse to report these crimes to our Office.”/p>

 Prince Andrew reportedly now a 'person of interest' in Jeffrey Epstein investigation --Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is a “person of interest” in connection with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, both of whom allegedly trafficked and sexually abused girls and women. The Guardian reports that Epstein’s friendship with Andrew is part of an investigation into possible co-conspirators, but the duke’s legal team has declined to comment. Lawyer Mark Stephens told the Guardian that the phrase “person of interest,” which is a term indicating the person has not been arrested or formally accused of any crime, could be used to add pressure on the duke to cooperate. “Person of interest” has no legal bearing. “Normally you would say ‘we believe he has information which would assist our inquiries’, or ‘assisting the law enforcement with their inquiries’, or ‘we only see him as a witness but he has important evidence to give.’ All of these are formulations and phrases which are restricted to someone in the capacity of a witness,” said Stephens. Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a civil complaint last week against Andrew in Manhattan federal court. Giuffre, who was abused by Epstein, says Andrew forced her into having unwanted sex at the age of 17 at Maxwell’s London home and in the US on three occasions, according to The Guardian. Andrew has denied the allegations. Prosecutors have asked Andrew before to cooperate during investigations into Epstein and his associates’ alleged trafficking and abuse. However, these prosecutors say Andrew has rejected cooperation and declined requests to schedule an interview, according to The Guardian. Andrew’s lawyers say this is not the case. “The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the US Department of Justice,” the prince’s lawyers said in a statement in June last year.

 Biden Is Bringing Financial Crisis Guys from the New York Fed’s Markets Group to His Administration: Should We Worry? -By Pam Martens --President Joe Biden is tapping insiders from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for key financial posts in his administration. These insiders played key roles during the financial crash of 2008 or the repo loan crisis in the fall of 2019 or the pandemic-related financial crisis of 2020. One of them was around for all three. We’ll get to the specific names in a moment, but first some necessary background.The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is an independent federal agency whose Board members are appointed by the President of the United States. But the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks that are part of the Federal Reserve System are owned, outright, by commercial banks, thus making these Fed banks private entities. The New York Fed stands out because it is owned by some of the largest and most dangerous mega banks on Wall Street, which also happen to be some of the largest federally-insured banks in America. This makes the New York Fed the epicenter in America of the concept, “too big to fail.”In terms of the New York Fed’s power, consider this: according to the most recent financial data from the Federal Reserve, the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks had a total of 647,525,381 shares of capital stock outstanding as of December 31, 2020. Of that amount, 217,599,537 of those shares were controlled by the banks that own the New York Fed. That’s more shares than controlled by the Atlanta Fed, Boston Fed, Chicago Fed, Dallas Fed, Philadelphia Fed, Kansas City Fed, Minneapolis Fed, and St. Louis Fed combined.The largest shareowners of the New York Fed are the following five Wall Street banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of New York Mellon.The five mega banks that are the major shareowners of the New York Fed are also supervised by the New York Fed, despite participating in the election of two-thirds of its Board of Directors.Having an entity that is owned by the mega Wall Street banks, that also supervises the same banks, that is also empowered to create electronic money out of thin air to bail out the banks with no spending limits, sounds like something out of an Orwellian novel. It is not a banking model for a sustainable financial future for a large developed nation – a reality that is aptly captured by the fact that the Fed’s balance sheet has grown from $924 billion in December 2007 to $8.3 trillion today – with American taxpayers, not the Wall Street banks, on the hook for 98 percent of that if things go amiss.Against that backdrop, we find it more than a little unnerving that someone is whispering in President Biden’s ear to tap folks from the New York Fed for key slots in his administration.

Nasdaq’s board-diversity plan challenged in court as ‘unfair’ - An opponent of affirmative action is challenging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of a rule to get more women and minorities on the boards of companies trading on Nasdaq.The Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, which has also taken legal action against California over its requirement for corporate board diversity, filed a petition for a review of the SEC’s decision to a federal appeals court last week. Under the rule, which was approved earlier this month, companies listed on Nasdaq must have at least one self-identified female board member and at least one who identifies as a member of an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ — or explain why there isn’t.

Fed tells judge scrapping Libor too soon would spur market chaos --The Federal Reserve told a judge not to scrap Libor as requested by consumers in a lawsuit because it would pose a risk to financial stability and undermine years of global planning for a transition to a new benchmark for borrowing rates.A staged transition away from the London interbank offered rate is underway globally, but immediately ending the London interbank offered rate by court order would likely harm consumers and businesses, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a filing Friday in federal court in San Francisco. Dozens of consumer borrowers and credit card users are seeking an injunction to end Libor, claiming the benchmark is the work of a “price-fixing cartel.” The plaintiffs are also seeking monetary damages.

Lenders are quick to adopt SBA's faster PPP forgiveness option | American BankerThe Small Business Administration appears to have made significant headway streamlining its process for Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness, which drew complaints through last year and early 2021.Previously, the process worked best for large PPP lenders with the resources to create in-house portals. However, as many as 1,500 small lenders had made little or no investment in a technology platform to support forgiveness, the SBA estimates. For them, loan forgiveness risked becoming “a national paperwork exercise,” that a new SBA portal, launched Aug. 4, aimed to resolve, Patrick Kelley, the SBA’s associate administrator for the Office of Capital Access, said in an interview.In just two weeks, the direct borrower forgiveness portal has received more than 340,000 submissions, and about half of those have already been fully forgiven and paid out, Kelley said.

Citi's muni bond business shrinks in Texas after gun law's passage - A Texas law aimed at punishing banks for discriminating against gunmakers is set to take effect, and Citigroup, which was targeted by the measure's supporters, has already lost substantial market share.Banks and other companies that have contracts with Texas municipalities will have to certify beginning on Sept. 1 that they do not have policies discriminating against firearm or ammunition businesses. So far, industry officials are not betraying much concern about the measure's impact.“To date, we have no knowledge of terminated contracts, nor have we received information about municipalities providing any notices related to their compliance,” a spokesperson for the Texas Bankers Association said Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley tells staff they must provide proof of vaccination - American investment bank Morgan Stanley is telling its staff it must provide proof of vaccination to enter buildings and return to the office.The internal memo says documentation must be provided by Oct. 1 as the confirmation is meant to “provide greater comfort for those working in the office,” Bloomberg reported.The company not set a deadline for all employees to go back to the office due to cases recently rising from the delta variant, the company said.“In the coming weeks, we will continue to evaluate the best and safest way to get the majority of our employees working in the office, recognizing that this step may take longer than we originally anticipated,” the memo said.Before, employees only had to say they were vaccinated and did not have to provide proof of it. The company says 95 percent of its New York employees have claimed they are fully vaccinated along with 90 percent of the company’s overall employees, according to Bloomberg.Employees were told in June they would not be allowed into the New York offices if they were not vaccinated against the coronavirus.Many companies have added vaccine and mask requirements since the delta variant has caused cases and hospitalization rates to rise across the country.

Fintechs found to be much likelier to OK suspicious PPP loans --Fintechs were almost five times more likely than traditional lenders to be involved with suspicious loans issued through the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program, according to a new study.Nine of the 10 lenders with the highest rates of suspicious loans were financial-technology firms, according to the study released Tuesday by the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. The program, aimed at keeping businesses afloat and helping employers hold on to workers during the pandemic, allowed lenders to drop some standard underwriting practices in the interest of speed. But that might have encouraged fraud. The new report said there could be roughly 1.8 million questionable loans with a total value of $76 billion.

 Mexican fintech expanding into U.S. to finance cross-border trade - Credijusto made a splash in June when it became the first fintech to buy a regulated bank in Mexico, following in the footsteps of companies such as LendingClub and Social Financethat have bought banks in the United States. But the lender to small and midsize businesses, which compiles troves of electronic data to help in credit underwriting, is doing more than continuing a global trend of fintech-bank acquisitions. It is catering to a niche where demand is high and a specialized lender could flourish: small and midsize businesses that conduct trade between the U.S. and Mexico. As of June 2021, Mexico was the top trading partner of the U.S., accounting for 14.7% of total U.S. trade. It’s a trend that Credijusto co-CEO David Poritz does not foresee changing.

JPMorgan Chase warns customers of possible data exposure --JPMorgan Chase says a technical glitch may have exposed the personal information of some online and mobile banking customers.In a notification letter posted on the Montana attorney general’s website, the company said "a technology issue" may have mistakenly allowed customers to see other customers’ personal information and account information on its website or in the Chase Mobile app, or receive others’ account statements. The company said it found no indication that customers’ information was used inappropriately. Customers might have seen other customers’ balances and transactions as well as name and account numbers, the company said.

Will CFPB take cues from Canada in writing data-sharing rules? --As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau mulls standards on the portability of consumer financial data, a concurrent effort by Canada to craft an open banking system could help determine the shape of U.S. rules.An advisory report issued earlier this month by the Canadian government calls on Ottawa to launch a new framework by January 2023, with rules for banks and an accreditation process for third-party providers to govern data-sharing. The CFPB plans to have a data-sharing rule in place sooner, by April 2022. But observers note the Canadian report has shed much more on what an open banking regime would look like than the U.S. agency's request for public comment issued last fall, and could influence the rulemaking process in both countries.

It's a myth that regulators rubber-stamp bank M&A | American Banker - At least in the D.C. area, in front of most schools there are speed cameras, and about 100 yards in front of each is a sign posting the speed limit and noting “Photo Enforced.” As a result, drivers slow down as they approach the school. Most would consider this outcome a success. But it is possible that someone could argue that the goal is not for people to drive slower in front of schools but rather for the government to write tickets.That same logic is being used by some policymakers to denounce the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators for “rubber-stamping” bank mergers. Bank mergers are almost always approved because banks know what the approval standards are and generally do not apply if a potential merger does not meet them; furthermore, even if their initial analysis is overly optimistic, regulators will warn banks not to apply if they have any reason to believe they will deny the application; and if a bank nonetheless applies, the regulator will pressure them to withdraw the application before having to issue (and justify) a public denial.So, basically, the opposite of a rubber stamp.

Democratic majority on FDIC board spells trouble for ILC hopefuls — When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. broke a decadelong freeze in March 2020 in approving new industrial loan companies, fintech advocates celebrated what they hoped would be an enduring thaw.But a year and a half later, the political environment is not in ILCs' favor. Democratic appointees hold a 3-1 majority on the FDIC board, giving them enough votes to reject any application that they oppose. “I expect the Democrats on the board to take a hard look at any charter application that attempts to mix banking and commerce,” said Todd Phillips, director of financial regulation at the Center for American Progress and a former FDIC attorney.

 MBA: "Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease in the Second Quarter of 2021" - From the MBA: Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease in the Second Quarter of 2021 - The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.47 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter of 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) National Delinquency Survey. For the purposes of the survey, MBA asks servicers to report loans in forbearance as delinquent if the payment was not made based on the original terms of the mortgage. The delinquency rate was down 91 basis points from the first quarter of 2021 and down 275 basis points from one year ago. "Mortgage delinquencies across all loan types - conventional, FHA, and VA - reached their lowest levels since the first quarter of 2020," said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA's Vice President of Industry Analysis. "The drop in the delinquency rate for FHA loans and VA loans was the largest quarterly decline for both in the history of MBA's survey dating back to 1979." "Much of the second-quarter improvement can be traced to later-stage delinquent loans - those 90 days or past due, but not in foreclosure. In fact, the 90-day delinquency rate dropped by 72 basis points, which is another record decline in the survey. It appears that borrowers in later stages of delinquency are recovering due to several factors, including improved employment and other economic conditions, the availability of home retention workout options after forbearance, and a strong housing market that is bringing additional alternatives to distressed homeowners." Walsh noted that foreclosure moratoria were still in place through the second quarter, resulting in the lowest foreclosure inventory recorded since 1981. . This graph shows the percent of loans delinquent by days past due. Overall delinquencies decreased in Q2. From the MBA: Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the seasonally adjusted mortgage delinquency rate decreased for all loans outstanding. By stage, the 30-day delinquency rate decreased 5 basis points to 1.41 percent and the 60-day delinquency rate decreased 15 basis points to 0.52 percent, both at their lowest levels in the history of the survey. The 90-day delinquency bucket decreased 72 basis points to 3.53 percent. … The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the second quarter was 0.51 percent, down 3 basis points from the first quarter of 2021 and 17 basis points lower than one year ago. This is the lowest foreclosure inventory rate since the fourth quarter of 1981. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started in the second quarter remained unchanged from last quarter at 0.04 percent. This sharp increase last year in the 90-day bucket was due to loans in forbearance (included as delinquent, but not reported to the credit bureaus). The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined further, and was at the lowest level since 1981.

MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 3.26%" - Note: This is as of August 8th.From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 3.26%: The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 14 basis points from 3.40% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.26% as of August 8, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 5 basis points to 1.69%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 23 basis points to 3.95%, while the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased 32 basis points to 7.05%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 17 basis points to 3.46%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 13 basis points to 3.36%.“The largest decrease in a month in the share of loans in forbearance came from a jump in forbearance exits, as many homeowners are nearing the end of their forbearance terms. The forbearance share declined for all investor and servicer categories,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “New forbearance requests picked up slightly this week, particularly for Ginnie Mae loans, but overall trends remain positive. Incoming data continues to support our forecast of an improving job market in the months ahead.” 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 (#) increased relative to the prior week: from 0.04% to 0.06%"

 MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest Weekly Survey --From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey: Mortgage applications decreased 3.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 13, 2021.... The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week and was 8 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 19 percent lower than the same week one year ago.“Mortgage rates were at their highest levels in around a month, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing above 3 percent to 3.06 percent. Mortgage rates followed an overall increase in Treasury yields last week, which started higher from the strong July jobs report before slowing because of weaker consumer sentiment and concerns about rising COVID-19 cases,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “The increase in mortgage rates caused a 5 percent decrease in refinancing, driven by a 7 percent drop in conventional refinance applications. Even though rates are 7 basis points lower than the same week a year ago, the refinance index is around 8 percent lower. The eligible pool of homeowners who stand to benefit from a refinance is smaller now.” “Purchase applications also saw a mixed results, with conventional purchase applications down and government purchases up. Government purchase loans, such as FHA loans, are typically popular with first-time buyers. Despite a second-straight weekly decrease, average loan sizes remain close to record highs. This is a continuing sign that sales prices are still elevated, driven by stiff competition leading to accelerating home-price growth.”... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($548,250 or less) increased to 3.06 percent from 2.99 percent, with points increasing to 0.34 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.The first graph shows the refinance index since 1990.With low rates, the index remains elevated.The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index According to the MBA, purchase activity is down 19% year-over-year unadjusted.The year ago comparisons for the unadjusted purchase index are now difficult since purchase activity picked up in late May 2020.

 New York landlords and tenants square off over evictions after Supreme Court ruling. - A Supreme Court ruling last week blocking part of an eviction moratorium in New York State has given a glimmer of hope to struggling landlords, but has fanned fears among financially unstable tenants.The ruling means that landlords will be able to bring tenants to court and allow a judge to decide whether an eviction is warranted. It took aim at a provision of the New York State moratorium, which was enacted last year and is set to expire on Aug. 31, that barred evictions of tenants who file a form declaring economic hardship, rather than providing evidence in court.There is speculation that Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is set to become New York’s next governor after Gov. Andrew Cuomo leaves office amid a sexual harassment scandal, may push for new protections. In a statement on Thursday, she promised to “strengthen the eviction moratorium legislation.”More than 830,000 households in New York State, a majority of them in New York City, are behind on rent, according to an analysis of census data by the National Equity Atlas, a research group associated with the University of Southern California. But a $2 billion rental assistance program aimed at helping tenants pay their landlords has given funds to fewer than 5 percent of applicants since its start in June.

Top Democrat unveils bill aimed at making housing more affordable - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday rolled out legislation aimed at making housing more affordable for Americans. "It’s time America’s lawmakers get with the program and enact 21st century housing policies that adequately address 21st century challenges,” Wyden said in a statement. According to a summary of the bill from Wyden's office, the legislation seeks to house everyone experiencing homelessness within five years through housing vouchers. The bill would also strengthen the low-income housing tax credit, which is provided to developers of housing for low-income tenants, and it would create new tax credits for developers who house middle-income tenants and for property owners who rent to low-income tenants. Additionally, it would establish a tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Wyden unveiled his legislation one week after the Senate passed a budget resolution that will allow Democrats to pass a wide-ranging spending bill later this year without any Republican votes. Housing is expected to be one of the areas of focus of that bill, and Wyden will play a key role in crafting the legislation because he leads the Senate committee with jurisdiction over tax policy. On The Money: Fed officials signal move toward tapering bond... Democrat unveils bill to redirect Pentagon spending toward global... Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, praised some parts of Wyden's bill on Twitter but criticized the senator's proposal for a tax credit for developers of middle-income housing. "There is no sound rationale for investing billions of dollars of scarce federal resources targeted toward the development of market-rate housing, when changes to local zoning laws would have largely the same impact," she said. A spokesperson for Wyden noted that the bill also includes a provision focused on zoning changes.

Housing Starts increased to 1.534 Million Annual Rate in July --From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions Privately‐owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,534,000. This is 7.0 percent below the revised June estimate of 1,650,000, but is 2.5 percent above the July 2020 rate of 1,497,000. Single‐family housing starts in July were at a rate of 1,111,000; this is 4.5 percent below the revised June figure of 1,163,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 412,000.Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,635,000. This is 2.6 percent above the revised June rate of 1,594,000 and is 6.0 percent above the July 2020 rate of 1,542,000. Single‐family authorizations in July were at a rate of 1,048,000; this is 1.7 percent below the revised June figure of 1,066,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 532,000 in July The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) decreased in July compared to June. Multi-family starts were down 16% year-over-year in July. Single-family starts (blue) decreased in July, and were up 12% year-over-year (starts slumped at the beginning of the pandemic, but picked up in July 2020). 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 July were well below expectations, however starts in May and June were revised up slightly.

Comments on July Housing Starts --Earlier: Housing Starts decreased to 1.534 Million Annual Rate in July. Total housing starts in July were above expectations, however starts in May and June were revised up slightly. Single family starts increased in July, and were up 12% year-over-year. Starts declined at the beginning of the pandemic, and then increased due to strong demand.The volatile multi-family sector is down 16% year-over-year. The housing starts report showed total starts were down 7.0% in July compared to the previous month, and total starts were up 2.5% year-over-year compared to July 2020.The first graph shows the month to month comparison for total starts between 2020 (blue) and 2021 (red). Starts were up 2.5% in July compared to July 2020. The year-over-year comparison are more difficult starting in the second half of 2021. In 2020, starts were off to a strong start before the pandemic, and with low interest rates, and little competing existing home inventory, starts finished 2020 strong. Starts were solid in the first half of 2021.The second graph shows starts under construction, Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).Red is single family units. Currently there are 711 thousand single family units under construction (NSA). This is the highest level since 2006. Blue is for 2+ units. Currently there are 686 thousand multi-family units under construction. Last month, at 691 thousand units, was the most since 1974. Combined, there are 1.397 million units under construction. This is the most since July 2006.

AIA: "Demand for design activity continues to expand" in July -- Note: This index is a leading indicator primarily for new Commercial Real Estate (CRE) investment. From the AIA: Demand for design activity continues to expand: The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) recorded its sixth consecutive positive month, according to a new report today from The American Institute of Architects (AIA). The ABI score for July was 54.6. While this was down slightly from June’s score of 57.1, it still indicates very strong business conditions overall (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings from the prior month). Scoring for new project inquiries also declined in July but remained near its all-time high at 65.0. The score for new design contracts was essentially unchanged from June to July with a score of 58.0.“In prior business cycles, architecture firms generally saw their project work soften quickly and then recover slowly,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. “So the strength of this recovery is unprecedented. Firm leaders who have leaned into this economic upturn by reinvesting in their firms by hiring staff and upgrading their technology, will likely have a better year than those that anticipated a slower recovery.”...
• Regional averages: Midwest (58.3); West (56.0); South (54.6); Northeast (54.1)
• Sector index breakdown: commercial/industrial (58.4); institutional (55.4); multi-family residential (54.7); mixed practice (54.4)
This graph shows the Architecture Billings Index since 1996. The index was at 54.6 in July, down from 57.1 in June. Anything above 50 indicates expansion in demand for architects' services. This includes commercial and industrial facilities like hotels and office buildings, multi-family residential, as well as schools, hospitals and other institutions. This index had been below 50 for eleven consecutive months, but has been solidly positive for the last six months. The eleven months of decline represented a significant decrease in design services, and suggests a decline in CRE investment through most of 2021 (This usually leads CRE investment by 9 to 12 months), however we might see a pickup in CRE investment towards the end of the 2021 and into 2022.

Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 8% Compared to Same Week in 2019; "Leisure demand wanes" - 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 8.3% compared to the same week in 2019.From CoStar: STR: Seasonal Demand Trends Weigh Down Weekly US Hotel Occupancy: U.S. hotel occupancy and average daily rate (ADR) dipped from previous weeks, according to STR‘s latest data through August 14.August 8-14, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):
• Occupancy: 65.7% (-8.4%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): $139.18 (+5.9%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): $91.45 (-3.0%)
While the metrics were down week over week, comparisons with 2019 remained consistent, which is further evidence of seasonality in the data as more schools return to class and leisure demand wanes. Concern around COVID-19 cases also persists.*Due to the steep, pandemic-driven performance declines of 2020, STR is measuring recovery against comparable time periods from 2019.
The following 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). Occupancy is well above the horrible 2009 levels and weekend occupancy (leisure) has been solid - but, according to STR, is starting to "wane" seasonally.With solid leisure travel, the Summer months had decent occupancy - but it is uncertain what will happen in the Fall with business travel - especially with the sharp increase in COVID pandemic cases and hospitalizations.

 Retail Sales Decreased 1.1% in July - On a monthly basis, retail sales were decreased 1.1% from June to July (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 15.8 percent from July 2020. From the Census Bureau report:Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $617.7 billion,a decrease of 1.1 percent from the previous month, but 15.8 percent above July 2020. ... The May 2021 to June 2021 percent change was revised from up 0.6 percent to up 0.7 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 1.4% in July. 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 14.2% on a YoY basis. Sales in July were below expectations, however sales in May and June were revised up.

 LA Area Port Traffic: Solid Imports, Weak Exports in July --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 0.2% in July compared to the rolling 12 months ending in June. Outbound traffic was down 2.2% 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 started off incredibly strong for imports. Imports were up 2% YoY in July (recovered last year in July following the early months of the pandemic), and exports were down 24.0% YoY.

Industrial Production Increased 0.9 Percent in July -- From the Fed: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: Industrial production increased 0.9 percent in July after moving up 0.2 percent in June. In July, manufacturing output rose 1.4 percent. About half of the gain in factory output is attributable to a jump of 11.2 percent for motor vehicles and parts, as a number of vehicle manufacturers trimmed or canceled their typical July shutdowns. Despite the large increase last month, vehicle assemblies continued to be constrained by a persistent shortage of semiconductors; the production of motor vehicles and parts in July was about 3-1/2 percent below its recent peak in January 2021. The output of utilities decreased 2.1 percent in July, while the index for mining rose 1.2 percent.At 101.1 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in July was 6.6 percent above its year-earlier level but 0.2 percent below its pre-pandemic (February 2020) level. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector rose 0.7 percentage point in July to 76.1 percent, a rate that is 3.5 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 2020, but still below the level in February 2020. Capacity utilization at 76.1% is 3.5% below the average from 1972 to 2020.The second graph shows industrial production since 1967. Industrial production increased in July to 101.1. This is 0.2% below the February 2020 level.The change in industrial production was above consensus expectations, probably due to vehicle manufacturers not shutting down in July.

Just when you thought the chip shortage was over . . . The semiconductor shortage, and its effects on the production of everything from high-end graphics cards to fridges, has been one of the most surprising outcomes from the Covid crisis. The pain has been so sharp for so many businesses that it has prompted Western governments to start considering whether to bring production onshore, given Taiwan controls an estimated two-thirds of global output. Yet, as the Northern Hemisphere’s summer rolled in, there seemed to be somewhat of a relief on global semiconductor supply chains. General Motors raised guidance in early June on better chip supply, and of late, it’s been fairly trivial to purchase a Playstation 5 in the UK. Fortune even went as far as to publish an article with the headline Now there’s worry the chip shortage will turn into a chip glut just two short weeks ago.The price action suggested as much, with some semiconductor stocks -- such as TSMC -- beginning to roll off from their February highs: But, it seems like we’re not out of the woods quite yet. A few hours ago, the FT’s sister publication Nikkei Asia came out with what seems a seismic story for the global economy, on Toyota. Here’s Reuters’ summation: Toyota Motor Corp will reduce global production for September by 40% from its previous plan, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday, the last major automaker to cut production due to critical shortages of semiconductors.Toyota has fared better than rivals, having built a larger stockpile of chips due to a business continuity plan revamped in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima earthquake. But a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across Asia has compounded the semiconductor crunch.Toyota had been aiming to make a little under 900,000 vehicles in September, but has reduced that to about 500,000, according to the Nikkei here Global production reduced by 40 per cent! We’re not talking about some two-bit EV start-up either, but the world’s largest car manufacturer by volume. If it can’t secure semiconductors from its suppliers, then what hope does the rest of the industry have? Much has been made of the sell-off in global stocks this morning, with reasons given for the slump ranging from China’s new focus on wealth redistribution, to talk the Fed might begin to scale back its $120bn in monthly asset purchases. Of course, the delta variant’s spread in Asia isn’t helping much either. But if you dare to rub FT Alphaville’s crystal ball, it’ll tell you this Toyota headline iz wot’s done it.Toyota: record profits presage a downhill path.

Empire State Mfg Survey: Slower Growth in August - This morning we got the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The diffusion index for General Business Conditions at 18.3 was a decrease of 24.7 from the previous month's 43. The Investing.com forecast was for a reading of 29.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, according to firms responding to the August 2021 Empire State Manufacturing Survey, though growth was significantly slower than last month’s record-setting pace. The headline general business conditions index fell twenty-five points to 18.3. New orders increased modestly, and shipments grew slightly. Delivery times continued to lengthen substantially, and inventories were somewhat higher. Employment and the average workweek increased modestly. Input prices continued to rise sharply, and the pace of selling price increases set another record. Looking ahead, firms remained optimistic that conditions would improve over the next six months, with substantial increases in employment and prices expected. [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 Positive" -- 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 19.4, down 2.5 from last month's 21.9. The 3-month moving average came in at 24.0, down from last month. Since this is a diffusion index, negative readings indicate contraction, positive ones indicate expansion. The Six-Month Outlook came in at 33.7, down 14.9 from the previous month's 48.6.The 19.4 headline number came in below the 23.0 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 August Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. The survey’s current indicators for general activity and shipments declined from July’s readings but remained elevated, while the new orders indicator rose. Additionally, employment increases were more widespread this month, and both price indexes remained elevated. Most future indexes moderated this month but continue to indicate that the firms expect 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 decrease to 348,000 - The DOL reported: In the week ending August 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 348,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 375,000 to 377,000. The 4-week moving average was 377,750, a decrease of 19,000 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 396,250 to 396,750. This does not include the 109,379 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was up from 103,847 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 377,750. The previous week was revised up. Regular state continued claims decreased to 2,820,000 (SA) from 2,899,000 (SA) the previous week. Note: There are an additional 4,877,668 receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that increased from 4,820,787 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 3,786,488 receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) down from 3,852,569. Weekly claims were below the consensus forecast.

 Employment: Preliminary annual benchmark revision shows downward adjustment of 166,000 jobs -The BLS released the preliminary annual benchmark revision showing 166,000 fewer payroll jobs as of March 2021. The final revision will be published when the January 2022 employment report is released in February 2022. Usually the preliminary estimate is pretty close to the final benchmark estimate.The annual revision is benchmarked to state tax records. From the BLS: In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2022 with the publication of the January 2022 Employment Situation news release.Each year, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey employment estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts of employment for the month of March. These counts are derived from state unemployment insurance (UI) tax records that nearly all employers are required to file. For National CES employment series, the annual benchmark revisions over the last 10 years have averaged plus or minus one-tenth of one percent of total nonfarm employment. The preliminary estimate of the benchmark revision indicates a downward adjustment to March 2021 total nonfarm employment of -166,000 (-0.1 percent).Using the preliminary benchmark estimate, this means that payroll employment in March 2021 was 166,000 lower than originally estimated. In February 2022, the payroll numbers will be revised down to reflect the final estimate. The number is then "wedged back" to the previous revision (March 2020).Construction was revised down by 44,000 jobs, and manufacturing revised down by 39,000 jobs.This preliminary estimate showed 421,000 fewer private sector jobs, and 255,000 more government jobs (as of March 2021).

Disempowered By Tyson: How Big Chicken Hurts Farmers, Workers, and Communities - Union Of Concerned Scientists -A few years back, the nation's largest meat and poultry company used the slogan "Powered by Tyson" to sell its chicken, pork, and beef. Tyson Foods' marketing language has since changed, but the notion of "power" is more apt than ever when it comes to the way this company operates. As a new joint investigation by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and The Guardian reveals, Tyson has aggressively consolidated its power in the chicken industry, particularly in its home state of Arkansas, while disempowering and exploiting its workers and farmers. The findings are disturbing, and they should raise new alarm bells for state and federal regulators and anyone who eats chicken. . Early in the pandemic, Tyson flexed its political muscles to keep plants across the country open even as its workers were contracting and dying from COVID-19 in alarming and tragic numbers. But long before the pandemic, farmers, workers, and commercial chicken buyers have been accusing Tyson of price fixing andwage suppression schemes that go back years. Some of these allegations have gone to court and ended in settlements, while others are still pending. As detailed in our report, Tyson Spells Trouble for Arkansas, we analyzed US Department of Agriculture data and sales data from the Arkansas poultry processing industry and found that:

• Tyson operates like a monopoly in the Arkansas chicken industry. It accounts for more than two-thirds of the state's poultry processing. And in some parts of the state, Tyson really has the market cornered: In seven counties, Tyson was the single company controlling all broiler chicken production.
• Tyson has been aggressive in buying up companies and assets in its quest for poultry industry domination. Since 1990, it has made 47 acquisitions (far more than its leading competitors) up and down the supply chain, acquiring not just processing plants but also chicken breeders and even the mills that make chicken feed.
• Tyson's increasing stranglehold on the industry since 1990 has coincided with a loss of half of the poultry farms in Arkansas. That has happened even as the number of chickens raised in the state every year has risen 1,000%.
• Finally, the concentration and scale of Tyson's operation has also led to a concentration of chicken manure and other waste around the farms and plants clustered in Northwest Arkansas. That affects the people who live in the region. And the two most affected counties are counties with a large share of Arkansas's Latino and Native American population, already disadvantaged communities who now also have to live with the air and water pollution that Tyson has created.

The Guardian reporting digs deeper into the effects of Tyson's operation on its workers and their communities, unearthing personal stories of speed and output targets prioritized over worker safety, a points-based disciplinary system that pressures employees to work overtime and keeps many fearful employees working even when injured or sick, and noxious odors that harm Tyson's neighbors. The company, not surprisingly, denies it all.

Bonnaroo music festival proceeds in the midst of surging COVID-19 infections in TennesseeIn little over a week, approximately 100,000 concertgoers from all around the country will descend on Manchester, Tennessee, located about an hour outside of Nashville, for the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. To put it bluntly: the event, taking place under conditions in which the US is in the midst of a devastating new wave of the coronavirus pandemic, driven in part by the highly infectious Delta variant, is a social crime whose logical outcome will be more deaths and the further spread of the virus in communities throughout the country. The perpetrators of this crime are not only the organizers behind the festival, but also local and state officials, and above all, the Biden administration itself, which is pursuing the homicidal policy of reopening schools and the economy, all the while refusing to take any serious measures to combat the virus. While the festival is scheduled to run from Thursday, September 2 through Sunday, September 5, guests are able to begin arriving as early as Tuesday of the same week. Bonnaroo is but one of a number of festivals and concerts being held this year as part of a continuous effort on the part of the ruling class to “normalize” the pandemic, i.e., to numb the public’s consciousness to mass death. Bonnaroo, which first took place in 2002, was forced to cancel altogether in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. It now follows in the wake of Chicago’s four-day Lollapalooza festival—correctly characterized as a superspreader event—which over 385,000 people attended. It was recently reported that there have been over 200 confirmed cases—an undercount to be sure—among attendees of Lollapalooza. Significantly, 127 of those cases are among vaccinated individuals, with 76 confirmed cases among unvaccinated individuals. Lollapalooza required its attendees to show proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test issued within 72 hours of entry. The predictable outcome of cases following the festival exposes the lie that these events, even with certain measures in place, can be conducted safely and responsibly. Taking cues from Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo issued an announcement on Twitter stating, “The safety of our patrons and staff is our number one priority. As such a full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test will be required to attend Bonnaroo 2021.” Supposedly, masks will only be required for indoor spaces, although if Lollapalooza is any indication, any masking guidelines will quickly fall to the wayside. Notably, a Dutch electronic dance music festival called Verknipt, held last month in Utrecht, Netherlands, has been linked to over 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, despite having stricter requirements than what Bonnaroo is demanding. For instance, unvaccinated Verknipt attendees were required to show proof of negativity within 40 hours in order to gain entry. City officials have since revised this to 24 hours.

This is How Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Spent the Summer of 2021 — During the Worst Pandemic Since 1918 (pictures) The Lollapalooza Music Festival was held at Chicago’s Grant Park from Thursday, July 29 through Sunday, August 1. An estimated 100,000 people crowded into the event on each of its four days. A large segment of those attending were not wearing masks and social distancing averaged about 6 inches to zero. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally took place in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 6 through August 15. The South Dakota Department of Transportation reported that a total of 525,768 vehicles entered the rally, using nine locations, for the combined 10 days of the event. The majority of the attendees did not wear masks. Social distancing was not practiced on the streets, in bars or in restaurants.Even the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, threw himself a big birthday bash on Saturday evening, August 7, at his $12 million waterfront mansion on Martha’s Vineyard. A sprawling tent was set up for indoor dining. And elsewhere on beaches, in bars, restaurants, concerts, and house parties, there was little recognition that COVID-19 was still raging across the United States.

Raiders requiring fans to be vaccinated in first for NFL team -- The Las Vegas Raiders this week announced that all fans attending home games will be required to provide proof of their vaccinations against the coronavirus.The team became the first in the NFL to require fans to be vaccinated, saying on Monday the new policy will go into effect Sept. 13, when the Raiders play their regular season home opener against the Baltimore Ravens."Health and safety has always been our number one priority," Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement. "After consultation with Governor [Steve] Sisolak and other community leaders, this policy ensures that we will be able to operate at full capacity without masks for fully vaccinated fans for the entire season."The Raiders played their preseason opener on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium, with all attendees required to wear masks, the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted.Last month, officials in Las Vegas decided against implementing a mask mandate for tourists on the Las Vegas strip, opting instead to order employees to wear masks indoors.

Garth Brooks cancels five stadium concerts as Covid-19 cases rise. -The country superstar Garth Brooks has canceled his next five stadium tour dates, the latest and biggest concerts to be pulled as the touring industry scrambles in response to rising coronavirus infection rates.“In July, I sincerely thought the pandemic was falling behind us,” Brooks said in a statement on Wednesday, four days after performing for about 90,000 fans in Lincoln, Neb. “Now, watching this new wave, I realize we are still in the fight and I must do my part.”The tour, which had already played five cities over the last month, is canceling dates in Cincinnati, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18; Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 25; Baltimore, on Oct. 2; Foxborough, Mass., on Oct. 9; and one makeup date for a rained-out show in Nashville that had not been scheduled yet. Tickets will be refunded automatically, according to the statement. Brooks’s announcement came after a slew of cancellations by artists including Stevie Nicks, Limp Bizkit, Korn and Lynyrd Skynyrd; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, planned for October, was also shut down. The Detroit Jazz Festival, planned as an in-person event from Sept. 3 to 6, announced this week that it would “pivot to a virtual format” of livestreams.

Orlando residents are asked to cut back on water usage as the virus surges in Florida. -Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and utility officials asked residents to conserve water Friday to preserve the city’s supply of liquid oxygen, which is being used to treat a surging number of Covid-19 patients.During a Friday afternoon news conference, Linda Ferrone of the Orlando Utilities Commission asked residents to refrain from using excess water and to be prepared to do so for at least several weeks.A Delta variant-driven surge has made Florida one of the nation’s worst-hit states, with new cases recently topping their winter peak. Hospitalizations in Orange County, where Orlando is, are up 58 percent over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Deaths in the Orlando area have overwhelmed crematoriums, which are running out of room to store bodies, local media reported.The New York Times has previously reported on supply chain issues and oxygen s hortages during the pandemic in India,northern Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere.

New York City now requires proof of at least one vaccine dose for many public indoor activities. - Those who are 12 and older will be required to show proof of having received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to participate in New York City’s indoor dining, fitness or entertainment venues starting Tuesday. Enforcement will not start until Sept. 13.The requirement is intended to spur vaccinations, which have lagged in the city even as the extremely transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus has driven up new cases.“I am absolutely certain this is going to motivate a lot of people to get vaccinated,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced that starting Sept. 13 those who are 12 and older will be required to show proof of having received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to participate in indoor dining, fitness or entertainment.Businesses will be required to hang posters describing the mandate near their entrances and those that do not comply will be subject to fines. Customers are allowed to enter the premises for a few minutes to use the bathroom, or for other reasons, without proving that they have been vaccinated.The city has hired 570 people to go out and canvass small businesses in every ZIP code with information about the vaccination requirement, Mr. de Blasio said. The goal is to canvass all businesses across the city within the next three weeks. A $10 million advertising campaign will also spread the word about the new mandate.Starting Sept. 13, agencies such as the Department of Health will be able to start issuing fines and other penalties against indoor venues that do not check vaccination status. The sheriff’s office may also get involved if customers use fake vaccine cards, the mayor said. There are two official apps, NYC Covid Safe and the Excelsior Pass, but showing your paper vaccine card is fine too. For those who were vaccinated outside of the United States, paperwork from abroad showing that people received any of the eight vaccines cleared for emergency use by the World Health Organization is also acceptable.

New York’s ‘Excelsior Pass’ is likely to cost at least $27 million. - New York’s digital vaccine app, the Excelsior Pass, will likely cost far more than originally expected, with projected costs nearing $27 million, according to newly obtained documents shared with The New York Times.The pass is stepping into the spotlight this week as restaurants, museums, gyms and other indoor venues in New York City are asking customers — often for the first time — to show proof of at least one vaccine dose as part of a new city mandate.More than 3.5 million people have already retrieved an Excelsior Pass, which consists of a QR code that can be stored on a smartphone or printed out, the state said. The app verifies applications against city and state vaccination records, and the code is generated the day after someone is considered fully vaccinated, which is 15 days after the final shot.Through a Freedom of Information Request, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, an advocacy group that has expressed concern about the privacy and security implications of vaccine passports, received the latest contract between the state and I.B.M., which is developing the app.In June, the advocacy group provided The Times with the original version of the contract between the state and I.B.M., which estimated the total cost of the project would be $17 million over three years. Even that was far more than the $2.5 million in development costs that Mr. Cuomo and his staff had publicly mentioned when announcing the arrival of the nation’s first government-sponsored digital app that verifies proof of vaccination.The updated version of the contract, signed by the state’s Office of Information Technology Services in late June, adds up to another $10 million. New York, the contract states, had already incurred an extra $656,421 in charges for technical support and updates. And a Phase 2 of the project, which was mentioned but not described in detail in the original contract, ended up costing more than double than estimated, rising to $4.7 million from $2.2 million.“We always said that Excelsior Pass would be a high-tech distraction from real public health measures, but we had no idea the price would go up this high,” said Albert Fox Cahn, the advocacy group’s executive director. “Even as New Yorkers find themselves on the hook for millions more, the app still isn’t able to do a lot of the basics.” The governor’s office defended the contract, noting that it would only spend the full amount if the program continued to be successful. It said that so far the state had only spent a fraction of the total amount. “The state amended the upper limit of the contract so we have the option — only to be undertaken if the pass continues to be a success — to further expand the pass’s critical role in supporting New York State’s economic recovery, including the potential to connect with neighboring states whose residents travel in and out of New York routinely as they live, work, and play,”

City workers in Los Angeles will soon have to get vaccinated. -The Los Angeles City Council passed on Wednesday a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for nearly 60,000 city workers, including police officers and firefighters, that did not include an option for regular testing.Other major cities, states, companies, health care systems and the federal government have all passed different vaccine rules. But many, including New York City’s, allow people to skip the shots as long as they are regularly tested for the coronavirus.Los Angeles’s rule, and one recently announced for much ofSeattle’s municipal workforce, removes that option. Los Angeles will only allow medical or religious exemptions.The vaccine mandate in Los Angeles reflects a broader trend toward harsher measures, from the White House down, to push the Americans who are still not vaccinated to get the shots as the Delta variant ravages the United States.In much of the country cases and hospitalizations have reached levels not seen since last winter, and only 51 percent of the population is vaccinated so far, according to federal data. Los Angeles, the second most populous U.S. city, was one of the hardest-hit parts of the country last winter, according to a New York Times database. Cases and hospitalizations have climbed sharply from their lows earlier this summer, but are still a fraction of their winter peaks.\

Nevada governor says events requiring vaccinations don't need masks - Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) said masks can be optional at events where attendees are required to be vaccinated.“If a large event venue chooses to require vaccination proof for all attendees, those that are FULLY vaccinated will be allowed to take their masks off. Partially vaccinated attendees may still attend, but they must wear their mask at the event," Sisolak tweeted on Monday. Sisolak also wrote that the current option to go without masks for vaccinated events is available for venues that have a fixed capacity of 4,000 or more.The new rules come after cities such as San Francisco and New York have implemented requirements for customers show proof of vaccination cards when patronizing restaurants, gyms and other indoor settings.The Las Vegas Raiders announced Monday that they will require proof of vaccinations for fans who attend home games this season, with owner Mark Davis saying he consulted with Sisolak and other community leaders on this decision.Cities and businesses are imposing the new restrictions in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases from the highly contagious delta variant, with unvaccinated individuals accounting for the overwhelming number of recent hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.

Chicago, New Mexico and airports implement mask requirements.- As the highly contagious Delta variant fuels a rise in cases around the United States, more indoor mask mandates are returning or being extended: for Chicagoans, New Mexicans and, now until next year, anyone in the country using public transportation or visiting an airport.Chicago and New Mexico’s mandates, which apply regardless of vaccination status, begin on Friday.The new rules, announced on Tuesday, come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last month thateveryone in communities with growing caseloads wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.Officials said the mask requirements were needed to help stop the spread of the virus. Over the past week, the United States has been reporting about 139,800 new coronavirus cases each day on average, an increase of 52 percent from two weeks ago. The number of new deaths reported is up 87 percent, to an average of 696 deaths per day. Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon and Puerto Rico have also implemented indoor mask mandates, as have San Francisco and Washington, D.C.Though cases have risen eightfold in Cook County, which includes Chicago, since early July, the outlook remains far better than in much of the rest of the country. On a per-capita basis, Cook County is averaging fewer than half as many new cases as the country as a whole. An average of 17 cases per 100,000 residents is emerging each day in Cook County, compared to 43 cases per 100,000 people nationally and 138 cases per 100,000 people in Florida. Chicago’s new mask mandate extends to bars and restaurants, clubs and common areas of residential buildings, according to the department of health.In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said on Tuesday that masks would be required in all public indoor places starting on Friday and continuing until at least Sept. 15.New Mexico had previously dropped its mask mandate for people who were fully vaccinated, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.“This surge is a terrifying indicator of moving absolutely in the wrong direction,” Ms. Lujan Grisham said at a news conference. “We’re in a terrible place for health care services and for protecting our health care workers.”

Los Angeles will require masks at large outdoor concerts and sporting events. - Los Angeles County, where the coronavirus is surging, said Tuesday that it would require masks to be worn at large outdoor concerts and sporting events that attract more than 10,000 people.The new regulation, which takes effect at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, means that people attending the Hollywood Bowl and Dodger Stadium, as well as outdoor music festivals and what the county describes as “mega events,” will now have to wear masks. The rule will apply to people regardless of their vaccination status.The order came as cities around the nation have taken steps to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Chicago joined Los Angeles County, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and other areas to require masks in public indoor places. New York City is requiring proof of vaccination for dining and entertainment activities indoors. The new rules requiring masks at large outdoor events in Los Angeles came as the county reported that cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates have increased markedly. Los Angeles County has been averaging 3,361 new cases a day, an 18 percent increase over its average two weeks ago, according to data collected by The New York Times.

 “The rebellion is spreading”: After local Texas officials defy his ban on mask mandates, Gov. Greg Abbott begins to clamp down -As Texas students too young to get vaccinated head back to school while the highly contagious delta variant threatens to overflow hospitals, a growing cadre of local government officials have mandated mask-wearing in bids to slow the spread of COVID-19 — defying Gov. Greg Abbott. This week, officials in Dallas and Bexar counties successfully sued for the right to again require masks in public schools and many government buildings — at least temporarily. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins went a step further Wednesday and mandated that child care centers and businesses must also require employees and customers to wear masks.“We are all team public health and the enemy is the virus,” Jenkins said. “Right now, the enemy is winning.”Other officials didn’t bother with a court battle. Travis County officials went ahead Wednesday afternoon with an order requiring mask-wearing in public schools. Some of the state’s largest school districts — Austin, Houston and Fort Worth — already plan to require students, teachers and staff to don masks.“The rebellion is spreading across the state,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.Abbott — under intense pressure from some on his right to hold the line against local officials who want to require masks — now is trying to quell that rebellion.Hours after Jenkins signed his mandate, Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxtonannounced they would go to court to block Dallas County’s top official, asking the 5th Court of Appeals to overturn the state district judge’s decision that allowed Jenkins to move forward. The two men threatened to sue any government official who defies Abbott’s order.

Texas school officials think they've found dress code loophole in Abbott ban - The board of trustees for a school district in Texas are amending their dress code for students to include masks in a bid to get around Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) executive order banning mask mandates in schools. The Paris Independent School District (PISD) announced the new changes to the dress code in a press release on Tuesday, weeks after Abbott issued an executive order banning schools from requiring face masks. “The Board of Trustees is concerned about the health and safety of its students and employees. The Board believes the dress code can be used to mitigate communicable health issues, and therefore has amended the PISD dress code to protect our students and employees,” the school district said in the release. The district went on to say that Abbott lacks the authority “to usurp” the board’s “exclusive power and duty to govern and oversee the management of the public schools of the district.” “Nothing in the Governor’s Executive Order 38 states he has suspended Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code, and therefore the Board has elected to amend its dress code consistent with its statutory authority,” the district added. The Hill has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment. The move comes after another school district in Texas said recently that it will keep its mask mandate for students in place despite a recent ruling from the state’s high court upholding Abbott’s ban. School districts in Republican-led states including Florida, Oklahoma and Arizona have implemented similar polices in recent weeks, defying orders banning such measures by state leaders as the delta variant has fueled a surge in coronavirus cases in different parts of the nation. Health officials have urged the public to return to wearing masks in indoor spaces, even if the individual is vaccinated, to curb the rising number of infections, including “breakthrough cases” in fully vaccinated people.

School districts meet on mask mandate changes as kids head back to school - — As children across Texas head back to school, the fight in court over mask mandates rages on between state leaders and local governments.While the legal battle plays out over Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order which bans mask mandates by government entities — including public school districts — school boards are either choosing to defy the Governor’s executive order and require masks or keep masks optional for students and staff. Several districts have already changed their rules and requirements over the last few days.The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked mask mandates in Dallas and Bexar counties, including their school districts, but their ruling doesn’t affect the Austin Independent School District mask mandate yet.On Monday night, several other school districts across Texas met to talk about mask requirements and other COVID-19 safety protocols.Elgin ISD was the first to take action and approve a mask mandate for students and staff starting on Tuesday. Officials said they made the decision after carefully considering the different local and state mask orders.The Round Rock Board of Trustees heard from at least a dozen students and dozens of parents, during a meeting that lasted late into Monday night. The meeting agenda noted they could take “possible action” on their COVID-19 safety protocols.“I’d like to urge you to issue a mask mandate to save our lives,” one middle school student told the Round Rock ISD board.An incoming senior student echoed the sentiment: “A mask isn’t just about you. A mask is to protect those around you.”Meanwhile, another student urged the board to comply with the Governor’s order and said they worried about the toll on the mental health of her classmates if masks or virtual learning persisted.“We should be able to see each other’s smiling faces and feel comfortable returning to our learning environment,” she said

Tennessee’s governor allows parents to opt out of mask mandates at school. --Gov. Bill Lee visited McConnell Elementary School in Hixson, Tenn., last week. He signed an executive order on Monday essentially gutting any school district’s effort to require its students to wear masks.Credit...Troy Stolt/Chattanooga Times Free Press, via Associated PressAs the Delta variant fuels a new coronavirus wave, particularly in areas with underwhelming vaccination rates, Tennessee on Monday became the latest state where a governor has undermined efforts by local school districts to require students to wear masks as the new school year approaches.Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed an executive order on Monday essentially gutting any school district’s effort to require its students to wear masks.According to the order, a student’s parent or guardian “shall have the right to opt out of any order or requirement” that the student “wear a face covering” at school, on school buses or at school functions.The number of new coronavirus cases in Tennessee has been steadily rising since July, according to a New York Times database. As of Sunday, Tennessee recorded its highest weekly average of coronavirus cases since late January.Mr. Lee’s executive order comes days after video surfaced last week showing anti-mask protesters threatening doctors who expressed support for requiring face coverings during a local school board meeting in Williamson County. Tennessee is one of several battlegrounds with a Republican governor who opposes mask mandates and local school officials who want them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone in schools wears masks, regardless of vaccination status, so that schools can more safely resume in-person instruction.

13-year-old in Mississippi dies of COVID-19 days after school reopens - On Saturday, 13-year-old Mkayla Robinson died of COVID-19 in Raleigh, Mississippi, after testing positive for the virus the day before. Her death coincides with a record 1,900 children currently hospitalized with the disease in the United States. Mkayla was an eighth grader at Raleigh Junior High, part of the Smith County school district, which began the semester on August 6 with no mask requirement. On August 10, due to a rapid spread of the virus, the district announced a mask mandate. By Friday, the day Mkayla tested positive, the district reported 76 known cases among students and 11 among staff. Local news reports say Mkayla attended classes until at least Wednesday. Her death was announced on the Raleigh High School Lion Pride Band’s Facebook page. One comment read, “Kind of makes the Governor a murderer doesn’t it? These are our children’s lives these guys are playing politics with and killing…” Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves demonstrated the callousness of the ruling class at a Friday press conference, where he said COVID-19 in children amounted to “the sniffles” and could not recall how many children in the state have died from the disease. “Does it happen from time to time? Sure it does. I believe we have had one fatality of an individual, maybe it could’ve been two—I think there’s three under the age of 18 at this time? Two?” Behind him, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs corrected him that four children had died. Mkayla became the fifth child in the state to die from the disease.

