week ending Aug 7

Fed Vice Chair Clarida anticipates rate hikes starting in 2023 - Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Wednesday the central bank is likely to hit its economic targets by the end of next year and start raising interest rates again in 2023. While he said the jobs market still has to recover, Clarida noted that inflation is tracking to meet and exceed the Fed's 2% goal. That sets the stage for the Fed to hit the "substantial further progress" benchmark it has set before it will start tightening policy. "Given this outlook and so long as inflation expectations remain well anchored at the 2% longer-run goal … commencing policy normalization in 2023 would, under these conditions, be entirely consistent with our new flexible average inflation targeting framework," the policymaker told the Peterson Institute for International Economics in a virtual appearance. Clarida, however, gave no timetable for when the Fed might start curtailing its monthly asset purchases. The central bank has been buying $120 billion a month in Treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds to keep financial markets liquid amid the Covid crisis. While Clarida noted that officials are discussing when they might pull back on these bond purchases, he said only that the public will be given plenty of notice before a decision is made. The speech comes amid growing concern over a peak in the economic recovery that began in April 2020, as well as a surge in inflation that has taken price increases well beyond the Fed's target. Clarida noted that core personal consumption expenditure prices — the Fed's preferred inflation metric — are running at a 2.7% rate since February 2020, just before the Covid pandemic hit. Should his expectations for inflation ahead materialize, "then I believe that … necessary conditions for raising the target range for the federal funds rate will have been met by year-end 2022." Current market pricing has shifted in terms of rate expectations, with futures contracts tied to the Fed's benchmark rate now indicating just a 43.7% chance of a hike by the end of 2022, according to the CME Group. However, market sentiment around the Fed is volatile, and Clarida's comments, particularly around inflation, indicate that a move could come sooner. "If, as projected, core PCE inflation this year does come in at, or certainly above, 3%, I will consider that much more than a 'moderate' overshoot of our 2% longer-run inflation objective," he said. "As always, there are risks to any outlook, and I believe that the risks to my outlook for inflation are to the upside."

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin urges Fed to reduce asset purchases to minimize inflation risks (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin urged the Federal Reserve to start withdrawing some of its economic support in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell in which the moderate Democratic lawmaker from West Virginia said he is worried easy monetary policy may fuel higher inflation. "With the recession over and our strong economic recovery well underway, I am increasingly alarmed that the Fed continues to inject record amounts of stimulus into our economy by continuing an emergency level of quantitative easing," wrote Manchin. Fed officials lowered short-term interest rates to near zero levels last year and began purchasing $120 billion in a month in government bonds to stabilize markets and support the economy after it was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Policymakers are in the process of discussing how to reduce those purchases, and Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Wednesday that it is possible Fed officials could announce a reduction in the pace of purchases later this year. A spokeswoman for the Fed confirmed that the central bank received the letter but declined to comment further. Manchin credited swift action from Fed and robust relief packages passed by Congress with helping to bolster the economy through the deep but brief recession last year. But he said he was also worried additional fiscal stimulus could "lead to our economy overheating and to unavoidable inflation taxes that hard working Americans cannot afford." The $1.9 trillion relief plan passed earlier this year was criticized by Republicans and some Democrats, including former Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, who said they were worried it could set off inflationary pressures. Senators are currently considering a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and some Democrats are in favor of another $3.5 trillion proposal. Lawmakers do not determine monetary policy but the Senate will have to confirm President Joe Biden's nominee for leading the central bank. The White House needs to decide if it will keep Powell on after term as chair expires in February of 2022.

 Jobs Report Risks Different Kind of Taper Tantrum – WSJ -- Leave it to Joe Manchin to know which way the wind is blowing. A day before Friday’s monthly jobs report, the West Virginia senator urged the Federal Reserve to pare back stimulus to avoid overheating the economy. Variously described as the most powerful man in the Senate and even the most powerful Joe in Washington, the conservative Democrat wields unusual power in a chamber where his party controls exactly half of the seats. His case was strengthened by the data. The U.S. added 943,000 jobs in July, about 100,000 more than economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had been expecting, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% compared with a consensus estimate of 5.7%. The prior two months saw upward revisions, adding nearly 120,000 more jobs in total. With the Fed still committed to holding overnight interest rates near zero, where they have been since last March, and to purchasing $120 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage securities, Mr. Manchin’s argument is one that increasingly resonates with people who don’t hold Ph.D.s in economics. While the economy no doubt bears scars from the Covid-19 pandemic, including millions fewer Americans in the workforce, it is obvious that employers are begging for applicants in many sectors and bidding up for them. Labor shortages are helping to push up prices of many goods and services. Mr. Manchin criticized the continuation of “policy responses tailored for an economic depression.” Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Wednesday that the central bank could announce its intention to cut bond purchases later in 2021 and to begin raising rates in 2023. The Fed is formally independent, but could the political winds be shifting in favor of the other part of its “dual mandate”—stable prices, not just maximum employment Normally Congress, consumers and of course the investor class are uniformly in favor of looser policy. With Americans facing sticker shock at the mall and having difficulty buying a home, a schism might develop that could spark more calls like those from Mr. Manchin. Though the Fed doesn’t have to act, the pressure alone could spark a rise in bond yields, weighing on record stock prices. It also could make splashy fiscal initiatives such as the infrastructure plan now being finalized in Washington more contentious, which also could pinch stocks.

 Warren praises Brainard, slams Powell ahead of Biden Fed pick --Sen. Elizabeth Warren praised Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard on Wednesday for her approach to financial regulation while criticizing Chairman Jerome Powell as too protective of big financial institutions.“My concern is that over and over he has weakened the regulation here,” she said of Powell on Bloomberg TV’s “Balance of Power with David Westin.” “We need someone who understands and uses the monetary policy tools and the regulatory tools to keep our economy safe. Let’s not forget what happened in 2008.”The Massachusetts Democrat is a member of the Banking Committee and a key voice in discussions ahead of a decision by President Biden on who should lead the nation’s central bank. Powell’s term ends in February.

Business Cycle Indicators as of August 2 - IHS-MarkIt (nee Macroeconomic Advisers) released monthly GDP today. The July employment situation will be released this Friday. Figure 1: Nonfarm payroll employment from June release (dark blue), Bloomberg consensus as of 8/2 for July nonfarm payroll employment (light blue +), industrial production (red), personal income excluding transfers in Ch.2012$ (green), manufacturing and trade sales in Ch.2012$ (black), consumption in Ch.2012$ (light blue), and monthly GDP in Ch.2012$ (pink), all log normalized to 2020M02=0. NBER defined recession dates shaded gray. Source: BLS, Federal Reserve, BEA, via FRED, IHS Markit (nee Macroeconomic Advisers) (8/2/2021 release), NBER, and author’s calculations.Both Monthly GDP and personal income excluding current transfers growth have stalled out at prior-peak levels. Relative to the NBER peak in 2020M02, employment continues to be the laggard, down 4.5% (log terms). If nonfarm payroll (NFP) in July rises as forecasted by Bloomberg consensus by 900K, it’ll still be down by 3.9%.Contributions to June’s GDP growth are shown in the table below. Final sales growth outstripped GDP growth, as in the quarter overall (see this post), hence the -2.1% (SAAR) contribution from inventory decumulation. Net exports have been exerting a drag in the last two months, as well.

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 20.1% from the same day in 2019 (79.9% 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 has mostly sideways over the last few of 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 July 31st, 2021. This data is "a sample of restaurants on the OpenTable network across all channels: online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins. Dining picked up during the holidays, then slumped with the huge winter surge in cases. Dining is generally picking up, but was down 6% in the US (7-day average compared to 2019). Florida and Texas are above 2019 levels. ----- Movie Tickets: Box Office Mojo ----- 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 July 29th. Movie ticket sales were at $92 million last week, down about 63% from the median for the week.This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. Occupancy is well above the horrible 2009 levels and weekend occupancy (leisure) has been solid. This data is through July 24th. The occupancy rate is down 7.8% compared to the same week in 2019. Note: Occupancy was up year-over-year, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. However, the 4-week average occupancy is still down from normal levels. This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019. Blue is for 2020. Red is for 2021. As of July 23rd, gasoline supplied was down 2.4% compared to the same week in 2019. There have been 3 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." This is just a general guide - people that regularly commute probably don't ask for directions. There is also some great data on mobility from the Dallas Fed Mobility and Engagement Index. This data is through July 31st for the United States and several selected cities. According to the Apple data directions requests, public transit in the 7 day average for the US is at 10% 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). I'd put much more weight on subway usage! Here is some interesting data on New York subway usage (HT BR). 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, July 30th.Schneider has graphs for each borough, and links to all the data sources.

Russia Says U.S. Asked 24 of Its Diplomats to Leave by Sept. 3 (Reuters) - Russia's ambassador to the United States said Washington had asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 3 after their visas expire, heightening tensions between the two countries. In an interview with the National Interest magazine published on Sunday, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov did not say whether the U.S. action was prompted by a particular dispute. He said nearly all would be leaving without replacements "because Washington has abruptly tightened visa issuing procedures." U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price, responding to the comments, said on Monday that Washington was not using Russian diplomats' visas to retaliate against Moscow. He said the ambassador's characterization was "not accurate." Price did not dispute the fact the Russian diplomats would have to leave the United States and said it was "nothing new" that Russians have to apply for an extension to their visas after three years. Those applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, he said. Moscow and Washington have long differed over a range of issues, and ties slumped further after U.S. President Joe Biden said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was a killer. Tensions somewhat eased after Biden met Putin for talks on June 16, which even led to the return of some foreign investors' money into Russian government bonds. But Russia from this month banned the U.S. embassy in Moscow from retaining, hiring or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except for guards, forcing the mission to let go 182 employees and dozens of contractors, the State Department said on Friday. "We reserve the right to take appropriate response measures to Russia's actions," Price said during a regular briefing on Monday. Washington imposed sanctions on Russia in March and April for interfering in last year’s U.S. election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other alleged malign actions, but Price said those moves were "a response" rather than an escalation. In the interview Antonov said: "We hope that common sense will prevail and we will be able to normalize the life of Russian and American diplomats in the United States and Russia on the principle of reciprocity."