DeWine pleads with Ohio school officials to require masks— Gov. Mike DeWine returned to the podium Tuesday to beg Ohio schools to require masks. Two weeks ago, the Ohio Department of Health released back to school guidance recommending vaccinations for those eligible and mask-wearing for the unvaccinated. "If you’re not requiring masks, please, please, please think about this again," DeWine said to school administrators. "Consider doing it for the next few weeks." "This is the time to take precautions, not the time to take them away," he said.

Ohio governor and top doctor make plea for masks in schools -(WJW) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff held a news conference on the spread of COVID-19 and the impact on schools.The governor said he believes Ohioans are united in the hope children stay in class without interruption. He said the goal is being threatened, even with the school year just beginning for some.“Today in Ohio, we are facing a perfect storm. Just as our kids are back to school, the new delta variant is sweeping across the state, taking direct aim at all those who are unvaccinated,” DeWine said. “Sadly, things have worsened since our last news conference.”DeWine emphasized the Ohio Department of Health’s recommendations that children be vaccinated or wear a mask in the classroom. He acknowledged children under 12 cannot yet get the COVID-19 vaccine and of those 12 to 17, only 35 percent are vaccinated.He called on school districts to require masks, at least for the next few weeks, with virus level high. DeWine said now is the time to take precautions, not take them away.Vanderhoff said we know masks in schools work. He said masks helped ensure a safe environment in classes through last spring.“Vaccinations are our very best protection against COVID-19. In schools, we recommend that everyone who is eligible, students, staff, teachers, coaches, everyone, get vaccinated if you are eligible. For those who can’t get vaccinated, masks layered with other prevention strategies, including distancing, are part of our proven strategy for staying well, even in the face of COVID-19.” On Tuesday, the state health department reported 3,235 new cases, 220 hospitalizations, 18 intensive case admissions and 34 deaths. There have been three days with more than 3,000 cases in the last week. “Prior to this week, we haven’t had a single day with over 3,000 newly reported cases since February.”The 21-day average of new COVID cases in Ohio is 1,945, with an average of 90 hospitalizations and eight deaths. The latest CDC data shows nearly all of Ohio under a high transmission rate ofcoronavirus.

School boards in Miami and Tampa mandate masks in defiance of the state. -Florida's state board of education threatened this week to penalize local school board members and superintendents in Broward and Alachua Counties because they were requiring students to wear masks at school. But those threats did not stop Florida’s largest school district, Miami-Dade, as well as the school districts in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, and Palm Beach County, from approving similarly strict mask mandates on Wednesday, in further defiance of the state board. “Yesterday, I spoke with a mother of a child who died,” Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, told the state board of education on Wednesday. “Over the week, I’ve spoken with employees and their relatives, begging me to do the right thing.” He said he would “wear proudly as a badge of honor” any consequences that may come from his recommendation to require masks, which the school board adopted with a 7-1 vote later on Wednesday. Lubby Navarro, a board member, cast the lone dissenting vote. “I am not going to sit here and violate state law,” she said. Battles over school mask policies have engulfed Florida as hospitals have filled with Covid-19 patients, many of them young people. In Broward County, local officials warned this week that only five beds remained available in pediatric intensive care units there. This month, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, ordered school districts to allow parents to opt out of mask requirements for their children. He also allowed parents whose children feel “bullied” by mask mandates to apply for a private-school voucher. The Hillsborough County Public Schools began the school year on Aug. 10 with parents allowed to opt out of its mask requirement. But the district quickly found so much virus in its schools that the board called a special meeting on Wednesday to consider stricter rules. They voted 5-2 to limit mask opt-outs to students with medical exemptions, in spite of a recommendation from Addison G. Davis, the superintendent, that the district keep its existing rules. “Right now, I think it’s really important to mask our children,” said Nadia T. Combs, one of the board members. She added that she’s “not here for the adults.” “I’m not here for politics,” she said. “I’m here to keep kids in school.”

The Biden administration will use a federal civil rights office to deter states from banning universal masking in classrooms. --President Biden, escalating his fight with Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks to protect against the coronavirus, said Wednesday that his Education Department would use its broad powers — including taking possible legal action — to deter states from barring universal masking in classrooms. Mr. Biden said he had directed Miguel Cardona, his education secretary, “to take additional steps to protect our children,” including against governors who he said are “setting a dangerous tone” in issuing executive orders banning mask mandates and threatening to penalize school officials who defy them. “Unfortunately, as you’ve seen throughout this pandemic, some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — that is, children wearing masks in school — into political disputes for their own political gain,” Mr. Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House, adding, “We are not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children.” The federal intervention comes as school districts face the monumental task of trying to get students back to in-person learning and reverse the devastating setbacks experienced by a range of students.. Mr. Biden’s move puts the federal government at the center of bitter local debates over how to mitigate against the virus in schools, just as the highly infectious Delta variant is fueling a spike in pediatric cases. In an interview on Wednesday, Dr. Cardona said that like the president, he was “appalled that there are adults who are blind to their blindness, that there are people who are putting policies in place that are putting students and staff at risk.” “At the end of the day,” he said, “we shouldn’t be having this conversation. What we’re dealing with now is negligence.” Dr. Cardona said he would deploy the Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm to investigate states that block universal masking. The move marks a major turning point in the Biden administration’s effort to get as many students as possible back to in-person schooling this fall. The nation’s most vulnerable students, namely students with disabilities, low-income students and students of color, have suffered the deepest setbacks since districts pivoted to remote learning in March 2020, and their disproportionate disengagement has long drawn concern from education leaders and civil rights watchdogs.

Washington State is requiring all teachers and staff to be vaccinated. -All teachers and school personnel in Washington State — including coaches, bus drivers and volunteers — will need to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment, under a new policy announced by Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday. The requirement applies to staff regardless of the type of school in which they work: public, charter or private.The policy is the strictest vaccine mandate imposed to date by any state for teachers and other staff members in schools, allowing for only a few exceptions. School staff must be vaccinated by Oct. 18 or face possible dismissal.“We are well past the point where testing is enough to keep people safe,” Mr. Inslee said at a news conference. “We’ve tried it. It has not been adequate for the task at hand.”He stressed that 95 percent of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in Washington were unvaccinated, and reminded the public that children under 12 were not yet eligible for vaccines.“When you decide to get a vaccine, you’re protecting a kid out there who can’t get it,” he said.Vaccine mandates have been hotly debated across the country, with a quarter of states, generally those led by Republicans, banning vaccine requirements for public employees like school staff, according to the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education. But in recent days, some Democratic officials have moved to require the shots.Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has offered teachers in public and private schools the option of either vaccination or regular virus testing. City school systems in Los Angeles and Chicago havegone further, requiring staff vaccination, though there is an exemption process for those with disabling medical conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs.Washington’s policy goes further than California’s. There is no option to choose regular testing instead of vaccination. There are limited exceptions, however, including for legitimate medical reasons and sincerely held religious beliefs. Individuals who refuse to get vaccinated will be subject to dismissal. The state had already announced a mask mandate inside schools. It is experiencing a Covid-19 case surge that is straining its health care system.

Oregon’s governor sets a vaccine mandate for health workers and school employees.- With I.C.U. beds filling up and the Delta variant of the coronavirus fueling a surge in new cases, Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon announced on Thursday that all health care workers and school employees in the state will have to be fully vaccinated. The move tightens the policy that Governor Brown, a Democrat, announced on Aug. 10, which allowed health care workers to work without being vaccinated if they were tested regularly. Faced with a worsening surge, Ms. Brown’s new policy takes away that option. With an eye on the new academic year, Ms. Brown said all teachers, other staff members and volunteers in elementary and secondary schools must be fully vaccinated in order to protect young children and to prevent the mass student quarantines needed recently in the South. The requirements take effect Oct. 18, or six weeks after the vaccines are fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, whichever comes first. “Our kids need to be protected, and they need to be in school,” Governor Brown said at a news conference, noting that children under 12 were not yet eligible for coronavirus vaccination. “And that’s why I’m willing to take the heat for this decision.” Vaccine mandates have become a tense political battleground across the country, with about one-quarter of states — generally those led by Republicans — banning vaccine requirements for public employees, according to the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education. In recent weeks, some Democratic officials have amped up pressure by requiring the shots for some workers. \

New York City imposes vaccine mandate for many high school athletes and coaches.- New York City’s high school student athletes and coaches participating in high-risk sports will have to be vaccinated in order to play, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday. The announcement represents the first student vaccine mandate in New York City, and could set the stage for broader mandates for the city’s roughly 1 million public school students later this year.About 20,000 students and staff — about half of the total Public School Athletic League — will have to receive at least one vaccine dose by the first day of competitive play. That means students with fall seasons, including football and volleyball players, will have to be at least partially vaccinated by the first few weeks of school.But students who play winter and spring sports like basketball, ice hockey and lacrosse, along with wrestlers, have several months before they have to start the vaccination process. And more than 20,000 students and staff who participate in sports considered low-risk, including baseball, soccer, tennis, track and gymnastics, will not have to be vaccinated.Private schools can determine their own mandates for student athletes.The first day of school for all students is Sept. 13, which means eligible students who are still unvaccinated will not be fully protected by the start of school, even if they begin their vaccination process immediately. Just under 60 percent of all eligible New Yorkers ages 12 to 17 have received at least one dose, according to the city, but it’s not clear how many of those children are public school students. The mandate follows guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that students playing contact sports should be vaccinated to prevent canceled or virtual sports seasons. Last year, some districts across the country saw higher transmission among high-risk sports teams than in classrooms.

Chicago Public Schools prepares deadly reopening of schools with sanction of Chicago Teachers Union - Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is preparing to send over 340,000 mostly unvaccinated students back into classrooms on August 30, in spite of the massive surge of the delta variant underway across both the country and the state of Illinois. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has endorsed the city’s reopening and agrees in principle that teachers should go into the unsafe schools, although the city and the union have not yet reached a final agreement on the terms of reopening. The current plan for in-person classes walks back a significant number of already-insufficient restrictions put in place when schools first reopened last spring. Social distancing recommendations are being reduced from six to three feet, even then to be observed only “when possible.” Only unvaccinated students will be required to quarantine if they become exposed to someone who is infected, and there has been no indication from CPS of any criteria, either total cases, test positivity rates or other metrics, which would require the closure of schools. At the time of this writing, the seven-day average of new reported infections in Cook County, which includes Chicago and its closest suburbs, is nearly 900 per day, a 25-fold increase from early July. Earlier this week the city announced that it is re-instating an indoor mask mandate. While the limited measure is totally inadequate for combating the pandemic, it is a backhanded admission that conditions are rapidly worsening. Despite this, the CTU is supporting the CPS reopening plans and says it hopes to form a “partnership” with the city for this purpose. In the past week the CTU has held press conferences to announce that they are in the process of negotiating with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office on a handful of supposed safety measures.

Back-to-school shortages: Bus drivers, counselors, computers, even dry erase markers, are in short supply this fall - Bus drivers are in such short supply that EastSide Charter School in Wilmington, Del., is offering parents $700 to drop off and pick up their children for the school year. Pittsburgh Public Schools, which needsmore than 400 drivers, is delaying the return to classrooms by two weeks.And in Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest district, Montgomery County Public Schools is being walloped on both ends: by delayed deliveries of new buses due to a lack of computer chips for the buses’ air-conditioning systems and a shortage of people to drive them.For months, the economy has been rattled by labor shortages and supply chain shocks slowing the delivery of goods around the world. As schools reopen under the shadow of a worsening coronaviruspandemic, they are being squeezed by both — facing shortages of bus drivers, substitute teachers, computers, even ketchup packets and dry-erase markers.The irony, administrators say, is that many school districts are unusually flush with cash from pandemic stimulus funds, but they are struggling to find staffers and supplies. It shows how money alone isn’t solving schools’ needs as they try to return to normal. Superintendents said they were prepared for a rocky start to the new school year but were caught off guard by how directly economic disruptions, such as higher prices and fewer available workers, are colliding in schools. The hiring challenge, economists and school administrators say, is twofold: Many schools are adding more janitors, teachers, school nurses and bus drivers to accommodate smaller and more socially distant groups of students. At the same time, many of those workers are in high demand in other — often higher-paying — industries.

No bus driver? Schools are paying parents to drive their own kids as economic disruptions hit classrooms. - Bus drivers are in such short supply that EastSide Charter School in Wilmington, Del., is offering parents $700 to drop off and pick up their children for the school year. Pittsburgh Public Schools, which needs more than 400 drivers, is delaying the return to classrooms by two weeks. And in Montgomery County, Md., the state’s largest district, Montgomery County Public Schools is being walloped on both ends: by delayed deliveries of new buses due to a lack of computer chips for the buses’ air-conditioning systems and a shortage of people to drive the them. For months, the economy has been rattled by labor shortages and supply chain shocks slowing the delivery of goods around the world. As schools reopen under the shadow of a worsening coronavirus pandemic, they are being squeezed by both - facing shortages of bus drivers, substitute teachers, computers, even ketchup packets and dry erase markers. The irony, administrators say, is that many school districts are unusually flush with cash from pandemic stimulus funds, but they are struggling to find staffers and supplies. It shows how money alone isn’t solving schools’ needs as they try to return to normal. Superintendents said they were prepared for a rocky start to the new school year but were caught off guard by how directly economic disruptions, such as higher prices and fewer available workers, are colliding in schools. “There’s a labor and inventory shortage at the same time we’re increasing enrollment and hiring,” said Aaron Bass, chief executive of EastSide. “We’ve been looking like crazy for everybody you can think of: janitors, cafeteria workers, psychologists, counselors, bus drivers. Even if you have all the money in the world, you can’t get what you need.”Many of the country’s public schools, experts say, are better-positioned to serve their students than they were last year. They’ve had time to think through pandemic-related protocols and have received nearly $200 billion in federal aid during the pandemic. But even with extra money in their budgets, the schools are running up against many of the same challenges as other employers around the country. “Schools have the funds to provide more services, but now they’re having to figure out how to get the people and supplies they need to do that,” Administrators say a nationwide shortage of bus drivers is among their most pressing concerns this fall, particularly as many schools reopen for in-person learning for the first time in over a year. Many districts say they have twice as many vacancies as usual because of fundamental shifts in the economy, including a rise in online shopping that has led trucking companies and carriers like UPS and FedEx to add tens of thousands of commercial drivers to their ranks to keep up with ballooning demand.

White House doubles down on reopening schools as COVID-19 cases surge -The Biden administration doubled down Wednesday on its efforts to force schools to resume in-person education amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona declaring “our priority must be” to “return to school in person.” The White House’s statement came as COVID-19 cases continued to surge nationwide, with 155,000 cases reported Thursday, a more than ten-fold increase in the span of just two months. In states throughout the country, hospitals were filled to capacity as the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hit 85,000, a six-fold increase since June. And most troubling of all, 967 people died Thursday, representing a quadrupling of the daily deaths compared to two months ago. Cardona opened his statement Wednesday by boasting that “more than 62 percent of students across the country will complete their first day of school” this week. “As educators, we know in our hearts how important in-person learning is for student success,” Cardona said, adding, “The truth is that we know what works to keep students and educators safe: following the science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).” In reality, the CDC, under political pressure from a White House determined to reopen schools at any cost, is directly contradicting public health guidance that has been used to successfully control the spread of COVID-19 in China.

Casualties of reopening schools: Children dying from COVID-19 - Ryland Lee Daic died on August 10 at the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, after contracting COVID-19. He was just one month shy of his thirteenth birthday and set to start the sixth grade at Woodrow Wilson Junior High in Dayton, Texas. His mother, Casey Castorina, told Bluebonnet News that Daic’s illness took a quick turn for the worse from initial mild cold-like symptoms to only being able to speak in a whisper. Castorina rushed him to an emergency clinic and then to the hospital in Houston where he was placed in a medically induced coma. “They ended up putting him on life support. His lungs had filled with fluid from COVID. The doctors and nurses did everything they could for him but he died on Tuesday,” she explained. “It was stupid fast.” Mkayla Robinson, 13, died on Saturday, just one day after testing positive for COVID-19. The eighth grader was already back in classes at Raleigh Junior High in Raleigh, Mississippi, without any mask requirements, when she got ill. Robinson was among 76 confirmed cases among students and 11 among staff. While Republican Governor Tate Reeves has dismissed coronavirus infections in children as “the sniffles,” Robinson is the fifth child to die from COVID-19 in Mississippi. Seventeen-year-old Matthew Kirby of Creedmoor, North Carolina, spent nine days in an intensive care unit with COVID-19 before he succumbed to the disease last Thursday. His father, Stephen Kirby, reported in a post on Facebook that the infection has caused myocarditis, inflammation of the heart which can trigger a heart attack or stroke. Matthew’s parents also contracted the disease and are planning a memorial for their son once they recover. An unidentified 16 year old died of COVID-19 on August 5 at Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. The hospital reports that the teen had no underlying health issues but was unvaccinated. This marked the first pediatric death of the latest surge of the pandemic at a hospital which services one of the cities hardest-hit by the fourth wave—fueled by the more infectious Delta variant—which has been ravaging the South and is pushing up cases in the rest of the US. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has banned schools from implementing mask mandates and threatened to pull state funding from districts that put requirements in place. These are just four of the latest and youngest victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and more are to come as the ruling class pushes forward with the reopening of schools for in-person learning.

3 Florida Educators Die Of COVID-19 Within 24 Hours As Schools Prepare To Reopen --Less than a week before schools are set to reopen in Florida's Broward County, local union officials say three educators have died of complications from the coronavirus. The deaths were all recorded within a 24-hour span, according to union officials representing employees of the local school district.Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said the start of the new school year has been a mix of emotions as the first day approaches."The whole excitement of going back was just running through our teachers when we went back to work on Wednesday," Fusco told NPR by phone Saturday. "And then the sense of anxiety that our governor's interfering with the safety protocols and wanting to block the mask mandate because they know it's an extra layer of protection. And then the deaths that were reported."Fusco said 48-year-old Pinewood Elementary teacher and union steward Janice Wright, 49-year-old Dillard Elementary teacher Katina Jones and 49-year-old teaching assistant Yolonda Hudson-Williams, also of Dillard Elementary, were the educators who lost their lives to COVID-19 this past week.In an act of defiance aimed at Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Broward County School Board voted 8-1 Tuesday to make wearing masks in all district schools and facilities mandatory for students, staff, and visitors, member station WLRN reported. The board allowed for parents to have their children "opt out" of wearing a mask.DeSantis has threatened to withhold pay from superintendents and board members who buck an executive order banning mask mandates in schools."He's just pushing his political agenda to cater to the same constituents that were pro-Donald Trump," Fusco said of the governor. "I think because they scream louder, [he thinks] there must be more of them than the constituents that are taking this virus really [seriously] and want to be safe and secure."

Thousands of students in Tampa, Florida placed on quarantine days after schools reopen - More than 10,380 students in Florida’s Hillsborough County school district were sent into quarantine this week after hundreds COVID-19 positive infections were detected among children. Nearly 400 students were confirmed positive for the virus on Monday after a little more than a week into fall semester as the entire state has moved to resume full in-person learning in schools. According to Hillsborough County Public Schools’ dashboard, 1,805 total cases among students and employees have been reported since classrooms opened up on August 9. The district, which encompasses Tampa and its immediate suburbs, is the third largest district in Florida. It currently has 338 school employees in quarantine out of 23,596 in addition to the 10,384 students in isolation out of a total of 213,491 districtwide. The extraordinary toll the virus is now taking on the population is a testament to the recklessness of the reopening strategy designed by district officials and underlines the criminal handling of the pandemic by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, whose administration has threatened all school districts with funding cuts, fines and reductions in salaries if they enforce mask mandates on campuses. The county joined the majority of regions in the state which elected to adopt an “opt-out” option for mask wearing, which gives parents and students the choice to wear masks without mandating it be worn on school premises. In response to the ominous growth in cases, the school district’s policy has been to isolate students for seven days after close contact with unmasked COVID-19 cases. Vaccinated students, despite being able to transmit the virus, are not required to be isolated unless they show symptoms. A majority of the isolated students, nearly five percent of the student population, were placed on quarantine because they had opted-out of wearing masks or were exposed during lunch periods or other settings where masks could not be worn sufficiently. Like all major school districts in Florida, Hillsborough has completely scrapped its online e-learning remote program as an option this year, which has left thousands of students in isolation potentially having no access to instruction during their quarantine.

On first day back to school, five Fayette County, West Virginia students test positive for COVID-19 --Within hours of opening for the school year this past Tuesday, Fayette County Schools identified five positive COVID-19 cases among its student body. The cases are spread across grade levels, with two at Oak Hill High School, one at New River Intermediate School, one at Oak Hill Middle, and one at the PreK-8 elementary school in Fayetteville, a small town of 2,800 people about an hour south of the state capital, Charleston. All of the schools remain open Wednesday and county superintendent Gary Hough suggested none of the students in proximity to those who tested positive will need to quarantine. Hough told local news station WOAY Channel 4 on Tuesday evening that all five cases were “athletic related” but “diagnosed very early.” Contact sports have involved vaccinated and unvaccinated children alike in training practices ahead of the school year. The widespread nature of the cases suggests transmission throughout the community rather than an isolated cluster. The situation also portends a massive spread of the virus in Fayette County and in every other county in the state as schools reopen. In fact, Fayette County was already the site of a Delta outbreak, in the Hilltop nursing home where all residents have been vaccinated. As of August 13, 38 residents tested positive along with 17 staff members. Four residents have died of the virus. In addition, Fayette County is the location of the state’s only maximum security prison, the Mount Olive Correctional Complex, where an unknown number of inmates have contracted coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic. The state Division of Health and Human Resources reports dozens of deaths at the penitentiary, where inmates were still waiting on vaccinations in late March. With high rates of COVID-19 “comorbidities” like obesity, smoking, and diabetes, the population of West Virginia, one of the poorest states in the union, is exceedingly vulnerable to complications from the disease.

COVID-19 cases skyrocket in Los Angeles schools, exposing pretense of “safe reopening”In the four days since the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest district in the US with over 600,000 students, reopened on Monday, multiple positive infections have been detected in various school sites. The mitigation measures touted by the district in advance of reopening, while wholly inadequate to stop the spread of the virus, have not even been systematically implemented across the district, and the dilapidated infrastructure of many of the district’s over 1,000 schools is proving to be an insurmountable barrier in providing necessary ventilation to limit the spread of the airborne virus. Interim LAUSD Superintendent Megan Reilly spent opening day running from campus to campus telling everyone that schools were safe, and that “everyone needs to understand the many layers and how our safety protocol works.” According to Reilly, “We’ve created here at Los Angeles Unified some of the safest environments. It’s a controlled environment. It’s safer in many of our schools than it is out in the public.” According to data released Thursday by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH), 118 students and staff tested positive in the 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday morning. 107 of those cases were K-12 students who were on campuses during that time. Ten outbreaks and nine clusters have been reported associated with the positive cases and 56 of those cases were reportedly isolated cases. Only positive cases and close contacts, or people who were within 3 feet of the infected individual for longer than 15 minutes, have been notified and asked to quarantine. On Wednesday, the LACDPH recorded 34 new deaths and 4,046 new infections, with 1,790 people in local hospitals with the virus and 406 people in intensive care units. Hospitalizations increased by more than 100 over the previous day. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 1.36 million cases in Los Angeles County with 24,952 deaths. LAUSD has implemented a program to test all students and staff once per week regardless of vaccination status. On Monday night, LAUSD released their baseline COVID-19 results from tests of students and staff during the two weeks prior to the first day of school, which found 3,255 positive cases among students and 399 cases among school employees. However, 19 percent of students did not get tested through the district during this period. LAUSD asks that students not participating in the school testing program get tested through an outside site, but will not include these results in its overall data reports. With 451,026 students returning to in-person schooling, that would mean about 85,694 of those students were not included in the reported baseline test results.

School or ‘Russian Roulette’? Amid Delta Variant and Lax Mask Rules, Some Parents See No Difference - The child had just started kindergarten. Or, as her mother called it, “Russian roulette.” That’s because her school district in Grand Junction, Colorado, experienced one of the nation’s first delta-variant outbreaks last spring, and now school officials have loosened the rules meant to protect against covid-19.The mother, Venessa, who asked not to be named in full for fear of repercussions for her family, is part of a group of parents, grandparents, medical professionals and community members who assembled in the past few weeks to push back.The group calls itself “S.O.S.,” which stands for “Supporters for Open and Safe Schools,” while nodding to the international signal for urgent help. It’s made up of Republicans and Democrats, Christians and atheists, and its main request: Require masks.Venessa said the concept is not complicated for her 5-year-old. “She just puts it on, like her shoes.”But just two weeks into this school year, 30 classrooms already have reports of exposure to covid-positive students, district spokesperson Emily Shockley said. And three more classrooms were quarantined because they’d had at least three students in them test positive. Masks are still not universally required.Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends “universal indoor masking” in schools regardless of vaccination status, schools across the country are not embracing mask requirements, including for students under 12 who aren’t yet eligible for protective vaccines.Mesa County, where Venessa lives, was one of the places where the variant arrived before school let out for summer. A report published in early August by the CDC found that from late April through late June, as the delta variant spread there, schools were the most common setting for outbreaks aside from residential care facilities, even though masks were required in schools for students age 11 and older. Schools were bigger virus hubs than correctional facilities.Susan Hassig, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, views the report on Mesa County as a warning shot of what’s to come, showing high spread of the variant among schoolchildren.Prior assumptions that kids weren’t likely to get or spread the virus no longer apply, she said: Kids are back to their regular in-person activities, and with a highly transmissible variant circulating to boot. “We’ve got a lot more kids that are getting exposed, and with delta, a lot more kids getting infected,” Hassig said this month. “And now we’ve got full children’s hospitals here in Louisiana.”Politicians in eight states, including Texas and Florida, have prohibited mask mandates in public schools, but some school districts — including in big cities such as Dallas, Houston, Austin and Fort Lauderdale and small ones such as Paris, Texas — are rebelling against those orders and mandating masks anyway, despite the threat of fines.

Texas drops enforcement of its governor’s ban on mask mandates. - The Texas Education Agency said it would temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates and the State Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing school districts to require face-coverings. Both decisions are temporary.The agency said in new guidance on Thursday that it would immediately stop enforcing the ban on mask mandates until litigations were resolved.In a reversal, the agency’s new guidance requires schools to notify their local health department if a student tests positive. The school must also notify students in the same classroom as well as those who share extracurricular activities.As coronavirus hospitalizations have again surged in the state, nearing last year’s peaks, Mr. Abbott has resisted calls for new mandates and doubled down on his ban.The governor’s mask mandate ban has been making its way through the courts as school districts and parents have continued to challenge it. Seven counties and 48 school districts have defied the governor by ordering mask mandates, The Associated Press reported. Several large cities, including Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, have bucked the governor’s ban.School districts say they need mask mandates to combat a spike in pediatric cases, just as they face the monumental task of trying to restore in-person learning and reverse the devastating setbacks experienced by a range of students. A confluence of factors — including the Delta virus variant’s contagiousness and the fact that people under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated — is sendingmore children to hospitals, especially in areas of the country where the virus is surging, like Texas.New daily cases in Texas have increased by 37 percent over the past two weeks, approaching the peak levels of winter, according to a New York Times database, as the virus stretches hospitals in hot spots to their limits. According to the most recent data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, 829 students and 872 school staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Aug. 8, The Associated Press reported.

A California school district will require older students to be vaccinated. -A small school district in Los Angeles County will require older students to be vaccinated for Covid-19 if they’re eligible, the district’s superintendent said in a letter to families this week.Although California educators have already been ordered to be vaccinated or else face regular testing, the Culver City Unified School District is believed to be the first in the state — and possibly the nation — to require students 12 and older to be inoculated.More mandates could be on the way after the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to the vaccine and allows children under 12 to get it. Both decisions are expected in the coming weeks.The district also expanded masking requirements for some students and staff members and will require weekly Covid testing for both students and employees, regardless of their vaccine status.The announcement came just before the start of the district’s school year on Thursday and in the midst of nationwide tumultover how to safely bring children — including millions who are too young to be eligible for vaccines — back to classrooms as the Delta variant of the coronavirus rages.New cases and rising hospitalizations across the country have thrown into disarray what many hoped would be a fresh start, particularly in California, where many students had spent more than a year learning from home.

Kids Can Recover From Missing Even Quite A Lot Of School - Back when the public schools were closed or online, someone I know burned themselves out working overtime to get the money to send their kid to a private school. They figured that all the other parents would do it, their kid would fall hopelessly behind, and then they’d be doomed to whatever sort of horrible fate awaits people who don’t get into the right colleges.I hear this is happening again now, with more school closures, more frantic parents, and more people asking awful questions like “should I accept the risk of sending my immunocompromised kid to school, or should I accept him falling behind and never amounting to anything?” (see also this story) You can probably predict what side I’m on here. Like everyone else, I took a year of Spanish in middle school; like everyone else who did that, the sum total of what I remember is “no hablo Espanol” - and even there I’m pretty sure I forgot a curly thing over at least one of the letters. Like everyone else, I learned advanced math in high school; like everyone else, I can do up to basic algebra, the specific math I need for my job, and nothing else (my entire memory of Algebra II is that there is a thing called “Gaussian Elimination”, and even there, I’m not sure this wasn’t just the name of a video game). Like everyone else, I once knew the names and dates of many important Civil War battles; like everyone else - okay, fine, I remember all of these, but only because the Civil War is objectively fascinating. And I think that’s the whole point. We learn lots of things in school. Then we forget everything except the things that our interests, jobs, and society give us constant exposure/practice to. So my prediction is that an average student could miss a year or two of school without major long-term effects. Their standardized test score would be lower at the end of the two years they missed than some other student who had been in school the whole time. But after a short period they would equalize again. I don’t think you need to burn yourself out working overtime to send your kid to a private school, I don’t think you need to risk your immunocompromised kid’s health to send her to the classroom, I think you can just chill. I want to present some of the evidence that makes me think this.

Teacher fined after quitting over mask mandates, critical race theory --A 6th-grade math teacher in Kansas got hit with a $1,000 fine after quitting his job over mask mandates and critical race theory training in his school district.“That was my final straw,” Josiah Enyart said after the Shawnee Mission School District sent an email on July 25 renewing its mask mandate for all students and unvaccinated teachers, Fox News reported Saturday.When Enyart gave notice to the Comanche Elementary School in Overland Park, school district officials said he’d have to pay a $1,000 “liquidation penalty” for resigning after a specific deadline in his contract. “I will be bringing my stuff, but I don’t plan on bringing a check,” Enyart told the Sentinel, a local nonprofit news outlet. A GoFundMe page has been established to help him pay the $1,000 penalty to the district, which was already over $7,500.

Rice University temporarily turns to online classes as the virus surges across Texas.- Rice University, a private institution in Houston, has done its best to build a wall against the Delta variant engulfing the state of Texas by imposing stringent requirements for being on campus.Unlike the state’s public universities, which cannot mandate vaccines or masks, Rice requires student and faculty members to wear masks and has testing protocols for all visitors. And while Rice has not risked running afoul of Texas law by requiring vaccines, it has told students they are expected to be vaccinated.Still, the virus has surged in Houston, and on Thursday, Rice became the second university in the state to shift classes online, dampening hopes for a return to normal college life this fall. Ricedelayed the start of school by two days until Aug. 25 and said that classes would remain online through Sept. 3.It also said that members of the Rice community had tested positive for Covid despite the high vaccination rates — 98.5 percent — among the student body.“I’ll be blunt: the level of breakthrough cases (positive testing among vaccinated persons) is much higher than anticipated,” Bridget Gorman, the dean of undergraduates, wrote in a letter to the school’s 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students. The university didn’t specify how many breakthrough cases there were.More than 12,000 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in Texas, where officials have prohibited both masks and vaccine mandates, and where Gov. Greg Abbott recently tested positive.

 Faculty members and supporters at Youngstown State University protest to demand CDC protocols be implemented - On August 13, about 50 faculty and their supporters gathered to protest the unsafe reopening of Youngstown State University (YSU) in Ohio. The protest was held as it became apparent that the administration would not require the roughly 11,000 students returning to campus on August 30 to follow basic COVID-19 safety measures, such as mandatory vaccinations, social distancing or masking. The demonstrators gathered in front Todd Hall on YSU’s campus and chanted “Mandate masks in your class!” Many in attendance also held signs expressing their support for masking and a scientific approach to the pandemic. The protest took place amid the rapid reopening of schools and universities across the United States, even as the more contagious and deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 has continued to spread. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 82 out of 88 counties in Ohio are currently experiencing high levels of COVID-19 transmission. In Mahoning County, where YSU is located, less than half the residents have even received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and throughout Ohio less than half the population is fully vaccinated. Last month Republican Governor Mike DeWine specified that he would not issue a mandate to require students to wear masks. The failure by the governor to issue a mask mandate, which alone is inadequate to stop the spread of COVID-19 within schools, will allow for the virus to spread freely throughout the population after many schools reopen later this month. Given the relative low-level of vaccinations and reports of vaccinated individuals being able to spread COVID-19 to unvaccinated people, the reopening of Ohio universities poses a definite danger even with public health guidelines being enforced. However, YSU has opted to pursue a particularly egregious policy even compared to other schools within the University System of Ohio. Kent State University and Ohio State University both announced that students would be required to wear masks indoors.

 Is Higher Education a Pyramid Scheme? - Sometime in the late 1980s, the Airplane Game roared through the San Francisco Bay Area lesbian community. It was a classic pyramid scheme, even if cleverly dressed up in language about women’s natural ability to generate abundance, just as we gestate children in our miraculous wombs. A few women made a lot of money from it — enough, in the case of one friend of mine, for a down payment on a house. Inevitably, a lot more of us lost money, even as some like me stood on the sidelines sadly shaking our heads. There were four tiers on that “airplane”: a captain, two co-pilots, four crew, and 8 passengers — 15 in all to start. You paid $3,000 to get on at the back of the plane as a passenger, so the first captain (the original scammer), got out with $24,000 — $3,000 from each passenger. The co-pilots and crew, who were in on the fix, paid nothing to join. When the first captain “parachuted out,” the game split in two, and each co-pilot became the captain of a new plane. They then pressured their four remaining passengers to recruit enough new women to fill each plane, so they could get their payday, and the two new co-pilots could each captain their own planes. So, you may be wondering, what could that long-ago scam have to do with my ethical qualms about working as a college instructor? More than you might think. In 2019, the most recent year for which statistics are available, U.S. colleges and universities churned out about 55,700 doctorates — and such numbers continue to increase by about 1% a year. The average number of doctorates earned over the last decade is almost 53,000 annually. In other words, we’re talking about nearly 530,000 PhDs produced by American higher education in those 10 years alone. Many of them have ended up competing for a far smaller number of jobs in the academic world.It’s true that most PhDs in science or engineering end up with post-doctoral positions (earning roughly $40,000 a year) or with tenure-track or tenured jobs in colleges and universities (averaging $60,000 annually to start). Better yet, most of them leave their graduate programs with little or no debt.The situation is far different if your degree wasn’t in STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) but, for example, in education or the humanities. As a start, far more of those degree-holders graduate owing money, often significant sums, and ever fewer end up teaching in tenure-track positions — in jobs, that is, with security, decent pay, and benefits. Many of the non-STEM PhDs who stay in academia end up joining an exploited, contingent workforce of part-time, or “adjunct,” professors. That reserve army of the underemployed is higher education’s dirty little secret. After all, we — and yes, I’m one of them — actually teach the majority of the classes in many schools, while earning as little as $1,500 a semester for each of them. Many of us, in fact, rely on public antipoverty programs to keep going. Inside Higher Ed, reflecting on a 2020 report from the American Federation of Teachers, describes our situation this way: “Nearly 25% of adjunct faculty members rely on public assistance, and 40% struggle to cover basic household expenses, according to a new report from the American Federation of Teachers. Nearly a third of the 3,000 adjuncts surveyed for the report earn less than $25,000 a year. That puts them below the federal poverty guideline for a family of four.”

 Almost half of transgender people have experienced mistreatment by medical provider: research - Nearly 50 percent of transgender people in the U.S. have reported experiencing mistreatment by a medical provider, including refusal to give care and instances of verbal or physical abuse, according to a report released Wednesday by liberal think thank the Center for American Progress (CAP). The report highlights several disparities in health care experiences between transgender individuals and their cisgender counterparts, with the think tank calling on the federal government to put in place “nondiscrimination laws and inclusive policies” to ensure access to medical care for transgender individuals. The CAP drew on one of its surveys, conducted in June 2020, among more than 1,500 individuals who identify as LGBTQ+. In the survey, nearly 1 in 2 transgender people reported experiences of mistreatment by medical providers, with instances reported among 68 percent of transgender people of color. Additionally, roughly 28 percent of survey respondents said they had postponed or not received medical care “for fear of experiencing discrimination,” and 46 percent said they had an insurance company deny them gender-affirming care. The think tank also attributed health inequalities to medical care costs, with more than half of survey respondents saying last year that they have avoided “needed medical care” due to high costs. Sharita Gruberg, vice president of the center’s LGBTQ Research and Communications Project and one of the report’s authors, said in a statement to NBC News Wednesday that the “onus should not be on individuals,” to find access to quality and nondiscriminatory medical care. “It really should be on these institutions to do the right thing, and the resources and guidance is out there,” she added.

Maker of popular Covid test told factory to destroy inventory.For weeks in June and July, workers at a Maine factory making one of America’s most popular rapid tests for Covid-19 were given a task that shocked them: take apart millions of the products they had worked so hard to create and stuff them into garbage bags. Soon afterward, the manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, announced layoffs, canceled contracts with suppliers and shuttered the only other plant making the test, in Illinois, dismissing a work force of 2,000. “This is all about money,” Andy Wilkinson, a site manager, told the workers in Maine.As virus cases in the U.S. plummeted this spring, so did Abbott’s Covid-testing sales. But now, amid a new surge in infections, steps the company took to eliminate stock and wind down manufacturing are hobbling efforts to expand screening as the highly contagious Delta strain rages across the country. Demand for its 15-minuteantigen test, is soaring again as people return to schools and offices.Yet Abbott has reportedly told thousands of newly interested companies that it cannot equip their testing programs in the near future. CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens locations have been selling out of the at-home version, and Amazon shows shipping delays of up to three weeks. Abbott is scrambling to hire back hundreds of workers.

A grim warning from Israel: Vaccination blunts, but does not defeat Delta | Science | AAAS - “Now is a critical time,” Israeli Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz said as the 56-year-old got a COVID-19 booster shot on 13 August, the day his country became the first nation to offer a third dose of vaccine to people as young as age 50. “We’re in a race against the pandemic.”His message was meant for his fellow Israelis, but it is a warning to the world. Israel has among the world’s highest levels of vaccination for COVID-19, with 78% of those 12 and older fully vaccinated, the vast majority with the Pfizer vaccine. Yet the country is now logging one of the world’s highest infection rates, with nearly 650 new cases daily per million people. More than half are in fully vaccinated people, underscoring the extraordinary transmissibility of the Delta variant and stoking concerns that the benefits of vaccination ebb over time.The sheer number of vaccinated Israelis means some breakthrough infections were inevitable, and the unvaccinated are still far more likely to end up in the hospital or die. But Israel’s experience is forcing the booster issue onto the radar for other nations, suggesting as it does that even the best vaccinated countries will face a Delta surge.“This is a very clear warning sign for the rest of world,” says Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer at Clalit Health Services (CHS), Israel’s largest health maintenance organization (HMO). “If it can happen here, it can probably happen everywhere.”Israel is being closely watched now because it was one of the first countries out of the gate with vaccinations in December 2020 and quickly achieved a degree of population coverage that was the envy of other nations— for a time. The nation of 9.3 million also has a robust public health infrastructure and a population wholly enrolled in HMOs that track them closely, allowing it to produce high-quality, real-world data on how well vaccines are working.“I watch [Israeli data] very, very closely because it is some of the absolutely best data coming out anywhere in the world,” says David O’Connor, a viral sequencing expert at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “Israel is the model,” agrees Eric Topol, a physician-scientist at Scripps Research. “It’s pure mRNA [messenger RNA] vaccines. It’s out there early. It’s got a very high level population [uptake]. It’s a working experimental lab for us to learn from.”

A U.K. study finds that Pfizer’s vaccine is less effective against Delta 90 days after full vaccination - Vaccines against COVID-19 are less effective against the delta variant, a large U.K. study showed in results that may fuel a push for booster shots for fully vaccinated people. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s messenger RNA vaccine lost effectiveness in the first 90 days after full vaccination, though that shot and the one made by AstraZeneca Plc still staved off a majority of COVID infections. When vaccinated people did get infected with delta, they had similar levels of virus in their bodies as those who hadn’t had their shots, backing up a recent assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results are likely to fuel calls to give booster shots to the fully vaccinated even as countries around the world still lack enough supply for first immunizations. The U.S. on Wednesday said Americans who got both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Inc. mRNA vaccine will be able to get a third one after eight months. U.K. authorities are still deciding how broadly boosters should be given. In Israel, which started giving third doses of Pfizer-BioNTech this month, initial results show they have been 86% effective for people over the age of 60. The U.K. survey, run by the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics and published Thursday in a preprint, analyzed more than 3 million PCR tests from a random sample of people for a detailed picture of infection patterns as delta became the dominant variant this year.“We’re seeing here the real-world data of how two vaccines are performing, rather than clinical trial data, and the data sets all show how the delta variant has blunted the effectiveness of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs,” said Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading. By roughly four and a half months after the second dose, Pfizer’s shot will probably be about on par with Astra’s at preventing infections with a high viral burden, said Koen Pouwels, an Oxford senior researcher who helped lead the study. There wasn’t a statistically significant difference in the Astra shot’s effectiveness over time. The results cast further doubt on the possibility of achieving herd immunity via vaccination, said Sarah Walker, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford, who helped lead the study. “The hope was that unvaccinated people could be protected by vaccinating lots of people,” Walker said. “The higher levels of virus that we’re seeing in these infections in vaccinated people are consistent with the fact that unvaccinated people are just going to be at higher risk, I’m afraid.”

 Pfizer CEO to Public: Just Trust Us on the Covid Booster --Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was confident in June about the ability of his company’s vaccine to protect against the highly contagious delta variant, as it marched across the globe and filled U.S. hospitals with patients.“I feel quite comfortable that we cover it,” Bourla said.Just weeks later, Pfizer said it would seek authorization for a booster shot, after early trial results showed a third dose potentially increased protection. At the end of July, Pfizer and BioNTech announced findings that four to six months after a second dose, their vaccine’s efficacy dropped to about 84%. Bourla was quick to promote a third dose after the discouraging news, saying he was “very, very confident” that a booster would increase immunity levels in the vaccinated. There’s one hitch: Pfizer has not yet delivered conclusive proof to back up that confidence. The company lacks late-stage clinical trial results to confirm a booster will work against covid variants including delta, which now accounts for 93% of new infections across the U.S.Pfizer announced its global phase 3 trial on a third dose in mid-July. That trial’s completion date is in 2022. Phase 3 results generally are required before regulatory approval.“We are confident in this vaccine and the third dose, but you have to remember the vaccine efficacy study is still going on, so we need all the evidence to back up that,” Jerica Pitts, Pfizer’s director of global media relations, said Monday. The financial stakes are enormous: Pfizer announced in July that it expects $33.5 billion in covid-19 vaccine revenue this year.Meanwhile, Pfizer recently said that if a third dose couldn’t combat the delta or other variants, the drugmaker is poised to come up with a “tailor-made” vaccine within 100 days.All of this has sown a sense of confusion about what exactly will work, and when. The pharmaceutical industry’s rush to recommend boosters for the public is “a little frustrating,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adviser to the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration. Even if a booster is found to be safe, he said, the U.S. effort should focus on “vaccinating people who are unvaccinated.”

Third Pfizer dose 86% effective in over 60s, Israeli HMO says - One of Israel’s top health care providers said Wednesday that initial results of a study have showed that a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, given to Israelis over 60, has been 86% effective. The study compared 149,144 members of Maccabi HealthCare Services who received three doses at least seven days ago with 675,630 members of the same age, gender, socioeconomic status and population group who only received two inoculations in January and February. Some 37 people tested positive for coronavirus after their third jab, compared with 1,064 positive cases among those who had received only two doses, Maccabi said in a statement. The comparison groups had similar demographic profiles, it added.Maccabi did not provide any information on the severity of the 37 positive cases, or whether they had any underlying conditions. The Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Pfizer has said that its vaccine's efficacy drops over time, and that a third dose showed significantly higher neutralising antibodies against the initial SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as against the Beta and highly infectious Delta variants. Israel began administering third Pfizer doses last month to confront a surge in local infections driven by the Delta variant. Some 1.1 million eligible Israelis - people over 50, healthcare workers, and others - have received their third dose. Nonetheless, Israeli health officials worry that cases will continue to mount given that another 1.1 million Israelis - around 11% of the population - remain unvaccinated. Severe cases have also continued to climb, mostly among the unvaccinated. Health ministry data released on Wednesday, based on data per 100,000 people, showed 172 serious cases among unvaccinated people over 60, compared with 21 serious cases among vaccinated individuals in the same age group.

Biden officials say most Americans should get boosters after eight months. -The Biden administration has decided that most Americans should get a booster vaccination eight months after they received their second shot, and could begin offering third shots as early as mid-September, according to administration officials familiar with the discussions. Officials are planning to announce the decision as early as this week. Their goal is to let Americans who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines know now that they will need additional protection against the Delta variant that is causing caseloads to surge across much of the nation. The new policy will depend on the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of additional shots. Officials said that they expect that recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized as a one-dose regimen, will also need an additional dose. But they are waiting for the results of that firm’s two-dose clinical trial, expected later this month. The first boosters are likely to go to nursing home residents, health care workers and emergency workers. They would probably be followed by older people who were near the front of the line when vaccinations began late last year and then by the general population. Officials envision giving people the same vaccine they originally received. The decision comes as the Biden administration is struggling to regain control of a pandemic that it had claimed to have tamed little more than a month ago. Covid-19 patients are again overwhelming hospitals in some states, and federal officials are worried about an increase in the number of children hospitalized just as the school year is set to begin. The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on booster shots until the end of September, saying available doses should be used to help countries that are far behind in vaccinations. But Israel is already offering third shots to those at least 50 years old. France and Germany have said that they plan to offer additional shots to vulnerable segments of their populations next month. Britain has a plan to do so, but is holding off for now.

The F.D.A. is aiming to give full approval to Pfizer’s Covid vaccine on Monday. -The Food and Drug Administration is pushing to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, further expediting an earlier timeline for licensing the shot, according to people familiar with the agency’s planning. Regulators were working to finish the process by Friday but were still working through a substantial amount of paperwork and negotiation with the company. The people familiar with the planning, who were not authorized to speak publicly about it, cautioned that the approval might slide beyond Monday if some components of the review need more time. An F.D.A. spokeswoman declined to comment. The agency had recently set an unofficial deadline for approval of around Labor Day. The approval is expected to pave the way for a series of vaccination requirements by public and private organizations who were awaiting final regulatory action before putting in effect mandates. Federal and state health officials are also hoping that an approved vaccine will draw interest from some Americans who have been hesitant to take one that was only authorized for emergency use, a phenomenon suggested by recent polling. Some universities and hospitals are expected to mandate inoculation once a vaccine is fully approved. The Pentagon this month said it planned to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for the country’s 1.3 million active-duty troops “no later” than the middle of next month, or sooner if the F.D.A. acts earlier. Once it obtains the approval, Pfizer-BioNTech is planning to quickly ask the F.D.A. to approve a third dose as a booster shot. The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that fully vaccinated adults should prepare to get booster shots eight months after they received their second doses, beginning Sept. 20. Pfizer is expected to finish submitting data that it says shows a third shot is safe and effective next week. The F.D.A. last week updated its authorizations of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines to allow third doses for some immunocompromised people, a decision backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Regulators are still reviewing Moderna’s application for full approval for its coronavirus vaccine, and a decision could come at least several weeks after the one for Pfizer-BioNTech. Moderna is planning to submit its data in support of a booster shot in September.

US probing Moderna vaccine after data shows heart condition linked to drug may be more common than previously believed – reports.--New data has prompted US health officials to investigate whether a serious adverse effect associated with Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine may be more widespread than previously thought, according to the Washington Post.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are studying if myocarditis, a disease that causes heart inflammation, is potentially more common among young adults who got the Moderna vaccine than originally estimated, two people familiar with the probe told the Post. The US health authorities are examining data from Canada that suggests the Moderna shot may be more dangerous for young people than the Pfizer variant, particularly among men aged 30 and younger. The figures, provided by the Canadian government, purportedly show that there might be a 2.5-times higher incidence of myocarditis in those who get the Moderna vaccine compared with the Pfizer shot. The FDA and CDC are poring over US data to see if similar conclusions can be made about the vaccine’s effect on young Americans, WaPo said. One source who spoke with the outlet stressed that it was still too early to say if the issue had been understated. The FDA and CDC did not comment on the alleged probe, but both agencies stressed that they were committed to reviewing new safety data as it becomes available. Moderna did not provide the Post with a comment about the purported investigation.In June, the FDA issued new warning labels for both the Pfizer and Moderna mNRA vaccines, stating that they were likely associated with an increased risk of myocarditis. The CDC issued a report a month later stating that although there is an “elevated risk” for myocarditis from the Pfizer and Moderna shots, particularly among males ages 12 to 29, the benefits of vaccination against Covid-19 “clearly outweigh” any potential side effects.

New research finds vaccines losing effectiveness against getting delta variant but protect against more severe effects -Following the White House’s new initiative to roll out booster COVID-19 vaccinations in late September, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a slew of data showcasing the current vaccinations’ efficacy in preventing severe illness. This clinical data is likely one of the factors that informed the decision of White House COVID-19 advisors in recommending booster shots. Notably, the third vaccinations are intended for people who have already been fully vaccinated with a two-series shot from Pfizer or Moderna. One study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at vaccine effectiveness over the course of May 3 to July 25 in New York adults. It found a depletion in overall vaccine effectiveness from 91.7 percent on average to 79.8 percent among all adults surveyed. The data was sourced from four state databases that stored vaccination information as well as positive and negative COVID-19 test results. Researchers examined new cases and hospitalizations among vaccinated individuals to gauge the quantity of breakthrough infections and their severity. Ultimately, the study suggested that vaccinated individuals remained out of the hospital more frequently than unvaccinated people, even as the contagious and potent delta variant was circulating. Rates of new infections did occur, however, which revealed a reduced level of efficacy from the vaccines. “To reduce new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, these findings support the implementation of a layered approach centered on vaccination, as well as other prevention strategies,” the report concludes. A layered vaccination approach would call for booster shots to help regenerate strong immunity levels seen from the first round of vaccinations.

COVID vaccines are less effective against the Delta variant after 90 days, a new study finds - The Pfizer and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines are less effective against the Delta variant three months after inoculation, a major new UK study has found.After 90 days of two doses of the vaccines, the efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech slipped to 75 per cent from 93 per cent two weeks after being jabbed.Oxford/AstraZeneca’s efficiency dropped to 61 per cent after three months from 71 per cent two weeks after the second dose.The drop in effectiveness was also more visible for those aged 35 years and above.But the study highlighted both vaccines still staved off the majority of COVID variants."With Delta, Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines still offer good protection against new infections," the study said."Both of these vaccines, at two doses, are still doing really well against Delta... When you start very, very high, you’ve got a long way to go," said Sarah Walker, an Oxford professor of medical statistics and chief investigator for the survey.The study was produced by the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics.It analysed the periods before and after the Delta variant became prevalent. Between December 2020 and May 2021, it analysed more than 2.5 million swabs from 380,000 adults. Between May 17 and August 1, it analysed the test results of 360,000 people.Neither vaccine was found to be as effective against the Alpha variant, which was first identified in the UK in September 2020.Researchers also said there was insufficient data for Moderna, but said: "A single dose of the Moderna vaccine has similar or greater effectiveness against the Delta variant as single doses of the other vaccines". The researchers would not project how much more the protection would drop over time.

“Are vaccines becoming less effective at preventing Covid infection?” - -Yves Smith - The headline above is from a Financial Times story, based on a spate of recent research showing waning efficacy of the Covid 19 vaccines, particularly Pfizer, from a variety of sources: data from Israel, which injected most of its population early, in January and February, with the Pfizer vaccine; a Mayo study, which showed falling efficacy for all vaccines, particularly Pfizer, which it found at 42% (Moderna holds by contrast at 76% over the same time period), a new Oxford report, and a study from Qatar.The MSM finally starting to acknowledge that the vaccines are not all that they were cracked up to be came about largely due to foreign sources (doing a better job of tracking Covid cases than the US, a very low bar to beat) and one large US institution beyond reproach posting what has largely been missing from the CDC: actual pretty to very reliable findings. The fault isn’t simply that of the fragmented US public health care system. The CDC has not gone on the road to try to help/prod state public health officials. It hasn’t staffed up to fix VAERS. And the CDC has gone to some lengths to corrupt fact-gathering, most notably by saying it would not track breakthrough cases among the vaccinated as part of its May “Mission accomplished” chest thumping. And the CDC has engaged in dishonest PR by telling Americans that the vaccines would prevent Covid infection.Mind you, in polarized, attention-deficit-disorder afflicted America, not being all in with vaccine cheerleading is a dangerous editorial position. Merely pointing out that the vaccines were overhyped was seen as being against them. So we’ve had to be more careful than we’d like in providing what we thought were early and important indicators that things were not well in vaccine-land. One was the number of breakthrough cases that IM Doc and his MD professional network (large by virtue of their participation in regular Grand Rounds and other sessions) when conventional wisdom was that that was impossible. And as time went on, IM Doc was seeing the breakthrough cases presenting as sicker and was also seeing and getting reports of breakthrough cases winding up in the hospital. From a mid-July e-mail: To put it mildly, they are seeing a huge increase in hospitalizations in the Dallas area this week….A nurse XXX Hospital – deep in the heart of Dallas’ African American community – reported to me today that the hospital was full – certainly not with just Covid but there were many many COVID patients – starting to show up in just the past week or so – and she would guess 40-50% are vaccinated. She works on the COVID unit. She also reported to me that multiple nurses (as in critical numbers for staffing levels) have just up and quit this week – confirming my worst fears of the potential with our entire system. I fear that the front line nurses can see the approaching flood more clearly than anyone. They are paying her to work extra shifts up to 120 dollars an hour…. There are now press reports in Dallas stating that every admitted patient is unvaccinated. Who am I going to believe – my trusted colleagues who have just stated to me otherwise tonight? Or the media which has lied again and again and again? It really is a bad feeling as an American to be living under Pravda. The next day, in a different hospital, when confronted with showing confirmed Covid cases in the area running nearly 57% vaccinated, one doctor went into meltdown, saying something pretty close to: Within a month, he and 6 family members, all fully vaccinated, came down with Covid. Along with IM Doc’s on the ground sightings, GM was relentlessly watching data. He had predicted in April, which was confirmed by Moderna data in May, “So basically protection against those two variants {P.1 and B.1.351] is gone after 6-8 months if you have been vaccinated against the original strain.”. And they have proven to be more vaccine-tractable than Delta.

Why the delta variant is both more potent and more contagious - The delta variant, first detected in a domestic patient on April 20, is now the main COVID-19 variant in many parts of Japan. Classified as one of four variants of concern by the World Health Organization, the delta variant has quickly outpaced other strains in Japan and is now estimated to account for 95% of all cases in Tokyo, the government’s advisory panel said this week. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes it is as transmissible as chickenpox and about twice as contagious as the previous variants. Initially, experts didn’t believe that fully vaccinated individuals who contracted the virus could spread it to other people, but the CDC no longer believes that is the case when it comes to delta as the variant appears to produce the same high amount of the virus in both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people. Fully vaccinated people, however, are likely to be infectious for a shorter period of time, the CDC says, as the amount of virus drops more quickly in breakthrough infections than infections in unvaccinated people. SARS-CoV-2, the formal name of the virus that causes COVID-19, is composed of a chain of around 1,200 amino acids and has a spike protein that the coronavirus uses to infect human cells. It also mutates every few weeks. Many variants tend to have mutations around the middle of the amino acid sequence, and the delta variant, which has a genetic change in the 452nd amino acid, is no exception. But mutations can occur in multiple areas of the virus, such as in delta plus, a subvariant of delta, which has additional mutations but is not necessarily more dangerous. COVID-19 vaccines effectively provide a lid for the spike protein to prevent the virus from binding to the receptor and enter respiratory and digestive cells, explained Akira Nishizono, a professor of microbiology at Oita University’s Faculty of Medicine. But even a slight change to the surface structure of the spike protein, as seen in new variants, may weaken the defense of the immune system triggered by the vaccine by causing it to fail to recognize the spike protein and produce antibodies against it. This results in increased contagiousness among vaccinated individuals compared to the original strain, he added. Some scientists describe the delta variant as significantly more “sticky” than other variants in that it doesn’t let go easily once it gets hold of the target cells. Studies from Canada and Scotland have shown that patients infected with the delta variant are more likely to be hospitalized than those infected with alpha or the original strain.

Will COVID vaccine work? Not just delta: Variants list getting longer - Haaretz.com - Besides delta, at least five other COVID variants are being followed closely by scientists in Israel and around the world, who say AY3 could be a game changer

 Early COVID-19 vaccine campaign in US prevented 140,000 deaths --The early COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the U.S. prevented nearly 140,000 deaths and 3 million cases of COVID-19 by the second week of May, according to a new study. As a result of early vaccination efforts, the average state experienced five fewer deaths from COVID-19 per 10,000 adult residents. The study estimates the number of lives saved during the first five months of the vaccination campaign in each of the 50 states and Washington, DC. Adjusting for population size, New York saw the largest estimated reduction, with 11.7 fewer COVID-19 deaths per 10,000 adult residents. Hawaii observed the smallest reduction, with 1.1 fewer COVID-19 deaths per 10,000 adult residents. The study, published online by the journal Health Affairs, is one of the first to provide an assessment of the impacts of state-level vaccination campaigns to address the COVID-19 pandemic. “This study brings into focus the dramatic success of the early months of the nation’s coronavirus vaccine rollout,” said Christopher Whaley, senior author of the study and a policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “The findings provide support for policies that further expand vaccine administration to enable a larger proportion of the nation’s population to benefit.”

 Vaccines’ protection against virus infection is waning, C.D.C. studies suggest. -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released three studies on Wednesday that federal officials said provided evidence that booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines would be needed in the coming months.But some experts said the new research did not back up the decision to recommend booster shots for all Americans.Taken together, the studies show that although the vaccines remain highly effective against hospitalizations and deaths, the bulwark they provide against infection with the virus has weakened in the past few months. The finding accords with early data from seven states, gathered this week by The New York Times, suggesting a rise in breakthrough infections and a smaller increase in hospitalizations among the vaccinated as the Delta variant spread in July.The decline in effectiveness against infection may result from waning vaccine immunity, a lapse in precautions like wearing masks or the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant, experts said — or a combination of all three.“We are concerned that this pattern of decline we are seeing will continue in the months ahead, which could lead to reduced protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, said at a White House news briefing on Wednesday.Citing the data, federal health officials outlined a plan for Americans who received the two vaccines to get booster shots eight months after receiving their second doses, starting Sept. 20. People who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may also require additional doses. But that vaccine was not rolled out until March 2021, and a plan to provide boosters will be made after reviewing new data expected over the next few weeks, officials said.

Hospitalized kids with COVID-19 just hit record high: US Dept. of Health - There are some 1,900 children in the United States hospitalized with COVID-19, according to updated data logged Monday by the US Department of Health and Human Services — setting a new pandemic record for kids.That figure represented about 2.4% of the nation’s total coronavirus hospitalizations as of Saturday, according to a Reuters report.The spike is leading in states with notable outbreaks, including Texas, Florida, California, Ohio and Georgia — densely populated states where full vaccination rates are below 55%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which hopes to eventually see a minimum of 70% of the country inoculated. For now, kids under age 12 have not been permitted to receive any of the available COVID-19 vaccines. While many school districts have made a call to require both students and faculty to wear masks on campus, some state governments have attempted to prohibit such mandates, namelyFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who threatened to withhold education funding for districts found in violation, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sued Dallas County over its mask requirement.Those calls were made despite the CDC’s most recent guidelinesurging masks indoors, including K-12 schools. “Children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with proper prevention strategies,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky at the time.

Hospitalizations of Americans under 50 have reached new pandemic highs - A lagging vaccination campaign and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant are driving a surge in Covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States.Among Americans under age 50, average daily hospital admissions have hit a pandemic high, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“We’re seeing a lot of people get seriously ill,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Biden administration’s lead adviser on the pandemic, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The hospitalizations are on the brink of actually overrunning the hospitals, particularly intensive care units.”The trend is particularly notable among children and younger adults. From Aug. 5 to Aug. 11, 263 children were admitted to hospitals every day, on average, compared with 217 in early January, the last peak. Average daily admissions also rose to a record among 18- to 49-year-olds, according to the C.D.C. Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon has called in at least 500 National Guard troops to help hospitals cope with a flood of coronavirus patients as the state faces its largest wave of infections in the pandemic.

Babies and toddlers spread the virus in homes more easily than teenagers, a study finds. - Babies and toddlers are less likely to bring the coronavirus into their homes than teenagers are, but once they are infected, they are more likely to spread the virus to others in their households,according to a large new study by a Canadian public health agency. The findings can be explained, at least in part, by behavioral factors, experts said, including the fact that very young children require lots of hands-on care and cannot be isolated when they are sick.The study, which was published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, does not resolve the debate over whether infected children are as contagious as adults, and it does not suggest that toddlers are driving the pandemic. But it demonstrates that even very young children can still play a role. “This study showed that even the youngest of children readily transmit the virus,” said Zoe Hyde, an epidemiologist at the University of Western Australia, who was not involved in the research. She added: “The key takeaway for me is that it clearly shows that there’s transmission from children occurring in the household. This means we urgently need to think about how we’re going to protect schools when they reopen shortly.” During the early months of the pandemic, some scientists suggested that young children, in particular, rarely got infected with or transmitted the virus. But those observations may have been distorted by the fact that most children had few social encounters during that time. “I think they were biased by the fact that children were sequestered at home,” “They were recommended not even to play with neighbors, they didn’t go to school, they didn’t go to day care.”

Covid-19: Children born during the pandemic score lower on cognitive tests, study finds - BMJ -Children born during the pandemic score markedly lower on standard measures of verbal, motor, and overall cognitive ability, US researchers have found.In a longitudinal study of 672 children from Rhode Island that has run since 2011, those born after the pandemic began showed results on the Mullen scales of early learning that corresponded to an average IQ score of 78, a drop of 22 points from the average of previous cohorts.The study, which was funded by the US National Institutes of Health is awaiting peer review before publication inJAMA Pediatrics. But a preprint copy is available online.1The researchers have largely ruled out a direct effect of the virus, as mothers or children with a history of testing positive for covid-19 were excluded from the analysis. Instead, the authors say, reduced interaction with parents and less outdoor exercise are likely culprits, along with effects that occurred during pregnancy.Other research has hinted at behavioural effects in children born during the pandemic, including a recent study from Italy.2Children born in 2019 did not experience a decline in development scores during the pandemic. “Their trajectories of maturation were unaltered,” said lead author of the longitudinal study and paediatrician Sean Deoni of Brown University. “They seemed to be doing alright. It’s really affecting those born during the pandemic, whether through transference from their mother, what she’s experiencing during late term pregnancy, or during those crucial earliest months after birth.”Scores among children born during the pandemic began to decline in 2020 in an early learning composite that measured fine and gross motor control, visual reception, and expressive and receptive language. But it was in 2021 that the developmental deficit became significant (P<0.001). The effect was larger in boys than in girls.

AstraZeneca antibody cocktail 77 percent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 among the high-risk - AstraZeneca scored a win on Friday as data showed its antibody cocktail is 77 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in high-risk populations. The research found no one who took AstraZeneca’s combination, called AZD7442, developed severe COVID-19 or died due to the virus. In comparison, three participants who received the placebo endured serious illness, with two fatalities. AstraZencea called the treatment, involving the antibodies ixagevimab and cilgavimab, the first “long-acting antibody combination to prevent COVID-19” in a release. Overall, 25 positive coronavirus infections were confirmed in the Provent study involving more than 5,100 patients across sites in the ​​U.S., U.K., Belgium, France and Spain. The participants were unvaccinated at the time and had a negative test. The study is expected to be sent to a peer-reviewed medical journal to be published as well as to regulators for an emergency use authorization or conditional approval. Drug manufacturers have been testing different antibody treatments for COVID-19 to provide a way to help those who may not have adequate vaccine protection, including cancer patients, fight the virus. “With these exciting results, AZD7442 could be an important tool in our arsenal to help people who may need more than a vaccine to return to their normal lives,” Myron Levin, principal investigator in the study, said in a statement. The results follow a less successful trial: AstraZeneca announced in June that AZD7442 did not prevent symptomatic COVID-19 in recently exposed people. That study determined that those with the antibody cocktail were just 33 percent less at risk of developing symptoms. But the treatment decreased the risk of symptoms by 73 percent among those who tested negative for COVID-19 at the start of the trial. The U.S. has ordered 700,000 doses of AZD7442 in a deal that was potentially in jeopardy due to the results of the June study.

NIH study shows no significant benefit of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 outpatients with early symptoms - NIH --The final results of the Clinical Trial of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma in Outpatients (C3PO) demonstrate that COVID-19 convalescent plasma did not prevent disease progression in a high-risk group of outpatients with COVID-19, when administered within the first week of their symptoms. The trial was stopped in February 2021 due to lack of efficacy based on a planned interim analysis. The formal conclusions from the trial, which was funded primarily by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appear in the current online issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.“We were hoping that the use of COVID-19 convalescent plasma would achieve at least a 10% reduction in disease progression in this group, but instead the reduction we observed was less than 2%,” said Clifton Callaway, M.D., Ph.D., the contact principal investigator for the C3PO trial and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. “That was surprising to us. As physicians, we wanted this to make a big difference in reducing severe illness and it did not.”COVID-19 convalescent plasma, also known as “survivor’s plasma,” is blood plasma derived from patients who have recovered from COVID-19. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization to allow use of convalescent plasma in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Researchers wanted to know whether administering COVID-19 convalescent plasma might also be beneficial in persons who were recently infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, but who were not severely ill and could be treated as outpatients. The objective was to prevent progression to severe COVID-19 illness. “The results show that convalescent plasma does not appear to benefit this particular group,” The reason the intervention did not produce the expected results is unclear, Callaway said. Researchers are continuing to look at possible explanations, including insufficient plasma dose, timing of plasma administration, host-related factors, or other aspects of the host tissue responses to the infection, he added.

How does COVID-19 affect the brain? A troubling picture emerges. Hannah Davis contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, the early days of the pandemic. At the time, the New Yorker was a healthy, 32-year-old freelance data scientist and artist. But unlike many people who come down with the disease, Davis’s first sign of infection wasn’t a dry cough or fever. Her first symptom was that she couldn’t read a text message from a friend. She thought she was just tired, but the fuzziness she felt didn’t go away after a full night’s sleep.More neurological issues followed. She developed sudden and severe headaches. Her attention span suffered. She couldn’t watch TV or play video games. She had trouble concentrating on everyday tasks like cooking. She’d leave a pot on the stove and forget about it until she smelled food burning. She failed to look both ways while crossing the street, narrowly missing traffic. She’d never had any of these issues before COVID-19.Davis is among a large portion of COVID-19 patients—possibly as high as 30 percent, according an estimate from the National Institutes of Health—who suffer some type of neurological or psychiatric symptoms. Even more troubling is that for many of these individuals, like Davis, these cognitive issues can linger for weeks or months after the initial infection.Last year, dozens of hospitals and healthcare systems across the country opened post-COVID clinics to help patients who had been admitted to intensive care units with severe COVID-19. But as the pandemic has dragged on, those clinics have filled with people who were never hospitalized but suffer lingering symptoms, including brain fog and other cognitive issues.“The expectation was that all these people in the ICU were going to have really long protracted recovery periods,” says Walter Koroshetz, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health. “The big surprise was the people who never required hospitalization that are having persistent trouble.” Koroshetz isco-leading a study at NIH to understand why some COVID-19 patients recover faster than others and to learn the biological reasons why others don’t get well even months later. A picture is starting to emerge of how COVID-19 causes these cognitive issues. What’s less clear is how many people will eventually recover and how many will be left with devastating long-term effects. A year and a half later, Davis can only work a few hours a day because of lingering brain fog, short-term memory loss, and other cognitive issues. She’s seen a dozen or so medical specialists and has been diagnosed with post-viral dysautonomia, a nervous system disorder that causes dizziness, rapid heartbeat, and fast breathing when rising from sitting or lying down. It’s sometimes treated with fludrocortisone, a corticosteroid, or midodrine, a blood pressure drug. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” Davis says. “Your body just it feels like it's breaking down. You lose your sense of self.”

Wildfire Smoke Exposure Linked to Increased COVID Deaths -- Smoke from wildfires can make people more susceptible to catching COVID – and dying from it. Over 700 more people died and nearly 20,000 more were infected with the virus than would have been expected if they had not been exposed to air polluted with particulate matter from fires that burned during last summer's record-breaking fire season, a new study from Harvard and published in the journal Scientific Advances on Friday found.Health experts have suspected since the early days of the pandemic that a link existed between air pollutionand the likelihood of catching the disease and experiencing a more severe infection, because small particulate matter known as PM 2.5 in smoke can impair the ability of white blood cells in the lungs to combat respiratory infections. Historically, this has led to higher rates of health problems such as asthma for people – more likely people of color and low income – who live near polluting facilities. "We were not terribly surprised by the results as scientists," co-author Kevin Josey told Gizmodo, "but as humans we are dismayed about the impacts."As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle:While a correlation between wildfire smoke and COVID-19 doesn't prove causation, the study's authors say the tie is no coincidence. Plenty of research since the start of the pandemic has suggested that exposure to smoke's primary unhealthy component PM 2.5, which refers to particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers in size or smaller, compromises people's immunity and increases susceptibility to COVID-19. Scientists also hypothesize that the virus may be spread by the particles.The new findings come as the delta variant fuels yet another surge of coronavirus infections across the country while fire season is again in high gear in the West. Parts of California are already blanketed in smoke, with bad air recently reported as far away as New York and North Carolina."It's a horrible combination," said Francesca Dominici, one of the authors of the study and a biostatistician at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "Together, the wildfires and COVID-19 make us even sicker."

First cases of COVID Lambda variant reported in north Louisiana -- The new COVID Lambda variant has been detected in Louisiana, doctors told WBRZ Thursday. It was first reported in the U.S. in Houston and health care officials believe since Texas and Louisiana share a border, the virus variant was easily spread. "I do know that with the proximity with Texas, there have been a few cases detected in North Louisiana with the Lamda variant. But we don't know whether this is going to be a more aggressive or less aggressive virus," Dr. Aldo Russo, the medical director at Ochsner said. Dr. Russo said the Lambda variant has not been detected in the capital region yet, but health care professionals are testing for it. "We are monitoring this very closely. Our teams are sequencing the different variants," Dr. Russo said. The Lambda variant was first reported in Peru in December and has become the dominant strain of the virus there. It's concerning for the country because the vaccine used in Peru is not effective against this new variant. "They have stated that there may be some resistance to the vaccine, but that it was a different vaccine that they were using. They were using the Chinese vaccine," Dr. Russo said. It's unknown how well the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will help control this new variant.

Coronavirus Test Positivity Rate Rises Above 15% In US -- Coronavirus test positivity rate continues to rise in an alarming rate in the United States. The latest positivity rate of 15.2 percent is five times higher than the number of people tested positive for the disease a month ago. Coronavirus testing has increased by about 50 percent nationwide over the last two weeks, according to data analyzed by the New York Times. The highest daily COVID death toll in 75 days was reported on Tuesday. With 819 deaths, the highest since May 27, the total number of casualties recorded in the country has risen to 618,137, as per the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. There is 102 percent increase in weekly average of the casualties. From an average of 22000-plus cases reported on July 9, the seven day average has surged by five times to 118067. Florida reported the most number of cases - 56610 - and most COVID-related deaths - 233. California is the worst affected state in terms of both the COVID metrics.

Coronavirus dashboard for August 16: some (relatively) “good” news, some bad news - Recently I’ve speculated in a few places that Delta may be acting as a backfire-type firebreak against Lamdba, which has been getting a lot of press as potentially evading vaccines. Confirmation that this may in fact be the case comes from Dr. Eric Topol who writes: The Lambda variant is going out like a lamb. (from the hard to find pandemic good news list) https://outbreak.info/situation-reports?pango=C.37 … It can't compete with Delta. and here is the graph (C.37 is Lambda): Delta appears to be so infectious that it is preventing Lambda from getting a foothold anywhere beyond the west coast of South America. Elsewhere in the (relatively) “good” news front, there is further confirmation that the Delta wave appears to be peaking or maybe even past peak in the earliest States that it hit: Cases in California also appear to have plateaued, and even Texas has shown at least marked deceleration: Meanwhile, deaths in the UK’s Delta wave also appear to have plateaued, as have new cases since its “Freedom Day” living all restrictions one month ago: But in the “continued bad news” department, deaths in the US have continued to climb, and can be expected to continue to climb for at least the next 2.5 weeks: And even in the most vaccinated States of New England and New York, the case count continues to climb: In only 3 States - CT, MA, and VT - has over 60% of the total population been fully vaccinated. It appears that even this level of vaccination has not prevented a Delta wave. And there is no guarantee, especially as colder weather arrives in the north in the next 75 days, that a really bad situation, such as we have among the Gulf Coast States now, can’t happen.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tests Positive For The Coronavirus -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been fully vaccinated, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced Tuesday. Abbott has opposed mask mandates, and his orders have drawn legal challenges.The Republican governor is experiencing no symptoms and "has been testing daily, and today was the first positive test result," his office said.Abbott "will isolate in the Governor's Mansion and continue to test daily. Governor Abbott is receiving Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment," the statement said.Texas first lady Cecilia Abbott tested negative.With more than 16,000 new daily cases, Texas is one of the states with the highest risk of COVID-19. Last week, Abbott directed state officials to use staffing agencies to find additional medical personnel from outside Texas as the state's resources became overwhelmed. He also asked hospitals to postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, a Covid-19 vaccination critic, is hospitalized and on a ventilator - CNN - Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke has been hospitalized with Covid-19 and placed on a ventilator, according to a tweet over the weekend from his official account.In an tweet on August 10, Burke, a Covid-19 vaccination critic, announced he had tested positive for coronavirus, and said, "Thanks be to God, I am resting comfortably and receiving excellent medical care." It is unclear whether Cardinal Burke, who is in his early 70s, has been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Cardinal who criticized vaccine now on ventilator after positive COVID-19 test - A cardinal who has criticized the COVID-19 vaccine is now on a ventilator after testing positive for the coronavirus, multiple news outlets reported. Cardinal Raymond Burke’s team tweeted on Saturday that he "has been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and is being assisted by a ventilator. Doctors are encouraged by his progress."Burke, who lives in Rome, tweeted a few days earlier that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19. He was on a trip to Wisconsin when he contracted the virus, The Washington Post reported. Burke has been vocal about his skepticism of the vaccine, verging at times into misinformation by saying some people believe there should be a “microchip ... placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment he or she can be controlled by the state regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine,” the Post reported.The Vatican said in December that taking the COVID-19 vaccine is “morally acceptable,” even if the development of the vaccine involved the use of cell lines from aborted fetuses during the research phase. Burke, 73, is known for expressing his conservative beliefs. In 2004, he refused to give communion to then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) because of Kerry's support for abortion rights, and he criticized Notre Dame University for giving former President Obama an honorary degree, arguing that Catholics who voted for Obama were collaborating with evil, according to the Post.

August 17th COVID-19: Wave Still Increasing --New data from Israel: A grim warning from Israel: Vaccination blunts, but does not defeat Delta (get vaccinated and mask up!)The 7-day average cases is the highest since February 5th.The 7-day average hospitalizations is the highest since February 11th.The 7-day average deaths is the highest since May 14th.This data is from the CDC.According to the CDC, on Vaccinations.Total doses administered: 357,894,995, as of a week ago 352,550,944. Average doses last week: 0.76 million per day.C1 Minimum to achieve "herd immunity" (estimated between 70% and 85%). 2my goals to stop daily posts,37 day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths Increasing 7 day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and DeathsT: For "herd immunity" most experts believe we need 70% to 85% of the total population fully vaccinated (or already had COVID). KUDOS to the residents of the 6 states that have achieved 60% of total population fully vaccinated: Vermont at 67.1%, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maryland.The following 19 states have between 50% and 59.9% fully vaccinated: New Jersey at 59.9%, New Hampshire, Washington, New York State, New Mexico, Oregon, District of Columbia, Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Hawaii, California, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nebraska, Florida and Iowa all at 50.6%.Next up (total population, fully vaccinated according to CDC) are Illinois at 49.9%, Michigan at 49.6%, South Dakota at 48.0, Ohio at 47.4%, Kentucky at 46.9%, Arizona at 46.6%, Kansas at 46.6%, Alaska at 46.3%, Nevada at 46.0% and Utah at 45.8%. This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported. This data is from the CDC.

 Delta variant fuels rapid surge of COVID-19 cases across southern US - The rapid spread of the coronavirus across the southern US has caused growing concern among public health experts. During a press briefing last Thursday, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients noted that Texas and Florida accounted for nearly 40 percent of new COVID-related hospitalizations in the US over the past week. In Texas, cases and hospitalizations are reaching heights not seen since February. According to the Texas Tribune, hospitalizations in the state have skyrocketed by 400 percent within the last month. The increase in cases has been fueled by the criminal policies spearheaded by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who recently declared Texas is “past the time of government mandates.” “Going forward, in Texas, there will not be any government-imposed shutdowns or mask mandates,” Abbott said. “Everyone already knows what to do.” After lifting statewide mask mandates earlier this year, Abbott claimed personal responsibility and vaccinations would sufficiently contain the pandemic. However, the numbers are so staggering that the state health department was forced to admit in a tweet Wednesday that Texas is “facing a new wave” and the variant “has erased much progress to end the pandemic.” Abbott himself was reported Tuesday to have contracted coronavirus, in a breakthrough infection, since he has been vaccinated. At his age, 63, and physical condition—he has been paralyzed from the waist down since 1984, due to an accident—the governor would be considered at higher risk from the virus. Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have focused on blocking local masking mandates and eviscerating public health and safety measures. On Sunday, the Texas Supreme Court sided with Abbott and reversed a ruling that prevented him from enforcing a ban on local mask mandates in workplaces and schools. Texas’ vaccination rate has consistently lagged behind other states. Its 44 percent full vaccination rate as of Tuesday ranks 36th nationally. The state’s positivity rate—the percent of virus tests coming back positive—was 17.7 percent on Tuesday, well above the 10 percent threshold that Abbott has previously identified as a danger zone. Furthermore, several of the state’s hospital regions have seen the percentage of COVID patients in their care rise about 15 percent. Texas now has 11,552 people being treated in hospitals for COVID-19, according to the latest data provided by the state health department. The number of available ICU beds across the entire state has dwindled to 322, with some regions having none at all. According to state officials, 12 of 22 hospital regions in the state have 10 or fewer available ICU beds.

Early data hint at a rise in breakthrough infections in the U.S. - Since Americans first began rolling up their sleeves for coronavirus vaccines, health officials have said that those who are immunized are very unlikely to become infected, or to suffer serious illness or death. But preliminary data from seven states hints that the arrival of the Delta variant in July may have altered the calculus.Breakthrough infections in vaccinated people accounted for at least one in five newly diagnosed cases in six of those states and higher percentages of total hospitalizations and deaths than had been previously observed in all of them, according to figures gathered by The New York Times.The absolute numbers remain very low, however, and there is little doubt that the vaccines remain powerfully protective. This continues to be “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” as federal health officials have often said.Still, the trend marks a change in how vaccinated Americans might regard their risks.“Remember when the early vaccine studies came out, it was like nobody gets hospitalized, nobody dies,” said Dr. Robert Wachter, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “That clearly is not true.”The figures lend support to the view, widely held by officials in the Biden administration, that some Americans may benefit from booster shots in the coming months. Federal officials plan to authorize additional shots as early as mid-September, although it is not clear who will receive them.“If the chances of a breakthrough infection have gone up considerably, and I think the evidence is clear that they have, and the level of protection against severe illness is no longer as robust as it was, I think the case for boosters goes up pretty quickly,” Dr. Wachter said. The seven states — California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Virginia — were examined because they are keeping the most detailed data. It is not certain that the trends in those states hold throughout the United States.

Alabama has no more I.C.U. beds available, the state authorities said. - There wasn’t a single I.C.U. bed available in Alabama on Wednesday, a possible sign of what other states may confront soon amid a deadly surge of new infections in parts of the United States with low vaccination rates.I.C.U. beds, where hospitals’ critically ill patients are treated, are filling up across Southern states, and Alabama is one of the first to run out. The Alabama Hospital Association said on Wednesday night that there were “negative 29” I.C.U. beds available in the state, meaning there were more than two dozen people being forced to wait in emergency rooms for an open I.C.U. bed.The situation has grown desperate in Alabama, one of several states reporting a wave of cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant and low vaccination rates.In the week ending Aug. 12, one in five American I.C.U.s had reached or exceeded 95 percent of beds full. The crisis is concentrated in the South, with small pockets of high occupancy elsewhere in the country. The national average I.C.U. occupancy in 2010 was 67 percent, according to the Society of Critical Care Medicine, though the occupancy baseline changes depending on the place, time of year and size of hospital.During other surges across the country, hospitals have been forced to improvise, expanding capacity by creating new I.C.U.s in areas normally used for other purposes, like cardiac or neurological care, and even hallways or spare rooms. Experts say maintaining existing standards of care for the sickest patients may be difficult or impossible at hospitals with more than 95 percent I.C.U. occupancy.Alabama has never before faced this sort of I.C.U. crisis during the pandemic, the state health officer, Dr. Scott Harris, said on Wednesday in a television interview with WSFA12 News. Such patients are still being treated elsewhere in hospitals, including in “perhaps a regular room on a floor that’s been converted into an I.C.U.,” he said.But the strain on hospitals threatens to overwhelm staff already stretched thin and endanger the quality of care for non-Covid patients, he said. “In most parts of the state, the average person who has a heart attack today or is involved in a serious automobile accident, it’s going to be difficult,” Dr. Harris said. “The hospitals are going to have to be real creative in finding a place to be able to care for that patient.”

American Hospitals Buckle Under Delta, With I.C.U.s Filling Up - - The summer surge in coronavirus cases in the United States, led by the domination of the more contagious Delta variant, is well into its second month, and the number of those hospitalized with Covid-19 has reached heights last seen during the overwhelming winter wave.The number of those patients who are critically ill, requiring treatment in an intensive care unit, has risen, too. Data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that the number of hospitals with very full I.C.U.s doubled in recent weeks. Now, one in five I.C.U.s have reached or exceeded 95 percentof beds occupied, a level experts say makes it difficult or impossible for health professionals to maintain standards of care for the very sick. In many states, hospital workers are seeing admission numbers that resemble what they saw at the height of the pandemic over the winter. Some are struggling to find enough beds, while others have employees working overtime and are relying on contract nurses and emergency medical technicians. Outside some hospitals, officials are erecting large tents to house everyone.Typically, coronavirus patients are admitted to a hospital when their condition affects their ability to breathe, according to Dr. De La Zerda. But if a patient’s breathing deteriorates enough or their blood pressure falls too low, they are taken to the I.C.U.“Some of them are so sick that they are immediately taken there,” he said. “And it’s usually around the second day of admission that they either get better or they get worse, but it all depends.”The national average I.C.U. occupancy in 2010 was 67 percent, according to the Society of Critical Care Medicine, though the occupancy baseline changes depending on the place, time of year and size of hospital.The number of people hospitalized nationally has already surpassed the level seen during last summer’s surge, and it is still climbing. In some states, particularly in the South, the hospitalization rate is approaching, or has already reached, an all-time high. Seven states — Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon and Washington — have hospitalization levels exceeding their most recent winter and summer peaks. There are few signs that the rise in hospitalizations is slowing nationally, although in Missouri and Nevada, where hospitalizations started rising earlier in the summer, the increase may be slowing.

August 18th COVID-19: Average Daily Deaths have Tripled Since Low in July - On daily deaths: Just over a month ago, the 7-day average for daily COVID deaths was around 180. Since then, the 7-day average of daily deaths has tripled, and since deaths lag hospitalizations, it seems likely daily deaths will double again. Be careful!

• The 7-day average cases is the highest since February 2nd.
• The 7-day average hospitalizations is the highest since February 10th.
• The 7-day average deaths is the highest since May 13th.
• This data is from the CDC.

According to the CDC, on Vaccinations. Total doses administered: 358,599,835, as of a week ago 353,205,544. Average doses last week: 0.77 million per day.(see table) 1 Minimum to achieve "herd immunity" (estimated between 70% and 85%). 2my goals to stop daily posts, 37 day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths Increasing 7 day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths Goal met. : For "herd immunity" most experts believe we need 70% to 85% of the total population fully vaccinated (or already had COVID). Residents of the 6 states have achieved 60% of total population fully vaccinated: Vermont at 67.1%, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maryland. The following 18 states and D.C. have between 50% and 59.9% fully vaccinated: New Jersey at 59.9%, New Hampshire, Washington, New York State, New Mexico, Oregon, District of Columbia, Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois at 50.0%.Next up (total population, fully vaccinated according to CDC) are Michigan at 49.7%, South Dakota at 48.1, Ohio at 47.5%, Kentucky at 47.0%, Kansas at 46.7%, Arizona at 46.6%, Alaska at 46.4%, Utah at 46.2%, and Nevada at 46.1%.This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Vermont sees the biggest surge in COVID-19 cases despite having the country's highest vaccination rate - Vermont has the highest vaccination rate in the country and is outpacing the national vaccination rate, even as COVID-19 cases have spiked in the state in recent weeks.The surge in cases comes as the Delta variant continues to spread among the unvaccinated. Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said the Delta variant was found in an estimated 90% of recent COVID samples tested in the state. To continue to boost vaccinations, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday that the state will mandate COVID vaccines for some state employees in veterans’ homes, correctional facilities, and psychiatric hospitals.Gov. Scott said he expects COVID cases to rise over the coming weeks. In a tweet, the governor urged eligible residents to get vaccinated, saying that the Delta variant will spread in the 85,000 eligible but unvaccinated residents of Vermont.

South Dakota sees the country's largest two-week COVID surge -South Dakota experienced a large spike in COVID-19 cases recently after the state’s governor, Kristi Noem, a Republican, said at the end of Julyshe will not be ratcheting up efforts to encourage people to get the COVID vaccine. The state has fully vaccinated 41% of its population as of publication, according to New York Times data.At last week’s 81st annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Gov. Noem reiterated that she will avoid mandates, including masks or vaccines. Noem said she prefers to give her constituents the information they need to make informed personal decisions. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was criticized by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who worried it could become a superspreader event,as it had been in 2020.“There comes a time when you’re dealing with a public health crisis that could involve you, your family, and everyone else that something supersedes that need to do exactly what you want to do,” Fauci said onMeet the Press.In a tweet about the motorcycle rally, Noem said she has “chosen to let people take personal responsibility for decisions the government has no authority to make.”When COVID vaccines were first broadly introduced, Gov. Noem put out a video supporting vaccinations and talked about South Dakota’s initially high vaccination rate, which has since fallen.The governor also took a shot at President Biden on Twitter Wednesday, saying he was pushing his authority too much. “President Biden is overstepping his authority to try to push masks in schools and mandate vaccines,” read a tweet from Gov. Noem’s account. “He’s doing it to distract from the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan where Americans are left behind.”

Mississippi officials warn against using ivermectin for COVID-19 amid spike in poisonings -- Mississippi health officials are warning residents against using ivermectin, a horse dewormer medication, to treat COVID-19 infections at home amid a spike in poisoning calls to the Mississippi Poison Control Center. The Mississippi Department of Health sent a letter out to to the MS Health Alert Network on Friday warning health professionals of the spike in poisonings from individuals digesting ivermectin. “At least 70% of the recent calls have been related to ingestion of livestock or animal formulations of ivermectin purchased at livestock supply centers,” the letter stated. Only one person was told to seek further help due to the amount of the ivermectin ingested and 85 percent of callers had mild symptoms. Some of the symptoms individuals can experience are rash, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, neurologic disorders, and sometimes severe hepatitis. There have been no hospitalizations reported to the department yet from someone ingesting ivermectin to cure the coronavirus. “Animal drugs are highly concentrated for large animals and can be highly toxic in humans,” the letter signed by state epidemiologist Paul Byers stated. “Patients should be advised to not take any medications intended to treat animals and should be instructed to only take ivermectin as prescribed by their physician.” The increase in ivermectin use comes as Mississippi is struggling to deal with an increase in coronavirus cases as the state has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the U.S.

August 19th COVID-19: Over 1,000 Deaths, Over 75,000 Hospitalized, Almost 160,000 Cases Reported Today - Several readers have asked why their state health department data doesn't exactly match the CDC data for a given state. Sometimes the reason is a different denominator (total population vs. 12+ for example), sometimes the reason isn't clear. These are questions for the state health departments. This data is from the CDC.The 7-day average cases is the highest since February 2nd.The 7-day average hospitalizations is the highest since February 9th.The 7-day average deaths is the highest since April 24th.According to the CDC, on Vaccinations.Total doses administered: 359,623,380, as of a week ago 353,859,894. Average doses last week: 0.82 million per day. COVID Metrics (see table). For "herd immunity" most experts believe we need 70% to 85% of the total population fully vaccinated (or already had COVID). 7 states that have achieved 60% of total population fully vaccinated: Vermont at 67.2%, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and New Jersey at 60.1%. The following 17 states and D.C. have between 50% and 59.9% fully vaccinated: New Hampshire at 59.1%, Washington, New York State, New Mexico, Oregon, District of Columbia, Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois at 50.1%. Next up (total population, fully vaccinated according to CDC) are Michigan at 49.7%, South Dakota at 48.2%, Ohio at 47.5%, Kentucky at 47.1%, Kansas at 46.8%, Arizona at 46.6%, Alaska at 46.5%, Utah at 46.3%, and Nevada at 46.3%.This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported. This data is from the CDC.

GOP Sen. Roger Wicker tests positive in COVID-19 'breakthrough' case - Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Thursday for COVID-19.Wicker is the second known "breakthrough" case among senators, after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is also fully vaccinated, tested positive earlier this month.“Senator Wicker tested positive this morning for the COVID-19 virus after immediately seeking a test due to mild symptoms. Senator Wicker is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, is in good health, and is being treated by his Tupelo-based physician," Phillip Waller, Wicker's communications director, said in a statement. "He is isolating, and everyone with whom Senator Wicker has come in close contact recently has been notified," he added.

Three senators announce positive COVID-19 tests in single day - Three senators announced within hours of each other on Thursday that they had tested positive for the coronavirus, despite each being fully vaccinated. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said they had tested positive in what is known as a breakthrough case, when fully vaccinated individuals test positive for COVID-19. It marks three known breakthrough cases among senators within 24 hours. The positive tests come as senators have been back in their home states for roughly a week and aren't expected to return to Washington, D.C., until mid-September.Hickenlooper became the latest on Thursday afternoon to announce he had tested positive, saying he tested positive after "experiencing mild symptoms." "I’m feeling much better and will continue to isolate at the direction of the Congressional Attending Physician," he said Both Wicker and King — the Senate's second and third breakthrough cases, respectively, after Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) positive test earlier this month — said they tested positive after experiencing symptoms. King, in his statement, said that while he and his staff took precautions to social distance while in D.C., that he began "feeling mildly feverish" on Wednesday and got tested in Maine on Thursday."It came back positive. While I am not feeling great, I’m definitely feeling much better than I would have without the vaccine. I am taking this diagnosis very seriously, quarantining myself at home and telling the few people I’ve been in contact with to get tested in order to limit any further spread," King said in a statement.Symptoms for COVID-19 can appear between two to 14 days after exposure to the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Senators spent hours on the Senate floor together last week, on Aug. 11, before leaving town. The Senate was in session for roughly 20 hours starting Tuesday morning through early Wednesday to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and approve Democrats' budget, with senators together for much of that time. Their announcements Thursday bring the total number of known COVID-19 breakthrough cases among senators to four. Graham became the first earlier this month when he announced that he had tested positive despite being fully vaccinated.

Greg Abbott undergoes antibody COVID-19 treatment following diagnosis -Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has undergone COVID-19 antibody treatment following his breakthrough positive diagnosis. “Governor Abbott’s doctor prescribed Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapy treatment, which is available at no cost to all Texans who get a doctor’s referral,” Abbott’s office said in a statement Thursday. “It is recommended that Texans testing positive for COVID-19 seek this antibody therapeutic drug because of its effectiveness to help keep people out of hospitals.” Abbott’s office also shared that the governor has expanded the COVID-19 Antibody Infusion Centers across the state, as well. This comes as Abbott announced on Tuesday that he has tested positive for the virus, even though he’s been fully vaccinated. COVID-19 cases have surged across the nation due to the highly contagious delta variant.

The prospect of booster shots is igniting a global health debate. -- As the Delta variant rages around the world, a heated debate has arisen over whether public health officials should recommend booster shots.On one side are global health officials who contend that available vaccines would be better used to inoculate high-risk people in poor nations where few have gotten the shots.On the other are leaders and health officials in wealthier countries, who are setting aside doses for more vulnerable people who may need additional doses to protect them from the virus.Biden administration officials have already begun developing a plan that would roll out third shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as early as this fall, saying the logistics are too complicated to wait for scientific certainty that the extra doses are really needed.Full vaccination is highly effective at protecting against severe disease caused by the virus, and it is not yet clear how soon additional doses might be necessary for certain groups. Some vaccines require boosters to remain highly protective.In the United States, federal officials last week authorized a third shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for people with compromised immune systems because of organ transplants, chemotherapy or other medical conditions.But officials at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that authorizing third doses for immunocompromised people was a separate issue from whether booster doses were needed for the rest of the population. Pfizer and BioNTech have pushed for swift authorization of third doses of their vaccine, but U.S. officials said in July that they would need more data, possibly months’ worth, before they could answer the question. On Monday, the companies announced that they have given the F.D.A. data from phase 1 of their clinical trial indicating that a third dose was safe and significantly bolstered the immune response of recipients against the virus, including the Delta variant.

Booster shots ‘make a mockery of vaccine equity,’ the W.H.O.’s Africa director says.- — The Africa director at the World Health Organization, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, criticized the decisions by some wealthy nations to start administering coronavirus booster shots, saying the decisions “make a mockery of vaccine equity” when the African continent is still struggling to get vaccine supplies.African countries continue to lag far behind other continents in inoculations, with only 2 percent of the continent’s 1.3 billion people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 so far. Though vaccine shipments have accelerated in recent weeks, African nations are still not getting nearly enough to meet their needs, Dr. Moeti said.Instead of offering additional doses to their already fully vaccinated citizens, she said, rich countries should give priority to poor nations, some of which are being ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.“Moves by some countries globally to introduce booster shots threaten the promise of a brighter tomorrow for Africa,” Dr. Moeti said in an online news conference on Thursday. “As some richer countries hoard vaccines, they make a mockery of vaccine equity.”The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on booster shots until the end of September to free up vaccine supplies for low-income nations. But several wealthy nations have said they would not wait that long. In the United States, the Biden administration said on Wednesday that it would provide booster shots to most Americans beginning as soon as Sept. 20. France and Germany also said they plan to offer shots to vulnerable populations, and Israel has already given third shots to more than a million residents.President Biden said in a television interview broadcast on Thursday that he and his wife, Jill Biden, plan to get booster shots themselves, assuming federal regulators give the go-ahead.Mr. Biden defended offering Americans an additional shot when many countries were struggling to deliver initial doses to their populations.“We’re providing more to the rest of the world than all the rest of the world combined,” Mr. Biden said in the interview on ABC. “We’re keeping our part of the bargain.”

While South Africa waits for vaccine supplies, J.&J. doses made there are sent to Europe. -While many African nations remain desperately short of vaccine supplies, Johnson & Johnson has been exporting to Europe millions of doses that were bottled and packaged in South Africa, according to executives at Johnson & Johnson and the South African manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare, as well as South African government export records reviewed by The New York Times. South Africa has yet to receive the overwhelming majority of the 31 million vaccine doses it has ordered from Johnson & Johnson. The country has administered only about two million Johnson & Johnson shots so far. That is a major reason that fewer than 7 percent of South Africans are fully vaccinated — and that the country has been devastated by the Delta variant. “It’s like a country is making food for the world, and sees its food being shipped off to high-resource settings while its citizens starve,” said Dr. Glenda Gray, a South African scientist who helped lead Johnson & Johnson’s clinical trial there. Many Western countries have kept domestically manufactured vaccine doses for themselves. That wasn’t possible in South Africa because of an unusual stipulation in the contract the government signed this year with Johnson & Johnson. The confidential contract, reviewed by The Times, required South Africa to waive its right to impose export restrictions on the company’s vaccine doses. Popo Maja, a spokesman for the South African health ministry, said the government was not happy with the contract terms but lacked the leverage to refuse them. “The government was not given any choice,” he said in a statement. “Sign contract, or no vaccine.”m

Australia’s worsening outbreak raises concerns about Aboriginal communities. As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads beyond Sydney into the surrounding state of New South Wales, concern is mounting about the potential impact on vulnerable, unvaccinated Aboriginal Australians. The Australian government had made Aboriginal people a priority group for vaccination because of the lack of health care services in the remote areas where many of them live. But as of Sunday, only 15 percent of Indigenous Australians over the age of 16 had been fully inoculated, compared with 26 percent of people in all of Australia. The low rates among Aboriginal Australians are particularly concerning in the western part of New South Wales, which went into a lockdown on Saturday. Most of the area’s 98 coronavirus cases are among Indigenous people, Scott McLachlan, chief executive of the region’s health services, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Four of the cases have been found in the town of Walgett, where nearly half of the 6,000 residents are Aboriginal. There is a high prevalence of chronic health conditions among that population, and officials and Indigenous leaders fear that a wider outbreak could overwhelm local health care.The Dharriwaa Elders Group, an association of Aboriginal elders in Walgett, said in a statement: “Many of our elders and others in Walgett experience health and social issues that make them vulnerable to contracting Covid-19. The impact on our community could be devastating.”Ken Wyatt, the minister for Indigenous Australians, said that some were hesitant to get vaccinated because of news reports about the rare chance of blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week defended the government’s slow vaccination efforts, which have been widely criticized.“Australia is a very big country, and our Indigenous populations live in some of the remotest parts of our country,” he said on Friday. “It was always going to be the most challenging element of all the vaccine rollout.”Tighter virus restrictions were introduced on Monday in several parts of Australia. In New South Wales, it was the worst day of the pandemic so far. The state reported seven coronavirus-related deaths and 478 new cases. Hundreds of soldiers patrolled the streets of Sydney, which is in its eighth week of lockdown, to help enforce stay-at-home orders. The state of Victoria, which includes Melbourne, tightened its lockdown restrictions, imposing a curfew of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and closing outdoor playgrounds. The Northern Territory, whose capital is Darwin, went into a snap 72-hour lockdown after the discovery of a single asymptomatic infection.

Chinese COVID-19 vaccine maintains protection in variant-plagued Brazil - As potentially more dangerous coronavirus variants spread worldwide, scientists and clinicians have raced to discover how well the available COVID-19 vaccines protect against the mutant strains. Preliminary results from a large study of health care workers now suggest one dose of CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by a Chinese company, is still about 50% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in a Brazilian city where more than three-fourths of new cases are caused by the highly transmissible variant known as P.1. That real-world protection is about the same level clinical trials saw with two doses of CoronaVac against the standard, or “wild type,” pandemic coronavirus in the country, suggesting the variant’s mutations have not increased SARS-CoV-2’s ability to evade vaccine-evoked immune responses. “This is very good news and supports the continued use of this vaccine in Brazil and other countries with the circulation of the same variant,” says Julio Croda, a physician and researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, who led the study. The vaccine’s protection may be even better after the second dose, he adds, noting the study is ongoing. Although 50% effectiveness is far below the greater than 90% real-world protection of COVID-19 vaccines made with messenger RNA (mRNA), it may still be good enough to curb the disease’s spread within Brazil; vaccines with that level of efficacy in a clinical trial qualify for emergency use in many places and meet the World Health Organization’s threshold, as well.It’s also not clear how well the mRNA vaccines protect against the P.1 variant; their clinical tests happened before it was circulating or in places with little of the variant. Moreover, CoronaVac likely offers far greater protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death than against milder cases of COVID-19. That was seen in two dose efficacy trials conducted in Brazil and other countries and is typical of COVID-19 vaccines. But the new study has not yet collected enough severe cases to calculate effectiveness, Croda says.