 It’s Time for a New International Space Treaty - Space is much busier than it used to be. Rockets are launching more and more satellites into orbit every year. SpaceX, the private company founded by Elon Musk, blasted more than 800 satellites into space in 2020 alone. Extraterrestrial tourism is about to take off, led by space barons Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, two of whom have already taken their first private space outings. The frenetic activity of space agencies and space companies around the world will extend beyond Earth’s atmosphere, too. Within a few years, the moon will see many more landers, rovers, and even boots on the lunar ground. So will Mars and eventually, perhaps even some asteroids. An arena once dominated by the U.S. and Russia has seen the arrival of China and numerous other countries, with several nations establishing both a scientific and military presence in space. A burgeoning space industry, mostly led by U.S.-based companies, is angling for opportunities to monetize Earth-observing satellites, expensive visits to the edge of space, and trips to the moon with robotic and human passengers. Space junk clutters the atmosphere. Rival countries and companies hurtle satellites through the same orbits, and they eye the same key spots on the moon where water could be harvested from ice. Anti-satellite weapons tests by China and India that have flung debris into orbit illustrate just how precarious space is.All that is to say, things have changed considerably in the more than half century since international space diplomats hammered out the Outer Space Treaty, the agreement that continues to serve as the world’s basic framework on international space law. Before space conflicts erupt or collisions in the atmosphere make space travel unsustainable — and before pollution irreversibly tarnishes our atmosphere or other worlds — we need a new international rulebook. It’s time for the Biden administration to work with other space powers and negotiate an ambitious new space treaty for the new century.The Outer Space Treaty was deliberately written ambiguously. It outlaws nukes and other weapons of mass destruction being deployed in space, but makes no mention of lasers, missiles, and cyber weapons. The accord appears to ban private property in space and states that no nation can claim a piece of space or lunar territory as their own, but it does not explicitly restrict the extraction of resources like water and minerals.

Senate negotiators finalize bipartisan infrastructure bill - A group of senators finalized legislative language Sunday evening for the long-awaited bipartisan physical infrastructure deal, bringing the Senate one step closer to passing a top priority for President Joe Biden. The finished product comes after Senate negotiators and their staff worked throughout the weekend on text for the bipartisan agreement, which includes $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, highways, broadband and water infrastructure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday evening took the next procedural step to move the legislation forward, predicting it would pass the chamber in a “matter of days.” But first it will need to go through an arduous amendment process. “It’s been decades since Congress passed such a significant standalone investment and I salute the hard work done here by everybody,” Schumer said. “Given how bipartisan the bill is and how much work has already been put in to get the details right, I believe the Senate can quickly process relevant amendments.” The bipartisan infrastructure bill comes as Senate Democrats are also planning to pass a budget blueprint for a $3.5 trillion social spending package. Schumer has vowed to pass both measures before the Senate leaves for the August recess. The Senate Democrats and Republicans who negotiated the bipartisan package took to the floor Sunday evening to celebrate the official introduction of the legislation. The group, led by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), had reached an agreement with the White House back in June on a bipartisan framework. But translating that agreement into legislative text proved challenging and took several weeks. While Sinema acknowledged Sunday evening that the process was “difficult” and “long," she added it was “what our forefathers intended.” “This very process of finding bipartisan compromise and working together to achieve the objectives that the American people are depending upon us to do is the very heart and very core of why each of us serve in this government,” Sinema said. “It is why I ran for office.” Portman, meanwhile, declared that "this process of starting from the center out has worked." He reiterated that the bipartisan bill focused on “core infrastructure” and would not raise taxes, meeting the two conditions Republicans set. While all 50 Senate Democrats voted in favor of moving forward, the legislation has divided the Senate Republican conference. A total of 18 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, supported advancing the legislation last week and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the GOP negotiators, predicted on CNN Sunday that at least 10 Republicans would support final passage. Many GOP senators have said they want to see final bill text and a score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before making a final decision. Others have questioned why Senate Republicans would support a bipartisan package, when Democrats have made clear that they will move forward with their social spending package regardless.Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), another GOP negotiator, addressed that argument Sunday evening, emphasizing that the bipartisan package was a separate effort.“I know members of both parties have mischaracterized our efforts as somehow linked to paving the way to the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion wish list,” Romney said. “If you don’t think our Democrat friends are going to push for that monstrosity with or without this bill then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. They’re going to push for that anyway.”

The Infrastructure ‘Pay-Fors’ That Aren’t - WSJ Editorial Board -- West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin and his Senate Republican friends are stressing that their infrastructure deal is “fully paid for.” Read their lips: No new deficit spending. Read their bill: It relies to a great degree on savings and revenue already baked into the fisc or that are unlikely to happen. Deficit financing is better than increasing taxes, and Republicans at least jettisoned the taxes (until Democrats raise them in their budget reconciliation bill). They also deep-sixed President Biden’s plan to give the IRS $40 billion to harass small businesses, which Democrats claimed would raise hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue. Their IRS stimulus was dubious, but so are most of the bill’s remaining offsets. Start with using 10 years of savings from various programs to offset five years of spending. This includes extending by a decade a guarantee fee that government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge on mortgages they back. Congress imposed the 10-basis point fee in 2011 to cover the cost of the government backstop on Fan and Fred. Extending the fee through 2032 is expected to raise $21 billion, but the taxpayer costs will be far greater if the housing giants start to lose money again after the Biden Administration takes steps to ease underwriting standards. Then there’s magical Medicare accounting. The bill would extend Medicare provider payment cuts by a year through 2031, just inside the 10-year budget window. Senators are counting that as saving $9 billion, but Congress is almost certain to override this provision once hospitals squawk, as they surely will. Senators are also counting savings from suspending a Trump Medicare anti-kickback rule through 2025. The rule bans most rebates that drug makers pay to Medicare Part D pharmaceutical benefit managers to get on plan formularies and thus would have the effect of increasing seniors’ premiums and government spending. A federal judge this year ordered the rule’s effective date to be delayed by a year to January 2023 while the Biden Administration reviews it. Congress never “paid for” the rule. Nonetheless, Congress now plans to pocket savings from delaying its implementation even though it was never likely to take effect. This is a Washington classic that the Senators claim will save $49 billion. The bill also claims $53 billion from lower spending on unemployment benefits. Unemployment has fallen faster than the Congressional Budget Office projected in March, and 26 mostly Republican states are cutting the $300 federal unemployment bonus early. The savings, if they happen, will come from money that would never have been spent thanks to better policies by conservative states. Senators had originally proposed to pay for some of the deal with $205 billion from repurposed Covid relief funds. But Democrats refused to reallocate any of the hundreds of billions of the unspent money for states and schools in their pandemic spending bills. In the end, Senators could only agree to repurpose $43 billion, mostly from small business programs with leftover funds. Senators are also claiming political credit for saving money with private-public partnerships, though they don’t offset the spending and make up a tiny share of the bill. For instance, broadband providers would be allowed to float tax-exempt “private activity” bonds to expand their networks in rural areas. But the bill separately appropriates $42 billion for state and local governments to build out broadband. Why float a bond to invest in broadband if governments will be your competition? The bill includes some other notional pay-fors like selling oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, projecting future broadband spectrum sales, and requiring manufacturers of single-dose pill containers to provide Medicare refunds for discarded drugs. By the way, CBO is obliged to score many of these as savings under current budget rules, much as it scored the federal takeover of student loans as a money-maker to finance ObamaCare in 2010. Our job is to explain the fiscal reality.

What’s in the Infrastructure Bill for Roads, Bridges, Broadband and Cryptocurrency – WSJ -A bipartisan group of senators unveiled legislative text on Sunday for a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package, which includes about $550 billion above projected federal spending on roads, bridges, expanded broadband access and more. A group of 10 senators, five Democrats and five Republicans, worked for weeks to come to an agreement on the details. The Biden White House has signed off on the package. GOP lawmakers involved in the talks said they were confident it would win the support of at least 10 Republicans, a threshold to reach the 60 votes necessary for advancing the deal. A preliminary vote on the package received 67 votes. Here’s what is in the bipartisan agreement, and what comes next.The bill includes $110 billion in funding for roads, bridges and major projects, as well as $39 billion to modernize and make public transit more accessible to the disabled and elderly. Significant chunks of that money will go to major city transit systems, like New York City’s, based on federal funding formulas.The deal also includes a $66 billion investment in rail maintenance, modernization and expansion, most of which will go to Amtrak. It would also alter Amtrak’s stated mission to focus on “the intercity passenger rail needs of the United States” rather than turning a profit or at least breaking even, something the system hasn’t done since its creation in 1971. The system is attempting a major overhaul to provide a reliablealternative to flying and driving outside of just the Northeast Acela corridor.The legislation will provide $11 billion in funding for highway and pedestrian safety programs. A total of $7.5 billion will go to implementing a network of electric vehicle chargers, and another $7.5 billion will be used for zero-emission or low-emission buses and ferries. Ports and airports will be boosted with $42 billion in new spending.The group agreed to spend $50 billion to bolster the country’s infrastructure generally against climate change and cyberattacks. Another $55 billion will go toward clean drinking water and $65 billion will go toward broadband infrastructure and development. The deal invests $21 billion in removing pollution from soil and groundwater, job creation in energy communities and a focus on economic and environmental justice. The legislation will include $73 billion to update and expand the power grid. The broadband section of the bill would establish a grant program to expand access to underserved areas, with nonprofits, public-private partnerships, private companies, utilities and local governments all eligible for project funding. It would also make a pandemic emergency benefit for internet access permanent, though it would lower the monthly subsidy for qualifying households to $30 from $50, but would include $100 for equipment. Around four million households currently use the emergency benefit, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The spending will be paid for with a variety of revenue streams, including more than $200 billion in repurposed funds originally intended for coronavirus relief but left unused; about $50 billion will come from delaying a Trump-era rule on Medicare rebates; and $50 billion from certain states returning unused unemployment insurance supplemental funds. The negotiators also expect about $30 billion will be generated from applying information-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency; nearly $60 billion will come from economic growth spurred by the spending; and $87 billion from past and future sales of wireless spectrum space. A series of smaller pay-fors are expected to make up the difference. Details for how some of the revenue streams would work remain controversial and could change in the amendment process this week. Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), the chairman of the Finance Committee, criticized the cryptocurrency tax provision as “an attempt to apply brick and mortar rules to the internet and fails to understand how the technology works.” Cryptocurrency industry groups have criticized the provision as unclear and warned it could ensnare individuals and companies who don’t have actual customers, such as decentralized exchanges and miners, as opposed to more traditional exchanges that are the primary target of the changes.

Bipartisan deal attracts energy, environment amendments - Senators kicked off amendment votes on the bipartisan infrastructure bill last night, but a COVID-19 case is threatening to upend the Senate schedule.Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday after experiencing mild flu-like symptoms, could scramble the calculus for how the bill proceeds.Graham, who is fully vaccinated, was at a gathering with several other senators on Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) houseboat in Washington over the weekend. Graham is one of the members of the bipartisan group that negotiated the infrastructure package.Despite that news, Manchin, who tested negative, told reporters that he does not foresee the Senate slowing down on the bill. More illnesses, however, could affect the Democrats’ two-track infrastructure plans.As those questions percolated, the Senate last night rejected an amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on a 45-48 vote that would have prohibited funding for local building code updates that phase out natural gas heating and appliances. It’s an issue that stems from local bans on natural gas around the country — widely opposed by the GOP and industry — in an effort to electrify buildings and address climate change.“Builders and realtors will tell you that the construction costs go up, and the cost of heating and cooking go up, if you’re not allowed to use natural gas in the construction,” Barrasso said on the floor, citing debates about natural gas bans in towns in Massachusetts. The bipartisan bill, H.R. 3684, includes provisions that would offer money and technical assistance to states and localities for building and energy efficiency code adoption.Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) noted that the National Association of Home Builders and the American Gas Association support the building code language as written. “This provision doesn’t ban, it doesn’t even touch natural gas,” Shaheen said on the floor.Senators did, however, clear two bipartisan amendments to the bill, one on the telecom workforce and another on the Indian Health Service. Those votes began a process that could see additional action on proposals dealing with climate, energy and chemicals before final passage of the infrastructure bill in the coming days.The bipartisan deal includes billions of dollars for transit, electric vehicle charging and clean buses, though e nvironmental groups and progressives have said the funding is not sufficient (E&E Daily, July 30) The package also contains much of the energy bill passed out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee last month, including nearly $27.7 billion to build out the grid and $27.8 billion for carbon capture, hydrogen and direct air capture efforts.