 Israel hits six-month high with more than 8,000 new daily COVID cases - Israel has logged 8,646 new coronavirus cases on Monday, according to Health Ministry data published on Tuesday, marking a six-month daily record in new cases. The percentage of positive tests also hit a six-month high, with Monday's data showing 6.2 percent of all tests taken returning COVID-positive.Of the 55,323 active cases in Israel, 559 are in serious condition. The final figures for Monday showed a slight drop since Sunday.Over 5.8 million Israelis have received their first coronavirus shot; 5.4 million have received both shots. Monday marked one million Israelis receiving their third coronavirus vaccine, two weeks since the government's campaign began. The 1,048,767 booster shots administered so far represent more than half of the 1.9 million Israelis currently eligible for a third dose: people aged 50 up who had their second shot of the Pfizer vaccine at least five months ago. Labor lawmaker Gilad Kariv, who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, was hospitalized in Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer overnight into Tuesday.Kariv is "feeling well and is under supervision in a coronavirus ward," a statement from his office read. Bennett celebrated the landmark as "wonderful news and a huge achievement, but there's still much work ahead of us," urging more people to get vaccinated. Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said Mondaythat if current infection rates don't go down "there will be no choice but to delay the beginning of the school year."However, he added that there is an advantage to starting the school year September 1 as it will allow "experimentation with all the methods we want to introduce, such as quick tests, quarantining versus not quarantining, and gaining trust in serological tests."Also on Monday, new restrictions at Ben-Gurion Airport went into effect. Arrivals from only 10 countries will be exempt from quarantine.Passengers from Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Taiwan, Moldova, New Zealand, China, Singapore and the Czech Republic will not be required to enter isolation. However, only Austria, Hungary, Moldova and the Czech Republic allow Israelis to enter at the moment.

The Origins of SARS-CoV-2 - Critical Review - Given what we know about the origins of nearly all viral pandemics — that they resulted from a virus jumping from an animal to a human host (zoonotic infection)–the null hypothesis for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic should be and was zoonotic. The competing claim the SARS-CoV-2 originated in a research lab at the Wuhan Institute for Virology (WIV) has been widely circulating on conspiracy theory web sites. Based on what we know about SARS-CoV-2 genome structure, comparative coronavirus genomics and viral epidemiology in general, it is fair to say that the burden of proof falls upon those who support the lab origin hypothesis. According to a recent preprint review, this burden has not been met, and the most parsimonious hypothesis is a zoonotic origin. The authors also underscore the importance of further research to define the origin of COVID-19 and the danger of distracting claims to the research necessary to prepare for future pandemics: “There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has a laboratory origin. There is no evidence that any early cases had any connection to the WIV, in contrast to the clear epidemiological links to animal markets in Wuhan, nor evidence that the WIV possessed or worked on a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 prior to the pandemic. The suspicion that SARS-CoV-2 might have a laboratory origin stems from the coincidence that it was first detected in a city that houses a major virological laboratory that studies coronaviruses. Wuhan is the largest city in central China with multiple animal markets and is a major hub for travel and commerce, well connected to other areas both within China and internationally. The link to Wuhan therefore more likely reflects the fact that pathogens often require heavily populated areas to become established. “We contend that there is substantial body of scientific evidence supporting a zoonotic origin for SARS-CoV-2. While the possibility of a laboratory accident cannot be entirely dismissed, and may be near impossible to falsify, this conduit for emergence is highly unlikely relative to the numerous and repeated human-animal contacts that occur routinely in the wildlife trade. Failure to comprehensively investigate the zoonotic origin through collaborative and carefully coordinated studies would leave the world vulnerable to future pandemics arising from the same human activities that have repeatedly put us on a collision course with novel viruses.”

Deadly 'kissing bug' that kills thousands needs to be taken seriously now --It’s the kiss of death for Latin American communities in the US. While health experts often warn of mosquitoes and other disease-carrying bugs, the deadly kissing bug — aka the triatomine bug, which kills 10,000 people per year globally — continues to be overlooked in the US, as it disproportionately affects poor Hispanic communities. That alarming disparity is the subject of the new book“The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease.” Apparently, not even the infectious disease world is immune to racism. “[The disease] was still very much being neglected by medical schools, medical institutions and public health officials, that was such a shock,” author Daisy Hernández told NBC of the shocking find. The Colombian American’s first experience with the scourge came when her aunt died from complications of Chagas disease, a parasite spread by the kissing bug. (Its colloquial name is due to its habit of biting sleeping victims on their faces, according to USA Today.) Most fatalities are caused by the Chagas parasite ravaging the patient’s heart and digestive system. Today, the underreported affliction affects 300,000 people in the US, predominantly Latin American immigrants in Texas, California and Florida, NBC reported. Unfortunately, as there is no national surveillance program, it’s unclear where people are most affected by Chagas in this country. “Chagas disease is a disease of inequity,” lamented Dr. Norman Beatty, a University of Florida medicine professor who has been studying Chagas since 2015. That apparent lack of attention — and data — is particularly problematic given the insidious nature of the disease, which can spread from person to person via everything from organ donations to blood transfusions, the CDC reported. Mothers can even infect their babies with Chagas during pregnancy. In addition, many victims aren’t even aware they’ve contracted Chagas, as they don’t exhibit any symptoms. Or if they do, they often entail “fever, fatigue, enlarged lymph nodes” and other “flu-like” symptoms that will dissipate quickly, providing no indication that the parasite is still coursing through their system, according to Beatty.When it finally manifests, the effects are usually cataclysmic, with 20 to 30% of patients experiencing cardiac and gastrointestinal complications — as was the case with Hernández’s aunt.

EPA bans use of pesticide linked to developmental problems in children - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to ban the use of a pesticide that has been linked to developmental issues in children from use on foods. In a statement on Wednesday, the agency said that it was revoking all food tolerances for a chemical called chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to lower IQ, impaired working memory and negative effects on motor development. The agency said it would be reckoning all "tolerances" which establish how much of a pesticide is permitted in food, through a new final rule. In addition, it will issue a notice outlining its intent to cancel existing registered uses of the chemical. "Today EPA is taking an overdue step to protect public health. Ending the use of chlorpyrifos on food will help to ensure children, farmworkers, and all people are protected from the potentially dangerous consequences of this pesticide,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “After the delays and denials of the prior administration, EPA will follow the science and put health and safety first,” he added. The Trump administration had sought to continue the use of chlorpyrifos, issuing a proposal to do so in December. That proposal was never finalized, though, as it was issued shortly before the Biden administration took over. In its announcement on Wednesday, the EPA indicated that it would continue to review non-food uses of chlorpyrifos. The latest move follows a court order earlier this year that gave the agency limited time to either find uses for the pesticide that are safe or outlaw it. “The EPA has spent more than a decade assembling a record of chlorpyrifos’s ill effects and has repeatedly determined, based on that record, that it cannot conclude, to the statutorily required standard of reasonable certainty, that the present tolerances are causing no harm,” the majority opinion in that case stated.

 EPA to Ban Chlorpyrifos Use on Food Crops, Review Other Non-Food Uses -- EPA delivered the final death blow to agricultural uses of the insecticide chlorpyrifos Wednesday, Aug. 18, in a long-awaited victory for environmental, labor and public health groups that have lobbied against the chemical for decades."In a final rule released today, EPA is revoking all 'tolerances' for chlorpyrifos, which establish an amount of a pesticide that is allowed on food," the agency explained in a news release. "In addition, the agency will issue a Notice of Intent to Cancel under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to cancel registered food uses of chlorpyrifos associated with the revoked tolerances."The news release quoted EPA Administrator Michael Regan stating: "Ending the use of chlorpyrifos on food will help to ensure children, farmworkers, and all people are protected from the potentially dangerous consequences of this pesticide."Use of chlorpyrifos (Lorsban) in agriculture has already dropped significantly in the past decade, particularly after its primary registrant, Corteva Agriscience, halted production in 2020. But this action effectively ends all agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos on food and feed crops, including generic products. It does not immediately affect non-food uses of chlorpyrifos, such as mosquito control, which will be under review later in 2022, EPA noted."After considering public comments, the agency will proceed with registration review for the remaining non-food uses of chlorpyrifos by issuing the interim decision, which may consider additional measures to reduce human health and ecological risks," the press release read. See the news release here: https://www.epa.gov/… and a pre-publication version of the new rule here: https://www.epa.gov/…. Chlorpyrifos, better known to farmers as the former product Lorsban, is an insecticide that targets biting and sucking pests such as aphids and is primarily used in soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton and orchard crops. Although a popular pest control option in the past, its use has fallen from 13 million pounds per year in the late 1990s, to 5 million to 7 million pounds per year starting around 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In February 2020, citing this falling demand, Lorsban production was discontinued by Corteva. At the time, the Trump-led EPA vowed to continue its re-registration of the chemical, which would allow generic versions to stay on the market indefinitely. (See more here: https://www.dtnpf.com/…). And in December 2020, it did so, releasing a proposed interim registration decision keeping it on the market, with some label adjustments.

More algae blooms found at Lake Anna - Harmful algae blooms have spread to more areas at Lake Anna. The Virginia Department of Health collected samples from the lake on Aug. 5 and recently updated the harmful algae bloom map, which shows seven areas that now have no-swim advisories. The harmful algae blooms have been detected in the upper areas of the North Anna and Pamunkey branches this summer. Now the blooms have spread to the middle and lower areas of the branches. Three areas in the North Anna Branch have the advisories: the upper branch or the “Sandbar,” north of Holladay Bridge, and the lower area.Four locations on the Pamunkey branch have the no-swim advisories: upper branch, below U.S. 522; upper branch tributary at Terry’s Run branch at State Route 719; upper branch tributary at Simms Point/Harris Lane; middle branch at Dillards Bridge/Route 719.The harmful algae is a cyanobacteria that can cause skin rashes and stomach illnesses. Other cyanobacteria found at the lake, including the Lake Anna State park beach area on the Pamunkey branch, were deemed to be at acceptable levels.The advisories mark the fourth straight year with harmful algae blooms in the 13,000-acre manmade lake, which cools the Dominion Virginia Energy North Anna nuclear power plant and is surrounded by hundreds of homes. There also is a no-swim advisory for the swimming beach area at Widewater State Park on Aquia Creek in Stafford County because of a harmful algae bloom. Samples for that area were last taken on July 14, according to the task force online algae bloom map.

Human Noise Pollution Is Causing Seagrass Beds to Uproot Themselves - Noise is a nuisance that can sometimes be unbearable. This is true even in the ocean, where an unrelatedstudy from 2021 found that human-created noise pollution is harming marine animals by damaging their hearing, changing their behaviors and even harming their chances of survival. The newest study, published inCommunications Biology, linked noise pollution to another crippling effect — this time in seagrasses. Unwanted noisiness is altering the marine plants on a cellular level and causing them to uproot themselves. Humans have ruined the ocean's natural soundscape through shipping, oil and gas extractions and renewable energy development, Inside Science reported. All of these act as a noise pollutant underwater, with far-reaching consequences.Authored by Michel André from the Technical University of Catalonia in Spain, the study initially focused on creatures with hearing organs, such as dolphins and fish, the news report said. Then, they studied noise impacts on animals that lack traditional hearing structures, like octopuses and squids. They found that noise damages the organs these animals use to orient themselves."And this was truly something that changed our perspective of how noise pollution could affect [the] marine environment," André told Inside Science.His curiosity led him to wonder if a similar organ in plants that helps them detect gravity and push their roots down into the seafloor might also be affected by artificial, subaquatic noise, Hakai Magazine reported. He and his team focused on a species of seagrass, P. oceanica, prevalent near their laboratory in Barcelona, Spain. Playing sounds with changing frequency representative of human activities, the scientists measured the effects of such sound drowning on 84 seagrass plants in experimental tanks.The noise level was roughly 157 dB underwater, which is "somewhere between a bass drum and a subway train," Inside Science reported. As it turns out, just two hours of noise exposure damaged the plant organ responsible for detecting gravity, which could affect the plant's ability to stay rooted in the soil, the report continued.The scientists involved in the study believe it to be the first-ever to inquire into the impact of noise on plant structure. André believes that plants could be harmed more than other organisms because they cannot get up and leave, should a location become unbearably and excessively noisy, Inside Science reported.The team also found that the number of starch grains inside the organ decreased, and a symbiotic fungus inside the organs likely involved in nutrient uptake also suffered, Hakai Magazine reported. This type of damage could affect seagrass's ability to store energy and continue to grow.

Colorado River Water Shortage Declared for First Time in History - Federal officials, for the first time ever, declared a water shortage from the Colorado River on Monday — yet another bleak indicator of the magnitude of the drought across the West made worse by climate change."It's a historic moment where drought and climate change are at our door," Chuck Cullom of the Central Arizona Project told the AP. The "Tier 1" cuts were triggered by projections that Lake Mead — the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, created by the Hoover Dam — will be nearly 10 feet below the Tier 1 cutoff point on January 1, 2022. It was just three feet above that level, about 35% of its total capacity, on Monday."It's as if a switch got flipped in 2000, and we now have a completely different river than we had in the 20th century," Brad Udall, a senior water and research scientist at Colorado State University, told The Washington Post.Under the complex system established 99 years ago, Tier 1 cuts, which take effect next year, will hit Arizona hardest, losing about 8% of its total water use. Nevada and the country of Mexico will also see cuts, but California, because of its water rights seniority, will not see immediate cuts.As reported by The Washington Post: The shortage should serve as a call for intensified conservation efforts and reductions of planet-warming emissions. Human activities have already raised global average temperatures more than 1 degree Celsius — 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit — above preindustrial levels. In many Western states, the increase is close to 2 degrees Celsius — a threshold the United Nations associates with catastrophic warming."The Colorado River is ground zero for climate change in the U.S.," said Kevin Moran, senior director of the Environmental Defense Fund's Colorado River program. "We have to shift our thinking from managing supply and demand in the context of temporary drought to managing the reality of a permanently more arid climate."

Colorado River Water Shortage Forces First-Ever Cutback to Southwest States – WSJ - The federal government has declared the first-ever shortage of water on the Colorado River, triggering cutbacks in several states that will hit farmers particularly hard during a drought that has punished the Southwest with little letup since the turn of the century.The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation made the declaration Monday after forecasting that Nevada’s Lake Mead, the river’s biggest reservoir, would remain below 1,075 feet above sea level—the mark previously set to trigger mandatory cutbacks—through at least early next year. As of Monday, Lake Mead measured 1,068 feet, the lowest since the reservoir was created by construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. The bureau estimates the level will dip further to 1,066 by Jan. 1 next year. The cuts, set to take effect in 2022, will primarily affect Arizona, which stands to lose 512,000 acre-feet, or 18% of its annual allocation—enough water to meet the annual household needs of a city the size of Phoenix. An acre-foot is roughly the amount of water a family of four uses for one year. Nevada and Mexico will see their water allocations cut as well, by smaller amounts of 7% and 5%, respectively. They and Arizona have the most junior rights under a 14-year-old water-sharing agreement with the seven Colorado River Basin states, which also include California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. If the reservoir keeps falling, as federal and state water managers fear it will, mandatory reductions could be imposed on states with higher-ranking rights, including California.The 1,450-mile river is a lifeblood for the Southwest, supplying drinking water to 40 million people, irrigating 5.5 million acres of farmland and accounting for an estimated 16 million jobs. In many states, the river represents the most important source of water; Arizona officials say 40% of the state’s supplies come from the river.The Colorado is also an important electricity generator. With the river’s flow slowing, the Bureau of Reclamation said in July that it was taking the unprecedented action of releasing more water from reservoirs upstream to the river’s second-biggest depository, Lake Powell, on the border with Utah and Arizona to help keep its level high enough for power generation. Agency officials said Monday that dam releases from Lake Powell to Lake Mead would be reduced next year as part of the agency’s water management plan. The reduced flows will diminish the amount of power generated from the facilities, as they have at other rivers throughout the parched West—putting a strain on the electric grid, federal officials say. Farmers and ranchers will be among the first to face the mandatory cuts. Although agriculture users can also draw water from wells, state officials say that won’t make up for a 30% reduction in their allocation next year and likely will cause thousands of acres to go unplanted.

Lake Mead hits record low, triggering its first-ever shortage declaration, U.S. --Water levels at Lake Mead have fallen to record lows this summer, prompting officials to declare the reservoir's first-ever water shortage on August 16, 2021. Lake Mead is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River formed in the 1930s from damming the river at the Nevada-Arizona border -- Hoover Dam. It's the largest reservoir in the United States, providing household water to 40 million people in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Mexico, and irrigation for large areas of farmland. Given the ongoing historic drought and low runoff conditions in the Colorado River Basin, downstream releases from Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam will be reduced in 2022 due to declining reservoir levels. In the Lower Basin, the reductions represent the first 'shortage' declaration - demonstrating the severity of the drought and low reservoir conditions.1 Based on projections made by the Bureau of Reclamation, Lake Mead’s January 1, 2022, elevation is expected to be 324.87 m (1 065.85 feet), which is about 2.74 m (9 feet) below the Lower Basin shortage determination trigger of 327.66 m (1 075 feet) and about 7.31 m (24 feet) below the drought contingency plan trigger of 332.23 m (1 090 feet).1 As a result, Lake Mead will operate in its first-ever Level 1 Shortage Condition in the calendar year 2022 -- from January 1 through December 31, 2022. This means Arizona will lose approximately 18% of the state's annual apportionment, Nevada 7%, and Mexico 5%. Further rounds of cuts will be triggered if projected water levels drop to 320 m (1 049 feet), 318 m (1 043 feet), and 312 m (1 023 feet). The cuts mean less water and tough allotment decisions for agriculture, cities, and Native American tribes in a region suffering historic -- 22nd year of drought.2 "Although agriculture in some of the counties we serve will be affected, it is important to note that the drinking water that AWC serves its residential and business customers statewide will not be affected by the initial shortage declaration," the Arizona Water Company (AWC) said in a statement.3 "Equally important, is the strong water conservation ethic in Arizona communities across the state. Your local water conservation achievements have helped avoid this declaration for several years. We encourage all Arizonans to continue to do their part in securing our water future by using water wisely at home and at work." Total Colorado River system storage is currently at a capacity of 40%, down from 49% at this time last year.

Is Western U.S. experiencing a 'megadrought'? » The Western U.S. is shattering drought records this summer. For the first time since the drought monitor was created, over 95% of the region is in drought. Near Las Vegas, Lake Mead – the largest reservoir in the U.S. – is at its lowest level since it was built. “This is a bigger event than the 1950s drought in the Southwest or the Dust Bowl drought in the Central Plains,” says Benjamin Cook, a climate researcher at NASA, in this new video by independent videographer Peter Sinclair. “We have to go back at least 500 years before we find any event that’s even similar in magnitude.” Scientists have found from clues in tree rings have that intense, prolonged droughts called “megadroughts” occurred regularly during the Middle Ages. Now the West may be in another megadrought period, this one made even worse by climate change. Climate change makes historical drought patterns more intense by increasing temperatures and thus evaporation. This poses challenges to water supplies in the West as they come primarily from surface water like the Colorado River. Much of the population growth in the Southwest happened during the 1980s and 1990s, which were relatively wet decades. Though there have been many improvements in water use efficiency in recent decades, they have not been able to match losses from drought. “The Colorado River drains the entire Southwest – it’s about an eighth of the U.S. The river itself is actually not that big, it’s about the size of the Hudson and if you can imagine, it’s serving 40 million people,” says Brad Udall, a research scientist at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Institute. “If it suffers, everyone suffers.”

July 2021 was the warmest July on record for the globe; global land surface was also record warm – NOAA - The global temperature for July 2021 was the highest for July in the 142-year NOAA record, which dates back to 1880. The year-to-date (January-July) global surface temperature tied as the sixth highest on record. According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, it is very likely that the year 2021 will rank among the 10 warmest years on record.The July 2021 global surface temperature was 1.67°F (0.93°C) above the 20th-century average of 60.4°F (15.8°C) — the highest for July in the 142-year record. This value was only 0.02°F (0.01°C) higher than the previous record set in 2016, and tied in 2019 and 2020. The seven warmest Julys have all occurred since 2015. July 2021 marked the 45th consecutive July and the 439th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.Climatologically, July is the warmest month of the year. With July 2021 the warmest July on record, at least nominally, this resulted in the warmest month on record for the globe.The global land-only surface temperature for July 2021 was 2.52°F (1.40°C) above average and the highest July for the land-only surface temperature on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2020 by 0.31°F (0.17°C). The warmth across the global land surfaces was mainly driven by the very warm Northern Hemisphere land, which also had its highest July temperature at 2.77°F (1.54°C) above average.During the month, temperatures were much warmer than average across parts of North America, Europe, northern and southern South America, northern Africa, the southern half of Asia, Oceania and parts of the western and northern Pacific, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Temperatures were cooler than average across parts of northeastern Canada, the south-central and southeastern contiguous U.S., southern Africa, northern Russia and the southeastern Pacific Ocean.Regionally, Asia had its warmest July on record, besting the previous record set in 2 010. Europe had its second-warmest July (tied with 2010) on record, trailing behind the record warm July set in 2018. Meanwhile, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania had a top-10 warm July on record. The July 2021 Arctic sea ice extent was 687,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average and was the fourth-smallest July sea ice extent in the 43-year record, according to an analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = [default] http://www.w3.org/2000/svg NS = "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" /> (NSIDC) using data from NOAA and NASA. Only Julys of 2012, 2019 and 2020 had a smaller sea ice extent in July. The 10 smallest July sea ice extents for the Arctic have occurred since 2007.The Antarctic sea ice extent during July 2021 was above average. The July Antarctic sea ice extent was 6.32 million square miles — the largest July sea ice extent since 2015 and the eighth highest in the 43-year record.

July 2021 Hottest Month Ever Recorded, Says NOAA --The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US said on Friday that July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded globally."July is typically the world's warmest month of the year, but July 2021 outdid itself as the hottest July and month ever recorded. This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe," said Rick Spinrad, administrator of NOAA.NOAA said the average global temperature this July was 16.73 degrees Celsius(62.07 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record set in July 2016 by .01 degree Celsius.NOAA climatologist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo said land temperatures over the Northern Hemisphere, withheatwaves in North America and parts of Europe, pushed the mercury past the record.The last seven Julys from 2015 to 2021 have been the hottest ever, in 142 years of recordkeeping, Sanchez-Lugo added.Although temperature data released by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service showed 2021 as third hottest July ever recorded, Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based research center, told AFP news agency that data differences among agencies is not unusual."The NOAA record has more limited coverage over the Arctic than other global temperature records," he said."Regardless of exactly where it ends up on the leaderboards, the warmth the world is experiencing this summer is a clear impact of climate change," Hausfather said."The extreme events we are seeing worldwide — from record-shattering heat waves to extreme rainfall to raging wildfires — are all long-predicted and well understood impacts of a warmer world. They will continue to get more severe until the world cuts its emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases down to net-zero," he added.A report released by the UN last week issued a red alert for climate goals, are "nowhere close" to achieving the 1.5-degree target set during the Paris climate agreement.Earlier this week during a heatwave in the Mediterranean region, a temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit) was reported in Sicily, which if officially confirmed, would be the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

There's no place in the US safe from the heat - Following multiple record-breaking heatwaves this summer, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held its first-ever hearing on extreme heat. This marks a positive step for the U.S. to seriously and immediately address heat as the nation’s most deadly climate risk. The Pacific Northwest heatwave in June 2021 was a mass casualty event, estimated to have caused around 600 deaths in Oregon and Washington alone. These extreme heat events are increasingly more frequent, longer in duration and more intense due to climate change. They are also compounded by the urban heat island (UHI) effect, where urban areas are hotter than surrounding rural and natural areas due to how cities are planned, built and operated.Yet, the national perception of heat as a climate risk remains subdued compared with more visually dramatic hurricanes or wildfires. Heat is a silent and invisible killer and impacts the most marginalized and vulnerable communities. Heat also has real impacts and costs to infrastructure, economic productivity, vegetation and wildlife, and energy and water use. Over the past year, our coverage of heat equity has focused mainly on the inequitable distribution of heat severity in the urban heat island effect in cities across the U.S. — revealing how the hottest land surface temperatures tend to be in the poorest communities and communities of color. However, individuals experience personal heat exposure throughout their day, not just at home, but also during transportation and at work and school. Heat risk is particularly high for the elderly, children and those with health conditions, like high blood pressure and breathing difficulties. Chronic diseases like diabetes and lung, heart and kidney disease can also be worsened by heat exposure. An analysis of early mortality data from the Pacific Northwest heatwave in Portland, Ore., suggests that the majority of deaths occurred in poorer parts of the city. In Seattle, the elderly and people experiencing homelessness were particularly harmed by the heatwave. During these heatwaves, low-income residents often have a difficult time affording crucial indoor cooling and getting transport to cooling centers. Chronic heat exposure particularly impacts people experiencing homelessness, those without adequate indoor cooling, those unable to pay for utilities and those who work outdoors. A significant number of heat-related deaths throughout 2020 in Phoenix occurred among homeless senior citizens experiencing homelessness. People experiencing homelessness are vulnerable to all forms of heat exposure and are difficult to reach with early warning systems and information about the location of cooling centers. Increasing homelessness has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing affordability crisis and an estimated shortage of 3.8 million housing units. It should come as no surprise that a disproportionate share of those experiencing homelessness are Black and Latinos, who also represent some of the hardest-hit communities by the pandemic and live in the hottest neighborhoods in urban areas.

Significant loss of livestock in North Korea - Continued heatwaves and minimal rainfall have led to significant loss of livestock in North Korea this summer. The worst affected are South and North Hamgyong provinces and North and South Hwanghae. As of late July, more than 100 000 heads of livestock have died in the province of South Pyongan due to heatwaves. A total of 90 000 chickens have died, the highest death rate of any animal. Meanwhile, another 7 000 pigs, 2 500 ducks, and 100 cows have perished due to the intense heat. According to Daily NK, many animals died in other provinces due to last month’s heatwaves, including South and North Hamgyong provinces and North and South Hwanghae provinces. With pork prices in the country falling this month, an expert NK Daily spoke with said that markets might be selling meat from animals that perished in the heat.

Spain confirms new highest temperature record - 47.4 °C (117.3 °F) in the city of Montoro, Cordoba - Spain's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) confirmed¹ the country's highest temperature on record was set at 47.4 °C (117.3 °F) in the city of Montoro, Cordoba on Saturday, August 14, 2021. The record was set at 15:10 UTC (17:10 LT). The city's minimum temperature that day was 20.9 °C (69.6 °F) recorded at 05:20 UTC.The country's previous highest temperature record was 47.3 °C (117.1 F) set on July 13, 2017, also in Montoro. Montoro is located about 45 km (28 miles) ENE of the capital of the province, Córdoba, at an altitude of 155 m (508 feet). The event comes 3 days after the Sicilian province of Siracusa, Italy registered 48.8 °C (119.8 °F) at 11:14 UTC (13:14 LT) on August 11, 2021, potentially setting a new European record.² This temperature would also beat Italy's unofficial record of 48.5 °C (119.3 °F) set in Catenanuova, Sicily in August 1999.The current highest temperature record in Italy is 47 °C (116.6 °F) set in Foggia, Apulia region on July 25, 2007.The current highest temperature record in Europe is 48 °C (118.4 °F), set on July 10, 1977, in Athens and Elefsina, Greece.

California utility shutting off power to 51K customers to prevent wildfires -Pacific Gas & Electric on Tuesday evening said it has begun shutting down power to around 51,000 California customers to prevent wildfires.The shutoffs will affect around 18 counties in northern California, including the "Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains," according to a press release from PG&E. The company cited "dry offshore winds, extreme to exceptional drought conditions and extremely dry vegetation" as reason for this precautionary measure. PG&E is predicting that "all clears" will be occur around Wednesday afternoon. “With these high winds and extremely dry climate conditions, we are focused on customer and community safety. It’s never an easy decision to turn off the power for safety, but it is the right thing to do to keep everyone safe,” said PG&E Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Marlene Santos. “We understand how disruptive and inconvenient it is to lose power. The sole focus of a PSPS is to keep our customers safe. As soon as this extreme weather passes, our crews will be inspecting our equipment and the vegetation around it, making repairs and restoring power as soon as it’s safe to do so," Santos added. The company had announced earlier on Tuesday that it expected to carry out preemptive shutoffs in order to reduce the risk of wildfires. At the time, it was reported that the shutoffs would affect around 48,000 customers in 16 different counties. The Dixie Fire in northern California has burned for the past 34 days and is only 31 percent contained according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The counties where the Dixie Fire is currently burning — Butte, Plumas and Lassen — will all be affected by PG&E's shutoffs.

 Dixie fire: fresh concerns over gusting winds and potential power cuts - Firefighters battling flames in northern California were preparing for fresh bouts of windy weather, as a utility warned it might cut electricity for thousands of people to prevent new fires from igniting. Conditions that suppressed the huge Dixie fire overnight were expected to give way late in the day to winds that could push flames toward mountain communities, in a region where drought and scorching summer heat have turned vegetation to tinder. Information officer Jim Evans said: “In this environment, any type of wind, no matter what direction – especially the way the fire’s been going – is a concern for everyone.” The Dixie fire has scorched 890 sq miles (2,305 sq km) in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades since it ignited on 13 July and eventually merged with a smaller blaze called the Fly fire. More than 1,100 buildings have been destroyed, including 625 homes, and more than 14,000 structures remained threatened.Numerous evacuation orders were in effect. Pacific Gas & Electric has notified utility regulators that the Dixie and Fly fires may have been caused by trees falling into its power lines. The Dixie fire began near the town of Paradise, which was devastated by a 2018 wildfire ignited by PG&E equipment during strong winds. Eighty-five people died. On Sunday evening, PG&E notified 39,000 customers that it may have to shut off power Tuesday evening due to a forecast of dry winds out of the north-east. It said: “Given this wind event and current conditions including extreme to exceptional drought and extremely dry vegetation, PG&E has begun sending 48-hour advance notifications to customers in targeted areas where PG&E may need to proactively turn power off for safety to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.” The Dixie fire was among 97 large, active wildfires burning in the United States on Monday, the National Interagency Fire Center said. More than 25,000 firefighters, support personnel and management teams were assigned to the blazes.

Thousands Evacuate as Wildfires Ravage Utah and Northern California - As intense wildfires continued to burn across parts of the western United States on Sunday, prompting thousands of evacuations in Utah and Northern California, firefighters in Oregon announced on Sunday that they had fully contained what had once been the country’s largest wildfire this year. The Dixie Fire in California had spread to more than 550,000 acres across four counties in the northern part of the state and was 31 percent contained as of Sunday morning, according to Cal Fire. The blaze is now the largest on record in the United States, pushing to second place the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which the authorities said on Sunday was 100 percent contained after ravaging more than 400,000 acres since early July.In eastern Utah, the fast-moving Parleys Canyon Fire, which ignited on Saturday afternoon, quickly forced the evacuation of at least 6,000 homes, according to the authorities. Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah warned that Sunday would be “another difficult fire day,” as the blaze had charred at least 1,500 acres east of Salt Lake City and was 0 percent contained.Mr. Cox said that some of Utah’s firefighters were returning from wildfire duty in other states to fight the blaze in Parleys Canyon.The Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Sunday that it had agreed to a request from officials in Utah to help cover the cost of fighting the fire. The American Red Cross of Utah said that 25 people had stayed in a shelter that the organization had set up at a high school in Park City on Saturday night.State fire authorities said the fire started when a car sent sparks flying along a highway after its catalytic converter, a device that controls exhaust emissions, malfunctioned.The Utah Department of Public Safety said in a statement on Saturday that the authorities had discovered two fires burning a mile apart along a highway in Parleys Canyon, and that the blaze quickly spread up a nearby mountain.The fire continued on an eastward path and was moving “at a rapid pace,” the department said.The sheriff of Summit County, which includes Parleys Canyon, said on Twitter on Saturday night that some residents had refused to evacuate, and that their decision was putting firefighters and other emergency workers in danger.

Dixie Fire explodes past 600,000 acres, forcing more evacuation orders -Small, rural California communities are threatened by the nation's largest wildfire and officials warned the danger of new blazes erupting across the West was high because of unstable weather.The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch from Tuesday through Wednesday night near the Dixie Fire in Northern California, where dry, gusty winds are forecast. Pushed by winds, the megafire spread east and was near Susanville in Lassen County. Authorities told some residents in the mountain town of Janesville to leave. Lines were holding in the community of Westwood, just east of Lake Almanor. Fire surrounded the town to the north, south and east. At Lassen Volcanic National Park, firefighters worked aggressively to build lines around Manzanita Lake and communities like Old Station. The fire pushed northwest inside the park, torching about 22,000 acres. Firefighters described continued challenging conditions as the Dixie Fire exploded overnight, increasing by more than 25,000 acres to 604,511 acres, officials said Tuesday. "Intense fire activity continued into the evening hours under the influence of southwest winds," Cal Fire said in its morning update. The fire remains 31% contained. Meanwhile, officials are concerned about a separate fire outside of Janesville that was sparked by lightning a few days ago. The fire is about 300 acres in the Thompson Peak area, said Dan McKeague, public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. All told, the Dixie Fire has destroyed 1,180 structures, including 630 homes, and nearly 16,000 homes are threatened by the massive wildfire, McKeague said. Briefing firefighters Tuesday morning, supervisors talked about the danger of spot fires, saying that for every 10 embers that cross the fire line, 12 new spot fires are started. “Once they build energy, they are going to run away from you and create havoc,” a supervisors said.

 Caldor Fire Ignites 30,000 Acres in California, Destroys Town of Grizzly Flats - The Caldor Fire, which ignited over the weekend, exploded nearly five-fold to roughly 30,000 acres Tuesday, incinerating much of the 1,200-person town of Grizzly Flats.At least two people with serious injuries were airlifted to hospitals from the Grizzly Flats area and about 22,000 residents have been forced to evacuate."It's a pile of ash," Derek Shaves, who evacuated but was able to reenter the town after the fire had passed through, told the AP. "Everybody['s house] on my block is a pile of ash and every block that I visited — but for five separate homes that were safe — was totally devastated." The only thing left of Walt Tyler Elementary School was a metal playground structure, save for the plastic slide melted away by the fire. Strong winds, and the underlying megadrought, fueled the conflagration and the National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for much of North California and Nevada citing the perilous trifecta of low humidity, extremely dry vegetation, and strong wind. The Caldor Fire was 0% contained Tuesday evening.

Anger and evacuations as deadly wildfires char France and Greece - Hundreds of firefighters struggled for a third day Wednesday to contain France's worst wildfire of the summer near the glitzy Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez which has forced thousands of residents and tourists to flee. Officials in the Var region confirmed the first death blamed on the blaze Wednesday morning and said about 20 others were being treated for smoke inhalation. Firefighters were also battling deadly wildfires in Greece, and large blazes have ravaged parts of Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco this year. Russia's northern Siberia region has also been battered by a wildfire season that started early this year, in May, and blanketed a huge area in thick smoke that spread as far as the North Pole for the first time ever.The Mediterranean basin has long faced seasonal wildfires linked to its dry and hot weather in the summer, but climate scientists warn they will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming. In Greece, there was mounting criticism over what many consider negligent fire control measures, leaving both the ecosystem and residents vulnerable. The French fire has scorched some 12,000 acres in a region known for its forests, vineyards and fauna since it broke out in the Plaine des Maures nature reserve on Monday evening.Some 1,200 firefighters were deployed, using high-pressure hoses and water-bombing planes and helicopters to control the flames. High temperatures and strong winds forced local authorities to evacuate around 7,000 people from homes and campsites, the Var prefecture said Tuesday, many to the safety of municipal buildings and schools.Among them were 1,300 people staying at a campsite in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas down the coast from Saint-Tropez."We started smelling the smoke around 7:00 pm, then we saw the flames on the hill," said Cindy Thinesse, who fled a campsite near Cavalaire on Monday evening. "We hesitated, but when we saw that, we decided to leave," she told AFP."The coming hours will be absolutely decisive" for the firefighting effort, President Emmanuel Macron, who has been taking his summer break on the Mediterranean coast, said during a visit to first responders Tuesday evening.

Severe floods hit Germany again, destructive tornado in Lower Saxony -A new round of heavy rains hit Germany and Austria on August 16 and 17, 2021, causing severe floods and landslides and spawning at least one destructive tornado.One person was killed and another is still missing in Germany after sudden floods swept them away off a bridge in Höllentalklamm, a popular destination for hikers also known as Valley of Hell, Bavaria on August 16.According to witnesses, a number of people were carried away after the wooden bridge they were standing on collapsed, prompting a major rescue operation.¹ Other reports say 2 people were swept away when the bridge collapsed while others were caught by the raging water or cut off from their hiking paths by the flood elsewhere.²A state of emergency was declared in northern Germany after a tornado damaged more than 50 homes in the village of Grossheide, Lower Saxony. DW reports roofs ripped from homes, vehicles overturned, and toppled trees.³While nobody was injured, a spokesman for the fire brigade described the storm's power as unprecedented in the region. "It was a pure chaos that had to be cleared up," he said. At least 4 people were injured on August 17 in neighboring Austria and around 100 were rescued from their cars after heavy rains caused severe floods and mudslides, particularly in the Pinzgau and Pongau regions in Salzburg. Roads and railway tracks were engulfed by raging waters and a small train was swept away and engulfed in mud in Salzburg on August 17.A bus with two people and a car were also swept into a creek by a mud avalanche in the community of Dienten, Pinzgau.Three people were injured, one of them seriously, in the incident and rescued by firefighters. Another person was injured in Guntramsdorf after falling during cleanup efforts.More than 1 500 emergency services were called to more than 500 incidents from Gmunden am Traunsee to Wolfern in the Steyr-Land region, Upper Austria.The storms flooded roads, blown off manhole covers and inundated cellars.⁴

Heavy Rain Causes Floods, Mudslides in Southwestern Japan - (AP) — Torrential rain continued to trigger floods Saturday in wide areas of southwestern Japan, damaging homes and disrupting transportation a day after a landslide killed one person and left two others missing. In the southern city of Kurume, rivers overflowed and residents evacuated from their homes on rubber boats as rescue workers pulled them while wading through muddy water. Heavy rain has dumped on southern Japan this week, and the Japan Meteorological Agency said more rain is expected in the coming days as a front is stuck above the Japanese archipelago. The agency expanded heavy rain and mudslide warnings in the Kyushu region to other parts of Japan, including Hiroshima, as the rain front slowly moved eastward, bringing downpours to the ancient capital of Kyoto and Nagao in central Japan. The rains triggered a mudslide Friday in the city of Unzen in Nagasaki prefecture, burying four people. One of those buried was killed and another was seriously injured. Rescue workers are searching for the two others. Another mudslide in Hiroshima late Friday left one person seriously injured. Dozens of homes around the country have been damaged by floods and mudslides, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Local authorities have issued the highest-level disaster alert for parts of Kyushu and Hiroshima, affecting about 1.4 million people, though evacuation is not compulsory.

Roads, bridges and homes destroyed as severe floods hit Ghana's Upper West Region - (video) Heavy rains affecting Ghana's Upper West Region on August 13, 2021, caused severe floods in which major roads, bridges, and more than 150 homes were destroyed.According to National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) the worst-affected are Nadowli-Kaleo District, Jirapa District, and the Lawra municipality.Bridges were destroyed and several major roads were severely damaged, disrupting transport and isolating communities.At least 155 homes have been destroyed and more than 700 farms suffered some extent of damage.

Tropical Storm Fred makes landfall with 65-mph winds --Power outages were on the rise across the Florida Panhandle Monday afternoon as Fred came ashore just shy of hurricane force. Tropical Storm Fred is continuing to advance inland after making landfall just west of Apalachicola, Florida, on Monday afternoon. The center of Fred is forecast to move over eastern Alabama and western Georgia Monday night into Tuesday, but some towns closer to the Gulf Coast are still flooded from Fred. Flooding will be a concern all the way into the mid-Atlantic as moisture from Fred fuels tropical downpours through Thursday in the eastern U.S.Elsewhere in the Atlantic, AccuWeather meteorologists are monitoring two other features. Tropical Storm Henri is currently spinning near Bermuda where it is anticipated to cause disruptions throughout the week. Elsewhere, Tropical Depression Grace is passing near Haiti, which is still recovering following a deadly magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Saturday. In the long-term, Grace is predicted to make its way into the Gulf of Mexico where it could organize into a hurricane.The center of Tropical Storm Fred is moving inland, but people along the coast should not let their guard down. Dangerous storm surge is still possible along the Florida Big Bend. The highest water levels are likely between Indian Pass and Steinhatchee River. Damaging wind gusts are also still likely for portions of the Florida Panhandle, southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia as the center of Fred advances inland. Tropical Storm Fred has weakened slightly since making landfall on Monday afternoon, but it is still the strongest of the three active storms in the Atlantic hurricane basin. As of 5 p.m. EDT, Fred was packing winds up to 60 mph. Grace remains a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, but it could evolve into a hurricane as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. Meanwhile, newly-formed Tropical Storm Henri is swirling near Bermuda with winds up to 40 mph.

Storm surge, heavy rains and high winds hit Florida as Tropical Storm "Fred" makes landfall, U.S. - (multiple videos) Tropical Storm "Fred" -- the 6th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season -- made landfall at 19:15 UTC (15:15 LT) on August 16, 2021, near Cape San Blas, Florida, U.S. The storm peaked at 100 km/h (65 mph) just one hour before and maintained that strength until landfall. Multiple people had to be rescued from their flooded homes, including a young child, said AccuWeather National Reported Bill Wadell1 who was at the scene in Havenwood Garden Apartments at the time. This is less than 16 km (10 miles) N of Panama City, FL. "This region just really got hammered by the back end of Fred," Wadell said. "Storm surge, howling winds, and power outages all preceded Fred, and they continued to build upon landfall. Over 36 000 customers in Florida were without power at one point Monday evening," AccuWeather's Adriana Navarro reported.1 Fred weakened into a depression over extreme southeastern Alabama at 09:00 UTC on August 17. At the time, its center was located about 25 km (15 miles) SSW of Columbus, Georgia. However, the system continues dumping heavy rain, spreading flood threats inland across portions of eastern Alabama and western Georgia. "Heavy rainfall may lead to considerable flash, urban, small stream, and isolated river flooding impacts across portions of the Florida Panhandle, southeastern Alabama, and from western Georgia into the southern Appalachians through Tuesday, August 17," NHC forecaster Stewart noted.2 "By the middle of the week, Fred or its remnants will lift northward and impact the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic. Landslides are possible across the mountains of North Carolina and Blue Ridge Escarpment today."

Tropical Depression Fred unleashing tornadoes and rain in the Southeast – CNN - Tropical Depression Fred unleashed heavy rain and a number of tornadoes from Georgia to the Carolinas on Tuesday. A tornado watch is in effect for parts of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia until 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.Tens of thousands of customers were without power from Florida to North Carolina, according topoweroutage.us, amid reports of downed trees and power lines.Flash flood warnings are in effect for parts of north Georgia, western South Carolina and North Carolina, and flood watches are in effect from Georgia to south-central New York.At least two tornadoes were reported in Georgia and three in North Carolina, and several tornado warnings were issued for South Carolina.Fred made landfall in the Florida Panhandle at Cape San Blas on Monday afternoon with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. It was downgraded to a tropical depression Tuesday morning as it lost strength over land.The storm is expected to move across the southern Appalachian Mountains and approach the central Appalachian Mountains by early Wednesday, the NHC said.Fred was expected to drop up to 8 inches of rain over portions of Georgia and the southern Appalachians on Tuesday, with isolated totals of 10 inches possible.

35 missing after remnants of Tropical Storm "Fred" hit North Carolina, U.S. -Heavy rains brought by remnants of Tropical Storm "Fred" triggered floods and mudslides in North Carolina after the storm made landfall near Cape San Blas, Florida¹ on August 16, 2021. Fred then moved through parts of Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina while weakening. Its remnants brought heavy rains to the region, leaving at least 35 people missing or unaccounted for after floods ripped through the Canton area in Haywood County, North Carolina.County officials described the floods around the Pigeon River in Canton as historic.The river peaked at 6.02 m (19.76 feet) on August 17 near Canton, above Major Flood Stage of 5.79 m (19 feet). The East Fork Pigeon River above Canton reached a record high of 4.92 m (16.15 feet) on the same day, breaking the previous record high of 3.99 (13.1 feet). The river's Major Flood Stage in this area is 3.65 m (12 feet). "At this time we have around 35 people still unaccounted for. Several people were located safe and reunited with their families, and several others were added to the list throughout the day as loved ones called in," NC Emergency Services Department said.Roads and bridges sustained significant damage, especially in Cruso, with at least 10 - 15 bridges damaged or destroyed. Ten people had taken refuge in an emergency shelter in a school building in Waynesville.Other affected counties include Jackson, McDowell, Madison, Mitchell, Rutherford, Transylvania, and Yancey which have all declared local states of emergency.²NC Governor Roy Cooper issued the State of Emergency on August 18 to activate the state’s emergency operations plan. In addition to 35 people unaccounted for, one person was killed after a car hydroplaned near Panama City, Florida.

Tropical Storm "Henri" expected to pass south of Bermuda - Tropical Storm "Henri" formed at 21:00 UTC on August 16, 2021, as the 8^th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm is expected to pass south of Bermuda today, bringing tropical storm conditions to the island nation.At 12:00 UTC on August 17, Henri's center was located about 210 km (130 miles) SSE of Bermuda. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 km/h (50 mph) and was moving WSW at 7 km/h (5 mph). Its minimum central pressure was 1 004 hPa.A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for Bermuda - tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 24 hours.A turn toward the W is forecast by tonight (LT), followed by a motion to the WNW or NW by late Thursday, according to the NHC.On the forecast track, the center of Henri should pass well to the south of Bermuda later today, August 17, and tonight, August 18 (LT). Swells generated by Henri are expected to begin affecting Bermuda later today."Tropical Storm "Henri" will continue to take a clockwise track around the south of the Island over the next few days as it intensifies," the Bermuda Weather Service (BWS) meteorologists said.Winds could approach tropical storm force at times, especially towards the south of the marine area, and as such a tropical storm watch remains in effect. Expect occasional spells of inclement weather mainly from later this afternoon into Wednesday, August 18."Henri will pass its closest point of approach to the island and will gradually begin to move further away. An upper trough will steer the storm towards the northeast and it will complete the clockwise loop around the island," BWS said."This will bring additional rainfall, however, current guidance has seen the possibility for 'tank rain' decrease. Weak outer bands will traverse through the island on Wednesday bringing periods of rain or shows which do not seem heavy or long lasting from the latest model run.

Henri to reach hurricane force, make close approach to East Coast -Tropical Storm Henri, after forming Monday afternoon south and east of Bermuda, has been circling the island nation menacingly this week. AccuWeather forecasters warned Wednesday that a shift in its strength, the storm is now expected to reach hurricane force, and its track will bring it close to the East Coast of the United States -- perhaps close enough to brush the coast or even make landfall. Henri (pronounced: ahn-REE) was packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph and was located about 235 miles southwest of Bermuda on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Henri was swirling about 790 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. "Henri will continue to make a clockwise circle around Bermuda through the end of this week but also gradually pull farther away as it does so," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller said. Henri will finally break out of its loop this weekend, and it will take a more northerly or northeasterly track, AccuWeather forecasters say. The storm may also further strengthen as it moves closer to the East Coast. As Henri churns off the coast, the primary risks will be rough surf and dangerous rip currents at the beaches up and down the Eastern Seaboard through the rest of this week and this weekend. Through Saturday, Henri will spin well offshore, but by later this weekend and early next week, Henri could set its sights closer to the coast. The AccuWeather Eye Path® was updated on Wednesday afternoon and showed the outer edge of the forecast cone swiping the Jersey Shore and much of Long Island and eastern New England were within the possible cone of movement. The final weekends of August are big with vacationers who visit places like North Carolina's Outer Banks, the Jersey Shore, Montauk, New York, and Nantucket and Cape Cod in New England.

Henri closing in on New York area with hurricane-strength force - Tropical Storm Henri is barreling towards the New York area with hurricane-strength winds and potential storm surges that have already shut down local beaches and prompted severe weather warnings along Eastern Long Island.Henri is expected to hit the Hamptons as early as 7 a.m. Sunday, packing winds up to 75 mph and heavy rains through much of the region.Officials throughout the Northeast urged residents in the storm’s path to stay indoors and prepare for flooding and potential widespread power outages.“Hurricane conditions are expected to begin Sunday in portions of Long Island and Connecticut, where a Hurricane Warning has been issued,” the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Friday.“Heavy rainfall may lead to considerable flash, urban, and small stream flooding along with the potential for widespread minor and isolated moderate river flooding over portions of Long Island and New England Sunday into Monday,” the advisory said.The storm is due to hit the Hamptons with sustained winds up to 75 mph — enough to classify it as a Category 1 hurricane, Accuweather said.The storm’s arrival will coincide with a full moon Sunday, which could prompt higher tides and more widespread coastal flooding, the outlet said.“This is the most serious hurricane risk in New England in 30 years,” Accuweather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.City officials said Friday that all city beaches will be closed on Sunday and Monday.The storm is also threatening the planned “homecoming” concert at Central Park but officials at City Hall said the event was still on as of late Friday evening. Henri is expected to hit Long Island early Sunday morning before moving north into Massachusetts, where Gov. Charlie Baker has deployed 1,000 National Guard troops.

Grace to threaten two landfalls in Mexico after dousing Caribbean -- Grace strengthened into the second hurricane of the 2021 season in the Atlantic on Wednesday morning as it was aiming for the Cayman Islands on its path toward Mexico. AccuWeather meteorologists are predicting two landfalls in Mexico, as a 2 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes, due to the heavy rainfall, strong wind gusts and storm surge that can create flash flooding, structural damage and power outages. Grace remained a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon, packing winds sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The center of Grace was 250 miles to the east of Tulum, Mexico, and moving west-northwest at 16 mph.Cancun, Mexico, and a stretch of the Yucatán Peninsula, were under hurricane warnings on Wednesday as Grace was expected to continue strengthening through Wednesday night. "It's not out of the question that Grace undergoes rapid intensification before making landfall on Thursday morning in the Yucatan," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda. Rapid intensification, as defined by the NHC, is a meteorological process where tropical systems gain wind intensity very quickly, strengthening 35 mph (55 km/h) in just 24 hours. Grace neared that feat already from Tuesday into Wednesday when the system's maximum sustained winds increased from 52 mph to 75 mph late Wednesday morning. The strengthening system is likely to unleash wind gusts greater than 80 mph across parts of states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo on the peninsula Wednesday night and Thursday.Near where Grace makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as on the island of Cozumel, winds can gust past 100 mph with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 135 mph. Winds of this magnitude could cause extensive power outages and structural damage.

Hurricane Grace makes landfall near Mexico's Tulum temples— Hurricane Grace struck Mexico’s Caribbean coast just south of the ancient Mayan temples of Tulum early Thursday, pushing a dangerous storm surge. Heavy rain and strong winds threatened to destroy flimsier homes and keep tourists off white sand beaches until it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula. The Category 1 storm had already soaked earthquake-damaged Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands en route to a direct hit on the Riviera Maya, the heart of Mexico’s tourism industry. Grace’s center struck just south of Tulum at 4:45 a.m. with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Quintana Roo state opened shelters and evacuated some hotels and residents ahead of the storm’s arrival. Grace missed the popular cruise ship destination Cozumel and came ashore south of Playa del Carmen, where the downtown, usually thumping with music and clubgoers, was eerily desolate Wednesday night. Authorities had ordered all businesses closed and people inside by 8 p.m. With little to stand in its way on the peninsula, Grace was expected to weaken slightly then regain hurricane strength in the Gulf of Mexico before making a second landfall in Mexico later this week. Quintana Roo Gov. Carlos Joaquin said authorities had evacuated hotels that were not made to withstand hurricanes and he called a halt to alcohol sales in the region at 5 p.m. Some airlines cancelled flights to the peninsula. On Tulum’s main drag, tourists in plastic ponchos splashed through puddles as the wind picked up. On the beach side, the surf grew and beachgoers took shelter from the blowing sand. Armed soldiers and sailors patrolled Tulum’s streets in trucks, and businesses taped and boarded up windows as lines formed at grocery stores with families stocking up on essentials. Meanwhile, some tourists fretted over a lost day at the beach while others prepared for their first hurricane experience. “It’s a little scary because it’s unknown, but besides that we’re okay. We made it through Covid.” Up the coast in Cancun, fishermen dragged their boats away from the water’s edge in preparation. “Last year it caught us like that (unprepared) because the information we get sometimes is not correct and sometimes we can endure them (the storms.),” said fisherman Carlos Canché Gonzalez. “But I don’t think it will strengthen, and from the experience we have from last year, well, if it does or it doesn’t, we have to protect our equipment. That’s what we live off, we’ve been fishermen for years.”

Violent M7.2 earthquake hits Haiti, causing widespread damage and leaving hundreds dead, injured and missing - A violent earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.2 hit Haiti at 12:29 UTC on August 14, 2021. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.

• This is the 4^th M7+ earthquake in the world since August 11 (M7.1 Philippines, M7.5 South Sandwich Islands, M8.1 South Sandwich Islands).
• The epicenter was located about 75 km (46 miles) W of the M7.0 January 12, 2010 earthquake that caused major damage to the capital Port-au-Prince and left between 160 000 and 316 000 people dead.
• Haitian Civil Protection Agency (DPC) confirmed 1 297 fatalities at 22:52 UTC on August 15.
• The death toll is expected to continue rising.

The epicenter was located 13.5 km (8.4 miles) SSE of Petit Trou de Nippes (population 2 130), 37.3 km (23.2 miles) NE of Les Cayes (population 125 799), 40.9 km (25.4 miles) W of Mirogoane (population 89 202), 64.5 km (40.1 miles) W of Tigwav (population 117 504) and 72.8 km (45.3 miles) ESE of Jeremie (population 97 503) and about 125 km (77 miles) W of capital Port-au-Prince (population 987 310).6 000 people are estimated to have felt violent shaking, 590 000 severe, 518 000 very strong, 791 000 strong, and 4 353 000 moderate.The USGS issued a Red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses -- high casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread. Past red alerts have required a national or international response.Estimated economic losses are 6 - 60% GDP of Haiti. Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are mud wall and informal (metal, timber, GI, etc.) construction. Landslide population exposure is estimated to be significant. A small tsunami wave (up to 2 cm / 0.1 feet) was observed in the capital city. The first interventions, carried out by both professional rescuers and members of the population, made it possible to extract many people from the rubble, DPC said. Hospitals continue to receive wounded. 12 moderate to strong aftershocks were registered by 18:11 UTC. The Haitian Civil Protection Agency (DPC) confirmed 1 297 fatalities at 22:52 UTC on August 15 - 1 054 in the South, 122 in Nippes, 119 in Grand'Anse, and 2 in the North-West. Search and rescue operations are still in progress and the death toll is expected to continue rising.

Violent M7.2 earthquake in Haiti claims 1 419 lives, leaves 6 900 injured and 84 585 homes damaged or destroyed --1 419 people have been killed and more than 6 900 others injured after a violent M7.2 earthquake¹struck Haiti at 12:29 UTC on August 14, 2021, the Haitian Civil Protection Agency (DPC) said at 22:17 UTC on August 16.1 133 people were killed in the South, 162 in Grand'Anse, 122 in Nippes, and 2 in the North-West. This is a very partial assessment and the death toll is still expected to rise, DPC said.6 975 people were injured -- 5 207 in the South, 1 065 in Grand'Anse, and 704 in Nippes. A total of 84 585 homes were damaged or destroyed -- 41 594 in Grand'Anse, 36 585 in South, and 6 046 in Nippes. In addition, hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also destroyed or badly damaged.²"We are working now to ensure that the resources we have are going to get to the places that are hardest hit," DPC head Jerry Chandler told AP.A hospital in southwestern Haiti was so overwhelmed with patients that many had to lie in patios, corridors, verandas, and hallways, AP reported.With heavy rains in the forecast due to Tropical Depression Grace³, the officials had to relocate patients to other hospitals while rescuers rushed to find as many survivors as possible. The epicenter was located about 75 km (46 miles) W of the M7.0 January 12, 2010 earthquake that caused major damage to the capital Port-au-Prince and left between 160 000 and 316 000 people dead.

Earthquake-struck Haiti braces for Tropical Storm Grace -- Haitians scrambled overnight to try to find survivors trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings after a major earthquake killed more than 1,200 people and injured 5,700 in the Caribbean country Saturday.The 7.2-magnitude quake injured hundreds more and flattened churches, homes and government buildings.The temblor, which was felt in Cuba and Jamaica and was followed by a string of aftershocks, hit around 5 miles from the town of Petit-Trou-de-Nippes, just over 90 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, at a depth of about 6 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Video posted to social media showed residents pulling stunned survivors out of the rubble of collapsed buildings after homes, hospitals, schools, churches and other buildings were damaged or destroyed.The earthquake was a terrifying reminder of the devastating temblor that rocked Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, 11 years ago, killing tens of thousands of people.Yvon Pierre, the former mayor of Saint Louis du Sud, said he would sleep outside because of the aftershocks. "I am strong, but this affected me psychologically, and that is probably the same as the rest of the population," Pierre said.As well as the aftermath of the most recent quake, Haiti must also brace for the likely impact of Tropical Storm Grace, which appears to be headed toward it and could bring heavy rains and strong wind this week.The quake also hit at a time of deep political turmoil, just weeks after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7.Looking to offer words of comfort to a devastated population, Prime Minister Ariel Henry said: "We need to show a lot of solidarity with the emergency." Henry, who found himself at the helm of the struggling country after Moïse's assassination, has said officials will look to hold elections for a new president as soon as possible.

Complex earthquake: USGS says M7.5 in South Sandwich Islands was foreshock of M8.1 - Seismic observations suggest that M7.5 earthquake¹ that struck South Sandwich Islands at 18:32 UTC on August 12 is a part of a complex seismic sequence."Our current interpretation is that this earthquake is a foreshock to a M8.1 that occurred about 170 seconds later. Research is being conducted on this sequence to better understand the faulting geometry and details of rupture. This analysis will take time and our understanding will likely evolve," the USGS said.The location, depth, mechanism, and magnitude of this earthquake are still preliminary and less well constrained than typical events of this size due to interference from the preceding M7.5 foreshock, the agency added. There were at least 126 earthquakes in this region by 08:52 UTC on August 15. The current understanding of the August 12 M8.1 earthquake in the South Sandwich Islands is that it occurred as the result of reverse faulting at approximately 48 km (30 miles) depth in the Scotia subduction zone, according to the USGS tectonic summary report.2 The focal mechanism solution indicates slip occurred on either a steeply dipping fault dipping to the northwest, or on a shallowly dipping plane dipping to the southeast. Note that in this location, the subduction zone interface dips to the west. The earthquake occurred ~3 minutes following a M7.5 foreshock that was located at a depth of about 63 km (39 miles) and about 90 km (56 miles) to the north. At the location of the M8.1 earthquake, the South America plate subducts westward beneath the Scotia Plate and the South Sandwich microplate (a component of the broader Scotia plate). The South America plate subducts at a rate of ~71 mm (2.8 inches) per year relative to the South Sandwich microplate. The depth and the mechanism of this event are consistent with the earthquake rupturing within the subducted South America plate (an intraplate earthquake), rather than on the interface between the two plates. Given the temporal proximity of these two large earthquakes, however, a faulting mechanism for the M8.1 mainshock is difficult to accurately constrain due to the overlapping seismic waves. While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Events of the size of the August 12, 2021 M8.1 earthquake are typically about 150 km x 75 km (93 x 46 miles) in size (length x width). Over the previous century, eight other M7+ earthquakes, including the M7.5 foreshock, occurred within 250 km (155 miles) of the M8.1 earthquake. The largest of these previous earthquakes was an M8.1 in May 1964.

Strong aftershocks continue after M8.1 earthquake hits South Sandwich Islands region - A very strong M6.9 earthquake hit South Sandwich Islands region at 11:10 UTC on August 16, 2021, at a depth of 14 km (8.7 miles). This is the strongest of 127 aftershocks registered by the USGS after M7.5 and M8.1 on August 12. While this intense earthquake sequence is still being analyzed, the current understanding is that M7.51 was a foreshock to M8.12 which took place about 170 seconds later. The M8.1 earthquake occurred as the result of reverse faulting at a depth of approximately 48 km (30 miles) in the Scotia subduction zone. The focal mechanism solution indicates slip occurred on either a steeply dipping fault dipping to the northwest, or on a shallowly dipping plane dipping to the southeast, according to the USGS.3 "The location, depth, mechanism, and magnitude of this earthquake is preliminary and less well constrained than typical events of this size due to interference from the preceding M7.5 foreshock," the USGS said. In the 24 hours following the M8.1 mainshock, the USGS located 61 aftershocks of M4.5 or greater. The aftershock sequence during this time frame includes three aftershocks larger than M6 (M6.0, M6.2, and M6.3). The aftershocks span a trench-parallel distance of about 470 km (290 miles), stretching from the M7.5 foreshock southward to the triple junction between the South America, South Sandwich, and Antarctica plates. Preliminary locations for a subset of the aftershocks are located east of the trench indicating the potential presence of outer rise earthquakes, which occur as a result of downward flexure of the subducting slab. From August 12 at 18:35 UTC (M8.1) to 11:52 UTC on August 16, the USGS registered a total of 126 aftershocks - 32 M4 - 5, 90 M5 - 6, and 4 M6 - 7.

New vent opens at Fagradalsfjall, ground cracks observed in Gónhóll, Iceland - A new vent has opened close to the main crater at the Fagradalsfjall eruption site, Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja volcanic system in Iceland, which continues to erupt since March 19, 2021.¹According to the Institute of Earth Sciences photographs of the flow field captured on August 8 suggested that the lava effusion rate averaged 9.3 m³ (328 feet³) per second over the previous 12 days. The area of the flow field had grown to 4.4 km² (1.7 mi²), and the total volume erupted was 119 million m³ (155.6 million yd³).²In addition, new ground cracks were observed in Gónhóll, a hill south of the fifth vent -- which is now the main crater.A statement by the South Iceland Volcanology and Natural Disaster Team confirmed on August 16 that the vent that opened on August 9 was separate from the nearby main vent."On the mbl.is webcam, the new vent can be seen beside the crater, from where lava spatters. This opening has been visible for the past days, but it was [at first] believed that lava was simply flowing through the rim of the crater," the team said.³"Now, however, it appears fairly clear that this is an independent vent, separate from the lava lake in the crater. A small crater bowl has formed around said vent, by the main crater."The new vent has grown rapidly as lava gushed out with great force, 'creating even higher spatters than has the larger crater.'

Rising trend of SO2 emission at Taal volcano, Philippines - The first measurement of volcanic sulfur dioxide or SO2 flux from the Taal Main Crater on August 19, 2021, totaled 15 347 tonnes/day. This marks a rising trend in volcanic SO2 degassing since August 13, with the short-term average from then until present measured at 8 351 tonnes/day, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said in an advisory issued August 19. In the same period, tall steam-rich plumes that rose 1 - 3 km (3 280 - 9 840 feet) were also generated by the Taal Main Crater.1 Atmospheric conditions of air temperatures at 32.2 ºC (90 ºF), relative humidity at 55.8% and wind velocities at 0 to 2.3 meters/second within the lower 3 km (1.8 miles) of the atmosphere prevailed over Taal Caldera today. The high SO2 flux, water vapor emitted in plumes, weak air movement, and solar radiation will continue to produce volcanic smog or vog over the Taal region. Reports of adverse effects on some residents of Talisay and Brgy. Barigon, Agoncillo have been received, PHIVOLCS said. Hazy conditions were also observed over Taal Lake and municipalities surrounding Taal Lake. In 24 hours to 00:00 UTC on August 20, the Taal Volcano Network recorded 64 volcanic earthquakes, including 50 volcanic tremor events having durations of 2 to 24 minutes, 14 low-frequency volcanic earthquakes, and low-level background tremor that has persisted since July 7, 2021.2 Based on ground deformation parameters from electronic tilt, continuous GPS, and InSAR monitoring, Taal Volcano Island has begun deflating in April 2021 while the Taal region continues to undergo very slow extension since 2020. "As a reminder, vog consists of fine droplets containing volcanic gas such as SO2 which is acidic and can cause irritation of the eyes, throat and respiratory tract in severities depending on the gas concentrations and durations of exposure. People particularly sensitive to such ill effects are those with health conditions such as asthma, lung disease and heart disease, the elderly, pregnant women, and children," PHIVOLCS said. "The public is reminded that Alert Level 2 (Increased Unrest) prevails over Taal Volcano and that the threat of sudden steam- or gas-driven explosions and lethal accumulations or expulsions of volcanic gas can occur and threaten areas within and around TVI. "Increasing SO2 flux may also forewarn potential phreatomagmatic activity similar to the July 1, 2021 eruption. Venturing into TVI must therefore remain strictly prohibited, and LGUs are advised to continually check on the preparedness of their constituent communities."

Asteroid 2021 PA17 flew past Earth at 0.17 LD - A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2021 PA17 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.17 LD / 0.00045 AU (67 320 km / 41 830 miles) from the center of our planet at 14:11 UTC on August 14, 2021. This is the 75^th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and 4^th so far this month.The object was first observed at ATLAS-HKO, Haleakala, Hawaii on August 15, one day after it made its close approach.2021 PA17 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 7 and 16 m (23 - 52 feet).It flew past us at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 17.43 km/s.

Rain Observed at Greenland Ice Sheet Summit for First Time on Record -This past weekend, researchers at the National Science Foundation's Summit Station observed rainfall at the peak of Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet for the first time on record — an event driven by warming temperatures."This was the third time in less than a decade, and the latest date in the year on record, that the National Science Foundation's Summit Station had above-freezing temperatures and wet snow," the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said in a press release earlier this week. "There is no previous report of rainfall at this location (72.58°N 38.46°W), which reaches 3,216 meters (10,551 feet) in elevation."Temperatures at the summit of the ice sheet rose above freezing at around 5:00 am local time on Saturday, "and the rain event began at the same time," NSIDC noted. "For the next several hours, rain fell and water droplets were seen on surfaces near the camp as reported by on-station observers."The anomalous rainfall at the ice sheet's peak marked the start of a three-day period during which "above-freezing temperatures and rainfall were widespread to the south and west of Greenland... with exceptional readings from several remote weather stations in the area," said NSIDC. "Total rainfall on the ice sheet was 7 billion tons."The warmer-than-usual temperatures caused significant melting of the ice sheet, with melt extent peaking at 337,000 square miles on August 14. "Warm conditions and the late-season timing of the three-day melt event coupled with the rainfall led to both high melting and high runoff volumes to the ocean," NSIDC observed. "On August 15 2021, the surface mass lost was seven times above the mid-August average... At this point in the season, large areas of bare ice exist along much of the southwestern and northern coastal areas, with no ability to absorb the melt or rainfall. Therefore, the accumulated water on the surface flows downhill and eventually into the ocean."

The planet is in peril. We’re building Congress’s strongest-ever climate bill | Bernie Sanders (long OpEd) …The $3.5tn budget resolution that was recently passed in the Senate lays the groundwork for a historic reconciliation bill that will not only substantially improve the lives of working people, elderly people, the sick and the poor, but also, in an unprecedented way, address the existential threat of climate change. More than any other legislation in American history it will transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy.This legislation will be a long-overdue step forward in the fight for economic, racial, social and environmental justice. It will also create millions of well-paying jobs. As chair of the Senate budget committee my hope is that the various committees will soon finish their work and that the bill will be on the floor and adopted by Congress in late September.Let me be honest in telling you that this reconciliation bill, the final details of which are still being written, will not do everything that needs to be done to combat climate change. But by investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the reduction of carbon emissions it will be a significant step forward and will set an example for what other countries should be doing.Here are some of the proposals that are currently in the bill:

• Massive investments in retrofitting homes and buildings to save energy.
• Massive investment in the production of wind, solar and other forms of sustainable energy.
• A major move toward the electrification of transportation, including generous rebates to enable working families to buy electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances.
• Major investments in greener agriculture.
• Major investments in climate resiliency and ecosystem recovery projects.
• Major investments in water and environmental justice.
• Major investments in research and development for sustainable energy and battery storage.
• Billions to address the warming and acidification of oceans and the needs of coastal communities.
• The creation of a Civilian Climate Corps which will put hundreds of thousands of young people to work transforming our energy system and protecting our most vulnerable communities.

 Fossil Fuel Companies Are Quietly Scoring Big Money for Their Preferred Climate Solution: Carbon Capture and Storage - Over the last year, energy companies, electrical utilities and other industrial sectors have been quietly pushing through a suite of policies to support a technology that stands to yield tens of billions of dollars for corporate polluters, but may do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.These policies have fast-tracked environmental reviews and allocated billions in federal funding for research and development of carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technologies that pull carbon dioxide out of smokestacks or directly from the air before storing it underground. Just a single bill—the bipartisan infrastructure legislation that passed the Senate last week and is now headed to the House of Representatives—includes more than $12 billion in direct support for carbon capture, and could unlock billions more through other programs, according to the recent drafts.Many environmental advocates argue that the massive government support would be better spent on proven climate solutions like wind and solar energy, which receive far less in direct funding under the infrastructure bill. “We know today that renewable energy is ready to be deployed, it works, it helps decarbonize the energy sector,” said Josh Axelrod, a senior advocate in the nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. “On the flip side, carbon capture has a mixed record, is not widely deployed anywhere, and if it holds promise, it holds promise in the next decade or the next 20 or 30 or 40 years.”

Enchant Energy spent more on lobbying than planning its coal carbon capture project - The developers of a controversial coal carbon capture proposal at the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico have not attracted interest from outside investors and failed to fund even their share of the study for the billion dollar proposal. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Department of Energy revised the cost sharing agreement in January 2021 to increase the share paid by taxpayers for the study; the agency now has confirmed to the Energy and Policy Institute that the decision was made during the final week of the Trump administration. In the absence of investor interest, Enchant Energy is now also seeking a $906 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy for the carbon capture proposal, lobbying Congress for expanded 45Q tax credits and other subsidies, and urging the state of New Mexico to accept long-term liability for sequestered carbon dioxide – on top of the federal funding it is already receiving for the study. Environmental and Native groups in the region wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials in May to request that the agency stop spending federal dollars on the carbon capture proposal until it completes an Environmental Impact Statement.Enchant Energy is proposing to build the world’s largest carbon capture project at the San Juan Generating Station, a coal plant near Farmington, New Mexico. But as the Albuquerque Journalreported in June, the proposal “is facing yearslong delays in nearly all its plans, spurring renewed debate on whether the project will ever get off the ground.” PNM, the operator of the power plant and largest utility in the state, plans to close the 50-year-old coal plant next year and replace it with renewable energy and battery storage projects. But Enchant Energy and the municipal utility for the city of Farmington, which owns a portion of the plant, want to fully acquire the plant, continue operating it, and retrofit it with a massive carbon capture project and carbon dioxide pipeline. In 2019, the Department of Energy provided a grant to Enchant Energy to help fund a Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study about the proposal, as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to fund coal and gas power plant carbon capture proposals.A cost sharing agreement between Enchant Energy and the Department of Energy (DOE) suggest that the parties expected that Enchant Energy would provide the majority of the funding for the FEED study, according to DOE documents.

Guest column/Carbon capture can't save us - The Steubenville Herald-Star – Randi Pokladnik - The AFL-CIO and Energy Futures, a think-tank led by former Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, have formed a new group, called the Labor Energy Partnership. They are proposing that the Ohio River Valley become a storage hub for fossil-fuel generated hydrogen and carbon dioxide using carbon capture storage technology.Some of the biggest cheerleaders of this plan include fossil fuel companies and Brian Anderson, the former West Virginia University professor who spoke in favor of a petrochemical hub in the Ohio River Valley. Anderson was tapped by President Biden to head up the White House Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. He will be holding public meetings and no doubt singing the praises of CCS to save coal-fired power plants and jobs in areas where there are coal-centered economies.CCS uses a technique to strip the carbon dioxide from a waste stream such as effluent from a coal-fired power plant smokestack. Although the oil industry has been using this technique for years, MIT Technology Review points out in an Aug. 9 article, “carbon-sucking machines require large amounts of energy and materials.” According to the Global Carbon Capture Storage Institute, the current amount of carbon emissions being captured and stored by this technique is about 40 million tons or 0.1 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions. The United Nation’s Climate Report released on Monday says we have to remove “5 billion tons of carbon a year by 2050 and 17 billion by 2100 to maintain a 2 degree C increase in the average global temperature.” That’s 125 times more CO2 than we are currently removing with CCS.There are many environmental and economic problems associated with using CCS. The main use of the carbon dioxide captured is for enhanced oil recovery to help “bolster” production of older oil fields. During this procedure, pressurized CO2 is pumped into old oil field wells to help force out any remaining oil deposits. Using the carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery does not guarantee the gas is permanently removed from the atmosphere as it can leak from wells and fissures.The majority of the world’s 21 large-scale CCS plants are located in the United States and Canada, and all but five sell or send their carbon dioxide to facilities involved in enhanced oil recovery. This serves to encourage more fossil fuel extraction. Additionally, an enormous system of pipelines will be needed to transport the captured carbon dioxide to other areas of use. These pipelines have been known to rupture as was the case in Yazoo, Miss., where on Feb. 27, 2020, a CO2 line ruptured. The carbon dioxide filled the air, causing the evacuation of more than 300 people and the hospitalization of 45. First responders reported citizens foaming at the mouth from the CO2 and combustion engines stopped from the lack of oxygen.In the 2019 Center for International Environmental Law report “Fuel to Fire” Exxon stated that it had a working interest in one quarter of the world’s total carbon capture and storage capacity and Shell is involved with four current CCS projects. Chevron has invested $75 million in CCS research in the past 10 years, while BP is a current sponsor of the CO2 Capture Project. There are economic incentives that are encouraging fossil fuel industries to champion the use of CCS. These include government programs as well as tax incentives.The very industry that is a main contributor to climate change will profit from tax breaks and government funding being directed at CCS projects. The CIEL Report states, “It is not surprising that the fossil fuel industry has invested and is investing heavily in the technologies that would render a transition from fossil fuels less urgent.” Carbon capture is one of those technologies.

Firms line up 'green' ammonia for fertilizer and future fuel - As society attempts to find ways to reduce its environmental footprint, decarbonizing a broad range of sectors and industrial processes will be crucial in the years ahead. Time is of the essence when it comes to finding new solutions and technologies to do this, if the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest findings are anything to go by.. Published last week, its report warned that limiting global warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius or even 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would "be beyond reach" in the next two decades without immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Against this sobering backdrop a number of firms are attempting to reduce the environmental effects of ammonia production, which is responsible approximately 1.8% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, according to a policy briefing from The Royal Society. On Monday, for instance, three Norwegian firms – energy powerhouse Statkraft, Aker Clean Hydrogen and fertilizer specialist Yara – launched a company focused on the production of so-called "green" ammonia. The new company, called HEGRA, is jointly owned by the three businesses. According to Statkraft, which is itself owned by the Norwegian state, HEGRA will focus on electrifying and decarbonizing an ammonia plant located in Herøya, Norway. The broad idea behind the initiative is that it will use renewable energy to generate ammonia at scale. The ammonia would then be used to produce carbon-free fertilizer. Statkraft also described green ammonia as "a promising zero-emission fuel for the maritime sector." Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Monday morning, Yara CEO Svein Tore Holsether stressed the importance of developing big-picture solutions. "The technology is there, but it's also about turning it into a product," he said. "And the nice thing about ammonia production and fertilizer production is that you have an existing infrastructure already." "By converting part of that to renewable energy using hydropower, as we're talking about here in Norway, we can produce a renewable fertilizer product and supply that to the farmers at scale, rather quickly." In terms of a timeline, Holsether indicated it would take five to seven years to get the project up and running.

'Expensive distraction': Chair of UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association resigns citing blue hydrogen concerns | BusinessGreen News - Protium CEO Chris Jackson claims blue hydrogen risks locking UK into reliance on fossil fuels as he quits the trade body Chris Jackson has stepped down from his role as chair of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (UKHFCA), arguing that he is no longer able to advocate in good faith on behalf of 'blue' hydrogen made using fossil fuel gas with carbon capture....

Biden wants a national efficiency standard. Would it work? During his 2020 campaign, President Biden began pitching an energy efficiency and clean electricity standard to push the United States to carbon-free electricity by 2035 — a target now being weighed in Congress. Biden repeated his support for the dual-standard approach in a tweet two weeks ago, noting the need to act to curb the effects of climate change that “Americans across the country can see and feel.” But his administration has not offered details on the energy efficiency part, and it’s unlikely to be included in the Senate version of a clean electricity standard (CES) — now called a clean electricity payment program — that supporters hope to include in the sweeping $3.5 trillion Democratic budget resolution unveiled last week. The omission is frustrating advocates who say an efficiency standard could help slash emissions significantly and reduce the demand for energy. “We see an efficiency standard as well as a clean electricity standard as peanut butter and jelly: It’s hard to imagine one without the other,” said Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which recently issued a policy brief to make the case for a federal efficiency standard alongside a clean electricity standard. “It’s a powerful strategy to help meet emissions goals.” Nadel published an additional blog post last week saying a national efficiency standard would cut carbon emissions more than what is released annually from all U.S. passenger vehicles. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia already have energy efficiency standards that require utilities to save energy through programs for consumers. The council says the standards save enough electricity each year to power 2 million homes. However, efficiency standards have run into opposition in some states, and it’s unclear how such a plan would fare nationally.

Biden’s pro-car, pro-gasoline moves leave green allies fuming - President Joe Biden is pushing ambitious plans for tackling climate change by weaning the U.S. off fossil fuels — but he’s also taking short-term actions that would make it cheaper and more convenient for Americans to keep driving their gasoline-powered cars. The White House’s latest moves include imploring OPEC and Russia to increase oil production in the name of lowering fuel prices, as well aschampioning a trillion-dollar infrastructure deal loaded with money for new and wider highways. The Biden administration has also declined to block a series of oil pipeline projects — despite killing Keystone XL — and has greenlit drilling on leased federal land at a faster rate than former President Donald Trump’s agencies had.The pro-fossil-fuel actions are opening the door to sniping from Republicans, who took special delight in lampooning the request to OPEC. They’re also sowing frustration among green groups, which say Biden is undercutting his climate strategy and sending mixed messages about the urgency of lessening the nation’s reliance on oil and natural gas. “Biden can't be the climate leader he thinks he is if he's lobbying oil states to produce more fossil fuels,” said Deirdre Shelly, an organizer for the Sunrise Movement, a grassroots climate group that endorsed Biden after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) dropped out of the presidential race. Shelly noted the awkward timing of Biden’s OPEC plea, given that just days ago, the United Nations’ latest climate assessment warned that the world will surpass a crucial warming threshold up to a decade sooner than previously predicted. Even environmental groups that credit Biden with pursuing the most aggressive climate policy of any U.S. administration in history say he’s undermining his own achievements in combating fossil fuel use. Those including pausing oil and gas drilling on public lands, jump-starting rules to slash greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, and negotiating historic amounts of spending on charging stations for electric vehicles in the very same infrastructure deal.

Biden admin weighs penalty increase for car companies - The Biden administration is weighing a sharp increase in penalties car companies must pay for not complying with fuel economy standards from model years 2019 to 2021, potentially costing the industry hundreds of million of dollars. In a proposed rule, a division of the Transportation Department this week said it is seeking public comment on whether to reinstate an Obama-era rule that imposed an inflation adjustment to the civil penalty rate starting in 2019. A 2015 law required a number of agencies to adjust their Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, rates, which had not been updated since 1997. Accordingly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration bumped its penalties from $5.50 per tenth of a mile per gallon to $14. The Trump administration tried to roll the penalty rate back to $5.50, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the effort. Still, in his final days in office, President Trump issued a rule delaying the start date of the penalty hike to model year 2022. The recent move to reconsider the start date of the penalty increase is part of President Biden’s broader push to undo a number of Trump-era policies. In January, Biden signed an executive order requiring all federal agencies to review regulations and rollbacks implemented between 2017 and 2021 that are not consistent with science and environmental safety. While NHTSA is considering reinstating the Obama-era standards, the agency said it has not yet reached any final determination and is seeking additional public comment. Public comments are due within 30 days. The announcement follows a series of Biden administration efforts to boost fuel economy and increase adoption of electric vehicles as part of a broader effort to decarbonize the transportation sector, which accounts for the bulk of climate pollution in the United States. Earlier this month, the president signed an executive order calling for half of new car sales to be electric or plug-in electric hybrids by the end of the decade (E&E News PM, Aug. 5).

Fires, probes, recalls: The shift to electric vehicles is costing automakers billions - Automakers are spending billions of dollars to transition to cleaner and greener battery-powered vehicles, but the new technology has come with an even steeper cost: Reputation-damaging vehicle fires, recalls, sudden power loss and problems getting some of the cars started. The learning curve with batteries is steep for traditional automakers, and battery technology remains challenging even for Tesla, which has faced similar issues. But automakers are eager to embrace the new technology with President Joe Biden in the White House pushing for half of new car sales to beelectric by 2030, a plan that will likely come with billions of dollars in tax and other incentives.While costly recalls occur in traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines, many of the current trouble spots for electric vehicles are software and batteries — two areas crucial to EVs that are not historically core areas of expertise for Detroit automakers. "Anytime you go into a new area of technology, there's more to be learned than there is that you know," Doug Betts, president of J.D. Power's automotive division, told CNBC. "There are risks, and there are things to be learned."The problems are already showing up on corporate balance sheets. Three high-profile automaker recalls within the last year — by General Motors, Hyundai Motor and Ford Motor — involving about 132,500 electric vehicles cost a combined $2.2 billion. Most recently, GM said it would spend $800 million on a recall of its Chevrolet Bolt EV following several reported fires due to two "rare manufacturing defects" in the lithium-ion battery cells in the vehicle's battery pack.Recalls are common in the automotive industry, especially for new vehicles. It's one of the reasons vehicles with the newest technologies traditionally perform poorly in some J.D. Power studies."When you go from gas to electric, there's going to be a whole new set of problems you have to deal with, and we just have to figure out how to deal with those issues that you know that we haven't had to deal with in the past," said Guidehouse Insights principal analyst Sam Abuelsamid.Recent recalls or problems with batteries or software of new EVs have included:

• GM last month issued a second recall of its 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVs after at least two of the electric vehicles that were repaired for a previous problem erupted into flames. The automaker said that officials with GM andLG Energy Solution, which supplies the vehicle's battery cells, identified a second "rare manufacturing defect" in the EVs that increases the risk of fire. The $800 million recall covers about 69,000 of the cars globally, including nearly 51,000 in the U.S.
• Porsche recalled the Taycan, its flagship EV, due to a software problem that caused the vehicle to completely lose power while driving.
• In April, Ford Motor said a "small number" of early customers of its Mustang Mach-E crossover EV reported the 12-volt batteries in their vehicles wouldn't charge, preventing those cars from operating. Ford said it was due to a software issue.
• In Europe, Ford last year recalled about 20,500 Kuga plug-in hybrid crossovers and suspended sales of the vehicles due to concerns that the battery packs in the vehicles could potentially overheat and cause a vehicle fire. It cost the automaker $400 million.
• Hyundai Motor earlier this year said it would spend $900 million for a recall following fires in 15 of its Kona EVs.
• BMW, Volvo and others also have recalled EVs, including plug-in hybrid models, due to issues with battery systems.

Infrastructure bill contains less transmission funding than advertised - News articles on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate last week, have reported that it contains $73 billion for power grid upgrades and transmission, a figure drawn from a July 28 White House fact sheet. “The deal’s $73 billion investment is the single largest investment in clean energy transmission in American history,” the fact sheet states.An updated fact sheet released by the White House on Aug. 2 reduced that number to $65 billion, yet retained the description of its impact in “building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy.”But a close look at the bill's specifics reveals that very little of that $65 billion is dedicated to building the high-voltage transmission lines that experts say the U.S. must have to enable the level of wind and solar power deployment necessary to decarbonize the grid.Instead, much of the “power infrastructure” funding is dedicated to research and demonstration of batteries (about $6 billion), carbon capture and storage (about $8 billion), clean hydrogen production (about $9.5 billion) and nuclear power (about $6 billion). Of the funding that is dedicated to the power grid, most of it — between $11 billion and $14 billion — is aimed at making the existing grid more resilient, not necessarily building new power lines. Only $2.5 billion is explicitly targeting transmission grid expansion, in the form of federal loans to help projects reach financial viability. Other funding streams could be directed toward new transmission, but likely little more than $5 billion total, according to an analysis by Rob Gramlich, executive director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. And the bill’s other transmission-specific provision — giving federal agencies more authority over siting new power lines — doesn’t address the cost challenges that have stymied new transmission development over the past decade. So says a lettersent last week from 50 companies and groups to the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee. The letter notes that the infrastructure bill — which is expected to be passed by the House and signed by President Biden — does not contain the advertised $73 billion for transmission. It asks lawmakers to boost federal transmission grid support in a separate $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill being crafted by Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration.

Lines to plug NYC into green power to be buried or submerged - (AP) — There's a disconnect in the effort to make New York state less reliant on fossil fuels. Solar farms, wind turbines and hydro dams are producing more renewable power for the state, but it can be difficult to deliver that power south to the massive New York City market. So state officials are considering proposals to effectively plug the city into more green power through high-voltage transmission lines that would run underground or underwater for more than 100 miles (161 kilometers). Different proposed lines would go beneath the Hudson River or be buried along the state Thruway. One long-planned line would run down the entire state to deliver hydropower from Canada. The proposals are designed to bring New York state a big step closer to its goal of relying on renewable sources for 70% of its power by 2030. The Cuomo administration this year offered incentives to build the lines after analysts concluded it would be difficult to hit the statewide goal without targeting New York City, which relies heavily on fossil fuel. That reliance is expected to increase in the short term because of the recent closure of Indian Point nuclear facility just north of the city. “We’re going to need more efficiency. We’re going to need more rooftop solar. We’re going to need offshore wind. But we also are likely really going to need power from upstate and north of New York in order to meet our objectives,” said Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. Transmission constraints in the electrical grid currently limit the ability to send more renewable energy downstate. Backers of the proposed transmission lines say they could help solve that problem by tapping into the grid north of the congestion. The state will provide incentives through the purchase of “renewable energy certificates” representing the new clean power sent into the grid. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is reviewing plans for transmission lines from seven bidders. Multiple bids are for 1,200 megawatt direct current lines, which could provide an estimated 15% of the city’s electricity needs.

Solar coalition: Chinese firms 'gravely' imperil U.S. clean energy - A newly formed coalition of solar companies is warning that "exploitative" Chinese trade practices could endanger U.S. clean energy goals, raising alarm bells among industry advocates even as the Biden administration has pledged to boost solar power. On Monday, a group of solar manufacturers known as the American Solar Manufacturers Against Chinese Circumvention (A-SMACC) asked the Biden administration to slap fresh tariffs on Chinese-linked solar imports routed through three Southeast Asian countries. In petitions filed with the Department of Commerce, the coalition alleged that Chinese companies have been setting up shop in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand to avoid paying U.S. tariffs. It said allowing the practice to continue would cede "monopoly control" of the industry to China, leaving the administration’s zero-carbon electricity goals "gravely imperiled." The petitions were backed by at least three companies, although the group declined to identify its members. The names were redacted in copies of the petitions made available to E&E News, and in those filings, the coalition cited the threat of "retribution" if their members’ identities were disclosed. The solar industry’s chief trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, promised to fight the petitions, which it said came from four companies. In a note to members yesterday, SEIA’s president and CEO, Abigail Ross Hopper, said that her group would "aggressively contest" the coalition’s bid for a quick and favorable decision from Commerce on new tariffs. "While we are still assessing the potential impact of these petitions, the disruption to the U.S. solar market could be severe," added Hopper. Some 20 Chinese solar companies and subsidiaries, including several of the world’s largest suppliers like JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. and LONGi Solar, were called out in the A-SMACC petitions. Those companies had made only "the bare minimum investment" in their Southeast Asian facilities, the petitions alleged. Solar cells were sent to those facilities from China to undergo "minor processing" before being exported to the U.S. — with the real goal of avoiding American trade policies aimed at China, A-SMACC wrote. A JinkoSolar spokesperson declined comment, and several other Chinese companies did not respond to questions from E&E News. A-SMACC wants Commerce to expand anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels and cells — first enacted under former President Obama in 2012 — to encompass panels and cells made in the three Southeast Asian countries as well. The exact tariff percentage can vary widely, but last year, Chinese-origin solar cells made by many large suppliers were facing tariffs of close to 100%.

Bitcoin mining comes to Pennsylvania coal country—and raises tough questions – How fast will Chinese Bitcoin miners—all and sundry recently ejected from what was formerly the world's largest nation for minting coins—find new homes, and where will they land? Overnight, the Chinese exit banished half the competition for the producers who never stopped cranking in the rest of the world, hugely expanding their profits. The quicker the displaced Chinese can relocate, the more of that bounty they'll reap for themselves, bounty greatly enhanced by Bitcoin's one-third leap in price (to $46,000) since Beijing's late-June crackdown.The Chinese earthquake also spotlights the environmental issue that's crucial to Bitcoin's future: If most of the displaced Chinese miners choose locales where they'll run on fossil fuels, the industry's already gigantic carbon footprint, the size of Greece's before the lockdown, could grow far vaster. In part, that's because the hydroelectric plants in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces hosted by far the world's largest share of green production before the exodus. Now, miners that once drew their power from China's raging rivers are moving to regions offering cheap natural gas, fuel oil, and even coal.BIT Mining, one of China's largest producers, along with numerous others from the diaspora, are powering up on coal in Kazakhstan. At an old Alcoaaluminum smelting plant in Rockdale, Texas, giant expatriate Bitmain installed banks of computers extending the length of three football fields that will run on natural gas––one of Bitmain's executives proudly posed by the towering racks in a ten-gallon hat. A Nevada energy company called Black Rock Petroleum recently announced a deal with a group of Chinese producers that, if it happens, would move 1 million mining machines, and a huge share of the uprooted industry, to Canada's oil-rich Alberta province. The Chinese migration is obscuring another trend that's at least as important: The mother lode in Bitcoin, boosted by the sudden shrinkage in mining capacity and jump in prices, is luring U.S. and other non-Chinese entrepreneurs, mostly backed by venture capital and independent power suppliers. Where these startups go will play a lead role in establishing whether Bitcoin leans green, or spews ever greater quantities of greenhouse gases. And no startup underscores that urgent emissions question more than Stronghold Digital Mining, a new U.S. miner that expects to build a very profitable business around one of the world's dirtiest energy sources. In Kentucky, the largest coal-producing state in the nation, the legislature just passed tax incentives that will benefit such Bitcoin miners as Blockware, which is planning a new plant in Paducah that will run on a blend of hydro, wind, and of course coal. Wyoming has joined Kentucky in offering tax benefits. Crusoe Energy Systems is an operator in the Powder River Basin that takes excess natural gas that's now flared and uses it for mining. Crusoe is now seeking $100 million to $125 million in loans to rechannel the energy that's now burned and wasted, creating a flaming eyesore for nearby communities.

US coal and oil demand on the rise again in blow to climate goals - America’s appetite for fossil fuels has come roaring back as the economy cranks into gear, providing a boost to energy groups but flying in the face of Washington’s drive to slash emissions.Motorists’ return to the roads following the loosening of pandemic restrictions is pushing up fuel demand and the bottom lines of oil refiners, while a shift away from natural gas in power generation has been a boon to coal miners.The resurgence comes as floods and wildfires in many parts of the world lay bare the destructive impacts of climate change, which a landmark report last week determined was “unequivocally” the result of human activity — mainly through the burning of fossil fuels. Petrol demand collapsed last year as the pandemic forced people to stay home. But the vaccine rollout and a loosening of restrictions has allowed American motorists to return to roads in force this summer. Petrol consumption hit record levels of more than 10m barrels a day early last month.The surge in demand has pushed up fuel prices and sparked alarm in the Biden administration, which last week pressed Russia and Saudi Arabia to increase oil production to cool the rally. The federal Energy Information Administration expects Americans to burn through a daily average of 8.8m barrels of petrol this year, up 10 per cent on last year, but below the 9.3m b/d consumed in 2019, largely thanks to an increase in people working from home.Burgeoning fuel demand has provided a boost to oil refiners that were hit hard by last year’s collapse. Companies have ramped up volumes, with many swinging back into profit after posting hefty losses last year.“There was a significant increase in mobility in the second quarter, driving higher demand for refined products, particularly in the US,” Joseph Gorder, chief executive of Texas-based Valero, the biggest global independent refiner, told analysts recently. “In fact, we’re seeing demand for gasoline and diesel in excess of pre-pandemic levels in our US Gulf Coast and mid-continent regions.”US coal demand is also rising sharply, but for a different reason. Climbing natural gas prices have spurred power producers to burn more of the dirtiest fossil fuel once again. The EIA estimates that coal consumption in US electricity generation will jump 17 per cent to 511.7 short tons this year. It means that as Joe Biden battles to push sweeping new clean energy legislation through Congress, his first year as president will coincide with a resurgence in the use of coal.

US coal exports on the mend despite mixed long-term outlook | S&P Global Market Intelligence - The amount of coal shipped from U.S. shores rose during the second quarter, buoyed by robust demand from international markets, particularly in Asia. Exports of U.S. coal jumped 52.5% year over year to 20.6 million tonnes in the June quarter from 13.5 million tonnes, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused electricity consumption to tank, decimating demand for U.S. coal. But the economic recovery in 2021, combined with stronger international coal demand, especially from China, has led to a resurgence in coal exports. What is more, low investment in coal over roughly the past decade made it challenging for the industry to keep supply on pace with demand when markets did recover. Of the top 10 U.S. ports analyzed by Market Intelligence, only two recorded year-over-year declines in seaborne shipments: the ports in Mobile, Ala., and Seattle. The remaining eight ports booked increased second-quarter shipments compared to the same quarter of 2020. Coal shipments from New Orleans, which exports a significant amount of Illinois Basin coal, surged in the second quarter to 2.8 million tonnes, 398.5% more than in the same quarter in 2020. "With coal prices up, a lot of Illinois Basin coal production can now be reasonably exported again," Nelson told Market Intelligence. "That helps explain why exports from New Orleans' ports were up so much during the quarter. It's a function of where that coal is coming from and what is going on there." A significant portion of the country's metallurgical coal, a primary ingredient in steelmaking, departed from Norfolk, Va., during the three-month period. Producers shipped about 6.2 million tonnes of metallurgical coal from Norfolk, a 31.7% increase from the 4.7 million tonnes of metallurgical coal exported during the second quarter of 2020. Total coal export volumes from Baltimore also jumped during the June quarter, by 101.5% year over year to total 5.1 million tonnes. Producers in Northern and Central Appalachia service ports in Baltimore and Norfolk.

Soaring demand for the world’s least-liked commodity sees coal prices jump 106% this year — Soaring electricity demand, infrastructure woes and a surge in global gas prices have triggered an extraordinary rally for the world's least liked commodity. Australian thermal coal at Newcastle Port, the benchmark for the vast Asian market, has climbed 106% this year to more than $166 per metric ton, according to the latest weekly assessment by commodity price provider Argus. The Newcastle weekly index, which stood at a 2020 low of $46.18 in early September, now appears to be closing in on an all-time high of $195.20 from July 2008. Its South African equivalent, the Richards Bay index, ended the week through to Aug. 13 at $137.06 per metric ton, up more than 55% this year. To put thermal coal's remarkable rally into some context, international benchmark Brent crude is one of few assets to have recorded comparable gains this year. The oil contract is up 33% year-to-date. The resurgence of thermal coal, which is burned to generate electricity, raises serious questions about the so-called "energy transition." To be sure, coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel in terms of emissions and therefore the most important target for replacement in the pivot to renewable alternatives. Yet, as policymakers and business leaders repeatedly tout their commitment to the demands of the deepening climate emergency, many still rely on fossil fuels to keep pace with rising power demand. It comes shortly after the world's leading climate scientists delivered their starkest warning yet about the speed and scale of the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's landmark report, published Aug. 9, warned a key temperature limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius could be broken in just over a decade without immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. U.N. Secretary-General, António Guterres, pushed for all governments, private companies and local authorities to "end the deadly addiction to coal" by scrapping all future global projects. Yulia Buchneva, director in natural resources at Fitch Ratings, told CNBC that thermal coal remains a key global energy source, noting the commodity still has a more than 35% share in global power generation. "We expect that the share of coal in energy generation will decline driven by the energy transition agenda, however this will have a rather longer-term impact on the market. In the medium-term demand for coal in emerging markets with less strict environmental agenda, in particular in India, Pakistan, and Vietnam, where coal-fired power dominates generation, is expected to rise," Buchneva said. By comparison, Buchneva said that since the U.S. and EU account for only 10% of worldwide demand for coal, an expected contraction in these regions would have a limited impact on the global market. When asked whether thermal coal prices could push even higher in the coming months, Buchneva replied: "The current high thermal coal prices have decoupled from costs and are therefore not sustainable. We expect that prices will normalize during the remainder of the year."

Biden administration releases guidance limiting international financing for fossil fuels - The Biden administration on Monday said it would vote against decisions by the World Bank and other multilateral development banks to fund most projects that would develop fossil fuels. The announcement was released in guidance that said the U.S. would oppose new coal-based projects and would also oppose most oil-based projects — with a few exceptions. The U.S. will still offer support for some natural gas projects and is also open to carbon capture projects in which emissions from burning fossil fuels are captured and stored instead of being released into the atmosphere.“Today, the United States takes bold, proactive steps to address the climate crisis by working with our international partners to establish a clear path to end Multilateral Development Banks’ support for fossil fuels except in exceptional circumstances while helping developing countries build a strong and sustainable future,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement about the new guidance. Multilateral development banks provide funding for economic projects in developing countries meant to promote growth. Some environmental groups were unsatisfied with the guidance, arguing that it did not go far enough to eliminate fossil financing. "The Treasury guidance leaves loopholes for continued fossil fuel financing that are so big, you can drive an LNG ship through them,” Luisa Galvao, International Policy Campaigner at Friends of the Earth U.S., using an acronym ot reference liquified natural gas.

 Memphis City Council to TVA: Don't bury coal ash here -The Memphis City Council made a clear statement Tuesday — it told the Tennessee Valley Authority, the city's electricity provider, don't bury coal ash within Memphis, Light, Gas and Water's service area. The city council passed a resolution Tuesday that asked TVA not to bury coal ash from the retired Allen Fossil Plant in the South Shelby landfill near Whitehaven. The resolution's passage was purely symbolic. It has no binding authority on TVA. It passed without dissent. But it is an expression of political will from a body that is still very much divided over the question of whether the city-owned utility, Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, should continue purchasing all of Memphis' electricity from TVA. TVA first broke the news that it was going to bury coal ash from the Allen plant in Memphis this summer when it came out during questioning from the city council. After hearing political pushback, the utility pressed pause on those plans. They remain paused. For now. In response to the council's resolution, TVA said it is still listening to Memphis. "We are going to continue to do what we said we’re going to do, which is to honor our commitment to listen and engage with the people of Memphis, community partners, and city leaders," TVA said in a statement. Under a 2016 agreement with Memphis, Shelby County, and the Memphis and Shelby County Port Commission, TVA agreed to dispose of the coal ash. It has control over how the ash is buried. Any consultation with Memphis is voluntary, but a lack of cooperation comes with political ramifications. The passage comes as MLGW is receiving bids on its electricity supply from the private sector and evaluating whether it would leave TVA. MLGW is TVA's largest customer and represents about 9% of its revenue.

Indigenous people find legal, cultural barriers to protect sacred spaces off tribal lands -- To the Havasu 'Baaja, known to the world as the Havasupai Tribe or "People of the Blue-Green Water," Red Butte (Wii'I Gdwiisa or "Clenched Fist Mountain") is the abdomen of Mother Earth. Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva, a meadow about 3 miles north of the distinctive mountain close to the Canyon's South Rim, is her navel. But Red Butte and Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva are part of the Kaibab National Forest and do not lie within the trust land borders of the Havasupai, who were evicted from Grand Canyon National Park in 1919.That means a federal agency and not the Havasupai control the land, deciding who uses it and how. It means the Havasupai must argue their interests alongside other public land users. And often it means someone else is allowed to use the land and, in the eyes of the Havasupai, desecrate it. Native peoples have always regarded certain places, like mountains, springs, particular groves of trees, rock formations or petroglyph sites as sacred spaces. These sites serve as churches, much like synagogues, mosques, temples or other structures serve Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and other religious communities. But like Red Butte and Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva, many of these spaces lie outside of tribal trust land borders, often on public lands. Some of the most well-known places are in Arizona and the southern Colorado River Valley. Federal laws meant to protect these spaces or Native American religious practices, often come up short. Some legal experts say the federal government seems to practice a double standard when it comes to upholding the religious rights of Native peoples. Tribes must deal with a revolving door of federal officials and opposition by stakeholders like recreation companies or extraction firms. They also face a lack of knowledge by the public about these places and why Indigenous peoples fight to keep them from harm, or at least further harm.The Mining Act of 1872 gives U.S. citizens the right to stake claims on federal lands. One claim led to a now-idled mine on the plateau in the vicinity of Mat Taav Tiivjunmdva.The 750-member Havasupai tribe, the only U.S. tribe that still lives below the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, has long been concerned about the mine. They fear radioactive materials will contaminate their water supply and spoil the sparkling turquoise waters tourists seek out that provide tribal members with their principal revenue source, rendering what's left of their ancestral homeland uninhabitable.The environmental damage could irreparably alter the ecology of the Canyon, the Havasupai say, and as it worsens, they could perish as a distinct people.