 $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Hits Snag As Senators File Nearly 300 Amendments -An already-tenuous $1 trillion infrastructure spending package has been thrown into further disarray this week, after lawmakers filed nearly 300 amendments to the legislation, according to The Hill, which notes that in several instances "senators are holding their colleagues’ amendments hostage by objecting to voting on them unless their own priorities are also guaranteed a vote." According to Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) - one of the chief negotiators of the bipartisan deal, complained that the process is moving "not fast enough," but that "it's probably going to be Saturday" before there's a vote on final passage. The legislation as introduced would provide $110 billion for roads, bridges and major projects, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $39 billion for public transit, $65 billion for broadband, and $55 billion for water infrastructure, among other provisions. Senators had filed 281 amendments to the infrastructure package as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) offered 35 amendments, while Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, offered 16. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) had offered 23 as of Tuesday afternoon. Lee and Blackburn are not expected to vote in favor of the final bill, but Wicker is in a group of Republicans on the fence over whether to vote to overcome a filibuster and set the legislation up for final passage. -The Hill

 Senators file crypto broker amendment to infrastructure bill after industry backlash - Some U.S. senators introduced an amendment to the infrastructure bill Wednesday attempting to clear up confusion about cryptocurrency "brokers," based on language in the existing version that could roil the crypto markets if passed.The update, filed by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Pat Toomey, R-Pa.; and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. would specifically ensure the term "broker" excludes validators, hardware and software makers and protocol developers.If included in the final bill, the amendment would be a win for the crypto industry, whose advocates have said was at risk of losing innovators and investors interested in doing crypto business in the U.S. The original language could also force some companies to shut down if they can't comply or move offshore, these advocates said.The Senate initially included crypto in the infrastructure bill as a "pay-for" provision that would help it generate revenue for the bill through increased tax compliance on crypto companies. These parties would have to file reports to the IRS.The backlash from the crypto industry was a response to the bill's broad definition of "broker" to include entities that don't actually broker digital assets or that don't have customers whose information needs to be reported to the IRS."By clarifying the definition of broker, our amendment will ensure non-financial intermediaries like miners, network validators, and other service providers — many of whom don't even have the personal-identifying information needed to file a 1099 with the IRS — are not subject to the reporting requirements specified in the bipartisan infrastructure package," Toomey said in a statement shared with CNBC Wednesday.Currently, cryptocurrency exchanges may provide investors with a Form 1099-K detailing the transactions they've performed. The IRS gets this information, too.Toomey, who often voices support for the crypto industry, is the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee. Wyden is the chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Lummis has emerged as one of the bitcoin's biggest advocates."Our amendment makes clear that reporting does not apply to individuals developing blockchain technology and wallets. This will protect American innovation while at the same time ensuring those who buy and sell cryptocurrency pay the taxes they already owe," Wyden said in a statement.

Senate punts infrastructure vote after amendment meltdown - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set up a pivotal vote on President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan for Saturday, after breakneck talks to wrap up the bill on Thursday night fell apart. Senators in both parties spent the entire day assembling a package of amendments for consideration that could grease the wheels to final passage, but Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) refused to sign off under intense lobbying from Republican colleagues. Schumer said the Democratic majority encountered "numerous objections" to finalizing a list of amendments and wrapping up the bill more quickly. Now the Senate will take the effort back up on Saturday, when the bill's backers must overcome a filibuster to begin ending debate. The legislation will need 60 votes, and at least 10 Republicans, to advance. "We very much want to finish this important bill, so we will reconvene Saturday at noon to vote [to overcome a filibuster] and then we will follow regular order to finish the bill," Schumer said. With Schumer also pushing to complete a budget resolution before the August recess, members of both parties tried all day Thursday to finish out the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The legislation is a top priority of Biden's and would spend $550 billion in new money on roads, broadband and other physical infrastructure. On Thursday afternoon, a nonpartisan budget analysis was released by the Congressional Budget Office — a key development for Republicans studying the bill's financing. But that score ended up working against quick completion. A Hagerty spokesman said the senator "cannot in good conscience agree to expedite a process immediately after the CBO confirmed that the bill would add over a quarter of a trillion dollars to the deficit." Colleagues from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) were all seen talking to Hagerty at various points, and as his resistance hardened a number of senators headed home for the night. A large number of Republicans are planning to fly to Wyoming for former Sen. Mike Enzi's funeral Friday, a scheduling crunch that sparked the intense discussions to finish the bill. And as negotiations dragged on, Schumer moved to end debate on the bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned earlier in the day that "we still have amendments that need to be processed. Once they are we’ll be able to wind things down." McConnell left the Capitol earlier in the evening when it became clear finishing the bill Thursday was improbable.

 Senators rush to pass infrastructure bill as C.B.O. Projects it would add $256 billion to deficit over the next decade. - Republicans and Democrats rushed on Thursday to line up a Senate vote to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, working to clear away the final obstacles despite a finding by Congress’s official scorekeeper that the bill would add more than $250 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade.The flurry of activity came after three days of plodding work on the package, which would devote $550 billion in new money to rebuilding roads, bridges and rail systems and funding new climate resiliency and broadband access initiatives.It followed an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on the cost of the legislation, which was one of the last major hurdles to passing it. The C.B.O. calculated that nearly half of the new spending — $256 billion — would be financed by adding to the nation’s debt between 2021 to 2031, contradicting the claims of Republican and Democratic proponents that the measure would fully pay for itself.Fiscal watchdogs have warned that lawmakers have used budgetary gimmicks to obscure the true cost.Still, with their August vacations looming, senators appeared ready to move forward with the bill, a key component of President Biden’s agenda.In a statement defending the legislation they helped craft, Senators Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, and Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, insisted that there were actually $519 billion in offsets. “The American people strongly support this bipartisan legislation and we look forward to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and President Biden to get it passed through Congress and signed into law,” the two senators said.A new analysis released by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model on Thursday estimated that the legislation would authorize $548 billion in new infrastructure investments. Changes to the tax code would finance $132 billion of that, the analysis said, but the remaining $351 billion would be deficit spending. The legislation would have no significant impact on economic growth through 2050, the analysis concluded, rejecting assertions by the Republicans and Democrats who wrote it that growth resulting from their plan would generate $56 billion in savings.In its report on Thursday, the C.B.O. said that it did not estimate how any macroeconomic effects of the legislation would influence the federal budget.The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has also taken issue with the lawmakers’ accounting. For instance, senators estimated $200 billion in savings from unused funds from earlier pandemic relief packages. But the committee said that those savings had already occurred, so they should not count as an offset for the cost of the infrastructure bill, which it estimated would have a net cost of about $350 billion. Republicans have expressed growing concern about the cost of the Biden administration’s economic agenda, arguing that the flood of new spending would cause inflation and inflict grave economic damage. They have also declared that they will not support raising the statutory debt limit, which the Treasury Department says technically expired at the beginning of this month.

Schumer moves to shut down debate on infrastructure bill in key step toward final vote - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved on Thursday night to cut off debate on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, paving the way for swift passage of the sweeping legislation that would enact key elements of President Joe Biden's economic agenda, although exact timing of a final vote is still unclear.Schumer's move to file cloture sets up a key procedural vote on Saturday, which needs 60 votes to end debate on the bill.But senators are still having discussions about a series of votes late Thursday, including a possible vote on final passage. However, given the timing, that seems increasingly unlikely.If the procedural vote goes forward on Saturday, and 60 senators vote to advance the bill, then there would be a limited time for debate followed by additional votes -- and then final passage. At that point, passage could occur as early as Saturday if all senators agree. If not, the vote would slip until early next week.Schumer said in floor remarks on Thursday night that Democrats and Republicans have worked all day and are still hashing out an agreement to move to final amendment votes on the bill, but "we aren't there yet."He added: "If we come to an agreement yet tonight, which is our preference...we will have additional votes on amendments. I believe we're very close to an agreement and see no reason why we can't complete this important bipartisan bill. So I urge both sides to continue working diligently to make it happen."

Senators struggle to amend, finish $1T infrastructure bill | Fox News— Nearing decision time, senators were struggling to wrap up work on the bipartisan infrastructure plan despite hopes to expedite consideration and voting on the nearly $1 trillion proposal.The package had appeared on track for eventual Senate passage, a rare accord between Republicans and Democrats joining on a shared priority that also is essential to President Joe Biden’s agenda. But senators hit new problems late Thursday as they worked late into the night on amendments. A procedural vote was set for Saturday."We’ve worked long, hard and collaboratively, to finish this important bipartisan bill," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., just before midnight. In announcing Saturday’s schedule, he said "We very much want to finish." Called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the thick bill is a first part of Biden’s infrastructure agenda, and would inject billions of new spending on roads, bridges, waterworks, broadband and other projects to virtually every corner of the nation.If approved by the Senate, it would next go to the House.The late-night session stalled out as new debates emerged over proposed amendments to change the 2,700-page package. Senators have processed nearly two dozen amendments, so far, and none has substantially changed the framework of the public works package. With more than a dozen amendments still to go, senators struggled to reach agreements.

Cryptocurrency brawl bogs down infrastructure bill, as Yellen and White House fight changes - The Washington Post - The Biden administration is pushing back against a last-minute effort by a bipartisan group of senators to limit a proposal in the infrastructure bill to increase federal regulation of cryptocurrencies. The fierce lobbying push helped stall plans to finish voting on the bill Thursday night, and now it appears debate will stretch into the weekend. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen spoke with lawmakers Thursday to raise objections to the effort led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and two Republican senators to weaken the legislation’s proposed cryptocurrency overhauls, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations. Yellen lobbied Wyden about the matter, the people said. Last month, the White House and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) agreed to a proposal to require increased tax compliance for cryptocurrency brokers as a way to help pay for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The deal came under intense criticism from cryptocurrency investors, who have argued it would give the Biden administration sweeping powers to virtually cripple the growing field of cryptocurrencies. It was also rebuked by Wyden, Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), and Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.), who are pushing an amendment to the infrastructure bill intended to prevent the Biden administration from applying the new rules to a wide swath of actors in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. On Thursday night, as the impasse between Wyden and the White House appeared to deepen, Portman and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) offered a competing amendment as a potential compromise. The Warner-Portman measure would exempt more cryptocurrency actors from greater regulation than the initial proposal, but fewer than Wyden, Toomey and Lummis want. The White House said publicly late Thursday it is supporting the Portman-Warner effort, as it would do less to limit the executive branch’s new authorities over cryptocurrencies. A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on Yellen’s private conversations. The issue has divided senators during the final dash to finish crafting a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructural proposal, and it has the potential to imperil already tenuous support among lawmakers for the bipartisan infrastructure package. The episode also reflects the extent to which cryptocurrencies — which have emerged as a trillion-dollar industry from obscurity less than a decade ago — have begun to upend politics in Washington.