 Bye, Bye Byron? Exelon Prepares to Shutter Illinois Nuclear Plants - Byron, Illinois – about 11 miles outside of Rockford — has had various identities since its founding in 1849. It’s been home to canning plants, railroad stops and a milk depot.Mayor John Rickard says all of those have come and gone. But since 1985, Byron has had a new identity: It’s home to a pair of nuclear generators.At full power, Byron’s nuclear plant is pumping out enough energy to power some 2 million northern Illinois homes.But Byron’s power is literally running out. “This particular plant has a fixed amount of fuel loaded in it and that was loaded 18 months ago,” said Exelon Executive Vice President and Chief Generation Officer Bryan Hanson. “That fuel is losing energy. In fact I think in the next couple of days we’ll start to see the reactor lose its power, from 100% power it will slowly trickle down to about 70% power, then the plant shuts down on Sept. 13.” Nuclear plants have to refuel from time to time; at Byron, a reactor is temporarily shut down to refuel every 18 months. But Exelon has already given notice to regulators that it may not refuel, and may in fact retire the Byron plant completely. That’s a big deal. If you don’t put more gas in the car when the tank’s nearing empty, you can wait and fill it up later. When you’re dealing with radioactive nuclear fuel rods, it’s not so simple. “We’re preparing right now to shut down these reactors forever,” Hanson said. “That means shutting the plant down, turning the turbines off, the generators off, shutting down the reactor.” Rickard says Exelon pulling the plug on the plant would be devastating for Byron and the entire region. Byron’s population has more than doubled since the generators were built, from about 1,200 to 3,800. “We feel like we’re pawns in a game we can’t control,” Rickard said. “The discussions in Springfield we don’t seem to have any influence on anymore. We’re kinda sitting here going ‘do you realize what you’re doing to us?’”

After scandal broke, FirstEnergy lobbyist pushed DeWine on "covid response" - On Sept. 23, 2020, McKenzie K. Davis, a lobbyist with the Success Group, registered to lobby the administration of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on “covid response.” The timing is curious because only six weeks earlier, federal authorities announced they’d arrested then-Speaker Larry Householder and four associates in what they said was “likely the largest bribery and money-laundering scheme ever in the state of Ohio.” Also implicated in the corrupt scheme was the company on whose behalf Davis had registered to lobby: Akron-based FirstEnergy. Davis’s ties to the bribery scheme, as first reported by the Energy and Policy Institute, run deeper than that. In 2019, he served on the board of Partners for Progress, a 501(c)(4) “dark money” group that federal prosecutors say funneled tens of millions of FirstEnergy dollars into the corrupt effort to make Householder speaker and pass a $1.3 billion package while McKenzie served on the money group’s board. The law, signed by DeWine, propped up two aging nuclear plants, as well as two 66-year-old coal plants — including one that isn’t even in Ohio. And in this time of dire climate news, it gutted standards forenergy efficiency and renewables.Householder has been removed as speaker and expelled from the House, two of his associates havepleaded guilty and a third has died by suicide. A separate dark-money group, Generation Now, has also pleaded guilty.FirstEnergy last month entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in which it admitted to its role in the scandal and agreed to pay the state $230 million.It also admitted paying $4.3 million to Sam Ramdazzo just before DeWine appointed him to be the state’s top utility regulator. Randazzo proceeded to do favors for the utility that were worth at least hundreds of millions, the agreement said.DeWine won’t say he regrets appointing Randazzo and Randazzo — who hasn’t been charged — denies wrongdoing. But Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican like DeWine, last week added Randazzo and former FirstEnergy executives as defendants in a racketeering suit against FirstEnergy, calling the company’s payment to Randazzo a “bribe.” Then on Friday, Yost moved to freeze Randazzo’s assets, saying Randazzo this year transferred a $500,000 property to his son and sold others worth $4.3 million.

After House Bill 6, new bill would revive voluntary energy efficiency - Bipartisanship and energy policy haven't gone hand-in-hand recently at the Ohio Statehouse, where lawmakers passed then repealed a $1 billion nuclear bailout that's now at the heart of a federal bribery probe. But a new proposal from Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, and Rep. Dave Leland, D-Columbus, is bucking that trend. Their new bill could cut Ohioans' electric bills while helping the environment – adding an incentive for companies to push energy efficiency programs that were axed by House Bill 6. House Bill 389 would allow Ohio electric companies to submit a portfolio of ways to reduce residential customers' energy use, such as smart thermostats or more efficient appliances, to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for approval. Customers who don't want to participate could opt out. “The cleanest, cheapest kilowatt of energy is the one you don’t use,” Leland said. If approved, the companies could charge customers up to $1.50 a month for these energy efficiency programs. Customers would see a net drop in their bills because they would spend less money on energy. The PUCO would review the portfolio each year to ensure customers weren't being charged for "dubious" programs, Seitz said. At least one program must target low-income residential customers. The proposal is different from pre-House Bill 6 energy policy in two ways. First, the program is optional rather than mandatory. Second, the targets are more modest, reducing energy use by 0.5% a year rather than the 2% required toward the end of 2027 under prior mandates. "I was never opposed to energy efficiency. It is the cheapest form of energy," said Seitz, who backed House Bill 6 that eliminated prior incentives. "The past program suffered from a number of defects." In addition to bipartisan support, the proposal is backed by three of the state's four investor-owned utilities – American Electric Power, Duke Energy, and AES, formerly Dayton Power and Light – and environmental groups like the Ohio Environmental Council and the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Seitz said he had not seen or heard from the fourth utility: Akron-based FirstEnergy. The company recently entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, accepting a $230 million fine for bribing public officials. A senior consultant said the company was reviewing the new bill.

FirstEnergy’s admissions feed call for regulatory review -The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio should conduct a big-picture, in-depth review of FirstEnergy’s spending and governance in light of the company’s admissions last month about former PUCO Chair Sam Randazzo, critics say.“It’s not a debate anymore whether the company engaged in corruption,” said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “The company did so. With this pervasive corruption, the PUCO needs to mind the store in order to protect the public interest and to protect consumers.”On July 22, FirstEnergy admitted it used nonprofit entities “to conceal payments for the benefit of public officials and in return for official action.” A federal court filing on the same day details multiple interactions with and payments to former House Speaker Larry Householder, who faces criminal charges for an alleged $60 million conspiracy to pass and defend House Bill 6. That nuclear and coal bailout law gutted Ohio’s clean energy standards.The federal court filing also details FirstEnergy’s dealings with Randazzo. The former PUCO chair helped shape HB 6, and his companies received approximately $22 million from FirstEnergy entities from 2010 through 2019. According to the filing, FirstEnergy increased those payments in 2015 in exchange for Randazzo having his longstanding client, Industrial Energy Users-Ohio, drop opposition to an earlier nuclear and coal bailout plan.FirstEnergy paid the last $4.3 million shortly before Randazzo became PUCO chair in 2019. “In return, [Randazzo] would perform official action in his capacity as PUCO Chairman to further FirstEnergy Corp.’s interests,” the filing said. That included work on HB 6 and “other specific FirstEnergy Corp. legislative and regulatory priorities, as requested and as opportunities arose.”Ohio Attorney General David Yost has now sought to add Randazzo, two of his companies, and former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling to astate court civil action. But questions remain about how FirstEnergy routed the money, what amounts may have come from ratepayers, and how to prevent future abuses.

State says radiation levels good - No worries. That's the response state officials responsible for regulating radioactive waste at Ohio landfills provided after the Register sent a series of questions about concerns they are dangerously mismanaging the job. The questions and answers follow a groundbreaking investigative series by Public Herald, a nonprofit investigative journalism team co-founded by a former Sandusky man and Sandusky High School graduate, Josh Boaz Pribanic. Petroleum industry waste known as TENORM (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) is being generated in enormous amounts at shale drilling sites, the series found. The three-part series, "Danger ahead," was published in the Register and other Ohio newspapers starting July 30. It determined that the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the state health department under Gov. Mike DeWine, don't have the ability to adequately test radiation levels of waste being brought to Ohio. The state is allowing radioactive waste from oil and gas well drilling to be shipped to Ohio for storage at landfills without knowing what the radiation levels of that waste is, whether it is higher than what is allowed, or whether it is safe, or not, according to Public Herald. Public Herald reported the concerns of experts, including Dr. Julie Weatherington-Rice, an earth scientist and adjunct professor for Ohio State University with a Ph.D. in soil science. The minimal testing requirements in Ohio are only getting “weaker and weaker,” according to Weatherington-Rice, which means there is no way to verify what is coming in and out of these facilities. “(Tests) have been watered down and watered down until we have almost no rules at all,” she told Public Herald. The verifiable testing on fracking waste samples of the waste from other storage sites shows evidence that levels are higher than allowable, and at dangerous levels, according to the Public Herald series. The state did not provide records to the Public Herald team, which worked on the series for 15 months, that refutes the concerns about the unknown radiation levels or the lasting and devastating potential impact radioactive waste could have on the environment and ecosystems in the state, including Lake Erie, in the future.

Ferry residents quiz commissioners at town hall — Riverside residents quizzed the Belmont County commissioners Tuesday about a range of subjects from the environment to the economic future and road maintenance during a town hall meeting at the Veterans Memorial Recreation Center. Martins Ferry city leaders and officials, some residents of surrounding communities and environmentalists attended. Sean O’Leary, a researcher for the Ohio River Valley Institute, asked to meet with the commissioners to discuss a model for job creation and economic development. He said his organization has issued a series of reports about the impact of the oil and gas industry, arguing that its impact on jobs, the population and quality of life has been “limited, and in some cases negative.” Members continue to oppose plans for an ethane cracker plant in the Dillies Bottom area along Ohio 7.“You may have reservations and disagreements with the findings that we have. I think we can agree that opportunities to reverse ongoing job loss and population loss and other issues are really important and should at least be examined,” O’Leary said.The commissioners commented on the economic impact of East Ohio Regional Hospital’s reopening and commended Dr. John Johnson for his investment in Martins Ferry.However, Bev Reed of Bridgeport raised concerns that the nearby Austin Master Services fracking waste recycling plant could contaminate the area.The Rev. Michael Ziebarth, pastor of the Greek Orthodox Christian Church of the Life-Giving Fountain in Martins Ferry, voiced concerns about the discovery of per- and polyfluoroakyl substances, or PFAS, in Bridgeport village water last year. He asked if the commissioners and other local leaders could do more to ask that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency test more often for these and other rare chemicals. “Is that … something that is on your radar?” he asked. “You’d want to make sure this is frequently checked by whoever’s competent to do it.”

Gulfport Changing Utica Approach to Boost Efficiency, Cut Costs After Bankruptcy - After emerging from bankruptcy in May with a new management team, Gulfport Energy Corp. has overhauled its operations with a focus on capital discipline, free cash flow (FCF) generation and investor returns over production growth. The company wiped $1.2 billion of debt from its balance sheet during the restructuring and it’s now focused on sustainability, interim CEO Tim Cutt said during the company’s first earnings call since emerging from bankruptcy. Cutt, who formerly served as CEO of QEP Resources Inc. before it wasacquired by Diamondback Energy Inc., was named chairman. He’s joined at Gulfport by William Buese, QEP’s former CFO, who will assume the same role.“We remain keenly focused on reducing our corporate overhead and as a result we recently flattened our organizational structure by reducing the number of executives and more appropriately sizing the organization for our planned operations.”Gulfport, which operates in the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) and the Utica Shale in Ohio, where it remains one of the largest producers, also reduced its midstream commitments to 900,000 Dth/d to help improve its cost structure. The company plans to spend up to $310 million on a maintenance program this year to deliver 2021 net production of 975 MMcfe/d-1.0 Bcfe/d. It expects similar programs in the years ahead to generate free cash flow (FCF) of $300 million annually. The company is also changing its operational approach, particularly in the Utica, which continues to account for the bulk of its production. Cutt said the company plans to develop wells in Ohio with wider spacing and complete them with more intense hydraulic fracturing jobs. Utica wells have historically been spaced at 1,000 feet, but Gulfport intends to develop its pads on 1,200-foot spacing with fewer wells. Using more fluid and proppant, along with longer laterals, is expected to boost production efficiency. Cutt, a petroleum engineer, said 1,000-foot spacing and smaller completions are impacting plateau periods and leading to steeper declines in the play.

Residents in a densely-populated Pittsburgh suburb are demanding public hearings on two proposed fracking wells - Residents in two Pittsburgh suburbs are demanding public hearings on a proposal to drill two new fracking wells within a mile of an elementary school. The wells, proposed by Apex Energy, would be within one mile of Level Green Elementary School and within two miles of 12,733 residents in Penn Township and Trafford Borough (about 17 miles east of Pittsburgh). The wells would be near several environmental justice communities, which are defined as, which is defined in Pennsylvania as any census tract where 20% or more of the population lives at or below the federal poverty line, and/or 30% or more of the population identifies as non-white. Environmental justice communities often facedisproportionately high levels of pollution and negative health impacts caused by the overlapping effects of poverty, racism, and pollution. Penn Township and Trafford already experience pollution from a variety of sources, including fracking wells in nearby municipalities, other local industrial plants, andcarcinogenic emissions from the region's remaining steelmaking plants. Fracking wells increase air pollution, produce radioactive waste, and can contaminate drinking water. Research has shown that living near fracking wells increases the risk of premature births, high-risk pregnancies, asthma, migraines, fatigue, nasal and sinus symptoms, skin disorders, and heart failure—all things that raise red flags in an environmental justice community."Public hearings are not usually standard for well pads," Gillian Graber, director of the community advocacy group ProtectPT, told EHN. "They usually only happen when there's a lot of community outcry, but public hearings should be standard for any permit that will impact this number of people." In 2019, Graber and her family participated in an EHN study that looked at toxic exposures in Pennsylvania families who live near fracking wells. Although Gillian, her husband, and their two children currently live five miles from the nearest fracking well, the investigation found evidence of harmful chemicals in their drinking water, air, and urine samples. "This well pad would be less than a half-mile from my house," Graber said. "[EHN's study] made me even more determined than I was before to keep fracking away from my family." While PA DEP has agreed to accept and review public comments regarding the proposed Apex Energy wells in Trafford, they haven't yet responded to ProtectPT's requests for a public hearing. An agency spokesperson told EHN it "is considering the request; however, because Act 13 only allows 30 days to review an oil/gas permit, DEP does not include oil and gas permits in the list of [environmental justice] trigger permits."

First-of-Its-Kind Study Measures Fracking's Impact on Nearby Surface Water Quality -A new study correlates poorer surface water quality with nearby hydraulic fracturing but finds that the impacts aren't major enough to be considered harmful by federal regulators. However, the researchers noted they weren't able to study "potentially more dangerous" substances related to fracking because of a lack of data. While some published studies have already linked groundwater contamination with hydraulic fracking activity, one of the researchers behind the study, Christian Leuz of the University of Chicago, said through a press release that their work was the "first large-sample evidence showing that hydraulic fracturing is related to the quality of nearby surface waters for several U.S. shales."The study, published in the journal Science, found "small but consistent" increases in the concentration of nonbiodegradable salts in watersheds where new hydraulic fracturing activities were taking place."The high salt concentrations were most pronounced at monitoring stations located closer to wells and at stations likely located downstream from wells," the study summary noted, adding that the highest accumulations were "observed within a year from drilling at monitoring stations assigned as downstream from a well and within 15 kilometers [or less than 10 miles] from a well."Researchers studied four salts associated with hydraulic fracturing flowback, or the fluids that bubble up to the surface through a fracking well due to pressure, and a briney wastewater mixture known in the industry as produced water. Three salts were found to have elevated concentrations associated with new hydraulic fracturing: chloride, barium and strontium. A fourth salt was studied — bromide — but evidence correlating its presence to new fracking development was "mixed and not robust."The concentrations identified by the researchers aren't high enough to be considered harmful by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a study summary."Our work provides the first large-sample evidence showing that hydraulic fracturing is related to the quality of nearby surface waters for several U.S. shales. Though we estimated very small water impact, one has to consider that most measurements were taken in rivers or streams and that the average fracturing well in our dataset was not particularly close to the monitors in the watershed," explained Leuz through the press release. The researchers warned that the hydraulic fracturing process results in fluids with chemicals "that are potentially more dangerous than salts." However, the researchers weren't "able to look for these chemicals because they're not widely covered by public databases" and lamented the "availability and measurement frequency of water quality data."

Sunoco fined again for Mariner East 2 pipeline violations - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection fined Sunoco Pipeline’s Mariner East 2 pipeline for violations in four counties.According to the DEP, Sunoco spilled drilling fluids during construction of the pipeline into wetlands in Blair, Cumberland and Juniata counties and a creek in Lebanon County between February and August 2020. Sunoco notified the DEP of 13 “inadvertent returns” that spilled more than 400 gallons of fluid into the waterways.The $85,666 fine was part of a consent assessment of civil penalty signed earlier this month by the DEP, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Sunoco.Most of the fine — $84,500 — will be put in the state’s Clean Water Fund. The Blair County, Cumberland County and Juniata County conservation districts will split the rest. Sunoco will also pay the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission $12,424 for civil damages.Sunoco was fined $497,000 earlier this year for spilling drilling fluid into a creek in Lebanon County and failing to notify the DEP of multiple losses of circulation. There were a dozen spills between September and October 2020.The DEP issued a nearly $2 million civil penalty to Sunoco last January for spilling drilling fluids in a central Pennsylvania lake. The Mariner East 2 pipeline is an expansion of the Mariner East pipeline that was converted from a gasoline line to move natural gas liquids from Ohio and the Pittsburgh area to a processor near Philadelphia. It runs more than 300 miles across the southern portion of the state, crossing through 17 counties.

Chesco Government Aims At Pipeline Emergency Response Preparation — Twelve Chester County municipalities have pipelines running through their terrain and into situations potentially hazardous to residents, and in response, Chester County is beginning the process of forming an emergency response plan. At the request of the Chester County Commissioners, the Chester County Department of Emergency Services has prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) to specialist contractors, for the development of a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline hazard-specific addition to the Chester County Emergency Operations Plan. The RFP also calls for the development of tools to better prepare the public for a potential emergency arising from either the Energy Transfer Mariner East Pipeline or the Enterprise Products TEPPCO Pipeline, the Commissioners' Office said on Monday. The pipeline hazard-specific section, which will be of particular value to schools and other vulnerable population facilities, will also be developed and added to the emergency operations plans of the 12 Chester County municipalities in which the Energy Transfer and TEPPCO pipelines traverse. "Chester County's Emergency Services leadership and staff, along with the thousands of police, fire, and emergency medical service personnel throughout the county, have comprehensive emergency operations plans that allow them to quickly respond to disasters, be they natural or man-made," said Chester County Commissioners' Chair Marian Moskowitz. "But the product being carried through the Mariner East and TEPPCO pipelines present us with complex and unusual challenges, should there be a leak, or worse. That is why we are seeking a specialist perspective for this addition to our emergency plans," Moskowitz said. The County's Request for Proposal asks respondents to follow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) planning process for the recommended emergency management actions necessary in the event of an incident along the Mainer East or TEPPCO pipelines. The RFP also recommends that consideration be given to using the best practices of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's public emergency planning and preparedness for nuclear power plants, the Commissioners' Office explained.

Despite $4 gas, Pa. shale permits drop 52% YOY in July - Shale gas permits issued to Pennsylvania producers in July declined 52% year over year, as the state's largest producers continued to hoard capital, planning fewer wells despite natural gas futures prices rising to $4/MMBtu, the highest in 2.5 years. Four counties, three in the dry gas window of the northeast part of the state, dominated the new permits list, according to the Department of Environmental Protection's database on Aug. 13. All the state's top five producers — EQT Corp., Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. Chesapeake Energy Corp., Range Resources Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co. — had double-digit percentage drops in new permits pulled compared to July 2020, with cuts as large as 85% in EQT's case. One company is breaking with the pack and has roughly doubled the pace of its Pennsylvania shale gas activity: New York's integrated National Fuel Gas Co. National Fuel's faster pace is not a surprise. As far back as November 2020, the New York producer had been telling investors it planned to increase spending and production to capture higher prices and capitalize on new wells and leases acquired from Royal Dutch Shell PLC last year. National Fuel's drilling unit, Seneca Resources Corp., pulled six permits to drill in July in Tioga County where the Utica Shale is stacked underneath the Marcellus Shale. In July, 2020 the company pulled no permits to drill in the state. According to DEP records, National Fuel pulled 33 permits to drill through July of this year, nearly double the 18 permits it pulled in the first half of 2020. EQT President and CEO Toby Rice reiterated that he needs to see futures prices move higher before he unleashes more rigs and drills more wells. "It would require a strip that's got some length to it, probably two to three years out at a gas price that's north of $3," Rice said on a July 29 call to discuss second-quarter earnings.

Methuen firm billed for gas spill, cleanup - — A local trucking company has been fined and is forced to pay for cleaning up a gasoline spill that happened last year. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection announced Friday that P.J. Murphy Transportation must pay more than $60,000 for the spilling of 10,000 gallons of gasoline and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the Brown Circle Rotary in Revere. An announcement from the department explained that on April 17, 2020, the cargo entered a storm drain at the traffic circle and ran into Rumney Marsh, Diamond Creek and Pines River. The company was fined $8,625 by MassDEP and must also pay $52,746 to an environmental trust for damages. “The law in Massachusetts pertaining to the releases of oil and or hazardous materials is quite clear that those who are responsible for spills of this magnitude, should be the first ones to bear the cost it will take to clean it up,” said Eric Worrall, director of MassDEP's Northeast regional office in Wilmington. State officials estimate that an area larger than 15 acres was impacted by the spill, causing injury to the aquatic ecosystem in the surface water, shoreline, and various plants and animal habitats in the area.

Evacuations In Nashua Due To Broken High Pressure Gas Line - - Nashua Fire-Rescue was notified of a gas leak at the corner of Broad Street and Bailey Street. When they arrived they found a crew working on a Liberty utility gas line Wednesday. The gas line was undergoing what the company referred to as "routine maintenance" at about 10:25 a.m. when for an unknown reason gas began to leak. The 6 inch main which also has a 2-inch main branching off was sending gas from the high-pressure line into the air. Nashua Fire Rescue requested additional apparatus to the scene and had Nashua Police shut down Broad Street. Due to the amount of gas leaking Nashua firefighters began to evacuate over 20 houses in the area. Liberty Utilities arrived and attempted to shut down the gas line in several different locations on Broad Street. Several attempts failed at trying to shut down the gas using valves in the street. Backhoes, dump trucks, and additional crews were brought in by the company and several different locations were dug up on Broad Street. At 4:30 p.m.more than five hours after the leak started the high-pressure gas line was shut down according to NFR Deputy Chief Kerrigan. Kerrigan said about 65 homes were affected by the gas leak. Crews were expected to work into the evening on Wednesday to continue the repairs to the pipe and valves.

Cut in rate hike, temporary halt fail to satisfy opponents of North Brooklyn pipeline -- Despite the fact that the state Public Service Commission last week slashed a rate hike that gas provider National Grid planned to charge customers in Brooklyn and nearby areas, a New York City environmental group strongly opposed the increase in general, saying it “continues climate denial and environmental racism.” The group, Sane Energy Project, particularly opposes the PSC’s actions regarding the controversial North Brooklyn Pipeline, even though the state regulators denied funding for the 7-mile structure until National Grid meets metrics, or goals, “on demand-reducing initiatives before seeking cost recovery of this and other infrastructure projects,” subject to review by an independent consultant who would evaluate emissions impacts. “While the Commission’s ruling today will halt construction of the last phase of the North Brooklyn Pipeline, National Grid took advantage of multiple delays in the rate case process to build most of the controversial project,” a statement from Sane Energy Project said. “The Commission today ruled that customers will have to pay for phases 1-4 of the project, which are already built. This financially rewards the utility for putting pipes in the ground over the widespread objections of local community members, local elected officials, the mayor of New York, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,” the group continued.

Judge denies request to stop blasting for pipeline construction on Bent Mountain -A judge said Friday that she lacks authority to grant an injunction to stop the blasting of bedrock on Bent Mountain for a natural gas pipeline. Noting that the property owner had already sought action from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon said her court is not the proper jurisdiction to resolve the latest dispute over the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Dillon stressed that her ruling was not based on the merits of a request from John Coles Terry III, who maintains that drilling and blasting to clear a trench for the massive pipeline threatens to contaminate his well water and that of others in the Roanoke County community. However, there appeared to be no evidence that drinking water had been impacted. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said its investigation of numerous complaints has so far found no water pollution, while casting doubt on assertions that drilling 15-foot holes for explosives had penetrated the aquifer. “Our inspectors have been on scene and have looked into citizens’ concerns,” DEQ Director David Paylor said in a statement. “If we find evidence related to these complaints and any related water supply impacts, we will absolutely take every step necessary to prevent harm to the aquifer.” It is not unusual to encounter ground water while drilling relatively shallow holes in which to place explosives, but that does not impact the much deeper aquifer from which wells draw their water, Mountain Valley contends. After Friday’s hearing, Terry said he has found no discoloration, foul smell or sediment in his well water since blasting began early in the week. However, he said Mountain Valley had yet to reach the portion of his land where construction is most likely to impact his water. Terry also said that more time is needed for a scientific evaluation of his well water, which would include a comparison to samples that were taken before blasting began.M

MVP’s Plans for New Water-Crossing Method Clear Hurdle at FERC - FERC has issued an environmental assessment (EA) for the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), signing off on the project’s plans to use a different water crossing method at some locations along its route. MVP filed in February to amend its certificate approval as part of a broader plan to work around a prolonged legal process on its stayed Nationwide Permit 12. MVP has proposed using trenchless methods to cross 136 streams and 47 wetlands that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission originally authorized as open-cut crossings. FERC said in a favorable EA released Friday that the new technique would not have a significant impact on the human environment as long as MVP adheres to its application and follows the Commission’s recommended mitigation measures. While the project’s new plans are likely to increase construction emissions and noise, the EA concluded that the impacts would be short-term and insignificant. The Commission also determined that the trenchless crossing method would have less of an impact on wetlands and waterbodies than the open-cut technique. Public comments on the EA must be received by Sept. 13. MVP also submitted an application to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as part of its change of plans. Water quality certifications are also pending in both Virginia and West Virginia. The USACE directed the states in June to complete their water quality reviews by the end of the year. Sponsor Equitrans Midstream Corp. said in May that the project’s in-service date would again slip to 2022 pending further regulatory approvals. The 303-mile, 2 Bcf/d MVP would move more Appalachian natural gas to the Southeast.

'It's taken the heart out of the community': Mountain Valley Pipeline cuts through tiny village of Newport - — A shuttered general store, a stately hotel converted to apartments, historic homes, two covered bridges and three churches still stand here — a testament to the village settled more than 250 years ago in the shadow of Sinking Creek Mountain. But among the residents who stayed, there was hope that Newport was on the cusp of a comeback. Then came the Mountain Valley Pipeline. On a recent August afternoon, Donna Pitt of Preserve Giles County looked up at the natural gas pipeline that descends steep mountain walls on both sides of Blue Grass Trail, the main street of Newport. “It’s taken the heart out of the community, is what it’s done,” Pitt said. The buried pipeline avoids cities and towns for much of its 303 miles through West Virginia and the New River and Roanoke valleys, taking a more rural path through forests and fields and finding a way around houses. Small as it is, Newport is the most densely populated community in Southwest Virginia to be impacted by construction. At first, residents opposed to the project believed that it could be stopped, even after 125-foot-wide strips for its right of way were cut out of the wooded slopes around them. “When it was just trees that were cut down, people would say, ‘We can always plant new trees,’” Pitt said. “But when that giant trench came down on top of the town, and in two days they had the pipe buried, people looked up and said, ‘It’s over.’” “That’s reality,” she said of a 42-inch pipe that stops just short of Greenbrier Branch on both sides, waiting as the nearly completed Mountain Valley Pipeline seeks a final set of permits to cross water bodies. “That’s like, ‘Oh, my God.’” Doug Martin remembers what the village was once like. “The old-timers would wake up to church bells and cow bells, but now you get the incessant beeping of trucks backing up” in the pipeline construction zone, he said.

 Tribes Drop Fight Against $468M Pipeline At DC Circ. – Law360 -- Two Native American tribes have directly negotiated with the developer of the $468 million Southgate pipeline to ensure the protection of historic and cultural resources during the project's construction and have asked the D. C. Circuit to withdraw from a legal challenge to the pipeline's approvals. The Monacan Indian Nation and Sappony Tribe asked the D. C. Circuit to let them drop out of the challenge to the project on Monday, indicating that their earlier concerns about National Historic Preservation Act violations and the environmental review for the project were no longer pertinent. While no settlement was filed with the court, parties involved. . .

 US gas acquisitions signal Gulf coast strategy shift - Chesapeake Energy's $2.2bn bid for Vine Energy is the latest bet by large US natural gas producers on the future of the US Gulf coast market, signaling a shift away from the pipeline-constrained northeast.Chesapeake's planned acquisition of Vine will nearly triple the company's output from the Haynesville shale, a prolific gas-bearing formation underlying east Texas and northern Louisiana. The combined company will have 1.6 Bcf/d (45mn m³) of Haynesville production, all of which may eventually find a home on the nearby Gulf coast, Chesapeake said this week. Those supplies can feed industrial demand and US LNG export terminals. The deal, which should close in the fourth quarter of this year, follows Southwestern Energy's $2.7bn bid for privately held Haynesville producer Indigo Natural Resources. Southwestern, an Appalachian producer, would gain a foothold in the Haynesville, diversifying its assets and increasing its access to Gulf coast markets. That deal was expected to close later this month.Those transactions underscore a renewed interest in the Haynesville as Nymex prompt-month gas prices rebounded from last year's lows and exports of US LNG surged. It also highlights the long-running frustration with regulators in the northeastern US — home to the Marcellus shale, the largest US gas field by volume."The next strategic move for US gas [producers] is on the Gulf coast," said Scott Hanold, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets. The region has more robust pricing, plentiful pipeline capacity and less regulatory friction, he noted.The appetite for natural gas along the US Gulf coast is growing as economic activity rebounds from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sharp increase in gas prices this year was driven in part by exports of US LNG, most of which leaves from the Gulf.Prompt-month natural gas prices rose above $4/mmBtu this summer, the highest in more than two years, after languishing below $2/mmBtu.US LNG exports hit record highs during the first half of this year as cold weather boosted demand in Asia and Europe and restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19 eased.LNG exports averaged 9.6 Bcf/d during the first six months of 2021, up by 42pc from the same period in 2020, according to the US Department of Energy.In contrast, demand for Appalachian gas wanes outside of the winter months because of mild weather. Spot natural gas pries on Columbia Gulf Mainline, an indicator for the price of Haynesville output, so far this month has traded at an average price of $3.78/mmBtu, or about a 20¢/mmBtu premium to gas on Transcontinental Gas' Leidy Line, a bellwether for Marcellus output in northeast Pennsylvania. Prices in the northeast received a boost this summer from low US gas inventories and regional maintenance. Last summer, Columbia Gulf was at a 40¢ /mmBtu premium to the Leidy Line index. Prices for northeast production could face more headwinds from capacity constraints. Chesapeake said this week its ability to grow production there was limited by pipeline availability.

U.S. natgas futures rebound as forecasts project hotter weather (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures rebounded from a three-week low on Monday as forecasts projected hotter weather than previously expected, which could increase demand for the fuel to cool homes and businesses. Front-month gas futures NGc1 jumped 8.5 cents, or 2.2%, to settle at $3.946 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), recovering from its lowest level since July 20 earlier in the session. Refinitiv projected average U.S. gas demand, including exports, would rise from 92.2 bcfd this week to 93.6 bcfd next week. "What's really putting price upward pressure on prices is strong LNG exports and lower production," Data provider Refinitiv said gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states has risen to an average of about 92 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in August, from 91.6 bcfd in July. That compares with an all-time high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants is expected to jump to a four-week high of 10.9 bcfd in the next two weeks as several Gulf Coast plants, including Cameron and Sabine in Louisiana and Freeport in Texas, have returned nearly to full service. That compares with an average for LNG feedgas of 10.3 bcfd so far in August, 10.8 bcfd in July and a record 11.5 bcfd in April U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico have slipped to an average of 6.1 bcfd so far in August from 6.6 bcfd in July and a record 6.7 bcfd in June. Data provider Refinitiv said gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states has risen to an average of about 92 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in August, from 91.6 bcfd in July. That compares with an all-time high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019.

Natural Gas Futures Reverse Course, Tumble on Weak Power Burns - Volatility abounded Tuesday as natural gas futures quickly gave back the gains they accumulated at the top of the week. Pressured by weaker power burns, the September Nymex gas futures contract settled at $3.837, off 10.9 cents from Monday’s close. October tumbled 10.9 cents to $3.851. Spot gas prices also continued to fall amid mostly comfortable temperatures in the eastern half of the country. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. slid 13.5 cents to $3.815. With long-range weather outlooks not deviating much from prior forecasts, futures traders focused on the impact that current mild weather was having on power burns and cash prices. Bespoke Weather Services said power burns were the weakest they had seen in a while, which is “somewhat of a surprise.” The firm said the decline, something it intends to monitor going forward, indicated that there is more coal in the power generation stack that could take some share away from gas. Production figures continued to fluctuate but generally remained firmly entrenched in the low 90s Bcf/d range. Liquefied natural gas volumes also were stable near 11 Bcf. On the weather front, the latest models cooled a bit but remained in a pattern biased to the warmer side of normal, according to Bespoke. By the end of the month, though, a near-normal outlook is seen for the Lower 48. The forecaster noted that September may be tough to run hotter than normal considering how many hot Septembers have materialized in recent years. It sees the best chance of heat versus normal over the next 10 days mostly in the eastern half of the nation. The warmth would then relocate to the western states in the 11- to 15-day period. Meanwhile, as Tropical Depression Fred moved inland across the Southeast, all eyes were on Tropical Storm Grace. The storm, packing winds near 50 mph as of 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, is forecast to move near or over the Cayman Islands late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Grace then is expected to approach the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico late Wednesday or early Thursday.

US natural gas volumes in storage increase 46 Bcf following reclassification: EIA -US natural gas volumes in storage increased 46 Bcf, more than the five year-average, following the reclassification of base to working gas in the South Central region, while Henry Hub futures continue to decline. Inventories increased to 2.822 Tcf for the week ended Aug. 13, the US Energy Information Administration reported Aug. 19. The injection was more than the 35 Bcf addition expected by an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts. Responses to the survey ranged from a 25 to 42 Bcf injection. The 46 Bcf build was more the five-year average build of 42 Bcf and last year's 45 Bcf injection in the corresponding week. US storage volumes now stand 547 Bcf, or 16.2%, less than the year-ago level of 3.369 Tcf and 174 Bcf, or 5.8%, less than the five-year average of 2.996 Tcf. The weekly injection would have matched the five-year average, but 4 Bcf of base gas in the South Central storage region was reclassified to working gas. This caused the region to post a 1 Bcf injection rather than a 3 Bcf withdrawal for the week. The reclassification occurred in a non-salt dome storage facility. The Pacific region demonstrated a drawdown for the fifth consecutive week as heat and below-normal hydro generation continues to affect the area. The region's inventory is 16% below the five-year average and 23% less than last year. SoCal Gas, city-gate spot price has retreated from $7.62/MMBtu on Aug. 17 to $4.77 on Aug. 19. PG&E city-gate is at $5.16. The NYMEX Henry Hub September contract dropped 10 cents to $3.75/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report. It has fallen by 25 cents since Aug. 16. The winter strip, November through March, averaged $3.87/MMBtu, representing a decline of 23 cents from one week prior. Platts Analytics' supply and demand model currently forecasts a 31 Bcf injection for the week ending Aug. 20, which would measure 13 Bcf less than the five-year average. The last full week in August is expected to add 36 Bcf compared to the five-year average of 53 Bcf. Fundamentals during the week in progress have tightened by roughly 1.2 Bcf/d despite a relatively small increase in total demand. Total supplies are down 900 MMcf/d on the week, with losses split almost evenly between onshore production and Canadian imports. Downstream, total demand is up roughly 300 MMcf/d as a 1.6 Bcf/d slide in power burn demand is being offset by a 1 Bcf/d rebound in LNG feedgas demand and a combined nearly 1 Bcf/d gain in residential-commercial and industrial loads.

Natural Gas Forward Prices Slide Amid Looser Balances, but Appalachian Basis Strengthens -- Loosening balances, evidenced by a weekly inventory build that overshot major surveys, accompanied declines in forward prices for most of the Lower 48 during the Aug. 12-18 trading period, NGI’s Forward Look data show. Nymex September futures experienced some up-and-down action, but on the whole lost ground during the Aug. 12-18 time frame, including a steep 10.9-cent sell-off on Tuesday (Aug. 17). An 8.1-cent decline in September Henry Hub coincided with fixed price front-month discounts at most Lower 48 hubs for the period. [Need natural gas forward curves? NGI offers 70 curves by month going out 10 years (120 data points per curve) as fixed price or basis differentials to the Henry Hub. Learn more.] Meanwhile, forward contracts at hubs in the West and in Appalachia saw both fixed price gains and strengthening basis as they bucked the broader market downtrend. Nymex futures initially seemed poised to add to recent losses Thursday. However, the September contract shrugged off the bearish impact of a net 46 Bcf weekly injection into U.S. gas stocks reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The print, reflecting changes during the week ended Aug. 13, came in above the upper end of survey ranges. Still, price action suggested the build did not catch traders by surprise. At the least, buyers seemed satisfied that discounts leading up to the report had been sufficient to account for the larger print. Shortly after the EIA data crossed trading screens, September was hovering around $3.750. A steady climb from there saw the front month finish back up at $3.830, down 2.2 cents day/day but well off the lows. The print included a reclassification from base gas that resulted in a 4 Bcf increase to working gas in the South Central’s nonsalt facilities. According to Bespoke Weather Services, that put the “real” implied weekly flow at plus 42 Bcf.

U.S. natgas futures rebound as forecasts turn slightly warmer (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures gained on Friday as the weather outlook turned slightly warmer, potentially boosting demand for gas used for air conditioning. Front-month gas futures rose 2.1 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $3.851 per million British thermal units. Prices touched a one-month trough on Thursday, pressured by a weekly storage report that showed a larger-than-expected injection. "I think we'll see an expansion in the storage deficit going into next month and that's a dynamic that should lift us to about $4 and current price gains in face of a bearish storage report points to a fairly firm underpinning," Also, LNG exports should continue to support the market for the rest of 2021. According to data provider Refinitiv, temperatures are expected to be slightly warmer in the next two weeks with 213 cooling degree days (CDDs). That compares with a 30-year average of 171 and 199 in Thursday's forecast. Average U.S. gas demand, including exports, is expected to rise to 95.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this week from 93.3 in the prior week. Refinitiv also said gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states has averaged about 92 bcfd so far in August, up from 91.6 bcfd in July. That compares with an all-time high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants is seen at 10.9 bcfd next week. That compares with an average for LNG feedgas of 10.4 bcfd so far in August, 10.8 bcfd in July and a record 11.5 bcfd in April. With European and Asian \gas prices more than three times higher than the U.S. fuel, analysts expect LNG exports to remain elevated this year.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil producers consolidation accelerates - Oil and gas producers in U.S. Gulf of Mexico have consolidated at a faster rate during the pandemic, new government data shows, as crashing prices squeezed out smaller drillers who had been seen as the industry's future. The dominance of the top producers in the Gulf looms large as the industry's technology showcase, the Offshore Technology Conference, officially gets underway in Houston on Monday. The event, which in prior years drew more than 60,000 people and 1,000s of exhibitors, will be smaller this year due to company cutbacks and coronavirus-induced travel restrictions. The pandemic, along with recurring hurricane shut-ins, hastened the demise of some Gulf of Mexico producers. Smaller, private-equity backed firms that pushed into offshore fields last decade have struggled, leading several to exit while others slipped into bankruptcy. "We're only going to see further consolidation," said Colin White, an analyst with consultant Rystad Energy. Private-equity backed producers are being swallowed up by larger firms or are abandoning exploration for safer infrastructure investments, he said. The top 10 producers - led by Royal Dutch Shell, BP Plc and Chevron - this year pumped 86% of the region's 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), up about 11 percentage points since 2017, data from regulator Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) shows. Two closely-held offshore drillers, Fieldwood Energy and Arena Energy, fell into bankruptcy in 2020 as crude oil prices plummeted. U.S. energy experts forecast output will return to its peak of 1.9 million bpd by 2022.

 Offshore oil and gas worker fatalities are underreported by federal safety agency -In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the federal government created the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, to improve safety and enforce environmental regulations in the offshore oil and gas industry. However, an investigation by Drilled News and Southerly found that the number of offshore worker deaths is being undercounted by the agency. Inconsistent and missing data, as well as loopholes that allow some fatalities to go unreported, make the offshore industry appear safer than it really is. Nearly half of known offshore worker fatalities in the Gulf of Mexico from 2005 to 2019 didn’t fit BSEE’s reporting criteria, according to data provided by the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. On top of that, offshore jobs have been in decline since 2011 despite an increase in the amount of oil being produced offshore, making the jobs that remain more dangerous.Even with this undercount, the most recent data released by the agency in April indicates there were six offshore worker fatalities in 2019—a higher number than they’ve reported in a single year since 2010. But these reports on BSEE’s website, which date back to 2006, don’t match its own raw data. There were three additional deaths among offshore workers not reported by BSEE in 2019, including two in a helicopter crash heading out to a rig and one that law enforcement determined was not work related. The agency does not count offshore fatalities that occur in state waters, or deaths that occur while workers are in transport to offshore facilities. They don’t count deaths that happen on offshore platforms that aren’t work related, either, even though the remoteness of offshore platforms makes it more difficult to seek medical attention and workers often stay on platforms for two weeks at a time. For instance, in April 2021, six men died and seven went missing after a lift boat capsized on its way to an oil and gas lease in the Gulf. They won’t be counted towards the 2021 offshore fatality statistic, a BSEE spokesman said.

E&P Permit Requests Said Focused in Permian, Powder River and Eagle Ford - U.S. drilling permit activity climbed sharply in July, led by the Eagle Ford Shale, Powder River and Permian basins, but the overall numbers are still short from the pre-pandemic days of July 2019, according to Evercore ISI. drilling USA The energy analyst team led by James West uses federal and state data to compile a monthly review of exploration and production (E&P) permit requests across the country. Permitting requests usually precede drilling development by a few months. Based on the latest tally, E&Ps last month requested 81% more permits than in June and 12% more than in July 2020. “The increase was driven by permit growth in the Powder River Basin,” which saw 550 more permits month/month (m/m), or a 1,505% increase, the Evercore team noted. The Permian permit count was 44% higher, with 314 more than in June. Eagle Ford permitting climbed by 204% m/m, or by 188 permits. There were “minor decreases” in the Mississippian Lime, down 11% from June with 18 fewer permits. The Utica Shale’s permit tally fell by 44%, or by 11. The “other smaller plays” were off by 30% or by 54 permits. “The summer increase, however, continues to fall short when compared to July 2019, which was 36% higher than this year’s,” West said. Permitting activity in Wyoming, however, is exploding. Texas is in recovery mode. “Activity in Wyoming reached its highest permit count since November 2019,” up 1,502%, with 631 permit requests m/m. That could signal “a return to 2017-2019 numbers, when the state averaged 1,400 permits per month,” West said. “Texas followed Wyoming in permit count increases,” with 523, or 81% higher than in June. The state’s permit count was the highest monthly count since January 2020. Other states showing increases m/m included West Virginia, up by 189 or 1,112% and New Mexico, up by 72 or 33% higher. Permitting fell in California, however, down by 40 or 43% lower m/m. Pennsylvania’s permit numbers also fell, down by 20 or by 25%. Kentucky saw a 100% shortfall in permitting, down by 19. Kansas was down 13% m/m, with 16 fewer permits. The energy majors led the way in the Permian during July, the Evercore analysts noted. “The month of May experienced a decline in permitting by the majors in the Permian, falling by 84% to only nine permits issued,” the analysts said. June rebounded to 48, growing by 410%. July continued the trend, up 21% m/m to 59. The permit increase in the Permian last month was “driven primarily by ExxonMobil,” up by 30 m/m, and by Royal Dutch Shell plc, which requested 21 permits. “The pair, along with BP plc, are the only majors active in the basin,” as legacy producer Chevron Corp. requested no permits during July.

Most flares from Texas Permian oil drilling lack permits –study - (Reuters) - Oil producers such as Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell are burning off gas in the largest oil field in the United States without required Texas state permits, the environmental group Earthworks said in a report on Thursday. Energy producers flare gas, an unwanted by-product of oil extraction, when they cannot transport the gas to consumers. Flaring reduces, but doesn't eliminate, methane emissions and contributes to climate change by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Texas, the nation's biggest oil producer, has more permissive rules on flaring than other oil-and-gas producing states, and regulators there have opposed additional regulations to limit emissions. The report compared permitting records from Texas regulators with flares witnessed on flights equipped with gas imaging cameras that were conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund. It found that of 227 flares observed, between 69% and 84% were likely unpermitted. Big producers such as Shell, Exxon and Diamondback Energy Inc were among the companies with multiple flares that had no permits, the report said. Shell and Exxon, who did not review the full report ahead of publication, dismissed the topline findings, saying they follow all regulations and work toward ending routine flares. Diamondback did not respond to a request for comment. A Shell spokesperson said it has not "routinely flared in the Permian Basin" since 2018 while Exxon's spokesperson Julie King said its Permian Basin flaring is at a "record low of less than 1%." State regulations allow for unpermitted flaring in some cases, including releases from storage tanks, in the first 10 days after a well's completion, or during equipment maintenance, construction or repair, a spokesperson for the state's oil and gas regulator, the Railroad Commission of Texas (TRC), told Reuters in response to the report. The commission reviewed the report before publication. "A short-term observation of a flare from a flyover and absence of an explicit exception does not necessarily mean the observed flaring is illegal," TRC spokesperson Andrew Keese said.

How West Texas Became Woodstock for Frackers - In the fall of 2017, Sean Mitchell and John Daniel thought it would be fun to invite some of their investment banking clients to Midland so they could see the fracking boom up close. As part of the gathering, Mitchell and Daniel, managing directors at Houston-based Simmons Energy, planned to fire up the smoker and host a barbecue. They expected that about fifty people would show up. But this was the Permian Basin, the hottest oil and gas play in the world, and nothing happens on a small scale. Two hundred and fifty people turned out.It was such a hit that Mitchell and Daniel decided to do it again this past October. But this time the barbecue was refashioned as a cookoff, and attendance more than tripled: eight hundred people came to the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum to sample the wares of 37 oil field service companies vying for a gold cup trophy. Smokers and elaborate trailers circled behind the building in the shadows of historic drilling rigs while guests mingled, listened to live country music, and indulged in beer and cuisine that went far beyond the brisket and ribs that were the focus of the competition—gumbo, barbecued bologna, and pretty much anything that could be wrapped in bacon. CNBC’s Brian Sullivan showed up with a film crew, attendees came from as far away as Montreal, and Cudd Energy Services won the big prize for its succulent brisket. In the span of one year, Mitchell’s small gathering had ballooned into Woodstock for frackers, the people at the forefront of the hydraulic fracturing industry, which has excavated billions of barrels of oil that were once considered inaccessible. “It’s become so important because shale in the Permian Basin is where it’s at,” said Josh Lowrey, the president and CEO of Houston’s Galtway Marketing, who was on his way to check out the brisket at the ValTek trailer. He noted that some of his clients have pulled out of large industry trade shows like the Offshore Technology Conference to attend Mitchell’s barbecue and other Permian-focused gatherings.These are good times in Midland and across the Permian Basin, the most prolific oil field in North America and second in the world behind Saudi Arabia’s massive Ghawar Field. Over the past two years, production from the Permian, which stretches south from Lubbock almost to the Rio Grande and west from San Angelo to New Mexico, has soared from just over 2 million barrels a day to more than 3.6 million.

Gas companies seek more cash from consumers - Texas Gas Service, as well as other utilities throughout Texas that provide natural gas to consumers and businesses, is asking the Texas Railroad Commission to allow it to put a surcharge on customers’ bills in order to pay for natural gas used during Winter Storm Uri. TGS filed its application with the commission to recover costs of the storm on July 30.Consumer advocate Paul Robbins, who has studied documents filed with the commission, has concluded that the gas companies are seeking an order that will allow them to add about $5 a month to customers’ bills for 10 years. Larry Graham, manager of regulatory affairs for TGS, declined to offer an estimate of the cost to consumers.According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, because of Texas’ unregulated market, natural gas producers – as opposed to companies that sell gas to consumers – made $11 billion in just five days during the unprecedented winter storm.Although TGS and the other gas companies that provide gas to consumers each filed a separate request for a hearing on their securitization case, all the cases have been consolidated. More than 50 cities throughout the state have joined a coalition to intervene in the case before the commission. Central Texas cities that have joined the Texas Cities Alliance include West Lake Hills, Taylor, Goliad and Killeen.While Austin is not on the list, city officials confirmed late Monday that Austin has joined in intervening on the matter. Thomas Brocato, the lead attorney representing the alliance of cities, told the Austin Monitor that other cities still have time to join the coalition.Graham insists that the matter before the Railroad Commission is not a “rate case,” but a proceeding to allow securitization financing. As he explained, under Texas House Bill 1520the gas companies will be able to extend the period of time during which they can recover costs associated with Winter Storm Uri.According to documents filed with the commission, charges for natural gas during the winter storm left TGS with about $290 million in debt. Robbins said all told, the companies that provide gas service directly to consumers have more than $3.6 billion in fuel debt that they want to securitize.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar calls for more natural gas spending in $3.5 trillion budget bill -- U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Wednesday he’s looking to steer more federal funding to natural gas-fueled electricity generation in the $3.5 trillion spending bill that’s moving through Congress.As emissions billowed from CPS Energy’s Calaveras gas-fired plant in the background, the Laredo Democrat said at a news conference that Democratic lawmakers’ efforts to expand renewable energy sources in the U.S. shouldn’t hobble the oil and gas industry. Energy companies provide an estimated 347,000 jobs in Texas.“We definitely need to look at clean energy, but you can’t do it to disadvantage or attack oil and gas while it still creates thousands of jobs in our area,” said Cuellar. He represents Congressional District 28, which reaches from Laredo to San Antonio and covers a large swath of the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas field. “When we do the big reconciliation bill and we look at clean energy, I’m hoping that natural gas can be part of the clean energy,” he said. Cuellar was referring to the budget reconciliation bill that’s being crafted by congressional Democrats. Much of the spending in the bill would go to progressive priorities such as expanding Medicare, extending child-care tax credits and clean-energy initiatives. Cuellar didn’t say how much funding he’d seek in the budget bill to bolster gas-fired power generation.