Senate aims to finish $1tn infrastructure bill on Saturday after late-night snag - Nearing decision time, senators were struggling to wrap up work on the bipartisan infrastructure plan despite hopes to expedite consideration and voting on the nearly $1tn proposal. The package had appeared on track for eventual Senate passage, a rare accord between Republicans and Democrats joining on a shared priority that also is essential to Joe Biden’s agenda.But senators hit new problems late Thursday as they worked late into the night on amendments. A procedural vote was set for Saturday. “We’ve worked long, hard and collaboratively, to finish this important bipartisan bill,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, just before midnight. In announcing Saturday’s schedule, he said: “We very much want to finish.”Called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the thick bill is a first part of Biden’s infrastructure agenda, and would inject billions of new spending on roads, bridges, waterworks, broadband and other projects to virtually every corner of the nation. If approved by the Senate, it would next go to the House. The US president has repeatedly said he wants Congress to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill as quickly as possible. Biden has described the bill – which would provide $550bn in new federal funds for roads, bridges and other physical infrastructure projects – as “the most significant long-term investment in our infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century”. “This deal signals to the world that our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things,” Biden said in a statement last week. “As we did with the transcontinental railroad and the interstate highway, we will once again transform America and propel us into the future.” Biden acknowledged that Democrats did not get everything they wanted in the bill, but he added: “[T]he bottom line is … the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America that will help make our historic economic recovery a historic long-term boom.” Thursday’s late-night session stalled out as new debates emerged over proposed amendments to change the 2,700-page package. Senators have processed nearly two dozen amendments, so far, and none has substantially changed the framework of the public works package. With more than a dozen amendments still to go, senators struggled to reach agreements. One of the amendments generating the most attention Thursday involved cryptocurrency. The bill would raise an estimated $28bn over 10 years by updating Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers, just as stockbrokers report their customers’ sales to the IRS. Senator Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, and others are concerned that crypto miners, software developers and others would be subject to the new IRS reporting requirement. Toomey led efforts to narrow the definition of who must file the reporting forms to the IRS.

GOP Senator Lindsey Graham Tests Positive for Covid-19 - Senator Lindsey Graham said he tested positive for Covid-19 despite being vaccinated, becoming at least the third member of Congress to recently report an infection. Graham’s positive test comes amid a surge of Covid cases spurred by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which in turn has brought calls for ramped-up public health measures, including a return to masking and some employers mandating vaccinations or regular testing for their employees.The House has already imposed a mask mandate for members, while in the Senate masks are recommended but not required.Graham said in a statement that he began having “flu-like” symptoms on Saturday and saw a doctor Monday.“I feel like I have a sinus infection and at present time I have mild symptoms,” the South Carolina Republican said.Graham, 66, said he will quarantine for 10 days, likely taking him out of the Senate for the votes this week on the bipartisan infrastructure plan that he helped negotiate. And, as the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, he would be expected to lead GOP opposition to the budget resolution that Democrats also expects to debate before the August recess.Graham attended a gathering of senators this weekend on board Senator Joe Manchin’s boat, his spokesman, Kevin Bishop said. Manchin confirmed there was such a gathering, without giving details, and said he has since tested negative for Covid-19.

If Obama’s “Pandemic Playbook” Was So Great, Why Isn’t Biden Following It? -- Lambert Strether -- There were so many cycles of outrage during the former guy’s administration it was hard to keep track of them, but one of the most serious was ignited by Politico in March 2020 with this article: “Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook” (which was written under the Obama administration. From Politico[1]: [There are] hundreds of tactics and key policy decisions laid out in a 69-page National Security Council playbook on fighting pandemics, which POLITICO is detailing for the first time. “Each section of this playbook includes specific questions that should be asked and decisions that should be made at multiple levels” within the national security apparatus, the playbook urges, repeatedly advising officials to question the numbers on viral spread, ensure appropriate diagnostic capacity and check on the U.S. stockpile of emergency resources. Obama, in a speech in Philadelphia in October 2020, laid the charge more forcefully and vividly:We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook that would have shown them how to respond before the virus reached our shores. They probably used it to I don’t know, prop up a wobbly table somewhere. We don’t know where that playbook went. And on NPR in November 2020, Obama was even more vivid, or perhaps I should say florid:We put together a pandemic playbook, which we actually gave to the incoming Trump administration, indicating here are the steps that you need to take, and if, in fact, this ends up being an airborne virus that is highly contagious[2], then, you know, the steps that are going to need to be taken in advance of any development of a vaccine, or any other kind of medical intervention, is wearing masks, social distancing, so forth and so on.Obviously, these are serious charges, which amount to “If only Trump had followed our Playbook Covid would have been beaten, and thousands of lives would been saved.” [embedded playbook, discussion on it] There are at least two areas in which the Biden Administration has not followed the Playbook, either. One is just inexplicable; the second is improbable. And there is a third area where the Playbook was utterly useless. Inexplicably, the Biden Administration has not followed the Playbook’s guidance on Communications.

N.I.H. director says asking for proof of vaccination is a step ‘in the right direction.’ --As cases and hospitalizations rise across the country, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on Sunday that businesses asking employees for proof of vaccination or regular testing were taking steps “in the right direction.”“I think anything we can do to encourage reluctant folks to get vaccinated — because they’ll want to be part of these public events — that’s a good thing,” Dr. Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”Dr. Collins said he was pleased to see companies such as Disney and Walmart asking their employees to get vaccinated. And he expressed support for President Biden’s decision last week requiring federal workers to get the vaccine or, “if they’re not, to get regular testing, which is inconvenient.”“All of those steps I think are in the right direction,” Dr. Collins said.When asked whether airlines should require proof of vaccination for passengers, Dr. Collins said that the decision was up to the airlines, but that it could motivate people to get vaccinated if they want to be able to travel.Opinion: Require the vaccine. It’s time to stop coddling the reckless. Ruth Marcus, WaPo - P­­­ay people to get vaccinated, no matter whether that is unfair to those who didn’t receive checks for jabs. Require them to do so as a condition of going to work or enrolling in school. Do whatever it takes — and, recent weeks have shown, it is going to take steps like these — to get the pandemic under control.Those of us who have behaved responsibly — wearing masks and, since the vaccines became available, getting our shots — cannot be held hostage by those who can’t be bothered to do the same, or who are too deluded by misinformation to understand what is so clearly in their own interest.The more inconvenient we make life for the unvaccinated, the better our own lives will be. More important, the fewer who will needlessly die. We cannot ignore the emerging evidence that the delta variant is transmissible even by those who have been fully vaccinated. “The war has changed,” as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded. President Biden recognized this new reality with his actions Thursday. He announced that federal employees must be vaccinated or mask up and submit continuing proof that they are not infected; he urged private employers to do the same; and he encouraged the use of federal funds to prod — okay, bribe — the unvaccinated to step up. If anything, Biden didn’t go far enough. He should have imposed a tighter mandate on federal workers and contractors — no frequent testing option as an alternative. He should have required vaccines for airline and railroad travel. He should have mandated vaccines for members of the military rather than kicking that can a few weeks down the road.If I sound exasperated, I am, and I don’t think I’m alone. I have been looking forward to going back to my office — or backish, since it likely won’t be full-time — in a few weeks. Now, with D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) having wisely reimposed a mask mandate in the city, it’s hard to see how we’re going to actually pull that off. Better to straggle along on Zoom, seeing one another’s faces, than mask up for eight hours or more.

Say goodbye to persuasion: Vaccine mandates may be coming — but will they be legal? - This month was a clear break from persuasion and a step toward coercion in dealing with those who refuse to be vaccinated. Even the normally staid Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is ramping up its rhetoric, declaring that the “war has changed” due to the Delta variant. For some, however, there is concern that Biden’s “they” is a declaration of war on them. Clearly, there is a rapidly diminishing level of communication between the “vacs” and “non-vacs.”Until recently, the Biden administration relied largely on what could be called the “reasoned consent” model. Not unreasonably, it assumed that Americans would want the vaccine, given the dire consequences of being unvaccinated. But this first stage was in some regards a failure: While more than 85 percent of the high-risk population of older Americans have been vaccinated, roughly half of the wider population has not been fully vaccinated. A myriad of reasons exist: distrust of government programs among some minorities and conservatives; people who previously had COVID-19 considering themselves immune; those concerned with religious or medical issues. Billions spent on state and federal outreach programs failed to penetrate that wall of resistance. As long lines disappeared at vaccine centers, it became clear that many citizens have come to distrust the media and the government on this, as on so many issues. Anyone raising questions about the virus — even its origins — was censored by Big Tech, and politicians weaponized the wedge issue for their own purposes. Such censorship continued this week even for those merely suggesting a “pause” to examine the data. For people already distrustful of the government, the censorship and overheated rhetoric only confirm their suspicions. Government officials then shifted from reasoned to induced or compensated consent. In Ohio, $1 million lottery prizes were offered to those willing to take the shots; other states offered free metro or free museum passes. It didn’t work — but that didn’t stop President Biden this week from telling states to use federal funds to offer $100 for every person who consents to take a shot. We are now entering the “coerced consent" stage. Unable to persuade or purchase consent, many are arguing to make it difficult to be gainfully employed or functionally active without proof of vaccination. It is a type of de facto pandemic passport. After indicating the administration was considering a federal vaccine mandate, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week, “I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.”

As delta variant surges, trust in the media plummets - in 1976, in the post-Watergate era of journalism, trust in the Fourth Estate was 72 percent, according to Gallup. That's right: Nearly three of four Americans trusted that what they read, what they heard, were the facts with no narrative or cause or agenda being advanced. In 2005, 72 percent became 50 percent in terms of trust in the media. A 22-point drop, sure, but a respectable number when compared to just how bad things have become for an institution once revered for icons such as Cronkite, Brinkley, Mudd, Reasoner, Wallace, Jennings, Koppel and Russert. The bottom would drop out before the Trump era began in 2017, with just 32 percent of the country saying it trusted the media five years ago, or 18- and 40-point drops from 2005 and 1976, respectively. The sentiment is clear: Viewers want more facts and less opinion, less fear mongering and fewer attempts to divide. To underscore this point, a 2021 survey from global communications firm Edelman found that 58 percent of Americans believe “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public," while 56 percent believe the media is “purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.” The need for facts over opinions is especially true in the COVID-resurgence era in the midst of extreme domestic political partisanship and global challenges — a time when we need the media to be more responsible than ever, if informing and educating the public is the goal. This, unfortunately, is not the case. Take two recent examples to make a macro point: Two prominent news outlets pushed a narrative around vaccinated people and breakthrough cases without putting the numbers into all-important statistical context. "Breakthrough Covid cases: At least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive," read an NBC News headline. Wow — 125,000? You can fill Yankee Stadium two-and-a-half times with a number like that. Scary stuff. Actually, when putting things into context, it's not — because 125,000 Americans out of 164.2 million vaccinated Americans is .08 percent in terms of breakthrough cases, or one in 1,300 people. So why not include that context in the all-important headline? Know this: An increasing number of news consumers don't read the story, just the headline. And with Pew Research showing that 86 percent of Americans now get their news online, we are entering into a scroll-headline-absorb, scroll-headline-absorb kind of news culture.

 Republicans are set to release their most detailed case yet arguing that researchers in Wuhan could have genetically manipulated the virus Months ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Wuhan National Biosafety Lab requested bids for major renovations to air safety and waste treatment systems in research facilities that had been operational for less than 2 years, according to a new congressional report on the pandemic’s origins, obtained by Fox News. "Such a significant renovation so soon after the facility began operation appears unusual," said the report from the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Republicanstaff. The projects for air disinfection, hazardous waste and central air conditioning systems "all raise questions about how well these systems were functioning in the months prior to the outbreak of COVID-19." The true reason for the procurement posting is unclear, as is when or if the work was even initiated. It adds another circumstantial element to the controversial argument that the pandemic began in a Wuhan lab, including suspicious behavior and obfuscation from China’s government and signs the pandemic began months before previously assumed. Only weeks ahead of President Biden's deadline for the intelligence community’s review into the origins of the pandemic, Republicans will release their most detailed case yet arguing that researchers in Wuhan could have genetically manipulated the virus and that "the preponderance of evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally released from a Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory." Staff for Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, will include this information as an addendum to their September report.

The Biden administration plans to require most foreign visitors to be vaccinated. The Biden administration is developing plans to require all foreign travelers to the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19, with limited exceptions, according to an administration official with knowledge of the developing policy.The plan, first reported by Reuters, will be part of a new system to be put in place after the current restrictions on travel into the country are lifted, but officials have yet to determine when that might be done.The Biden administration is examining plans to require all foreign travelers to the U.S. to receive a coronavirus vaccine before arrival, in light of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.President Biden has been under pressure for months to ease restrictions on people wishing to travel to the United States, particularly as other countries including England, Scotland and Canada relax their own measures.Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, urged U.S. authorities on Wednesday to lift travel restrictions for E.U. residents, arguing that the epidemiological situation was similar on both sides of the Atlantic.“This must not drag on for weeks,” Ms. Von der Leyen told the German news organization RND.But White House officials have said in recent days that there is no plan to lift current restrictions any time soon, in light of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.“Given where we are today,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters last week, “with the Delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point.”That stance was reiterated on Wednesday evening by White House officials who said that there was no timetable yet for requiring foreign travelers to be inoculated. Travelers from Brazil, Britain, China, India, Ireland, Iran, South Africa and Europe’s Schengen area — which spans 29 countries, city-states and micro-states — are barred from entering the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, unless they are U.S. citizens or they spend 14 days before arrival in a country that is not on that list.

Biden administration to keep Trump-era rule of turning away migrants during pandemic --The Biden administration will keep in place a Trump-era policy of turning migrants away at the southern border without allowing them to claim asylum due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced an extension of the policy in a statement on Monday, determining that "introduction of such noncitizens, regardless of their country of origin, migrating through Canada and Mexico into the United States creates a serious danger of the introduction of COVID-19 into the United States."The U.S. is currently experiencing a surge in new COVID-19 cases due to the more infectious delta variant, causing many state and local governments as well as businesses to reimpose pandemic mitigation measures.A group of GOP lawmakers last month had urged President Biden to keep the Trump-era policy, called Title 42, in place. Despite overturning many of former President Trump's immigration policies, the Biden administration has defended the continued use of Title 42, which it has used to expel roughly 100,000 migrants every month.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday announced it would be moving forward with a lawsuit to force the administration to lift the policy."It is now clear that there is no immediate plan to do that," ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in a statement. "The administration made repeated public statements that it just needed some time to build back the asylum system the Trump administration depleted. We gave them seven months. Time is up."In a court filing responding to the lawsuit, the administration argued that lifting Title 42 would overwhelm the country's immigration system and lead to overcrowded and unsafe conditions at border facilities.

The Biden administration keeps a health rule that turns away migrants. -With the number of migrants crossing the southern border surging and the pandemic proving to be far from over, the Biden administration has decided to leave in place for now the public health rule that has allowed it to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants, officials said.The decision, confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, amounted to a shift by the administration, which had been working on plans to begin lifting the rule this summer, more than a year after it was imposed by the Trump administration.The C.D.C. said allowing noncitizens to come over the border from either Mexico or Canada “creates a serious danger” of further spread of the coronavirus.President Biden has come under intense pressure for months from some Democrats and supporters of more liberal immigration policies to lift the rule, which critics say has been used less to protect public health than as a politically defensible way to limit immigration.The recent spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant has bolstered the argument that the public health rule, known as Title 42, remains necessary. And the virus’s quickening spread comes as border officials are so overwhelmed with the persistent pace of illegal migration that they say that allowing more migrants into the country by lifting the rule poses the threat of a humanitarian crisis.On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would move forward with a lawsuit seeking to force the administration to lift the public health order for migrant families after months of negotiations with the “ultimate goal” of ending the policy.

ACLU reignites Title 42 suit, pushing Biden on border policy --The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is reviving a lawsuit challenging the government's use of a public health authority to quickly expel people crossing the Southern border, preventing them from seeking asylum.The suit was filed against the Trump administration, and the ACLU agreed to stall it when President Biden was sworn into office. But the ACLU is now moving forward again, signaling frustration with the new administration's use of Title 42 to block asylum seekers due to COVID-19.The filing with the U.S. District Court in D.C. said the months of negotiations between the government and a number of outside advocacy groups has “reached an impasse.”“We gave the Biden administration more than enough time to fix any problems left behind by the Trump administration, but it has left us no choice but to return to court. Families’ lives are at stake,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney on the case, said in a release.The new litigation posture puts increased pressure on the Biden administration to draft a replacement policy.Biden administration officials have for months defended their use of Title 42, even as the administration has suggested it may lift the policy in phases. The government exempts children and some families from Title 42 but it is still widely used to expel single adults who seek to cross the border. In June, the Biden administration used Title 42 to expel more than 104,000 migrants at the southern border, more than 55 percent of the nearly 189,000 people who attempted to cross. “ICE is concerned that the loss of Title 42 could create additional pressure on our immigration system,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting Director Tae Johnson told lawmakers in May, nodding to the ACLU's suit. He called the rule “critical” to maintaining social distance in border facilities.

 Texas Judge Blocks Governor's Order Halting Transport Of Covid-Positive Illegals -In a short-term victory for the Biden administration, a federal judge in Texas blocked an executive order which restricts the transport of infected illegal immigrants on Tuesday, suggesting that the order itself would have the effect of "exacerbating the spread of COVID-19." U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of El Paso agreed with the Justice Department, which accused Governor Greg Abbott (R) of potentially worsening the spread of the virus - as impeding the transfer of undocumented migrants would prolong the detention of unaccompanied children in "increasingly crowded" facilities, according to the Associated Press. Abbott spokesman Renae Eze said the decision was “based on limited evidence” and that their office looked forward to providing evidence to the court. Like Texas, the Biden administration is also raising concerns about the much more contagious delta variant as large numbers of noncitizens continue arriving at Texas’ southern border. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention renewed emergency powers that allow federal authorities to expel families at the border on grounds it prevents the spread of the coronavirus. Abbott last week authorized Texas state troopers along the border to "stop any vehicle upon reasonable suspicion" that it transports migrants - allowing troopers to reroute vehicles back to their point of origin, or impound them. Civil rights groups argue that the directive could invite racial profiling.

'Down the drain’: Millions face eviction after Biden lets protections expire - As the clock ran out on a nationwide eviction ban for what’s expected to be the final time, millions of tenants are staring at the prospect of losing their homes as they wait for emergency rental aid that the government has failed to deliver. The federal eviction moratorium in place since September expired Saturday, after the Biden administration refused to extend it and Democrats in Congress couldn't muster the votes to intervene. Now lawmakers and activists fear an unprecedented surge in evictions in the coming months just as the highly transmissible Delta variant causes a spike in coronavirus cases. The eviction wave is expected to hit population centers across the country. Housing advocates point to renters in Ohio, Texas and parts of the Southeast — where tenant protections are generally low, housing costs are high and economic problems from the pandemic linger — as particularly at risk. Even though it has its own ban in place through August, New York is also a concern, because it has been especially slow at distributing rental assistance funds to the hundreds of thousands of tenants in the state who are behind on their rent. “We’ve been circling a drain,” said KC Tenants Director Tara Raghuveer, a housing organizer in Kansas City, Mo. “On Saturday, poor and working-class tenants go down the drain in some places.”The last-minute gridlock between President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress that resulted in the demise of the eviction ban this week threatens to impose new economic burdens on state and local governments. The officials will have to respond to mass evictions triggered by landlords — including many struggling financially themselves because of lost revenue — who are poised to kick out tenants who fell behind on their bills during the pandemic. The renter safety net is severely weakened, with fewer than a dozen state eviction bans in place and state and local governments having disbursed only a fraction of the $46.5 billion in rental assistance that Congress authorized over the past year.

Millions of Americans at risk of eviction as moratorium expires - A pandemic-related U.S. government ban on residential evictions expired at midnight on Saturday, putting millions of American renters at risk of being forced from their homes. The expiration was a blow to President Joe Biden, who on Thursday made a last-ditch request to Congress to extend the moratorium, citing the raging Delta variant.On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives adjourned without reviewing the tenant protections after a Republican congressman blocked a bid to extend it by unanimous consent until Oct. 18. Democratic leaders said they lacked sufficient support to put the proposal to a formal vote.The U.S. Senate held a rare Saturday session but did not address the eviction ban. The White House had made clear it would not unilaterally extend the protections, arguing it does not have legal authority to do so following a Supreme Court ruling in June.More than 15 million people in 6.5 million U.S. households are currently behind on rental payments, according to a study by the Aspen Institute and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, collectively owing more than $20 billion to landlords.Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on Saturday said that in "every state in this country, families are sitting around their kitchen table right now, trying to figure out how to survive a devastating, disruptive and unnecessary eviction."Democratic Representative Cori Bush and others spent Friday night outside the U.S. Capitol to call attention to the issue.She asked how parents could go to work and take care of children if they are evicted. "We cannot put people on the street in a deadly global pandemic," Bush said on Saturday.Landlord groups opposed the moratorium, and some landlords have struggled to keep up with mortgage, tax and insurance payments on properties without rental income.An eviction moratorium has largely been in place under various measures since late March 2020. The ban by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) went into effect in September 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic.It has been extended multiple times, most recently through Saturday. CDC said in June it would not issue further extensions. A CDC spokeswoman confirmed that the moratorium had expired but declined to comment further.