Research shows gaps in how EPA, oil industry measure methane - -Before EPA and the energy industry can address climate-warming methane emissions from oil and gas production, they’ll have to improve how they track and estimate it.EPA’s method of calculating methane pollution has been widely criticized for underestimating emissions from the oil and gas industry, one of the biggest sources of the potent greenhouse gas (Energywire, Jan. 30, 2020).Today, the agency calculates its inventory of methane emissions by multiplying the number of potentially leaky components — such as valves and thief hatches on well heads and storage tanks — with an estimate of the average emission rate for each part.Some groups have said that such a “bottom-up” approach — where a national estimate of emissions is built by scaling up measurements taken at a small sample size of wells or facilities — leads to an underestimation of emissions. They’ve cited the potential to miss so-called super emitters, or a small number of sources that contribute a large percentage of overall emissions.Studies with a “top-down” approach — using satellites or aircraft to determine total emissions from multiple sites — have found total methane emissions that were double EPA’s estimates. A study published this month in Nature Communications investigates the gap between “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches. Researchers from Stanford University, the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, and other institutions say EPA’s “detailed, engineering-based” approach works — but it’s relying on faulty data.EPA is still using equipment counts based on industry self-reporting and a decades-old study, said Arvind Ravikumar, a research associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and study co-author. While the number of some components hasn’t changed, others have, especially because of the surge in shale drilling in the 2010s.“When the fracking revolution happened, the type of equipment at oil and gas facilities changed,” Ravikumar said. That means today’s equipment could have a different number of components like valves or connectors.The Stanford researchers focused on the bottom-up approach because it’s the method used by EPA when it writes regulations, and it’s widely used by other governments. They examined "component-level measurement data" drawn from previous studies and concluded EPA’s current estimates underreport emissions caused by liquid storage tanks.The liquids frequently have methane and other gases dissolved in them, which can be released during normal operations or when hatches and valves are inadvertently left open.“It’s like opening a beer,” Jeff Rutherford, one of the paper’s authors, said in a news release. “It’s liquid as long as there is high enough pressure, but if you release the pressure, the gas quickly escapes.”

API leads dozen trade groups in suing Interior over pause on new oil, gas leases | S&P Global Platts - A dozen oil, gas and extraction-related industry groups are suing the US Department of the Interior over its nearly seven-month-long pause on new federal oil and gas leases. The groups, led by the American Petroleum Institute, asked a federal court to vacate the pause, claiming that the Biden administration's "leasing moratorium" violated various federal laws, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the Mineral Leasing Act. They also said Interior's leasing pause violated the National Environmental Policy Act because officials did not "take the necessary hard look at the potential environmental impacts before its implementation," according to the Aug. 16 lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Interior declined to comment on the new lawsuit. As part of a sweeping executive order on Jan. 27, President Joe Biden issued a pause on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. Interior has since canceled its first- and second-quarter oil and gas lease sales and had not held a third-quarter sale as of the lawsuit's filing, the groups said. The pause drew swift condemnation from the industry and Republican lawmakers in addition to various lawsuits. "Defendants' radical departure from prior policy in implementing the moratorium without a reasoned explanation was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, otherwise not in accordance with law, and in excess of their authority," the industry groups said. S&P Global Platts Analytics continues to expect the leasing review to have a muted impact on the US production outlook. It expects Interior to reschedule Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 257 for sometime in the fourth quarter. "Biden's relatively pragmatic oil policy has balanced a Keystone XL rejection and tougher methane rules with supporting the DAPL pipeline, the Alaska Willow project, and drilling permits on existing federal leases," chief geopolitical analyst Paul Sheldon said in a recent note. But the trade groups said their members are "significantly harmed" by the leasing pause, having "invested millions of dollars in acquiring and exploring federal oil and gas leases in reliance that adjacent tracts needed to complete the development of an oil and gas prospect would be available for lease in scheduled or statutorily mandated lease sales." Such leases are especially important for companies active in deepwater drilling, they said. "If operators cannot obtain access to these additional leases necessary to complete development, their substantial investment is substantially diminished or may be lost entirely," the groups said. Interior officials have responded vaguely to questions about the timeline of the leasing pause and reiterated that the temporary ban on new leasing does not affect existing leases. They have also pointed to a backlog of approved unused drilling permits. In June, a federal judge in Louisiana struck down the leasing pause, pointing to federal laws that require the agency to hold lease sales. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told federal lawmakers shortly thereafter that Interior was reviewing the decision.

Biden administration appeals federal court decision to block oil, gas leasing pause (Reuters) -The Biden administration on Monday challenged a federal judge's decision in June to block the Interior Department's pause on oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters - a critical piece of its climate change policy - but will proceed with leasing during the appeals process. The Interior Department aims to overturn the decision of Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, who said Louisiana and a dozen states that sued President Joe Biden's administration established they would suffer injury from the pause on new oil and gas leases. Those states last week sought a court order from the judge to force Interior to hold an offshore lease sale this year. And on Monday, the American Petroleum Institute and 11 other industry groups sued the administration to force them to reinstate lease sales, which had not resumed after the judge's June decision. "The appeal of the preliminary injunction is important and necessary. Together, federal onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing programs are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions and growing climate and community impacts," the Interior Department said in a statement. Biden had paused the government's new leases in January as part of a sweeping plan to rein in fossil-fuel extraction on federal land and combat the effects of climate change. The Interior Department said on Monday it will proceed with new leases during the appeals process "consistent with the district court’s injunction during the appeal" and will use "discretion provided under the law to conduct leasing in a manner that takes into account the program’s many deficiencies." The agency acknowledged that its current leasing program and royalty rates do not "adequately incorporate consideration of climate impacts" and the "breadth of the Interior Secretary’s stewardship responsibilities." The agency said it will address the shortcomings through several steps, including completing a report outlining reform recommendations. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said earlier this year that the highly anticipated report would be released in the “early summer” but it has not yet been published.

 Fossil Fuel Leases to Resume on Public Lands While Biden Admin Appeals Court Ruling - Climate groups are expressing deep concern following an Interior Department announcement Monday that the Biden administration will resume oil and gas drilling leases on public lands and waters — a practice President Joe Biden vowed to ban during his 2020 run for the White House — in response to a federal court ruling. While the Biden administration confirmed in its announcement that an appeal has been filed with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in a legal battle with the state of Louisiana — which sued the federal government over the pause in the oil and gas leasing program ordered by Biden earlier this year — the Interior Department said leasing would resume while the process plays out."Federal onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing will continue as required by the district court while the government's appeal is pending," the DOI stated.According to Bloomberg, the moves by the administration "mark the beginning of an open-ended analysis of the federal oil, gas and coal leasing programs that could span years — and lead to higher fees as well as new limits on development in sensitive areas."While environmental advocacy groups commended the administration for appealing the lower court ruling —handed down by a Trump-appointed U.S. district court judge in June — they also said the threat of resuming the leasing program on federal lands and for offshore drilling cannot be overstated."Our planet can't afford any more new fossil fuel extraction," said Taylor McKinnon, a senior campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement on Tuesday. "We're out of time. The world's existing oil and gas fields will already push warming past 1.5 degrees Celsius if they're fully developed." Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said in response that with "the climate crisis smacking us in the face at every turn, it's hard to imagine a worse idea than resuming oil and gas drilling on federal lands. As has been documented in long and excruciating detail, oil and gas drillers have trashed public lands and failed to clean up their mess — while siphoning public resources for a relative pittance."As the appeals process plays out, the Biden administration said it will perform a new analysis of the regulatory framework that governs leasing and extraction operations on federal lands as well as hold oil and gas companies to account under existing authorities and guidelines.

Milwaukeeans Protest the Line 3 Pipeline - Several Milwaukeeans recently travelled to Northern Minnesota to protest construction work on Line 3, a thousand-mile pipeline bringing crude oil from Edmonton, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. Enbridge Energy says that they are addressing known integrity flaws and improving efficiency. Protestors see this framing as misleading because the construction includes the laying of over 300 miles of new pipeline pumping 760,000 gallons of Canadian tar sands oil through North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin per day. Protestors also see the construction of a new Line 3 as a violation to the Anishinaabe tribe’s treaty rights, a contributor to climate change and a destructive force to the Manoomin (wild rice), a sacred food for a number of local tribes. Amongst the protestors at Red Lake Treaty Camp near Thief River Falls MN, the Red Lake and White Earth Reservation were two Milwaukeeans. Early on Aug. 4, 19 protestors were arrested and one was hospitalized with head injuries at the prayer cam, adding to the nearly 600 protestors who have been arrested during the Line’s construction. Milwaukeean Lelah Allen (aka Buttons) described the movement as being “welcoming” and “palpable.” For Allen, the police presence juxtaposed this atmosphere creating an “adrenaline yo-yo.” “There are actions happening,” she said, “There is police brutality happening, and we are cool and we are making dinner, and we are singing and we are praying and ‘oh there’s more cops’.”

Navy diver who helped after bridge collapse returns awards to protest Line 3 - A U.S. Navy diver who helped efforts to search for bodies in the Mississippi River after the I-35W bridge collapse returned his awards Monday to protest the Line 3 oil pipeline. John Miller, 39, of Monticello, asked Gov. Tim Walz to issue an immediate stay on construction of the pipeline replacement project until lawsuits challenging its approval play out in court. At Minneapolis' Stone Arch Bridge with about three dozen supporters early Monday evening, he lso asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to vote on the related cases before it in a timely manner.Earlier in the day, the Minnesota native returned a commendation ribbon and pendant from the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs and a certificate of commendation from then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty.Miller said he grew up fishing and hunting and wants the pristine lands in northern Minnesota to be left alone for generations to enjoy it."The last time I came back to the Mississippi in distress was to help clean up after a disaster, and this time I come to do everything I can do to help prevent a disaster," he said.Opponents say the new Line 3 will open a new region of Minnesota waterways to oil spill degradation and exacerbate climate change. Enbridge says the new pipeline, which replaces its aging and corroding current Line 3, is a safety enhancement and will restore the full flow of oil.

Justin Vernon's Bon Iver To Headline Line 3 Protest Concert In Duluth Wednesday Grammy award-winning Eau Claire native Justin Vernon and his band Bon Iver will headline a concert in Duluth Wednesday that seeks to raise money to stop construction of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline in Minnesota.The event is a fundraising concert for the Indigenous environmental nonprofit organization Honor the Earth, which has been leading protests of the Canadian energy firm’s pipeline replacement.Pipeline opponents and health professionals in Wisconsin and Minnesota are calling on President Joe Biden and his administration to stop Line 3, arguing the project conflicts with the administration’s pledges to curb carbon emissions that drive climate change."We need to come together to save our environment, to save our Earth from total annihilation, and that's on its way," Vernon said during a livestream on Monday. "That's what I care about, and I don't really care about anything else."Bon Iver is joining a wide lineup of musicians who will perform as part of the "Water is Life: Stop Line 3" festival at Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park on Wednesday from noon to 10 p.m. The concert’s line-up includes performances from Lissie, Low’s Alan Sparhawk, David Huckfelt, Mumu Fresh, Larry Long, and Native performers Annie Humphrey, Quiltman, Dorene Day Waubanewquay and Corey Medina.Vernon pointed to a recent report from a United Nations panel on climate change in which more than 200 scientists detailed how changes from past and future emissions will result in irreversible changes to the planet for centuries. The latest report builds on previous studies that humans are causing rapid changes in warming that will lead to more frequent and intense heat waves, rains, drought and other extreme events."I think everyone's feeling the heat, quite literally," said Vernon. "This is just one major fight."

Despite plea for cancellation, Duluth says it can't call off anti-Line 3 concert at city park -A group of local officials along the route of Enbridge's nearly completed Line 3 oil pipeline across northern Minnesota asked the city of Duluth to cancel a fundraising concert planned for next week by pipeline opponents at a city-owned park. But city officials have denied their request, citing the group's First Amendment rights and pointing out that they have received all the necessary permits to host such an event.In an Aug. 5 letter sent by Thief River Falls Mayor Brian Holmer and signed by Grand Rapids Mayor Dale Cristy and Hill City Mayor Sean Lathrop, among other northern Minnesota officials, to Duluth Mayor Emily Larson, Council President Renee Van Nett and Council Vice President Arik Forsman, the officials urged the city to cancel the Aug. 18 "Water is Life: Stop Line 3" concert at Bayfront Festival Park. The letter says the host, Indigenous-led environmental group Honor the Earth, has been organizing and supporting protests along the pipeline route, some of which have led to confrontations with police.Since construction on the 340-mile Minnesota segment began in December, nearly 700 protesters have been arrested along the route as they tried blocking or slowing construction of the pipeline."We write this letter because of our concern for our communities and our first responders," the officials wrote. "We respectfully ask you to help us prevent future avoidable conflicts. On behalf of the people we represent, we strongly request that you rescind Honor the Earth’s permits and not allow this concert to move forward."Duluth Mayor Emily Larson responded the next morning in an email, provided by the city to the News Tribune on Wednesday. She clarified that while Bayfront is city-owned, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center manages Bayfront."More to your point, however, is your ask to revoke constitutionally protected rights to gather in a public space for an event I may or may not personally agree with. If the group pulls the appropriate permits, follows the rules and pays the rental fees, we do not discriminate," Larson wrote. "This follows the legal advice I’ve been given on this matter."

Physicians join the fight to stop Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline -Medical professionals around the country rallied on Tuesday against the expansion of Enbridge’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline, calling it a threat to human and planetary health.“The health of Minnesotans is at risk,” said Teddie Potter, director of planetary health at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, addressing a crowd in St. Paul, Minnesota. “Tar sands oil threatens the health and wellness of future generations; we must stop the line.”The events were part of a nationwide day of solidarity against the project from Enbridge, a Canada-based oil and gas company. In cities from Augusta, Maine, to Los Angeles, health professionals united with environmental groups and Indigenous water protectors to express their opposition to the firm’s controversialLine 3 replacement, which is already under construction. If completed, the upgrade would double the pipeline’s capacity, transporting vast amounts of tar sands oil from Edmonton, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin — traveling over sacred Anishinaabe territory in Minnesota in the process.Enbridge has said the upgrade is needed for safety reasons, to reduce maintenance needs, and to “create fewer disruptions to landowners and the environment.” But opponents from the medical community disagree. According to Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, or HPHC — the advocacy group that organized Tuesday’s nationwide protests — the project poses both immediate and long-term threats to Minnesota communities and Indigenous peoples, whether from an oil spill or from the pipeline’s contribution to climate change.Vishnu Laalitha Surapaneni, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota who helped organize the rally in St. Paul, told Grist she is particularly worried about the pipeline’s potential impact on water quality. “We’re in the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” she explained, using Minnesota’s unofficial nickname. “This is not something that is compatible with healthy water.”In the case of an oil spill, Surapaneni and others have raised concern about the tar sands oil that will be transported through Line 3, a heavy kind of crude oil known as bitumen. To facilitate its flow through pipelines, Enbridge mixes bitumen with a diluent — a proprietary concoction whose specific ingredients are a trade secret. But if Enbridge’s diluent is anything like other companies’, HPHC says it likely contains a mixture of carcinogens such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene,collectively known as BTEX. Enbridge’s response to Grist’s request for comment did not name the ingredients in its diluent.There may also be threats from spills of drilling fluid, the substance that Enbridge has been using to lay new sections of pipeline into the ground across Minnesota. Already, Enbridge is under investigation by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for having spilled drilling fluid 28 times at 12 river crossings. Although Enbridge has said that the drilling fluid is nontoxic and that the spills had “no impacts to any aquifers nor were there downstream impacts,” geologists and environmental experts remain concerned. Spills elsewhere in the country — albeit larger than those in Minnesota — have polluted wetlands and drinking water, and can harm river and wetland ecosystems.

Enbridge's 390,000-bpd pipeline expansion in 'final innings,' lifting hopes for capacity-constrained oilpatch - — Enbridge Inc., North America’s largest pipeline company, has told Canadian oil producers that its long-anticipated, frequently delayed Line 3 pipeline project is nearly complete. Enbridge confirmed last week that it has filed procedural regulatory documents with the Canada Energy Regulator and the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to allow for tolling surcharges on the Line 3 pipeline to take effect “within the next 30 to 60 days.” The Calgary-based pipeline giant said in an email the tolls could be effective as of Sept. 15. The date marks the end of a multi-year saga for Enbridge, which has struggled to push its Line 3 replacement pipeline through Minnesota since 2014. The project will replace an aging pipeline and also expand the line’s capacity to ship oil from 370,000 barrels per day to 760,000 bpd. The line, which runs from Alberta to Wisconsin, had been delayed through Minnesota, where it faced legal and regulatory challenges as well as entrenched opposition on the ground that sought to disrupt the $9.3-billion project’s construction schedule. “There will be a further filing to specify the in-service date shortly before the line goes into service once all necessary construction and commissioning activities are complete,” Enbridge spokesperson Jesse Semko said in an email. The pipeline, which will see additional 390,000 bpd Canadian crude to U.S. refineries, comes as the White House urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week to boost production as gasoline prices in the country soared. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, criticized global oil producers last week, saying, “At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough.” Sullivan also said in the statement: “Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery.” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney took the opportunity to slam the Biden administration for seeking more supplies from OPEC countries, after rejecting TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline. “The same US administration that retroactively cancelled Canada’s Keystone XL Pipeline is now pleading with OPEC & Russia to produce & ship more crude oil,” the premier tweeted last week. “This comes just as Vladimir Putin’s Russia has become the 2nd largest exporter of oil to the US.” Canada is the U.S.’s largest source of oil imports, shipping just over 4 million barrels per day of oil on average in May. The project is also critical for Alberta, where oil production has exceeded existing pipeline capacity in recent years, which has led to massive discounts for oilsands crude relative to U.S. blends and a loss of government royalty revenues. “Enbridge’s filing to federal regulators in both Canada and the United States is another step in getting this pipeline operational in the near future, and we are excited to have this project completed and transporting Alberta oil,” Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said in an emailed statement Friday.

Biden Faces Mounting Pressure To Yank Line 3 Oil Pipeline Permits -The White House is facing mounting pressure from Democrats to yank federal permits for Line 3, the controversial oil pipeline under construction in Minnesota. Eight Democratic senators and nearly two dozen House members criticized the Biden administration for allowing pipeline giant Enbridge to continue building Line 3 across wetlands in a letter sent Monday that HuffPost viewed. The lawmakers say President Joe Biden should suspend the Clean Water Act permits the Trump administration had granted until the Army Corps of Engineers completes a more thorough analysis of the potential environmental impacts. “The Trump Administration aggressively expanded fossil fuel infrastructure projects under a new policy of ‘energy dominance’ and severely limited public scrutiny on those projects,” said the letter, which Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led. Carrying out a new assessment, they said, would “ensure a full and significant environmental review that includes assessing the project’s real costs on environment, public health, and climate change and ensuring the public is aware of those costs.” The Army Corps conducted “almost no independent evaluation of the risk of oil spills at the crossings it authorized, despite the fact that the route for Line 3 crosses 227 lakes and rivers, including the headwaters of the Mississippi River and rivers that feed directly into Lake Superior,” the letter said. The lawmakers complained that the Army Corps’s final permitting analysis last November of how the pipeline would affect climate change came down to “a single paragraph in which greenhouse gas emissions from construction and operation of a major tar sands pipeline are dismissed as ‘de minimis.’” They asked instead that the administration examine how the potential for serious drought across the region could “exacerbate the environmental costs of an oil spill.”

North Dakota's oil industry a 'sleeping giant' as production plateaus -Oil production in North Dakota has plateaued. "I would have to characterize the Bakken at this point as a sleeping giant," State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said Friday. "The COVID pandemic kind of put the industry to sleep, and it's struggling somewhat to wake up." North Dakota's oil output from May to June was dead flat at 1.128 million barrels per day both months. Oil production data lags several months, and June figures were released Friday. The state's oil production all year has hovered around the 1.1 million barrel-per-day mark. It's recovered somewhat from last summer's lows amid the coronavirus pandemic, but it's far from the record 1.5 million barrels per day produced in late 2019. North Dakota's natural gas production also is holding steady. June saw 2.983 billion cubic feet of gas per day produced. The oil and gas industry captured 92% of that gas, burning off the rest in flares. The state as a whole is meeting its 91% gas capture target, but regulators are forcing two companies operating on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation to curtail their production because they cannot meet flaring expectations, Helms said. Gas production is expected to grow, and the state will need to have more pipelines and processing facilities in place within the next two years if it's to continue to keep flaring down, officials say. "It's not going to be an easy feat," North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad said. "Things will have to get moving relatively briskly to meet those time frames." Oil production will likely rise more next year, Helms said. Slowly, companies are adding back rigs in North Dakota, as well as crews needed to frack newly drilled wells so that they can start producing oil. Two rigs recently began drilling on the Montana side of the Bakken, which hasn't seen any rigs all year, according to North Dakota officials. One unknown could affect North Dakota's production going forward: How OPEC and Russia respond to calls from the White House to boost oil production. Helms said the state's production could stay flat or drop somewhat if those countries significantly ramp up activity in their oil fields.

Comstock Resources offering U.S. shale oil and gas assets, document shows - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ Comstock Resources oil company is offering to sell properties in North Dakota’s Bakken oilfield, a marketing document seen by Reuters shows, as rising energy prices lift buying and selling in the sector. Crude oil prices are up about 38% year-to-date as economies bounce back and fuel demand recovers from travel restrictions to curb the pandemic. U.S. shale oil companies also are seeking larger scale to drive returns and operational efficiency. A representative for Comstock did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The properties on offer include a non-operated working interest in 436 wellbores. The holdings are valued at about $200 million based on futures pricing, according to the document. The 427 actively producing wells in the portfolio most recently had a six-month average net production of 6,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the teaser said. The value of second-quarter deals this year hit $33 billion for more than 40 deals – the highest quarterly value since the second quarter of 2019, consultancy Enverus found. Comstock’s decision to offload its Bakken assets comes as deal activity is rising in the Haynesville shale in Louisiana, where it produces most of its energy. Louisiana rivals Southwestern Energy recently bought Indigo Natural Resources and Chesapeake Energy’s acquired Vine Energy. “High oil prices and a resurgence in Bakken M&A activity may have led to the company’s decision to market its non-operated interests to help fund participation in Haynesville consolidation,”

One-Two Punch Hits ExxonMobil Trucking Plan - - A one-two punch that very few people saw coming is now posing sudden, unexpected, and potentially unanswerable questions about the viability of ExxonMobil’s proposal to transport up to 70 truckloads of crude from its Las Flores Canyon facility on the Gaviota Coast to Phillips 66’s Santa Maria Pump Station outside of Santa Maria. Early the Thursday morning of August 13, Phillips announced its intention to shut down its oil refining operations at the company’s Rodeo refinery located outside San Francisco — the ultimate destination for ExxonMobil’s Las Flores crude — and repurpose that industrial facility into a refinery for fats, greases, soybean oils, and other renewable energy sources. According to a Phillips press release, the company hopes that production can begin as soon as 2024. The same statement reported the company’s intention to shut down the Santa Maria transfer facility, where the Las Flores crude was to have been transferred from trucks into Phillips’s Line 300 pipeline to the Rodeo facility. The Santa Maria facility is scheduled to be shut down in 2023. Errin Briggs, the chief energy planner for the County of Santa Barbara, said Phillips’s decision “pulled the carpet out from underneath us,” referring to both the County Energy Division and ExxonMobil. As to how much warning ExxonMobil got, he added, “No warning.” Phillips 66’s decision goes beyond ExxonMobil. When asked to assess how many other operators along the Gaviota Coast would be affected, Briggs said, “Pretty much every single one of them.” He said the Phillips facility in Santa Maria offers two modes of entry into the pipeline heading north to the Rodeo plant. First, it allows oil trucks to offload into the pipeline, and secondly, it offers oil operators a direct portal into the pipeline itself. He said three oil companies — Freeport-McMoRan, PCEC, and a Sentinel — will find themselves forced to find new accommodations for their oil. The quantity of oil affected is significant; it could be in the ballpark of many thousands barrels a day.

California Building Temporary Gas Plants --- California, a state that has been aggressively weaning its power grid off of fossil fuels, is now working on adding several natural gas-fired plants in an effort to keep the lights on this summer. The California Department of Water Resources is in the process of procuring five temporary gas-fueled generators that have individual capacities of 30 megawatts, said spokesman Ryan Endean. The units will be installed at existing power plants and are expected to be operating by the middle of September. The move comes after California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the power grid on concern about supply shortages during hot summer evenings when solar production wanes. The order, issued last month, aimed to free up energy supplies and speed up power plant development to help avert blackouts. It also temporarily lifted air-quality rules. Earlier this year, California regulators balked at ordering utilities to add new gas-fired generation after environmental groups said it would run counter to the state’s decarbonization goals. Officials have been scrambling to shore up power resources ever since brief blackouts hit in August 2020 during an extreme heat wave. The situation has become more dire this summer as a historic drought has reduced California’s hydroelectric supplies. The state has been retiring gas plants under a goal to have its grid carbon-neutral by 2045. The California Energy Commission approved on Tuesday licenses for the emergency gas generators for up to five years. “Governor Newsom’s emergency proclamation makes it very clear that all of our energy agencies have to act immediately to achieve energy stability during this emergency as well as accelerating plans for construction, procurement and rapid deployment of new clean-energy and storage projects,” Commissioner Karen Douglas said at the meeting.

How the gas industry got its way at L.A., Long Beach ports - Los Angeles Times -- Diesel truck pollution from the busiest port complex in the United States has fouled the air in nearby neighborhoods in Southern California for decades. So when port officials asked for feedback on cleaning up that pollution, hundreds of people weighed in. Los Angeles and Long Beach officials hoped residents would help them decide whether to require zero-pollution electric trucks or instead promote vehicles powered by natural gas, a fossil fuel. What officials didn’t know was that some of the locals who urged support for natural gas trucks were being paid by a firm hired by the natural gas industry. A joint investigation by The Times and the news outlet Floodlight in partnership with the Guardian found that in 2017 at least 20 locals were organized by Method Campaign Services to push for “near-zero-emission” trucks at the ports. Their comments at public meetings and press conferences bolstered successful industry lobbying for trucks that run on natural gas, which is less polluting than diesel but still contributes to lung-damaging emissions and climate change. San Pedro resident Sholeh Bousheri, who was hired by Method to speak at public hearings, was one of several paid campaigners who said they only learned later that their work was part of a natural gas industry effort. Bousheri said Method led her to believe she’d be “standing up for sustainability” as part of an environmental campaign. She said she pieced together the gas industry’s role when she was paid to hand out pamphlets featuring the logo of Southern California Gas Co., the nation’s largest gas utility. “It didn’t make me feel comfortable. I took a whole ethical step back,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wait, what’s going on?’ Is this something I want to support with you? Is it moral?” Method was being paid at the time by Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which owns natural gas fueling stations and like Southern California Gas has resisted the state’s transition away from fossil fuel infrastructure. Clean Energy paid at least $10,000 to Method in 2017, according to financial disclosures.The total amount spent is unclear, because California only requires public officials to list sources of income of $10,000 or more, not how much money they received. The financial disclosures were filed by Method founder Brian VanRiper’s spouse, Samantha Millman, a member of L.A.’s City Planning Commission. VanRiper declined to answer detailed questions about his firm’s work, saying in an email that it would be “inappropriate for me to discuss any client’s strategy” and directing questions to Clean Energy Fuels.

Big Oil's bid to lure back investors with cash could ultimately fail — The world's largest oil and gas majors are seeking to lure back investors by returning more cash to shareholders. Market participants, particularly those looking to the long term, remain highly skeptical. It comes at a time when oil and gas companies are raking in their highest profits since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic amid a sustained period of stronger commodity prices. A robust showing in the three months through June built on better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and lent further support to the industry's efforts to pay down debt and reward investors. In the U.S., ExxonMobil said late last month that it would back shareholder returns through its dividend and Chevron announced it would resume share buybacks at an annual rate of between $2 billion to $3 billion. In Europe, meanwhile, the U.K.'s BP, France's TotalEnergies, Norway's Equinor, Italy's Eni and Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell all announced share buyback programs or increased dividend payouts — or both. It reflects a broader industry trend of energy majors seeking to reassure investors that they have gained a more stable footing amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Share buybacks are designed to boost the firm's stock price, benefiting shareholders. Dividend payments, meanwhile, reflect a token reward to shareholders for their investment. Both are options available to a company seeking to reward investors. These investments are likely to become stranded assets, and investors don't want to be left holding the bag. Ahead of the second-quarter results, energy analysts had warned that Big Oil still faced a host of uncertainties and challenges. Some of these include the remarkable success of shareholder activism in recent months, a "tremendous degree" of ongoing investor skepticism and intensifying pressure to massively reduce fossil fuel use. "Day traders may reap short-term profits, but serious long-term investors have concluded that the old energy of the past — oil and gas extraction, is just that — old, with a sell-by date that is moving closer by the day," Kathy Hipple, finance professor at Bard College in New York, told CNBC via email. "Once institutional investors determine that demand has peaked — which likely has already happened — they will abandon the sector permanently," she added. "Many already have, based on the stock performance of the sector over the past several years."

Energy lenders optimistic about demand but braced for setbacks - Energy lenders are hopeful that the recovery in the oil and gas sector will translate into loan growth, but they’re keeping reserves at elevated levels in case the delta variant once again slows the economy.With fuel consumption on the rise this summer alongside a stronger global economy and increasing travel, oil prices are up about 25% in 2021. Natural gas prices have risen even more — about 60% since the start of the year, according to CME Group — amid scorching summer heat and strong demand for the fuel to power air conditioners in some regions of the country.That's in stark contrast in 2020, when governments around the world limited travel and commerce, choking off demand for oil and curbing businesses’ use of gas. The turnaround this year emboldened bankers to predict increased drilling this fall on top of a recent bump this summer.

Federal judge vacates U.S. approval of ConocoPhillips Alaska drilling project - (Reuters) - A federal judge has thrown out the U.S. government's approval of ConocoPhillips' COP.N Willow oil development in Alaska, according to court documents. In her order, Alaska District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said she was vacating the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's approval of the development in part because the agency failed to include greenhouse gas emissions from foreign oil consumption in its environmental analysis.The order also said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to outline specific measures to mitigate the project's impact on polar bears. The Interior Department, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service, would not comment on the ruling.

Federal judge reverses Trump environmental approval for major Alaska oil project - Alaska Public Media --A federal judge has reversed the Trump administration’s environmental approval for ConocoPhillips’ multibillion-dollar proposed Willow development on Alaska’s North Slope, throwing a significant roadblock in front of a project seen by analysts as a needed boost to the state’s flagging oil industry and tax revenue. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, in a 110-page ruling on two related lawsuits Wednesday, said the Trump administration’s approval of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act was flawed because it failed to thoroughly analyze potential greenhouse gas pollution, and didn’t sufficiently consider legal protections for Teshekpuk Lake, an important subsistence area on the North Slope.The ruling by Gleason, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, sets aside the project’s approval by the Bureau of Land Management. It also vacates a formal opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that said the project was unlikely to jeopardize polar bears’ continued existence and unlikely to harm their critical habitat.The decision, released Wednesday afternoon, quickly reverberated around Alaska’s political and oil industry circles. In a reflection of Willow’s broad significance, ConocoPhillips, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration and the North Slope Borough had all intervened in the litigation in defense of the federal agencies being sued by nine separate environmental groups.Other major potential Alaska oil developments have endured recent political and financial setbacks: The Biden administration has halted development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a state government-sponsored LNG pipeline has stalled and another major project on the North Slope, Pikka, is in limbo amid the acquisition of its owner.Willow, located in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, was the “one bright spot in what was otherwise a gloomy world,” said Brad Keithley, a retired Alaska oil and gas attorney and state budget watchdog who tweeted a news story about Gleason’s ruling alongside a “scream” emoji.The project, Keithley noted, has the potential to employ many Alaskans, and federal projections indicate that it could generate as much as $13 billion in taxes and royalties for state government.

 Alaska Ruling Shows Big Oil's Uphill Battle - Even the climate-conscious Biden administration supported ConocoPhillips’s $6 billion oil development on Alaska’s Northern Slope, but that couldn’t stop a judge from throwing it in limbo on environmental grounds. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason’s decision to rescind the Trump administration’s approval of the project is a “surprise” given that in May the current government defended the project in court, RBC Capital Markets analyst Scott Hanold said in a note Thursday. The setback for ConocoPhillips highlights how difficult it’s become for Western oil producers to seek growth in a world gripped by an unprecedented wave of heat, droughts, floods and wildfires blamed on man-made climate change. Investors, governments, lawmakers and courts are increasingly embracing concerns that in the past had been more typical of environmental activists. In the U.S., oil production has dropped about 13% from a record high of 13.1 million barrels a day before the pandemic, and has only shown signs of slow growth even as demand for crude and prices have come roaring back this year. The federal judge’s ruling comes just days after President Joe Biden called for OPEC to boost crude supplies to keep a lid on oil prices that are making gasoline more expensive for Americans and stoking inflation. Biden’s plea -- recognizing that the long-term clean energy push doesn’t preclude the immediate need for cheap fuel -- triggered speculation the administration may be softer on the oil industry than many had expected. Pro-oil advocates have criticized the government for limiting domestic production for environmental reasons while calling for more supplies from the Middle East and Russia. Just this week, Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth called for “an increase in engagement” from the White House on oil and gas in order to boost U.S. energy security and the economy. But the global race to avert climate disaster is gaining momentum beyond any government’s position. Court battles have long challenged pipeline projects regardless of the White House incumbent. And shareholders have tamed shale’s once insatiable thirst for growth, mostly because of concerns over their balance sheets, but also due to pressure for more environmentally responsible investments. Judge Gleason said Willow’s prior approval failed to adequately protect polar bears and didn’t properly consider the effects on climate change. “We think this ruling greatly increases the likelihood for ConocoPhillips’s Willow project to be materially delayed or permanently shelved,”

 Georgian NGOs express concern over oil spill off Russia's Black Sea coast - Democracy & Freedom Watch - Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Georgian National Platform, a coalition of more than 200 non-governmental organizations, expresses concern over an oil spill off Russia’s Black Sea coast and calls on the Georgian government to take appropriate measures to prevent the spill from causing major environmental destruction and threatening the Georgian coastline.In the statement issued Wednesday, the GNP says that the Russian government is hiding the true extent of the damage to the environment.“It is disturbing that the Russian Federation continues efforts to hide information. As it turned out later, the spill occurred at the terminal that belongs to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) during the loading of a Greek tanker. The contractor at the Black Sea port is Transneft Service, a subsidiary of state-owned Transneft,“ the statement reads.“We call on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia to take control of the issue. It is crucial to use all international tools (under the Convention and the Agreement) to force the Russian Federation to provide transparent and accurate information to the Black Sea countries. It is noteworthy that in the event the oil spill spreads widely, first of all, the waters along Abkhazia will be endangered.“The Russian authorities should also be urged to implement relevant activities to prevent potential environmental disasters that may be caused by disorganized systems and increased oil production.,” the GNP states.The leak occurred in early August six kilometers off the coast of Novorossiysk, a Russian port on the Black Sea. The oil was released during refueling of a Greek tanker. The consortium responsible for the leak initially claimed the area of contamination was only two hundred square meters, about the size of a tennis court. But three days after the leak, the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences said a large oil slick with an area about 85 square kilometers – about the size of Manhattan – was seen in satellite images in the sea near Novorossiysk.

Surface Water Vulnerable to Widespread Pollution From Fracking, a New Study Finds - Fossil fuels don’t just damage the planet by emitting climate-warming greenhouse gases when they are burned. Extracting coal, oil and gas has a huge impact on the surface of the earth, including strip mines the size of cities and offshore oil spills that pollute country-sized swaths of ocean. Years of research has shown how the fracking boom has contaminated groundwater in some areas. But a study published on Thursday in the journal Science suggests there is also a previously undocumented risk to surface water in streams, rivers and lakes.After analyzing 11 years of data, including surface water measurements in 408 watersheds and information about more than 40,000 fracking wells, the researchers found a very small but consistent increase in three salt compounds—barium, chloride and strontium—in watersheds with new wells that were fracked. While concentrations of the three elements were elevated, they remained below the levels considered harmful by the EPA. Such salts are commonly found in water coming from newly fracked wells, making changes in their levels good markers for fracking impacts on surface water, said co-author Christian Leuz, professor of international economics at the University of Chicago. The three economists who did the research specialize in studying the effectiveness of environmental regulations.Though the impact the researchers detected was small, the data came from diluted water in rivers and streams that were often far from wells, Leuz said, so the concentrations could be higher farther upstream and closer to the fracking operations. The findings suggest that the rapid pace of “unconventional oil and gas development,” like fracking, may be outrunning scientists’ ability to monitor its impacts on surface water. “Better and more frequent water measurement is needed to fully understand the surface water impact of unconventional oil and gas development,” As the United States seeks to dial back fossil fuel use, accurate environmental data is important for policy discussions about topics like carbon pricing, as analysts try to present a full accounting of how much fossil fuels cost, said co-author Giovanna Michelon, who researches sustainability accounting at the University of Bristol.The study, she said, was started to determine if regulations requiring companies to disclose the contents of their fracking fluids had an impact on water quality during the fracking boom, when tens of thousands of wells were drilled in Pennsylvania and New York, and through a vast swath of the West, from Oklahoma and Texas through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.

DGH overhauls approval processes for oil, gas fields -A self-certified declaration of a commercial oil or gas discovery is all that is now needed by a company to get statutory recognition for a hydrocarbon find after the upstream regulator DGH overhauled approval processes. Following up on its announcement of last month, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) released 'Guidance Document' for online submission of various documents. "This document is prepared to guide the E&P (oil and gas exploration and production) contractors for submission of Production Sharing Contract (PSC)," DGH said. It allows self-certified documents for requirements like bank guarantee to the appointment of auditor and relinquishing an area or a commercial oil and gas discovery is made. It limits the requirement of statutory approvals to only extension of contracts, sale of stake and annual accounts. DGH, the government's technical arm overseeing upstream oil and gas production, said procedures and processes for oil and gas blocks awarded under nine bids round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and pre-NELP blocks are being simplified and standardised. While state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) produce two-third of India's oil and gas from blocks or areas given to them on a nomination basis, the remaining output is from pre-NELP and NELP blocks.The pre-NELP blocks include Panna/Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields in western offshore and Ravva field in the KG basin. But the biggest of oil and gas discoveries outside of the nomination acreage have happened in the blocks awarded under NELP since 2000. These include Reliance Industries Ltd's eastern offshore KG-D6 block and NEC-25. ONGC too has significant finds in NELP blocks. As many as 37 processes and procedures were required to be followed by a firm exploring oil and gas in a block awarded under NELP or pre-NELP rounds. These have now been cut to just 18, according to DGH.

Shell declares force majeure on Nigerian Forcados crude loadings | S&P Global Platts - Loadings of Nigeria's key crude grade Forcados are on force majeure due to some operational issues at the export terminal, Shell said Aug. 16. Force majeure was declared effective Aug. 13 due to "the curtailment of production and suspension of export operations as a result of some sheen noticed on the water around the loading buoy," Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. said in a statement. Forcados is a gasoil-rich sweet crude blend and is one of Nigeria's top export grades. Output has averaged around 200,000 b/d over recent months compared to its full capacity of 250,000 b/d. Nigeria oil output has been hampered by operational and technical problems in the past few months. Key crudes such as Bonny Light, Escravos, Forcados, Qua Iboe have all faced production issues due to operational and technical reasons. Forcados, which relies heavily on oil pipelines, has also faced persistent sabotage in the past few months. S&P Global Platts Analytics expects Nigeria to be one of the largest risks for OPEC+ production growth in end-2021. "We forecast August crude supply to average 1.36 million b/d down from 1.48 million b/d in July and 1.66 million b/d as recently as February," it said in a recent note. "Our outlook for growth to 1.75 million b/d by December faces notable uncertainty, even without rising risks of coordinated attacks on oil infrastructure." Growing threats by militants to renew attacks on oil infrastructure in the restive Niger Delta also pose a huge concern for Africa's largest oil producer. Nigeria has the capacity to produce around 2.2 million-2.3 million b/d of crude and condensate, but production has averaged only around 1.62 million b/d in the first seven months of 2021, according to Platts estimates.

Shell Loses Nigeria Oil License to NNPC - - Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Nigerian venture lost the right to operate an oil site after a court ruled the company wasn’t entitled to renew a lease first granted in 1989. On Monday, the court of appeals in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, overturned a 2019 ruling that granted Shell Petroleum Development Co. the right to renew its operating license for the Oil Mineral Lease 11 field. Those rights will transfer to the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. “This is a huge victory for the government and people of Nigeria as we now have the impetus to responsibly unlock the oil and gas reserves the block offers for the benefit of all Nigerians,” Mele Kyari, managing director of NNPC, said in a statement. Shell was “disappointed” by the judgment and subsequently filed an appeal, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “Though we believe the SPDC JV has fulfilled its obligations under the Petroleum Act for the renewal of OML 11, our preference remains to engage the Nigerian authorities on available options for an amicable resolution of issues around the lease,” the spokesperson said. The decision comes just as Shell agreed to pay a local community $111 million in a decades-old oil spill dispute related to OML 11. Shell faces lawsuits from Nigeria to Europe claiming environmental damages in the Niger Delta. At the same time, the energy giant says it’s in the process of exiting its onshore oil position in Nigeria because that no longer is compatible with the company’s long-term climate strategy. Shell has pumped oil in Nigeria for half a century. Kyari said further legal action by Shell would be “futile” given the company’s “inability to work on the Ogoni region of the block for over 30 years.” An NNPC subsidiary already has taken over the assets, and operations “are in full gear,” according to its statement.

 Exxon’s oil drilling gamble off Guyana coast ‘poses major environmental risk’ ExxonMobil’s huge new Guyana project faces charges of a disregard for safety from experts who claim the company has failed to adequately prepare for possible disaster, the Guardian and Floodlight have found.Exxon has been extracting oil from Liza 1, an ultra-deepwater drilling operation, since 2019 – part of an expansive project spanning more than 6m acres off the coast of Guyana that includes 17 additional prospects in the exploration and preparatory phases.By 2025, the company expects to produce 800,000 barrels of oil a day, surpassing estimates for its entire oil and natural gas production in the south-western US Permian basin by 100,000 barrels that year. Guyana would then represent Exxon’s largest single source of fossil fuel production anywhere in the world.But experts claim that Exxon in Guyana appears to be taking advantage of an unprepared government in one of the lowest-income nations in South America, allowing the company to skirt necessary oversight. Worse, they also believe the company’s safety plans are inadequate and dangerous.A top engineer who studies oil industry disasters, as well as a former government regulator, have leveled criticisms at Exxon. They say workers’ lives, public health and Guyana’s oceans and fisheries – which locals rely on heavily– are all at stake. Exxon claims its climate goals are “some of the most aggressive” in the industry, but its operations in Guyana will send more than 2bn metric tons of climate-destroying CO2 into the atmosphere “Exxon is only going to be here for 20 to 25 years,” said Vincent Adams, Guyana’s former environment chief. “When they make all their billions, and they’re ready to pack up and they’re gone, we’ve got to deal with the mess.”

ExxonMobil plans to start gas drilling by end of year -ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum plan on drilling for gas in an offshore block towards the end of the year, Energy Minister Natasa Pilidou has said. In an interview with daily Politis, the minister said the two companies planned on drilling an appraisal well in block 10 where natural gas was discovered towards the end of November or early December. “The experts who will take part in the appraisal drill at the Glaucus [Glafcos] well are already in our country and we are in constant contact with the company concerning the procedures that will be followed, both as regards measures against the pandemic, and the plan, the budget, timeframes, etc,” Pilidou said. Based on preliminary interpretation of the well data, the discovery could represent an in-place natural gas resource of approximately 142 billion to 227bn cubic metres, the company said in 2019. Glaucus-1 was the second of a two-well drilling programme in block 10. The first well, Delphyne-1, did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. Block 10 is 2,572 square kilometres and ExxonMobil holds 60 per cent interest with Qatar Petroleum owning 40 per cent. Pilidou said the government also expected ENI-Total to start drilling early in 2022. France’s Total and Italy’s ENI are the biggest players in Cyprus’ energy search, holding exploration licences for seven of the 13 blocks. Korea’s Kogas is also a partner in three of those concessions. ENI-Total had notified the government last year that they were postponing their scheduled gas drilling operations for around a year because of the Covid pandemic. Eni and Total had been scheduled to start drilling in block 6 and two other blocks. In February 2018, the companies announced a gas discovery in the Calypso 1 well located in block 6 which was described as “a promising discovery and detailed sampling on fluids and rocks has confirmed that the Zohr (Egypt) play extends into the exclusive economic waters of Cyprus”.

Oil Drilling Activity To Jump In Guyana, Suriname - Guyana and Suriname, the new stars on the oil map, are expecting more exploration drilling over the next two years after a string of discoveries revealed the potential of the Guyana-Suriname Basin.Reuters reports that the two small South American countries attracted the most attention at the recent Offshore Technology Conference in Houston this week, eclipsing even the Gulf of Mexico.Upstream Online reported this week the Guyana-Suriname Basin could see 10 drilling rigs in 2022 as exploration in the area accelerates. Exxon already has six drillships in Guyana waters, and TotalEnergies has deployed two in Suriname waters. The report notes that 15 companies in total hold drilling rights to acreage in the basin.“We have unlocked more than 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent in Guyana, and it appears TotalEnergies has discovered another 2 billion boe in Suriname,” Tim Chisholm, exploration VP at Hess, Exxon’s partner in Guyana, said at the Offshore Technology Conference, as quoted by Upstream.TotalEnergies, which partners with Apache Corp., has made five significant discoveries since last year and is planning to deploy a floating production storage and offloading vessel in Suriname later this decade.Guyana expects its oil production from already made discoveries in the Stabroek Block, operated by Exxon and Hess, to reach close to 1 million bpd by 2025 or 2026, the country’s natural resources minister, Vickram Bharrat, told Reuters. That would be up from 125,000 bpd at the moment.This production comes from the Liza well drilled by Exxon and Hess but will next year rise to 220,000 bpd with the addition of a second FPSO on the site. With oil prospects so bright, Guyana’s government is seeking better royalties and other contract terms, Reuters reported earlier this week. The country plans to form an energy regulator by the end of this year and complete the revision of its production-sharing agreement that will apply to future partners.

NYK Sends Team to Clean Up Crimson Polaris Oil Spill -- NYK, charterer of the Crimson Polaris, says it will send a team to assist with the clean-up of an oil spill that has resulted from the wreck.As we have reported, the dedicated wood chip carrier Crimson Polaris broke up after briefly running aground in heavy weather off the coast of Port of Hachinohe back on August 11. The ship was reported to be carrying 1,550 metric tons of heavy fuel oil and about 130 metric of diesel oil at the time of the accident. It’s unclear how much oil has spilled.NYK said previously the crack in the hull initially occurred between the No. 5 cargo hold and the No. 6 cargo hold. The bow is floating and held by an anchor. The stern, which was believed to be aground, has since rolled over.An update from NYK on Wednesday said the company has now dispatched 10 employees to perform cleaning work of oil and cargo that has washed ashore.“From the standpoint of being involved in this accident as a charterer, we have decided to first recruit workers to clean the cargo washed ashore on the beach and dispatch them to the site,” NYK said in an update, translated using Google. “The number of people in the first team will be 10, and we plan to dispatch them for one night and two days, and then continue to dispatch the second and third teams.”The wreck is located about 4 kilometers offshore Hachinohe, on the northeast coast of Japan’s Honshu island.All crew members were rescued from the vessel prior to the ship breaking up.NYK said earlier that salvors were considering a plan to tow the separated hull to an unspecified location, but environmental protection was the priority. It’s not clear if those plans remain in place or have changed.

Production Slumps By 40% At India’s Biggest Oil, Gas Deposit - Oil and gas production from India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan—home to the country’s single biggest oil and gas deposit—has slumped by 40 percent over the past two years, mostly due to the pandemic and its effect on oil demand and prices, officials told Hindustan Times on Friday.Alongside with lower production of oil and gas, the state of Rajasthan saw its revenues from hydrocarbon production decline last year.The area around Barmer is the biggest source of domestic oil and natural gas for India after crude oil and coal were discovered there in 2004.Despite the COVID-induced slump, Indian companies haven’t given up on investment in new production in the Barmer area. State-controlled Oil India, for example, will be investing in oil and natural gas exploration, an official told Hindustan Times. “And upon commencement of production, the state will generate revenue at the rate of 12.5% on mineral oil and 10% on natural gas production,” the official added.Meanwhile, India’s fuel demand is recovering from the COVID wave in the spring, and as of mid-August, it was holding up despite the gloomier demand picture in the rest of Asia.India’s fuel consumption recovery was a rare bright data point in the first half of August, while China, Japan, and Southeast Asia are struggling to contain a COVID resurgence with lockdowns and emergency measures that threaten to reduce immediate refined product demand. India’s gasoline sales rose by 3.7 percent in the first two weeks of August compared to the same period of the pre-pandemic 2019, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing preliminary data from the three largest fuel retailers in the country. Sales of diesel—the most used fuel in India—were down by 8 percent compared to 2019, but still higher than in July 2021, when diesel consumption had declined by 11 percent, according to the data obtained by Bloomberg.

Oman close to finishing Ras Markaz oil storage center outside Strait of Hormuz: report - Oman is putting the finishing touches on an crude storage center outside the Strait of Hormuz, the Duqm Special Economic Zone said in a Aug. 15 tweet, that can eventually hold more than 200 million barrels as the Gulf state seeks to attract international oil companies to park their cargoes in the country. Ras Markaz Oil Storage Park will have an initial capacity to hold 25 million barrels starting in Q1 2022, Salim al Hashmi, project general manager at developer Oman Tank Terminal Co., told the zone's Duqm Economist Magazine in its quarterly issue published in July. Ras Markaz Oil Storage Park will receive oil by sea through ships that will pump oil to the facility through pipelines extending to 7 km at sea and 3.5 km on land and in the future the facility may be connected to Oman's oil fields, Ard Van Hoof, CEO of Oman Tank Terminal Co., told the magazine. Oman currently exports its crude via the Mina al Fahal terminal in the Persian Gulf, but having a second export facility at Ras Markaz can help the country deal with surplus production, according to the article The storage park also can be a source of oil from Duqm refinery, which is connected to the facility with an 80-km long pipeline and eight tanks built to store the refinery's oil, the article added. The 230,000 b/d Duqm refinery is a is a 50-50 joint venture owned by Oman's OQ and Kuwait Petroleum International (Q8), called Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Co. (OQ8). The refinery has been under construction since 2018, and is expected to start up in 2022. Once operational, Duqm refinery will receive 65% of its crude volume from Kuwait, and the remaining 35% will be Omani crude, with both grades stored at Ras Markaz. The Duqm special economic zone and port is the site of several energy infrastructure projects under development and construction. Plans to build a pipeline network, bunker terminal facility and petrochemicals plant at Duqm are also underway.

Iran’s oil output falls to 40-year low in 2020 – Iran’s crude oil production fell to the lowest in 40 years, according to an updated analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At less than 2 million bpd, the EIA said the country’s oil output was affected by both the pandemic, which decimated demand for oil, and U.S. sanctions targeting specifically the Iranian oil industry. Before the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the snap-back of sanctions, Iran was pumping around 2.6 million barrels daily and exporting some 2.5 million bpd, the EIA also said. Still, at less than one million bpd, the decline in production is a far cry from the Trump administration’s target of bringing Iran’s oil output and exports to zero to force Tehran to return to the nuclear negotiating table. Speaking of the nuclear negotiations, a report by the Financial Times had suggested that not all hope was lost for a deal. Citing Iranian sources, the daily reported that Tehran’s new top diplomat, despite being a hardliner and openly distrustful of the West, could end up clinching the deal his predecessor couldn’t. “Under Amirabdollahian, we will not see more radicalism, rather more co-ordination between the diplomatic and military fields,” once source told the FT. “You no longer have the kind of friction between the government and the deep states that proved to be a serious impediment for his predecessor’s initiatives,” explained another. Tehran also named the new oil minister last week: Javad Owji, a former deputy to outgoing Bijan Zanganeh and a senior executive in state-owned energy firms. As Zanganeh said last month, his successor’s main job would be to boost oil exports. The outgoing minister said recently that Iran had lost some $120 billion in oil revenues from U.S. sanctions, taking an export hit of 2 billion barrels since the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal.

Iran’s Huge Caspian Gas Find Is A Geopolitical Gamechanger - Iran last week revealed a huge new gas deposit located in the Iranian sector of the Caspian Sea. The ‘Chalous’ structure is to be developed with the intention of forming a new gas hub in northern Iran to complement the southern gas hub centred on the massive South Pars field.The principal named developer of the Chalous site is Iran’s Khazar Exploration and Production Company (KEPCO) but technical and financial assistance will also come from Russia and China. If the initial estimates of the gas reserves held in the Chalous deposit are correct then Iranian gas will be able to supply at least 20 percent of Europe’s gas needs. However, the size, price, and destination of this gas will be co-ordinated with Russia, adding to the energy power that Moscow has over Europe, already a key matter of contention between Europe and its NATO partner, the U.S. According to KEPCO’s chief executive officer, Ali Osouli, the Chalous structure is estimated to hold gas reserves equivalent to a quarter of the supergiant South Pars gas field, or around 11 of its phases. South Pars has an estimated 14.2 trillion cubic metres (Tcm) of gas reserves in place plus 18 billion barrels of gas condensate and already accounts for around 40 percent of Iran’s total estimated 33.8 tcm of gas reserves and about 80 percent of its gas production. The 3,700-square kilometre (sq.km) South Pars site is part of the 9,700-square km basin shared with Qatar (in the form of the 6,000-square km North Dome) but the Chalous structure lies squarely within Iran’s sector of the Caspian Sea. This has not so far been affected by the recent disputes between the five littoral states that share oil, gas, and other rights in it: Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.These disputes – exclusively covered and analysed by OilPrice.com – centered around the official designation of the Caspian as either a ‘sea’ or a ‘lake’ in early 2019, which was crucial in determining how all of the Caspian’s oil and gas resources would be divided up between the five states. The wider Caspian basins area, including both onshore and offshore fields, is conservatively estimated to have around 48 billion barrels of oil and 292 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in proven and probable reserves. Suffice it to say that, over and above the finer points involved that are covered in the article linked above, Russia contrived to have the Caspian re-designated as a sea, not a lake, which fundamentally altered the previously agreed split of revenues from it among the partners. In this process, Iran’s share was slashed from the 50-50 split with the USSR that it had enjoyed as from the original agreement made in 1921 (on ‘fishing rights’) and amended in 1924 to include ‘any and all resources recovered’ to just 11.875 percent. This meant that Iran will lose at least US$3.2 trillion in revenues from the lost value of energy products across the shared assets of the Caspian Sea resource going forward.The reason why Iran accepted this appalling re-ordering of shares in the spoils of the Caspian Sea was that at the time it was in the throes of negotiating the game-changing 25-year deal with China that included a major corollary deal with Russia. This deal with Russia was a legal necessity to the 25-year agreement with China – allowing for Russian as well as Chinese planes and ships to use the dual-use sites across Iran, for example – and was added into the existing multi-layered 10 year deals that Iran had been signing with Russia to that point. It is apposite to note that Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, said last month that this usual 10-year deal had now been superseded by a 20-year deal with Russia that covers political, security, military, defence and economic cooperation. Given these developments, then, Tehran felt in no position to start playing tough with the Kremlin in the negotiations over its share in the Caspian Sea resource.

Oil Futures Fall as Traders Watch Tropical Storm Fred, China's Data - - Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange retreated early Monday, sending the U.S. crude benchmark as much as 1.5% lower following a trio of weaker-than-expected economic data from China, pointing to a broad-based slowdown in the world's second largest economy, while domestically traders monitor the path of Tropical Storm Fred with expectations for heavy flooding and storm surge along the coast of Florida's Panhandle and Big Bend area to disrupt gasoline demand. At the beginning of the new trading week, oil and equity futures dropped sharply amid signs of an economic slowdown in China, with last month's retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment falling far short of expectations. Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending in the world's second largest economy, fell 0.13% in July, down from the 0.48% increase in June, and below the projection for 11.5% annualized growth. Industrial production, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 6.4% in July from a year earlier after an 8.3% rise in June. July's figure was below the median forecast for a rise of 7.9%. "Given the combined impact of sporadic local outbreaks of COVID-19 and natural disasters on the economy of some regions, the economic recovery is still unstable and uneven," Faced with growing outbreaks, Chinese health officials tightened restrictions on mobility and businesses in several metropolitan areas, suspending airfare and rail service. Last week, China closed the key port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, the world's largest shipping port by cargo tonnage, after a single case of COVID-19 infection sparked fears of an outbreak. The abrupt closure will further disrupt already strained supply chains, while raising shipping costs to the ports of North America and European Union ahead of the peak holiday season.At the start of July, Goldman Sachs trimmed its forecast for China's growth to 2.3% from 5.8% for the third quarter, while also cutting its full-year forecast to 8.3% from 8.6%.Domestically, Tropical Storm Fred is expected to impact the Gulf of Mexico over the next 48 hours with heavy rains and winds in excess of 50 knots, while also bringing dangerous storm surge along the coast of Florida's Panhandle and Big Bend area. As of Monday morning, most of the schools and all outdoor events across the region have been closed. Fred had been downgraded but regained its tropical storm status Sunday morning over the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to gradually increase in strength as it tracks through the warm waters of the gulf Monday. The development is bearish for regional gasoline demand, with seasonal decline in consumption seen steeper this year due to the lack of commute to work and rising tally of COVID-19 infections. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts gasoline consumption won't return to pre-pandemic levels even next year, averaging about 9 million barrels per day (bpd), some 300,000 bpd below 2019-levels.

Oil settles lower, pares losses despite weak economic data - (Reuters) -Oil prices settled lower on Monday, paring steep losses on weak Chinese economic data after sources told Reuters that OPEC and its allies believe the markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months. Brent crude settled down $1.08, or 1.5%, at $69.51 a barrel after earlier falling to $68.14. U.S. oil fell by $1.15, or 1.7%, to $67.29 after reaching lows of $65.73. The market had dropped more than 3% earlier in the session after data showed Chinese factory output and retail sales growth slowed sharply in July, missing expectations, as flooding and fresh outbreaks of COVID-19 disrupted business activity. Crude oil processing in China, the world's biggest oil importer, last month also fell to its lowest level on a daily basis since May 2020 as independent refiners cut production in the face of tighter quotas, elevated inventories and falling profits. However, prices rebounded slightly after sources from OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, said there was no need to release more oil despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise. OPEC+ agreed in July to boost output by 400,000 barrels per day a month starting in August until its current oil output reductions of 5.8 million bpd are fully phased out. Two of the OPEC+ sources said the latest data from OPEC and from the West’s energy watchdog - the International Energy Agency (IEA) - also indicated there was no need for extra oil. {OPEC/M] The IEA last week said that rising demand for crude oil reversed course in July and was expected to increase at a slower rate over the rest of 2021 because of surging COVID-19 infections from the Delta variant. U.S. oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by about 49,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September, led by growth in the Permian, according to the Energy Information Administration's monthly drilling productivity report on Monday. Money managers reduced their net-long U.S. crude futures and options holdings in the week to Aug. 10, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday. Speculators also cut their futures and options positions in New York and London by 21,777 contracts to 283,601 over the period, the CFTC said. "With COVID cases rising, the demand outlook is looking unclear, so traders are increasingly wary about hedging and locking in prices,"

Oil Futures Soften as China's Slowdown Fuels Growth Worry -- Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange extended losses into the fourth consecutive session early Tuesday, sending U.S. crude benchmark below $67 per barrel (bbl) on a combination of concerns over slowing global demand growth stemming from sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks in China and elsewhere in southeast Asia that have led to renewed restrictions on mobility and closure or reduced operations at key shipping ports, and signs of decelerating economic growth domestically. China's refinery output in July fell to the lowest since May 2020 at 13.9 million barrels per day (bpd) or 0.9% below the same month last year, according to the data released from the National Bureau of Statistics. That was the first year-on-year decline since March last year when coronavirus hammered Chinese fuel demand. A government crackdown on independent plants, also known as teapot refineries, combined with a growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks in several of China's major industrial hubs led to a sharp decline in refinery output last month. The world's second largest economy also lost steam in the third quarter, with last month's retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment falling far short of expectations. Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending fell 0.13% in July, down from the 0.48% increase in June, and below a projection for 11.5% annualized growth. Industrial production, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 6.4% in July from a year earlier after an 8.3% rise in June.Domestically, a sharp fall in consumer sentiment this month, joined with slowing manufacturing output and expectations for July's retail sales to fall after several months of strong readings have investors questioning the pace of second half growth as well as the timing of the Federal Reserve's plans to taper its monthly bond purchases. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell could shed some light on that issue during today's virtual Town Hall meeting at 1:30 p.m. ET ahead of central bank's symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this month.Oil traders are also monitoring the impact to gasoline demand in Florida and other Atlantic Coast states following flash flooding brought about by Tropical Depression Fred. Tropical Storm Fred made landfall late afternoon Monday and is expected to dissipate in the mid-Atlantic states over the next 24 hours. As Fred was downgraded, however, a tornado watch was issued for much of central and north Georgia on Tuesday.The development is bearish for regional gasoline demand, with seasonal decline in consumption already seen steeper this year due to the lack of commuting to work and the rising tally of COVID-19 infections. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts gasoline consumption won't return to pre-pandemic levels even next year, averaging about 9 million bpd, some 300,000 bpd below the 9.309 million bpd 2019 average.

Oil prices stretch losing streak to a 4th session as demand worries prevail - Oil futures stretched their streak of losses to a fourth session on Tuesday as investors continued to fret over the outlook for demand due to the ongoing spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. "The fundamental outlook for oil is mixed as in the immediate term," analysts at Sevens Report Research wrote in Tuesday's newsletter. Delta fears are weighing on demand expectations but in the medium term, a "global supply deficit is expected to last through year-end." Looking further down the road, sharp increases in 2022 production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, together known as OPEC+, are "expected to swing the market back into a surplus," the analysts wrote. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery lost 70 cents, or 1%, to settle at $66.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest front-month contract finish since Aug. 9, according to Dow Jones Market Data. October Brent crude , the global benchmark, fell 48 cents, or 0.7%, at $69.03 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, the lowest finish since July 19. New Zealand took drastic action Tuesday, with the government putting the entire nation into a strict lockdown (link) for at least three days after finding a single case of coronavirus infection in the community. The continued spread of the virus is being blamed for renewed congestion at ports in China (link), adding to worries about further lockdowns and the potential for a slowdown in economic activity around the world. Analysts Goldman Sachs believe that the delta variant wave hit to oil demand will remain "transient," with "structural supply underinvestment increasingly clear," according to a research note dated Monday. They expect the oil market deficit to persist through year-end, "eventually requiring a sharp increase in OPEC output and a further rebound in shale activity, which will necessitate higher prices." Oil traders await weekly data on U.S. petroleum supplies from the Energy Information Administration Wednesday morning. On average, analysts expect the government report to show a 3.1 million-barrel decline in domestic crude inventories for the week ended Aug. 13, according to a survey conducted by S&P Global Platts. They also forecast a fall of 2.3 million barrels for gasoline stockpiles and an increase of 700,000 barrels for distillate supplies. On Nymex Tuesday, September gasoline shed 1.6% to $2.17 a gallon and September heating oil lost 0.6% to $2.04 a gallon. September natural gas settled at $3.84 per million British thermal units, down 2.8%, after tacking on 2.2% on Monday.

Oil Extends Longest Losing Streak Since March After Disappointingly Small Crude Draw - Oil prices fell for the fourth day in a row - its longest losing streak since March - as a strong dollar and dismal US economic data following weak China data (combined with the ongoing spread of Delta around the world) prompted growth scares everywhere.“Poor data coming out of China is ground zero for reignited global concern surrounding Covid-19,”says Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.“Although indicators in the U.S. shows a better situation than China, as the second largest economy, what happens in the region has huge market impact.”Additionally, U.S. gasoline demand falls for third-straight week, dropping less than 1% to 9.423m b/d in the week ended Aug. 13, Descartes Labs says in survey based on movements of cellular devices.Algos will be desperately hoping for a bullish surprise from tonight's inventory data. API:

• Crude -1.163mm (-3.1mm exp)
• Cushing -1.735mm
• Gasoline -1.1979mm
• Distillates +502k

After the prior week's disappointingly small crude draw, analysts expected a sizable drop in inventories but they weredisappointed once again when API reported a mere 1.163mm draw (vs 3.1mm exp)...

WTI Tumbles Into Red After Surprise Gasoline Build, Production Increase - Oil prices rollercoastered overnight, after a 4-day losing streak (the longest since March), rebounding after a dip following API's reported smaller than expected crude draw, and now fading back into the red ahead of the official inventory data (as early dollar weakness turned to strength).The International Energy Agency last week said it expects oil demand to fall by more than half a million barrels per day in the second half of this year, even as OPEC+ continues with plans to add 400,000 bpd of additional supply monthly as the end of the U.S. driving season approaches, lowering the call for gasoline and raising concern over prices going forward."We doubt that all the negative factors are fully priced in, and think prices had overshot their fundamental values in the past anyway. Thus, the selling pressure is likely to continue for a while yet, and with the potential breakdown of key support levels, we may see increased technical selling activity too. As a result, oil prices could fall more abruptly going forward," Victor Argonov, senior analyst at International Fintech EXANTE, said in a note. Will the official data ignite the momentum for the algos? DOE

• Crude -3.23mm (-3.1mm exp)
• Cushing -980k
• Gasoline +696k
• Distillates -2.697mm

Official inventory data shows a notably bigger than expected crude draw last week (-3.23mm vs API's reported 1.163mm draw), Gasoline stocks rose but Distillates drewdown...US crude production rose modestly last week, but continues to behave itself, despite still high prices and rising rig counts. Still, US crude production is at its highest since May 2020...

Oil slides as COVID-19 surge, firmer dollar overshadow U.S. crude drawdown - Oil prices fell about 1% on Wednesday after four straight days of declines, as investors remain worried about the outlook for fuel demand as COVID-19 cases surge worldwide and on rising strength in the U.S. dollar. Brent crude settled 80 cents, or 1.16%, lower at $68.23 per barrel. U.S. WTI crude oil lost $1.13, or 1.7%, to settle at $65.46 per barrel. The U.S. dollar index was up 0.1%, hitting its highest level since April. Crude prices often move inversely to the dollar because the commodity is priced in dollars; when the U.S. currency rallies, it makes oil more expensive for foreign buyers. Oil markets have experienced several days of weakness due to the rise in infections caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus both in the United States and worldwide. Several countries have re-introduced travel restrictions and air traffic has softened in recent weeks. The market was helped by a bigger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, which fell 3.2 million barrels last week to 435.5 million barrels, their lowest since January 2020. Gasoline stocks, however, rose modestly, which kept the market from moving up given ongoing worries about coronavirus. "The market is being dragged down on a disappointing gasoline inventory build as we make our way into the Labor Day weekend," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, Texas, referring to the Sept. 6 U.S. holiday. The four-week average of overall U.S. product supplied to the market - a measure of demand - was 20.8 million barrels per day, in line with pre-coronavirus levels from 2019. Gasoline product supplied was 9.5 million bpd, just 1% below 2019 levels. U.S. fuel demand has steadily increased throughout the year as consumers have resumed activities with vaccination rates going up.

WTI, Brent Plunge to 5-Mo Low on Delta Risk, Fed Tapering - Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange fell sharply early Thursday, sending the U.S. crude benchmark below $63 bbl as investors fled to safety on concerns the Federal Reserve would begin tapering its purchase of bonds just as a resurgence in coronavirus infections linked to the spread of highly infections Delta variant looks set to stall a global economic recovery. U.S. Dollar Index jumped to a nine-month high at 93.515 in overnight trading after minutes from July's Federal Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday afternoon show policymakers are set to start tapering asset purchases within months. The Federal Reserve currently makes $120 billion in monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The minutes also show a split among participants on when to begin the tapering and the appropriate process to do so."Several participants" said aggressive monetary policy was still needed to fix the damage done to the labor market by the pandemic and felt ongoing bond purchases helped that process. "A few" countered that Fed policy had little left to contribute to a process driven by private business and household decisions. "Several" others said the condition of labor markets prior to the pandemic "may not be the right benchmark" given lasting changes to the economy. "No decision regarding future adjustments to asset purchases were made at this meeting," read the minutes. Since FOMC held its last discussion, however, U.S. labor market added 943,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% -- a new pandemic era low, revealed the Bureau of Labor Statistics Report. It was the biggest job gain since August last year, when more than one million positions were filled. Some economists suggest the torrid pace of employment last month moved the Federal Reserve closer to its goal of rolling back its quantitative easing program. A stronger greenback weighed on all dollar-denominated commodities this morning, making them more expensive to holders of other currencies. NYMEX September West Texas Intermediate futures fell by another 3.8% overnight to under $63 ahead of the contract's expiration Friday afternoon. Next-month delivery October WTI futures narrowed its discount to $0.17. International crude benchmark for October delivery moved down $2.25 to $65.98 bbl. NYMEX September ULSD contact plunged 6.14 cents to $1.9598 gallon and NYMEX September RBOB futures declined to $2.0894 gallon.Further weighing on the petroleum complex, domestic demand for gasoline showed no marked improvement over the past few weeks, stalling around 9.3 million barrels per day (bpd) with only few weeks left in the summer driving season. The lack of work commuting, retreating consumer spending, and a resurgent pandemic among other factors continue to weigh on domestic gasoline consumption. Accelerating coronavirus infections tied to a highly transmissible Delta variant are weighing on consumer sentiment, spending and the outlook for the economy. The seven-day moving average for daily infections moved above 100,000 cases in mid-August to 114,190, up 18.4% from the prior week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Oil Prices Fall to Lowest Point Since May on Stronger Dollar – WSJ - Oil prices fell Thursday to their lowest level in about three months after the U.S. dollar strengthened on concern that the global economic recovery might slow and the Federal Reserve’s signals that it will scale back stimulus measures.Brent crude oil, the international benchmark in energy markets, dropped 2.6% to $66.45 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures, a key U.S. gauge, declined 2.7% to $63.69 a barrel. Both benchmarks ended at their lowest daily close since May.The dollar’s advance to its strongest level since early November added to recent worries in energy markets. Investors had already grown increasingly nervous in recent days that rising Covid-19 cases are threatening to hobble the global recovery and could sap demand for oil in major economies like China.A stronger dollar tends to put pressure on commodities denominated in the U.S. currency—such as oil and industrial metals like copper—which become more expensive for other currency holders.The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, gained 0.44% Thursday. “It’s a very nervous market, and that will probably continue until we get some clarity at Jackson Hole next week,” “There is mostly a worry that strength in demand for oil has suddenly faded quite fast out of China, where economic data has been showing softness. And there’s soft mobility in the U.S. as we head into the autumn.”Minutes released Wednesday from the Federal Reserve’s recent meeting showed that policy makers are increasingly in agreement about tapering the central bank’s asset purchases in the months ahead. That has added to bets that the Fed may also raise interest rates sooner than anticipated, making U.S. Treasurys more attractive than government bonds from Germany and Japan that offer subzero yields.U.S. copper futures dropped 1.9% to $4.0385 a pound, the lowest settlement since mid April. Prices for the metal—which are sensitive to the health of the world economy because of copper’s uses in construction and manufacturing—have fallen more than 15% from the all-time high they reached in May.Investors’ appetite for risky assets such as stocks also ebbed as they assessed the growing threat posed by renewed lockdown measures, with many countries struggling to curb the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus.Shares in major energy companies also took a hit. BP PLC dropped nearly 5% in London, whileTotalEnergies SE shares retreated more than 3% in Paris. Royal Dutch Shell PLC shares slid more than 4% in Amsterdam. In the U.S., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. also declined.Industrial production data from China earlier this week undershot expectations, and other figures showed that Chinese refiners processed the least crude in 14 months, according to Warren Patterson, head of commodity strategy at Dutch bank ING. Separately, while Energy Information Administration figures released Wednesday showed that U.S. crude inventories fell twice as sharply in the most recent reporting week, gasoline stocks unexpectedly rose.“It appears that gasoline demand has peaked,” “Though the summer driving season still has three weeks to go, it is already clear that it will not meet the high expectations.”

Oil falls for a sixth straight day, sinks to the lowest level since May on fears of slowing growth Oil dropped for a sixth-straight session on Thursday, falling to the lowest level since May as demand fears and comments from the Federal Reserve that it will suspend its bond-buying program sent prices tumbling. Crude came under pressure amid weakness in the commodities market and equities more generally. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September delivery slid 2.7% to settle at $63.69, its lowest level since May 21. At one point during the session the more actively traded contract for October delivery dipped more than 4%, touching a session low of $62.41. International benchmark Brent crude declined 2.61% to $66.45 per barrel. Both WTI and Brent registered their longest daily losing streak since February 2020. The dollar advanced Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting indicated plans to pull back the pace of their monthly bond purchases. A strong dollar can pressure oil since it makes the commodity more expensive for foreign buyers. Weak data out of China has also pressured crude in recent sessions after data released Monday showed the economy slowed more than expected in July. Additionally, the country's refinery output fell to the lowest level in 14 months. "Concerns about demand due to the global spread of the Delta variant are continuing to preclude any higher prices," analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a recent note to clients. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released Wednesday showed a surprise build in gasoline stocks, which sparked fears of a weaker-than-expected end to the summer driving season. "Though the summer driving season still has three weeks to go, it is already clear that it will not meet the high expectations," Commerzbank added. Oil staged a blistering comeback during the first half of the year as demand returned and producers kept supply in check. But the momentum began to stall in July as the delta variant spread. WTI is now down 18% from its recent high of $76.98 from July 6. "There are still too many question marks over the crude demand outlook over the next few months and that will weigh on crude prices," said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. "After the release of the Fed's Minutes, risk aversion prevailed and oil prices returned back to session lows," he added.

WTI Expires at 3-Month Low as Delta Halts Demand Growth Rate -- Crude and refined products futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange finished a volatile trading week with sharp losses, sending West Texas Intermediate September below $63 barrel (bbl) at expiration Friday afternoon, as traders reassess prospects for a delayed recovery in global oil demand this year, hammered by the aggressive spread of COVID-19 infections and rising inflation across major oil consuming economies.Further weighing on the oil complex, Bakers Hughes reported Friday afternoon the number of active oil rigs in the United States increased for the third consecutive week through Friday to the highest level since April 2020 at 405. The number of oil-directed rigs is now 222 higher compared to a year ago, with a dozen rigs added in August so far. More evidence of rising crude production was found in data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration showing domestic operators added 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude output during the week ended Aug. 13 for an 11.4 million daily output rate -- the highest since May 2020. In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA forecasts output would average around 11.1 million bpd for the remainder of the year before hitting 11.8 million bpd by the end of 2022.Globally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries together with Russia-led partners, known as OPEC+, began increasing crude production 400,000 bpd a month in August after members reached consensus to gradually unwind agreed to production cuts made during the depth of the pandemic in the second quarter 2020. OPEC+ production cuts totaled 5.759 million bpd in July, with monthly increases set to continue through December 2022 or until all cut output is restored. Compliance among OPEC members eased to 116% last month from June's 120% compliance rate, according to private surveys, while their non-OPEC counterparts scored a compliance rate of 97% in July. Reduced OPEC compliance was mostly driven by Saudi Arabia, with the kingdom restoring the remaining 400,000 bpd of an additional unilateral cut of 1 million bpd above its quota in the first quarter last month.Rising global oil production is met with concerns over flagging oil demand in major Asian and Western economies, prompting several investment banks to downgrade their growth forecasts for the third quarter. Goldman Sachs this week slashed its third quarter U.S. gross domestic product outlook from 9.8% to 5.5%, noting the "impact of the Delta variant on growth and inflation is proving to be somewhat larger than we expected. Spending on dining, travel, ... is likely to decline in August, though we expect the drop to be modest and brief," they wrote in a note.

Oil Extended Losing Streak Friday to Seven Days, Longest since 2019 | Rigzone --Oil capped the week with the longest losing streak since 2019 as the dollar strengthened after the Federal Reserve signaled it will start tapering stimulus and the virus resurgence raises doubts about demand growth. West Texas Intermediate futures ended the session 2.2% lower, tumbling for a seventh day and extending the week’s decline to 8.9%. Other raw materials including copper and iron ore fell on Thursday following the Fed’s signal. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has risen every day this week, making commodities priced in the currency less appealing. The pandemic remains a threat to energy demand, especially across Asia, with key importer China restricting mobility to combat an outbreak. “It’s an exceptionally rare event for oil to fall for such an extended period,” said Thomas Finlon, chief operating officer at Brownsville LLC, a trading and logistics firm in Houston. “External factors including the ongoing effects of the delta variants’ growth and the behavior coming out of the federal reserve, is proving surprisingly significant to investors.” Crude’s weakness comes amid fading expectations for further large inventory draws in the coming months. Bank of America said prices will probably be range-bound in the second half of the year with more steep drops in stockpiles unlikely. The price plunge may force the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to pause their next planned production increase, according to Citigroup Inc. “We have now priced down to a level reflecting more sideways inventories, with demand pain from Covid-19 together with more from OPEC+ on supply,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB. “But OPEC+ should be in fairly good control of the market still.” The pandemic continues to disrupt plans to restart economic activity, crimping mobility and demand for fuels. In Australia, Sydney’s two-month long lockdown will be extended until at least the end of September. In the U.S., more companies announced plans to keep workers at home as the virus spreads. Brent crude is also sinking. The international benchmark is headed for its longest run of losses in more than three years and close to falling below $65 a barrel for the first time since May. Prices: WTI for September delivery, which expires Friday, fell $1.37 to settle at $62.32 a barrel in New York. Brent for October settlement declined $1.27 to end session at $65.18 a barrel. Despite lower headline prices and the commodity being unable to shake investors’ risk averse mood as of late, Brent’s nearest timespread widened to 44 cents, an indicator of long term bullishness. The number of people in the U.S. getting a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine has risen to almost half a million a day, a level last seen at the end of May, as the overall vaccination rate in the U.S has increased to 60%.

Saudi Aramco aims to raise at least $17 billion from gas pipeline: Sources - Saudi Aramco is looking to raise at least $17 billion from the sale of a significant minority stake in its gas pipelines, higher than the $12.4 billion raised from its oil pipeline deal, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. Potential bidders including North American private equity and infrastructure funds, as well as state-backed funds in China and South Korea have been approached by Aramco through its advisors before a formal sale process kicks off in the next few weeks, they said. The deal size may include $3.5 billion of equity and the remainder will be funded by bank debt, one source said, while another source said the transaction size could top $20 billion. Saudi Arabia is the world's sixth largest gas market,according to Aramco, whose Master Gas System (MGS) derives valuefrom a range of gas deposits and helps deliver it to consumers. "The gas deal is about the long-term view of gas utilisation and consumption in Saudi Arabia," said one source familiar with deal, explaining why the gas deal may generate higher proceeds. The source said many industries will shift to gas under the economic Vision 2030, meaning domestic gas demand will rise. Aramco is working with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs on the deal to tap potential buyers, sources have said. The companies tapped include the ones who took part in the stake sale process for Abu Dhabi National Oil Co's gas pipelines, which was bought by a consortium of investors including Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Brookfield, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and European gas infrastructure owner and operator SNAM.

Iranian oil shipment to Lebanon poses new challenge for Israel - Israel News - Haaretz.com - This new unsupervised axis through the Suez Canal will be perceived as a Hezbollah accomplishment testing both Israel and Egypt. The Israeli army’s love affair with psyops blurs ethical lines

Taliban to Take Power in Afghanistan, Country's President Flees - The Taliban is set to retake power in Afghanistan 20 years after being ousted by US-led forces, with the president fleeing the country by plane and the militant group taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul after a rapid offensive.The Taliban will declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the palace, a Taliban official announced on Sunday.The official spoke under the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, according to the Associated Press.President Ashraf Ghani boarded a plane and left Afghanistan for Tajikistan on Sunday, a senior interior ministry official told Reuters. The president's office told the news agency it "cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani's movement for security reasons."Tolo TV also confirmed that Ghani has gone into exile.The Taliban has advanced rapidly through Afghanistan over the past few weeks as NATO troops and American forces left the South Asian country two decades after the US invaded to hunt down Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. A series of smaller towns and cities systematically fell to the militant group as it overran US-trained forces. As Afghan troops have surrendered, the Taliban has seized weapons provided by the US, forcing the US to carry out strikes on captured military equipment to stop the Taliban from turning it on the Afghan forces.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that US embassy staff in Kabul are leaving the facility and moving to the airport. But a security alert released Sunday by the US Embassy in Kabul said the situation in the capital city is "changing quickly including at the airport. There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place."President Joe Biden was slammed by GOP leaders for his silence during early Sunday developments emerging from Afghanistan. The White House eventually said in an afternoon statement that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had met with national security officials in the morning "to hear updates on the draw down of our civilian personnel in Afghanistan, evacuations of SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) applicants and other Afghan allies, and the ongoing security situation in Kabul."

Taliban declare 'amnesty,' call on women to join government --The Taliban on Tuesday said they would grant amnesty for all Afghans and called on women to join government offices, an apparent move to gain support from local populations who remain fearful of a return to the restrictive laws against women and girls from the Taliban’s rule more than two decades ago. Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, explained that the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with full dignity and honesty has announced a complete amnesty for all Afghanistan, especially those who were with the opposition or supported the occupiers for years and recently,” according to The Associated Press. The Taliban official also said that women have been the “the main victims of the more than 40 years of crisis in Afghanistan” and that the insurgent group "doesn’t want the women to be the victims anymore.” “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to provide women with environment to work and study, and the presence of women in different [government] structures according to Islamic law and in accordance with our cultural values,” he added, the AP reported. The remarks are the first comments revealing how the Taliban intends to govern since the group’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan, culminating in Sunday’s fall of Kabul. The takeover, which came just two weeks before the U.S. was set to officially withdraw the remainder of its troops from Afghanistan, has led to widespread concerns among human rights groups and local populations that the expanded rights women and girls have gained in the country over the past 20 years could be quickly turned back under a new Taliban regime. The group previously governed under an extreme interpretation of Islamic law and prohibited women and girls from going to school, working or leaving their homes unless they were accompanied by a man. Women were also required to cover most of their bodies, including their faces, and were not allowed to drive. CNN’s Clarissa Ward reported Monday that women had already begun dressing more conservatively while walking outside their homes in Kabul.

Iran closes border to fleeing Afghans -- Iran closed its border to Afghanistan on Wednesday, as thousands of Afghan nationals seek to flee the country following the Taliban’s takeover. Hossein Qasemi, the director of the Iranian interior ministry’s office for border affairs, told the state-run Mizan news agency that authorities instructed Iran’s three provinces that border Afghanistan to deny Afghan nationals entry into Iran because of recent developments in the country and “coronavirus restrictions,” according to the BBC. The news comes after Qasemi reportedly said Iran was establishing refugee camps on its border with Afghanistan in the expectation of a surge of people fleeing from the Taliban. Thousands of Afghan citizens are scrambling to leave the country after the Taliban seized control of the capital city of Kabul this weekend, effectively toppling the government and unleashing chaos in the region. The U.S. has thus far evacuated more than 3,200 people from Afghanistan, 1,100 of whom were removed Tuesday, according to the CNN. The Taliban has vowed to rule peacefully in Afghanistan, but many are still skeptical of how the insurgent group will govern in the region, especially when it comes to women. Hundreds of Afghan service members have fled to Uzbekistan on dozens of U.S.-supplied planes and helicopters since the weekend. The Pentagon on Tuesday said it is aiming to have one flight leave from Kabul per hour within the next day, which would allow the military to extract between 5,000 and 9,000 people from Afghanistan a day.

Ex-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Reportedly Fled Country With $169 Million, Emerges In UAE - It's now well known that ex-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled his country on Sunday while claiming it would "avert bloodshed". His rapid exit, initially said to have been toward Tajikistan, ensured the lighting fast Taliban takeover of Kabul - also as the Pentagon scrambled to initiate the still ongoing evacuation of US diplomats and all American citizens. On Monday it emerged via Russian embassy eyewitnesses and reports that Ghani had stuffed multiple cars and a helicopter full of cash upon departure, even leaving some of it on the airport tarmac as not all of it could be physically carried, apparently. It's now emerging that he and his aides may have escaped with a whopping $169 million, according to new statements from the Afghan ambassador in Tajikistan, as reported in BBC. Further the United Arab Emirates is now confirming that he's reappeared in the UAE. "The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds," according to a Wednesday foreign ministry statement. Since he fled Sunday, there had been no official word on his whereabouts, though previously there was speculation that Tajikistan may have denied him entry, which may have initially diverted Ghani to Oman. Ghani has a lot to answer for: not only did he loot Afghanistan's coffers (and the US taxpayer by extensions), but his fleeing may have collapsed a major transitional or possible 'power sharing' deal that was in the works, which perhaps would have also avoided the horrific scenes from Kabul international airport on Monday that resulted in at least seven deaths.

Pepe Escobar: The 'New Great Game' In Eurasia Has Just Been Reloaded - In the end, the Saigon moment happened faster than any Western intel “expert” expected. This is one for the annals: four frantic days that wrapped up the most astonishing guerrilla blitzkrieg of recent times. Afghan-style: lots of persuasion, lots of tribal deals, zero columns of tanks, minimal loss of blood. August 12 set the scene, with the nearly simultaneous capture of Ghazni, Kandahar and Herat. On August 13, the Taliban were only 50 kilometers from Kabul. August 14 started with the siege of Maidan Shahr, the gateway to Kabul. Ismail Khan, the legendary elder Lion of Herat, struck a self-preservation deal and was sent by the Taliban as a top-flight messenger to Kabul: President Ashraf Ghani should step out, or else. Still on Saturday, the Taliban took Jalalabad – and isolated Kabul from the east, all the way to the Afgan-Pakistan border in Torkham, gateway to the Khyber Pass. By Saturday night, Marshal Dostum was fleeing with a bunch of military to Uzbekistan via the Friendship Bridge in Termez; only a few were allowed in. The Taliban duly took over Dostum’s Tony Montana-style palace. By early morning on August 15, all that was left for the Kabul administration was the Panjshir valley – high in the mountains, a naturally protected fortress – and scattered Hazaras: there’s nothing there in those beautiful central lands, except Bamiyan. In the end, there was no Battle for Kabul. Thousands of Taliban were already inside Kabul – once again the classic sleeper-cell playbook. The bulk of their forces remained in the outskirts. An official Taliban proclamation ordered them not to enter the city, which should be captured without a fight, to prevent civilian casualties. The Taliban did advance from the west, but “advancing,” in context, meant connecting to the sleeper cells in Kabul, which by then were fully active. Tactically, Kabul was encircled in an “anaconda” move, as defined by a Taliban commander: squeezed from north, south and west and, with the capture of Jalalabad, cut off from the east. At some point last week, high-level intel must have whispered to the Taliban command that the Americans would be coming to “evacuate.” It could have been Pakistan intelligence, even Turkish intelligence, with Erdogan playing his characteristic NATO double game. The American rescue cavalry not only came late, but was caught in a bind as they could not possibly bomb their own assets inside Kabul. The horrible timing was compounded when the Bagram military base – the NATO Valhalla in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years – was finally captured by the Taliban. That led the US and NATO to literally beg the Taliban to let them evacuate everything in sight from Kabul – by air, in haste, at the Taliban’s mercy. A geopolitical development that evokes suspension of disbelief.

Egypt's Bread Subsidies May Bring Millions To The Brink Of Starvation - In Egypt, the recent announcement that bread prices, long subsidized for much of the population, would likely have to rise was met with cries of despair. Indeed, over two-thirds of the population of Egypt depend on inexpensive bread for daily sustenance.In order to understand the current situation in Egypt, it’s imperative to learn how the current situation was created in the first place. First, the word used for bread in Egypt is different from the word common to other Arab countries, and is intertwined with the word meaning “to live.” Also, the most common type of bread in Egypt, consumed by 85 percent of people there, uses a word that means “traditional” or “my country.” Perhaps this sort of nationalism via food is why bread production has been subsidized in Egypt since 1941.With state reliance for this long, the provision of low-cost bread is “an expected part of the state’s social contract with its public…. Within most people’s lifetimes, they remember cheap bread being available…. It’s something that has always been there.” Egyptian government owes the International Monetary Fund billions of dollars, and a condition of these loans was that food subsidies should only reach those who need it most. Also, prices for fuel and electricity must be higher as well. Finally, the currency has been devalued as part of the IMF “reforms” in an attempt to curtail black market activity (i.e., voluntary trade). This also increased the prices of ordinary goods for Egyptians. The basic underlying problem here is that the state has inserted itself between producer and consumer. In order to “help” the poor, central planners in Egypt have been running this “bread for all” program, which may now make it very hard for the poor to get bread.The retail price for a loaf of bread in Egypt is currently 0.05 Egyptian pounds ($0.0032), and it has remained at this level for decades. Meanwhile, the cost to produce one loaf is currently greater than ten times the retail price. In the typical style of central planners, in an effort to make the system more efficient, the quota of subsidized bread loaves has remained the same, but the weight of a loaf of bread has gradually been reduced over time. Perhaps this has something to do with the ineptness of the centrally planned scheme of wheat purchasing in order to supply flour for bread making. The government set a wheat price assumption in their budget of $255 per ton but recently was forced to pay $293.74 per ton on the open market. And this is also related to the fact that many Egyptians live in poverty and have poor indicators of health—21 percent of children under age five exhibit stunted growth and 27 percent have signs of anemia, along with 25 percent of women of childbearing age. I guess the whole nationalistic bread idea isn’t such a good plan after all.

At least 47 dead in Burkina Faso attack by suspected Islamist militants -At least 47 dead in Burkina Faso attack by suspected Islamist militants © Getty At least 47 people were killed in an ambush attack in Burkina Faso on Wednesday by suspected Islamist militants, the latest incident amid ongoing violence that has increasingly gripped Africa’s West Sahel region in recent years. The Associated Press reported that state authorities recorded a death toll of at least 30 civilians and 17 soldiers and volunteer pro-government fighters after a group of suspected extremists ambushed a convoy near the northern town of Arbinda. State media reported that Burkina Faso troops fought back and killed 16 militants, though a security source told Reuters that the number was at least 58. While no group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, it follows a series of other instances in which groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State have targeted government security forces, including one recently that killed 30 people, including 15 soldiers and four volunteer fighters, the AP reported. Last week, suspected Islamist militants allegedly killed 12 Burkina Faso soldiers in an ambush attack in the western portion of the country. Ibrahim Kagone, a local journalist in the nearby town of Dori, told the AP on Wednesday that local populations were “shocked and concerned about the escalation of terrorist (attacks) against civilians in the region.” Concerns and outrage among citizens sparked protests last month demanding more direct action from the government to curb the violence, which the ill-equipped state forces have for years struggled to contain. In response to the demonstrations, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore fired his ministers of defense and security and took on the defense role himself. Countries across the Sahel region, including Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, have faced continued attacks by Islamist groups, prompting leaders to call on the international community to provide further aid in fighting the extremists.

New Zealand begins a three-day lockdown after a single case is reported. --New Zealand began a three-day nationwide lockdown after reporting its first coronavirus case in six months. The snap lockdown, which started at 11:59 p.m. local time on Tuesday, was set off by the discovery of an infection in Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous city, that was believed to be the country’s first case of the more contagious Delta variant outside its strict quarantine system. Auckland and the nearby Coromandel Peninsula, which the infected person recently visited, entered a longer, seven-day lockdown. A day later, the number of cases had risen to seven, one of whom involved a nurse at the country’s largest hospital. Genomic testing by health officials revealed a link to cases in the Australian state of New South Wales, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. It was not yet known how the man who tested positive had contracted the virus. He had not recently visited Australia and did not have any links to the country’s quarantine facilities at the border. Early modeling suggests the cluster could grow to as many as 120 people, health officials said on Wednesday. Under the lockdown rules, New Zealand’s toughest, residents must stay at home and all schools, public facilities and nonessential businesses are closed. Ahead of the lockdown announcement, New Zealanders flocked to supermarkets to stock up, leaving toilet paper aisles bare, in scenes reminiscent of the earliest days of the pandemic. Roads out of Auckland were packed as people left the city for holiday homes in other parts of the country. “I want to assure New Zealand that we have planned for this eventuality and that we will now be putting in place that plan to contain and stamp out Covid-19 once again,” Ms. Ardern said at a news conference. “Going hard and early has worked for us before,” she added. Ms. Ardern warned that if New Zealand failed to act swiftly, it could end up in the same situation as New South Wales, which is reporting hundreds of new cases each day, more than at any other time during the pandemic. A lockdown now in its eighth week in Sydney, where the Delta-driven outbreak began, was extended to the entire state on Saturday.

Germany Makes Rapid Virus Tests a Key to Everyday Freedoms NYT — Want to go out for a meal indoors in Germany? Get a test. Want to stay at a hotel as a tourist or work out at the gym? Same answer. For the many Germans who have not yet been vaccinated, the key to Covid freedom has come from the end of a nasal swab, and rapid-test centers have multiplied at a speed usually reserved for the country’s autobahn. Abandoned cafes and nightclubs have been converted. Wedding tents have been repurposed. Even the back seats of bicycle taxis have a new use, as tourists have been replaced by Germans being swabbed by testers in full protective gear.Germany is one of a handful of countries betting heavily on testing — as well as vaccines — to beat the pandemic. The idea is to find potentially infectious people before they can join crowds in concert halls and restaurants and spread the virus.The testing system is a far cry from much of the United States, where in many places, people began dining indoors or sweating together in gyms with few if any requirements. Even in Britain, where the government gives out free rapid tests and schoolchildren have taken more than 50 million since January, they are not part of everyday life for most adults.But in Germany, people who want to participate in various types of indoor social activity or personal care need a negative rapid test that is no more than 24 hours old.There are now 15,000 pop-up testing centers across the country — more than 1,300 in Berlin alone. The centers are funded by the government, which has spent hundreds of millions of euros on the ad hoc network. And a task force led by two cabinet ministers is ensuring that schools and day care centers have enough of these rapid antigen tests to administer to children at least twice a week.Separately, do-it-yourself kits have been become ubiquitous at supermarket check out stands, pharmacies and even gas stations since they first came on the market earlier this year. Experts in Germany say that they believe the testing is helping to lower virus case numbers, though proof is elusive. Almost 23 percent of Germans are fully vaccinated, meaning that they don’t have to present test results. Another 24 percent who have received only one dose of the vaccine and those unvaccinated still do, even though as of Tuesday, there have been only 20.8 infections per 100,000 people in a week, a number not seen since early October, before a second wave started spreading.Throughout the pandemic, Germany has been a world leader when it comes to widespread testing. It was one of the first countries todevelop a test to detect the coronavirus and relied on testing to help identify and break down chains of infection. By last summer, everyone coming home to Germany from vacation in countries with high rates of infection was being tested. The current testing has been considered especially important because of the relatively slow start of Germany’s vaccine campaign. The country stuck with the European Union in making vaccine purchases as one unit, and found itself stymied as Brussels faltered in securing shots quickly enough. The United States has fully vaccinated almost twice as large a slice of its population.

UK teachers fight against attacks on pay, conditions and pensions - UK teachers face an acceleration of attacks on pay, conditions and pensions. This led to an upsurge of strike activity during the summer term. Teachers have experienced an academic year like no other. After the reckless reopening of schools in March by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, schools proved to be major vectors for spreading coronavirus. Children as well as adults caught the virus, and some became seriously ill. Children, like adults, can develop Long COVID and the disease has in some cases caused devastating neurological damage. Though the virus poses a great danger to children’s health, governments worldwide have already begun reopening schools and more will do so next month. They do so with the backing of the education unions, so that parents can go to work and profit-making can continue. When the autumn term begins, educators and parents face a looming health catastrophe as children are herded into classrooms without any protection against the Delta variant. They do so amid an escalating struggle over pay, pensions and victimisations. In a number of schools in the private sector, ongoing disputes over pay and pensions remain unresolved. At the end of June, teachers at Tring Park School for Performing Arts took part in five days of strike action. Teachers at Southend’s Alleyn Court Preparatory School walked out for six days throughout July. The trusts at both schools removed access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), and pay was frozen. These schools are in addition to the 114 which withdrew from the TPS after the government increased the employer’s contribution from 16.48 percent to 23.68 percent in September 2019—an increase which also applies to public sector pensions. The contribution by employees is 9.6 percent. The government is currently consulting with independent schools on a phased withdrawal from the TPS. Instead of a well-earned summer break, teachers at Alleyn Court Preparatory School were threatened with “fire and rehire” if they did not accept an inferior pension. Staff are waiting to be told whether they have a job in September.

In England, summer vacations look different in a pandemic. - For the second year running, a hallowed rite for millions of people in Britain — decamping to the warmer climate of the Mediterranean — has been disrupted by the pandemic. The number of flights in and out of Britain are half their 2019 levels.Instead, they are taking vacations closer to home.This year, the Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England, has lured even more visitors to its sandy beaches, coastal walks and arcades. But pandemic restrictions, staff shortages and the often uncooperative British weather have presented challenges to visitors and business owners this season.Like many popular British vacation spots, such as Cornwall and the Lake District National Park, the Isle of Wight is suffering froma shortage of workers, especially in hotels and restaurants. One problem is that many have had to self-isolate for 10 days after being pinged on the country’s coronavirus tracing app.And many workers, seeking more secure work, have taken jobs in other sectors. Brexit hasn’t helped — the pool of European Union nationals working in Britain has shrunk by hundreds of thousands.As a result, small businesses on the island are unable to fully benefit from the rise in visitors. They are wary of overextending and not having enough workers to meet demand. Instead, they are restricting how many people they serve and limiting the hours they are open.

Conspiracy Theories Aside, There Is Something Fishy About the Great Reset -- ‘The Great Reset’ conspiracy theories don’t seem to want to die. The theories were triggered by the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) summit last year, which had the theme ‘The Great Reset’ and argued that the COVID crisis was an opportunity to address the burning issues facing the world. According to the BBC, the term ‘Great Reset’ has received more than eight million interactions on Facebook and has been shared almost two million times on Twitter since the WEF initiative was launched.The set of conspiracy theories around the Great Reset are nebulous and hard to pin down, but piecing them together gives us something like this: the Great Reset is the global elite’s plan to instate a communist world order by abolishing private property while using COVID-19 to solve overpopulation and enslaving what remains of humanity with vaccines.Intrigued by the palaver around last year’s summit, I decided to find out what the WEF’s Great Reset plan was really about. At the heart of conspiracy theories are supposed secret agendas and malicious intent. While these may be absent from the WEF’s Great Reset initiative, what I found was something almost as sinister hiding in plain sight. In fact, more sinister because it’s real and it’s happening now. And it involves things as fundamental as our food, our data and our vaccines.The magic words are ‘stakeholder capitalism’, a concept that WEF chairman Klaus Schwab has been hammering for decades and which occupies pride of place in the WEF’s Great Reset planfrom June 2020. The idea is that global capitalism should be transformed so that corporations no longer focus solely on serving shareholders but become custodians of society by creating value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities and other ‘stakeholders’. The way the WEF sees stakeholder capitalism being carried out is through a range of ‘multi-stakeholder partnerships’ bringing together the private sector, governments and civil society across all areas of global governance.The idea of stakeholder capitalism and multi-stakeholder partnerships might sound warm and fuzzy, until we dig deeper and realise that this actually means giving corporations more power over society, and democratic institutions less.The plan from which the Great Reset originated was called the Global Redesign Initiative. Drafted by the WEF after the 2008 economic crisis, the initiative contains a 600-page report on transforming global governance. In the WEF’s vision, “the government voice would be one among many, without always being the final arbiter.” Governments would be just one stakeholder in a multi-stakeholder model of global governance. Harris Gleckman, senior fellow at the University of Massachusetts, describes the report as “the most comprehensive proposal for re-designing global governance since the formulation of the United Nations during World War II.”Who are these other, non-governmental stakeholders? The WEF, best known for its annual meeting of high-net-worth individuals in Davos, Switzerland, describes itself as an international organization for public-private cooperation. WEF partners include some of the biggest companies in oil (Saudi Aramco, Shell, Chevron, BP), food (Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé), technology (Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple) and pharmaceuticals (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna).Instead of corporations serving many stakeholders, in the multi-stakeholder model of global governance, corporations are promoted to being official stakeholders in global decision-making, while governments are relegated to being one of many stakeholders. In practice, corporations become the main stakeholders, while governments take a backseat role, and civil society is mainly window dressing.