500,000 New Yorkers Owe Back Rent. What Happens When Evictions Resume? - The New York Times -After hitting the pause button during the pandemic, the eviction machinery in New York City, one of the world’s most expensive housing markets, will likely soon start firing up again.For roughly 16 months, the city’s renters have been shielded from eviction under broad protections imposed by the federal government and New York State to keep people in their homes during the coronavirus outbreak. But those safeguards are soon expected to come to an end, setting off alarms about the fate of struggling tenants who owe months of unpaid rent, cannot make their next payments and could face homelessness. Nearly 500,000 households in New York City have rent arrears that collectively total more than $2.2 billion, according to an analysis of census data by the National Equity Atlas, a research group associated with the University of Southern California. At the same time, the financial challenges facing many tenants are squeezing smaller landlords who rely on rent to pay their own bills. The federal moratorium, enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been extended several times throughout the pandemic but is now scheduled to expire at the end of July. After an additional one-month extension in June, the agency said that the protections would likely lapse for good this month. But tenants across New York State will have another month of protections under a state eviction moratorium, which expires at the end of August. New York State officials have not given any indication that the moratorium will be extended again, as it has been multiple times during the pandemic.New York State has set aside $2.7 billion in financial aid, largely from the federal government, that tenants can request through an application the state launched in June. If their applications are approved, up to a year’s worth of unpaid rent will be covered, as well as a year’s worth of unpaid utilities. Lower-income tenants can qualify for an additional three months of rental payments. The payments go directly to the landlord.There are some restrictions. To qualify, households must earn less than 80 percent of the area median income, or under $95,450 for a family of four in New York City. Landlords who accept the money cannot, in most cases, raise the rent or try to evict the tenant for at least a year.Both landlords and tenants can start the application process, but property owners, who are required to provide additional information for the application, can choose not to participate. New York City officials are encouraging renters whose landlords opted out to complete the application anyway, saying that it could be used as a defense in housing court.So far, more than 160,000 completed applications have been filed in New York State, with about three-quarters of them from renters and landlords in New York City, the state said. Yet, the flow of aid to renters has been among the slowest in the country, records show, hobbled by technical glitches and errors that have forced applicants to restart the lengthy process from the beginning.By the end of June, New York was one of just two states that had not yet sent out financial assistance to renters. As of last week, state officials said, only a small amount had been disbursed — $117,000 — in order to test the payment system. But on Monday, another $700,000 in aid was distributed, the state said, and additional payments will be made daily.Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Monday that the state would be rolling out a revamped application process to streamline and speed up the process. The state said it would take until the end of August to disburse the funds from the approved applications.

White House calls on states to prevent evictions - -- The White House moved Monday to pressure state and local governments to swiftly adopt policies to protect renters after an eviction moratorium expired over the weekend, potentially pushing millions of Americans out of their homes.In a statement on Monday, the White House emphasized that the federal government has provided $46.5 billion to keep renters in their homes. But it accused states and cities of being “too slow to act,” preventing that aid from making its way to tenants whose livelihoods have been upended by the pandemic.The focus on states comes as President Joe Biden faces stinging criticism, including from some in his own party, that he was was slow to address the end of the moratorium. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the prospect of widespread evictions “unfathomable.” The Congressional Black Caucus intensified pressure on the White House to issue an immediate extension. And one Democrat, Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who has been camped out in protest had a brief conversation at the U.S. Capitol with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday.Some people were at risk of losing their homes as soon as Monday. But the White House insists there is only so much it can do on its own and that state and local leaders need to step up and get the aid out.“The president is clear: If some states and localities can get this out efficiently and effectively there’s no reason every state and locality can’t,” Gene Sperling, who oversees the administration's coronavirus relief plans, told reporters. “There is simply no excuse, no place to hide for any state or locality that is failing to accelerate their emergency” rental assistance.Late last week, Biden announced he was allowing the ban to expire. The White House said he would have supported an extension of the moratorium but pointed to the Supreme Court, which signaled in a 5-4 vote in late June that it wouldn’t back further extensions. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that Congress would have to act to extend the moratorium. The White House noted that state-level efforts to stop evictions would spare a third of the country from evictions over the next month.

Biden washes his hands of responsibility for mass evictions --After allowing the federal moratorium on evictions to expire over the weekend, exposing millions of hard-pressed renters to the danger of forcible removal from their homes, loss of their belongings and homelessness, the Biden White House issued a statement Monday afternoon effectively disavowing any responsibility for the vast social misery its actions are helping to cause. The statement issued on “eviction prevention efforts” acknowledges the horrific impact of mass eviction, particularly “given the rising urgency of containing the spread of the Delta variant,” which will run like wildfire through homeless shelters, tent camps and overcrowded apartments where multiple families will live doubled-up and tripled-up. But while promising that “President Biden is taking further action to prevent Americans from experiencing the heartbreak of eviction,” the actions amount to a laundry list of appeals for other people to do something about the crisis. The statement reads like a satire on indifference thinly disguised by political doubletalk. Biden directs his own White House to discuss with other federal agencies “whether there are any other authorities to take additional actions to stop evictions,” given that the right-wing majority on the US Supreme Court struck down the anti-eviction order which was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last September, on public health grounds, and extended several times for three-month periods. He calls on state and local courts to pause eviction proceedings until tenants and landlords can access Emergency Rental Assistance, the federal program established to provide assistance to workers thrown out of their jobs because of the pandemic and unable to pay their rent. Some $47 billion has been appropriated for this program, but only $3 billion has been paid out, largely because of foot-dragging by state and local governments and landlords. Biden calls on state and local governments to stop the foot-dragging, without offering any reason why that should be expected to happen, since it is driven by political resistance among capitalist politicians to do anything to assist tenants against landlords, who comprise a substantial social interest in both parties. The president calls on landlords to “hold off on evictions for the next 30 days” and even appeals to “utilities providers to work with State and local governments … to avoid cutting off services for those behind in payments due to the pandemic and at risk of eviction.” Biden, a devout churchgoer, does not include an appeal for Satan to cut off his claws and his tail and for the lion to lie down with the lamb, but he might as well do that as plead with landlords and utility companies to give their working class customers a break. This rigmarole was accompanied by a round of finger-pointing among the Democrats in Washington, with the White House and congressional leaders criticizing each other, and various factions of the House Democrats suggesting that their inner-party opponents are to blame for the failure to pass legislation by the July 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court ruling. It is certainly true, as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative Cori Bush and others charge, that a sizeable faction of “moderate,” i.e., right-wing House Democrats refused to support a bill presented Friday morning by the House leadership to extend the eviction moratorium through October 18. Some of them threatened to board planes to go back to their districts during the August congressional recess rather than allow the measure to come to a vote. But Ocasio-Cortez, Bush and others in the “left” of the Democratic caucus have devoted their political careers to upholding the viability of this right-wing party of imperialism and Wall Street as a vehicle for social reform. They can hardly express shock that their colleagues care more for landlords than they do for tenants about to be made homeless.

 Biden administration orders short-term delay in evictions - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new 60-day moratorium on evictions Tuesday, a few days after a previous moratorium had been allowed to expire by the Biden administration. The new extension applies until Sunday, October 3, literally the eve of the traditional resumption of the Supreme Court’s annual term on the “first Monday in October.” But it is almost certain that some federal court will strike down the CDC moratorium long before that, citing the language of a Supreme Court ruling issued June 29. In that decision, rejecting a challenge filed by Alabama landlords, the court upheld a previous CDC eviction moratorium by a 5-4 margin. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the decisive fifth vote, wrote a brief concurrence declaring that he only agreed not to strike down the moratorium immediately because it was scheduled to expire on July 31, and some time was required to allow tenants and landlords to adjust to the end of the moratorium, which has been in effect since September 2020. Landlord groups are expected to challenge the new CDC freeze on evictions within a matter of days, bringing lawsuits in various federal courts. One or another federal judge is expected to issue a nationwide injunction halting the moratorium and thus allowing evictions to proceed. The new CDC order represents an attempt to skirt the terms of Kavanaugh’s concurrence by changing the language of the moratorium. Instead of a nationwide ban on evictions, the CDC covers only counties experiencing “substantial” or “high” levels of COVID-19 spread. These terms currently cover 80 percent of all US counties and 90 percent of the US population. The CDC also based the ban on the emergence of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is far more transmissible and may be far more deadly, and was only a small factor in the pandemic at the time the Alabama landlords filed the suit that culminated in Kavanaugh’s declaration. “The emergence of the Delta variant has led to a rapid acceleration of community transmission in the United States, putting more Americans at increased risk, especially if they are unvaccinated,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday. “This moratorium is the right thing to do to keep people in their homes and out of congregate settings where COVID-19 spreads.” The CDC statement declared, self-evidently, that the moratorium on eviction “can be an effective public health measure utilized to prevent the spread of communicable disease” because it would allow people to stay in their own homes rather than congregating in setting like shelters. Addressing the question at a press briefing Tuesday, Biden admitted that the moratorium extension was “not likely to pass constitutional muster.” But he argued that some legal advisers held a different opinion, and it would be worth the risk to give more time for those facing eviction, who might be able to access federal money already appropriated by Congress, but not yet delivered by the states and cities. “At a minimum, by the time it gets litigated, it will probably give some additional time while we’re getting that $45 billion out to people who are in fact behind in the rent and don’t have the money,” Biden said. Up until Tuesday, the Biden administration had consistently maintained that it had no constitutional authority to extend the moratorium beyond the July 31 deadline set by Kavanaugh. The White House flatly rejected appeals by “left” Democrats led by Representative Cori Bush of St. Louis, Missouri for emergency action to prevent a huge new wave of evictions.

If you’re a progressive, the design and implementation of the new Child Tax Credit should worry you - The American Rescue Plan included a fully refundable child tax credit. The credit provides $3,600 per year for children under 6, and $3,000 per year for children between 6 and 17. The credit is paid out monthly, and slowly phases out for single parents who earn more than $112,500 and married couples earning more than $150,000.This legislation marks a sea change in government policy towards poor children. For years, the poorest children have been largely excluded from income support by eligibility rules that made assistance available primarily to families with labor market income. The new tax credit, in contrast, is unconditional, and with full participation, the new tax credit would sharply reduce deep poverty among children.Yet the legislation is seriously flawed in its design and implementation has been problematic. The upshot is that many of the poorest children – the children most in need of assistance – will not benefit from what should be a revolutionary new policy.There are two design flaws, both of which have been emphasized by Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project (e.g., here, here, and here). The first is that many of the poorest families – the families most in need of financial assistance – do not file tax returns, and hence will not automatically get checks. This problem could have been ameliorated in the implementation phase, but the IRS has so far failed to make it easy for eligible non-filers to enroll. The second problem is that, due to the combination of means-testing and payment in advance (rather than in arrears), many families will be subject to unexpected clawbacks at the end of the year. What is troubling about this is that it was completely unnecessary. Poverty analysts have been flagging these issues to policymakers for years, and there were relatively straightforward design choices that could have largely avoided these problems. Perhaps these problems will be fixed when the legislation is reauthorized, or simply through improved implementation by the IRS. I hope so. But the underlying inability of our political system to make sound policy choices and to implement them competently is an ongoing problem that progressives need to take much more seriously. The fact is that implementing a child allowance that includes the poorest families is *much* easier to do than most of the other items on the progressive agenda, which includes daunting challenges such as decarbonization policy and health care reform.

Trump attorney says he will fight release of tax returns -An attorney for former President Trump says he will fight to block the release of his tax returns days after the Department of Justice ordered them turned over to the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee. “There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the office of the president of the United States,” Ronald Fischetti, a lawyer for Trump, told The Wall Street Journal. Fischetti did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. In a memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, acting Assistant Attorney General Dawn Johnsen on Friday said the Treasury Department is required to defer to the congressional committee. “The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee,” Johnsen wrote in the 39-page memo. If the committee receives Trump's tax returns, it can examine the documents in a closed session. It could then vote to release a report to the full House, making some or all of the documents public. The Treasury Department has indicated it plans to release the returns. Trump is participating in the court case over the tax return request in his personal capacity, and his lawyers have expressed an interest in having their arguments heard in court before the returns are turned over to Ways and Means. Judge Trevor McFadden, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, has ordered the Biden administration to give Trump’s lawyers 72 hours' notice before giving any of the former president’s tax returns to the committee. That order is currently set to expire Tuesday, at which point both parties have been asked to lay out a timeframe for written arguments in the case.

Bill Gates says he regrets the time spent with Jeffrey Epstein: 'It was a huge mistake' – CNN -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates regrets his gatherings with Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financial manager who was accused of child sex trafficking, he told CNN Wednesday. "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there," Gates said. Speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper Wednesday, Gates said he only met with Epstein in the hopes of raising more money to deal with global health issues."I had several dinners with him, you know, hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge," Gates said. "When it looked like that wasn't a real thing, that relationship ended."In July 2019, federal prosecutors in New York unsealed a criminal indictment accusing Epstein of having operated a sex trafficking ring in which he sexually abused dozens of underage girls, allegations that had circulated around the politically connected businessman for years.The well-connected hedge fund manager previously evaded similar charges when he secured a non-prosecution deal with federal prosecutors in Miami in 2008. Instead of facing federal charges, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges and served just 13 months in prison. He also registered as a sex offender and paid restitution to the victims identified by the FBI.

 Watchdog: FBI's use of support staff's images in sex-trafficking stings could be dangerous The FBI has agreed to limit the practice of using photos of young female staffers who are not undercover agents in their operations after a watchdog review found an agent shared them on social media without approval from supervisors. A report from the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General found the bureau “​​sometimes used photographs of young female support staff employees to pose as minor children or sex workers to entice sexual predators on various social media websites” even when they were not certified for undercover operations. The practice risked “​​potentially placing them in danger of becoming the victims of criminal offenses,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said. The investigation detailed that a special agent shared the photos on social media, but did not alert either their supervisor or the support staff’s supervisors that their images were being used for “fishing.” HHS watchdog to probe Fort Bliss facility for migrant children Biden names new watchdog at finance agency after embattled IG departs “The FBI had no documentation or information regarding whether the photographs still appear on the websites or how long the photographs appeared on the websites, during which time the photographs could have been—and potentially could still be—downloaded, copied, or further disseminated,” the report states.

Study shows users banned from social platforms go elsewhere with increased toxicity --Users banned from social platforms go elsewhere with increased toxicity, according to a new study featuring researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York. When people act like jerks on social media, one permanent response is to ban them from posting again. Take away the digital megaphone, the theory goes, and the hurtful or dishonest messages from those troublemakers won’t post a problem there anymore. What happens after that, though? Where do those who have been “deplatformed” go, and how does it affect their behavior in future? Researchers developed a method to identify accounts belonging to the same person on different platforms and found that being banned on Reddit or Twitter led those users to join alternate platforms such as Gab or Parler where the content moderation is more lax. The deplatforming study collected 29 million posts from Gab, which launched in 2016 and currently has around 4 million users. Gab is known for its far-right base of neo-Nazis, white nationalists, anti-Semites and QAnon conspiracy theorists.Using a combination of machine learning and human labeling, researchers cross-referenced profile names and content with users that had been active on Twitter and Reddit but were suspended. Many who are deplatformed reuse the same profile name or user info on a different platform for continuity and recognizability with their followers. Also among the findings is that, although users who move to those smaller platforms have a potentially reduced audience, they exhibit an increased level of activity and toxicity than they did previously. “You can’t just ban these people and say, ‘Hey, it worked.’ They don’t disappear,” Blackburn said. “They go off into other places. It does have a positive effect on the original platform, but there’s also some degree of amplification or worsening of this type of behavior elsewhere.”

 U.S. Banking System Has a $168 Trillion Nightmare Looming. It Was Ignored in Written Testimony for Today’s Senate Banking Hearing -- Pam Martens ~ Risky derivative bets made by the mega banks on Wall Street, offloaded onto inadequately capitalized counterparties, were at the core of the collapse of the U.S. financial system in 2008. That collapse left millions of Americans without jobs, which led to millions of families and traumatized children losing their homes to foreclosure. The bank bosses got their million-dollar bonuses from the taxpayer bailouts and the Federal Reserve secretly pumped in $29 trillion over 31 months to shore up the failing trading houses on Wall Street and their foreign derivative counterparties.Wall Street banks have rebuilt that derivatives doomsday machine today – a $168 trillion monster concentrated at four mega banks on Wall Street. But as we read through dozens of pages of written testimony submitted by witnesses for today’s Senate Banking hearing, the word “derivative” did not appear once.At 10:00 a.m. the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing titled “Oversight of Regulators: Does our Financial System Work for Everyone?” This is clearly a nonsensical question to which every American who hasn’t been living off the grid since 2008 already, painfully, knows the answer. The list of hearing witnesses scheduled to testify today notably does not include Gary Gensler, the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has co-authority to supervise the derivatives market. It does not include anyone from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which has the other co-authority to supervise the derivatives market. The witness list also does not include Randal Quarles, the Vice Chairman at the Federal Reserve, who is mandated to supervise these mega banks on Wall Street and prevent them from blowing themselves up again and requiring another secret Fed bailout. The witnesses that were called to testify at today’s hearing are: Todd Harper, Chair of the National Credit Union Administration; Jelena McWilliams, Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); and Michael Hsu, Acting Comptroller of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.SEC Chair Gensler gave a speech on July 21 in which he explained that 11 years after the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation was passed in 2010 during the Obama administration, the final rules to regulate the derivatives (swaps) markets have yet to be fully implemented. This is what Gensler does not explain in his speech. The Dodd-Frank legislation did not envision derivatives remaining at the federally-insured, deposit-taking commercial banks of America. Dodd-Frank contained what was called the “push out rule” where the derivatives would move out of the federally-insured bank and into another unit of the bank holding company that could be wound down without a taxpayer bailout in case of insolvency.But Citigroup, the recipient of the largest taxpayer and Fed bailout in the 2008 crisis, used its lobbyists to force the repeal of that part of Dodd-Frank in December of 2014.As a result, if you flip open the most recent quarterly trading and derivatives reportfrom the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, you will read the following state of affairs as of March 31, 2021:“The four banks with the most derivative activity hold 89.0 percent of all bank derivatives…”Those four banks are not the investment banking units of the Wall Street mega banks. They are the federally-insured, taxpayer-backstopped, commercial banking units of these Wall Street behemoths. Per the chart above, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Citibank N.A. (the federally-insured unit of Citigroup), and Bank of America are sitting on a total notional (face amount) of $168 trillion in derivatives or 89 percent of the $189 trillion at all banks. This is concentrated, systemic risk on steroids and deserves an immediate, separate hearing by the Senate Banking Committee.

Fed sets big-bank capital requirements following stress tests — The Federal Reserve has published capital requirements for the largest banks it supervises that will kick in Oct. 1. Goldman Sachs will have to comply with the highest capital requirements out of all of the 34 banks subject to the Fed’s stress tests, with a common equity Tier 1 requirement of 13.4%. This year’s stress tests examined 23 banks, with the remainder of the firms on an “every other year” test cycle. The capital requirements for those remaining firms will be based on last year’s stress tests. The common equity Tier 1 capital requirement is made up of the minimum CET1 capital ratio of 4.5%, which applies to each of the 34 banks, combined with the stress capital buffer requirement and, if applicable, a surcharge for the eight U.S.-based global systemically important banks.

OCC chief's climate focus riles GOP senator — The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee harangued the acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for overemphasizing climate change policies, and criticized the Biden administration for dodging the confirmation process in appointing the OCC chief.At a hearing Tuesday, acting Comptroller Michael Hsu became the latest target of Sen. Patrick Toomey's attacks on financial regulators who have focused on financial policiesrelated to the climate and racial justice. Hsu, who testified along with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams and National Credit Union Administration Chair Todd Harper, has set the OCC on a new trajectory compared to his Trump-appointed predecessors.

San Francisco Fed rebuffs Toomey probe into climate, race research --The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has declined to comply with a document request by Sen. Patrick Toomey as part of the Pennsylvania Republican’s investigation into Fed research on topics including climate change and racial justice.A Republican aide on the Senate Banking Committee who is familiar with the matter said that instead of providing the full suite of requested documents, the San Francisco Fed had offered to arrange a conversation between its president, Mary Daly, and the senator. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity because the aide wasn't authorized to talk about it with the media. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has offered to arrange a conversation between its president, Mary Daly, and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., in lieu of turning over documents he sought. Toomey, the committee's ranking Republican, launched the probe in March, requesting all records related to the planning of an ongoing virtual climate symposium held by the San Francisco Fed and emails and memos describing the origins of the bank’s focus on climate change and racial justice.

House committee advances bill to address Libor transition —The House Financial Services Committee voted Thursday to advance a bill to address the transition away from the London interbank offered rate, months after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen endorsed the need for legislation on the issue.Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., sponsored the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act of 2021, which, if enacted, would establish a process for legacy financial contracts to automatically swap in the Secured Overnight Financing Rate — a benchmark recommended by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee — when most Libor settings end in 2023.The bill is aimed at allowing contracts to quickly adopt a version of SOFR instead of Libor without the need for litigation. The legislation would authorize the Fed to issue rules dealing with the use of SOFR in Libor-based contracts.

Who's afraid of the digital dollar? — As the U.S. looks more seriously at issuing a digital dollar, the financial services industry is beginning to raise concern about a future where digital cash crowds out bank deposits.Though the Federal Reserve has not made a decision about whether to develop a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, its plans to release a forthcoming discussion paper on the subject could be a precursor to an announcement. That has banks on edge, said Peter Dugas, managing principal at Capco.“Banks are concerned, mostly because of the unknown,” he said. “At this point, there's so many policy discussions on the role, reason, the need for a central bank digital currency. Banks are trying to figure out from all of those policy gaps where they are [going to fit] in the overall central bank digital currency ecosystem.”

Cyberdefense firms claim headway against 'credential stuffing' Those hoping to thwart the staggering number of automated cyber attacks on financial accounts have settled into a basic premise: Make it too costly for the fraudsters to succeed, and they'll move on. The fight against credential stuffing, or the practice of taking stolen data from various breaches and trying to use them to break into accounts at banks and other companies by matching usernames and passwords for any number of accounts, has accelerated. In the past few years, it has become a crime of choice for fraudsters who use automated bot processes that don’t have a lot of overhead and can ultimately deliver significant revenue for fraud rings. Security firms developing tools to fight credential stuffing are increasingly confident they can thwart the majority of attacks — so much so that one, Arkose Labs, is planning to put a warranty on its services.

Complaints about crypto are soaring. Is a CFPB crackdown imminent? As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sees an uptick in customer complaints regarding cryptocurrencies, some observers say it is only a matter of time before the CFPB sets its sight on the burgeoning digital-asset industry.Businesses ranging from credit card providers to banks have pushed bitcoin and other virtual currencies into the mainstream by offering customers more options to buy, sell and make payments with digital assets.But in turn, complaints to the CFPB related to digital currencies have risen noticeably this year. Complaints that are specifically about the use of a cryptocurrency total 1,433 year to date, up sharply from the 979 complaints submitted for all of 2020 and 488 for 2019.

Too many gaps in banks' fraud-prevention systems -Retail banks have made significant investments in making their user experiences easier, faster and more connected. They have also stressed making them safer. But despite their best efforts to construct a more secure system, fraud — specifically identity theft, account takeover and application fraud — continues to prevail.It’s not for a lack of trying, or in some areas for a lack of innovation. It’s more likely a result of organizational complexity which impedes progress, and prevents singular ownership for the problem, and the solution. Whose problem is it? Does it sit with the fraud team, the information security team, the identity and access management team? The unhappy result of this lack of clarity might be a wave of consumer discontent. Legacy solutions that are embedded in today’s fraud prevention toolkit are partly to blame. Frankly, the status quo isn’t cutting it, as point solutions don’t account for fraud’s rapid evolution.

JPMorgan faces regulatory requests over message preservation - JPMorgan Chase, which rattled employees earlier this year by ordering them to save work-related messages on their personal phones, said regulators have been asking questions about how it preserves records.The largest U.S. bank has been responding to requests for information “concerning its compliance with records preservation requirements in connection with business communications sent over electronic messaging channels that have not been approved by the firm,” JPMorgan said in a regulatory filing Monday. The company is engaged in “certain resolution discussions,” but there’s no guarantee that the talks will result in a resolution, according to the filing.JPMorgan declined to comment beyond the filing.

 More than 700 Walmart Stores House a Bank with a Predatory Past - Pam Martens - Yesterday, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland caught our attention when he said that there are three U.S. banks that “make 100 percent of their profits on overdraft fees.” He named the three banks as First Texas, Academy Bank and Woodforest National Bank. Van Hollen explained that most folks paying these fees are living paycheck to paycheck and many don’t even know that they’ve over-drafted their account because many banks provide no warning at the time the overdraft is occurring.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report on overdraft fees in 2017, finding the following:“A small group of consumers pay most of these fees. In a given year, only 30% of consumers overdraw their checking account. The 8% of consumers who overdraft more than 10 times per year pay 74% of overdraft fees. These consumers are charged $380 in overdraft fees on average annually.”Senator Van Hollen also caught our attention when he said that one of the three banks making 100 percent of their profits from overdraft fees, Woodforest National Bank, had 12 of their branches in his state of Maryland located in local Walmart stores. We decided to check out that bank.It turns out that the vast majority of Woodforest National Bank’s 769 branches in 17 states are in local Walmart stores – more than 700 in fact, according to information on its website. In 2020 and 2021, the bank has continued opening new branches in Walmart stores.According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the 17 states Woodforest National Bank is located in are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.One of the witnesses giving testimony at yesterday’s Senate Banking hearing was the acting head of the federal regulator that supervises “national” banks, meaning those banks operating across state lines – Michael Hsu of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Hsu told Van Hollen that the OCC has a review going on regarding overdraft fees.We looked at regulatory databases for previous charges brought against Woodforest. It turns out that the OCC charged Woodforest 11 years ago with “unfair or deceptive practices” regarding its overdraft fees. The OCC forced the bank to return $32 million to customers “who were harmed by the bank’s overdraft program,” and pay a $1 million fine to the U.S. Treasury. The OCC wrote this about the conduct of the bank:

Smallest U.S. firms lost revenue last year, Fed survey finds - The smallest U.S. businesses — those with no employees other than the owner — struggled during the past year with 76% of the firms suffering a decline in revenue over 12 months, a new survey by regional Federal Reserve banks found. Just 13% reported revenue growth in the survey, which was led by Cleveland Fed researchers and published on Monday. The result showed that the smallest firms suffered more than large firms during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fed research found. Among the nonemployers, 32% characterized their financial condition as “poor” at the time of the survey, and 81% of nonemployer firms experienced some type of financial challenge in the 12 months prior to the survey. Compared to employer firms, nonemployers more often turned to personal funds and reported some impact to household finances as a result of those challenges.

Fed sees loosening credit standards as lending demand returns — Banks eased lending standards across all loan types in the second quarter as demand increased and the economic outlook improved, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest senior loan officer opinion survey on bank lending practices. Most banks reported that they began implementing stricter lending standards for borrowers in late March of 2020 as the economic outlook shifted in light of news about the spread of the COVID-19.But lenders have recently reversed course, reporting higher risk tolerance amid heightened competition from other banks and nonbank lenders, the Fed said in summary of the report released Monday. The survey is conducted quarterly.

Fed Survey: Banks reported Eased Standards, Increased Demand for Residential Real Estate Loans -From the Federal Reserve: The July 2021 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices The July 2021 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices addressed changes in the standards and terms on, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months, which generally correspond to the second quarter of 2021.Regarding loans to businesses, respondents to the July survey, on balance, reported easier standards and stronger demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to firms of all sizes over the second quarter.2 For commercial real estate (CRE), standards on multifamily and construction and land development loans eased, while standards on loans secured by nonfarm nonresidential properties remained basically unchanged. Banks reported stronger demand for all CRE loan categories.For loans to households, banks eased standards across most categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans, on net, and reported stronger demand for most types of RRE loans over the second quarter. Banks also eased standards and reported stronger demand across all three consumer loan categories—credit card loans, auto loans, and other consumer loans.This graph on Residnetial Real Estate lending is from the Senior Loan Officer Survey Charts.This shows that banks have eased standards (tightened for subprime), and that there is increased demand for RRE loans.

Mortgage revenue settling back to 'normal times' At many banks, mortgage revenue took a hit in the second quarter as last year’s crush of refinancing activity ended, and stronger competition led to lower margins on the sale of loans.Falling interest rates in recent weeks may reverse some of the pressure, encouraging more homeowners to refinance and continue to fuel demand for new home purchases. But last quarter’s softer mortgage revenues are an indication that the record-setting figures in the second half of 2020 were an outlier, according to bankers and analysts.“We essentially are returning to more normal times in mortgage,” said Jim Mabry, chief financial officer at the $16 billion-asset Renasant Corp. in Mississippi, where net gains on mortgage loan sales fell by nearly half in the second quarter.

Cadence Bank warned on fair lending, in settlement talks with DOJ -Cadence Bancorp in Houston is in settlement talks with the Justice Department over an investigation into potential violations of fair-lending laws, according to a regulatory filing by the bank Monday. The bank made the disclosure as it is in the process of being acquired by the $24 billion-asset BancorpSouth Bank in Tupelo, Mississippi. BancorpSouth has supported Cadence’s discussions with the Justice Department, according to the filing.The $18.7 billion-asset Cadence received a letter from the Justice Department on July 21 warning of a potential lawsuit, alleging that Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act violations took place in the Houston market between 2013 and 2017, the filing stated.

CRA deal between Fed, FDIC and OCC still not a slam dunk — Federal bank regulators have their best chance in years to ink common reforms of the Community Reinvestment Act after committing to interagency talks. But resuming negotiations and reaching a deal are two different things, observers warn. Experts say the formal decision by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to rescind its Trump-era CRA rule and rejoin discussions with the other regulators was very encouraging. But several outstanding issues remain before the OCC, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. can develop an interagency CRA plan that has eluded them for years. Stumbling blocks could include legal issues with unwinding the still-active OCC rule, resolving potential differences over how a new CRA framework deals with online banking activity and whether banks should be evaluated on efforts to address racial inequity in the financial system.

Black Knight Mortgage Monitor for June; Large Number of Forbearance Plans Expire in Sept and Oct - Black Knight released their Mortgage Monitor report for June today. According to Black Knight, 4.37% of mortgage were delinquent in June, down from 4.73% of mortgages in May, and down from 7.59% in June 2020. Black Knight also reported that 0.27% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, down from 0.36% a year ago. This gives a total of 5.01% delinquent or in foreclosure. Press Release: Black Knight: Servicers Face Operational Challenge of Processing Up To 18,000 Forbearance Plans Per Day as Newly Detailed Forbearance Timelines Frontload Expirations to the FallToday, the Data & Analytics division of Black Knight, Inc. released its latest Mortgage Monitor Report, based upon the company’s industry-leading mortgage, real estate and public records datasets. Considering recently updated forbearance expiration timelines announced by FHFA, FHA, VA, and USDA, this month’s report looks at the impact of the many varying allowable forbearance periods. “Prior to the agencies issuing clarifying guidance on allowable forbearance periods, some 950,000 plans were set to expire over the final six months of the year – representing about half of all loans in forbearance,” said Graboske. “That estimate assumed a blanket 18-month maximum allowable forbearance period. However, now we have detailed matrices of differing forbearance periods across the various agencies. Depending upon the specific agency and when forbearance was initially requested by the homeowner, a plan can have a 6-, 12-, 15- or 18-month limit. Assuming borrowers stay in for the maximum allowable term, this means plans that started as much as seven months apart are now scheduled to expire simultaneously, frontloading expirations of forbearance plans sooner than estimated. “As a result, 65% of active plans – representing approximately 1.2 million homeowners – are now set to expire over the rest of 2021, including nearly 80% of all FHA and VA loans in forbearance. Nearly three quarters of a million plans would expire in September and October alone. Over the course of just two months this fall, the nation’s mortgage servicers would have to process up to approximately 18,000 expiring plans per business day, guiding borrowers through complex loss mitigation waterfalls directed by changing regulatory requirements. The operational challenge this represents is staggering, even before noting the oversized share of FHA and VA loans. Here is a graph on delinquencies from Black Knight: After a calendar-related setback in May, mortgage delinquencies returned to their trend of improvement in June, falling to 4.37% from 4.73% the month prior The national delinquency rate is now back below its 2000-2005 pre-Great Recession average for this time of year and currently stands 1.17 percentage points above the record low reached just before the onset of the pandemic While the overall delinquency rate remains on pace to return to pre-pandemic levels by early 2022, serious delinquencies continue to improve at a much slower rate There is much more in the mortgage monitor.

MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Slightly Decreases to 3.47%"- Note: This is as of July 25th. From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Slightly Decreases to 3.47%: The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 1 basis point from 3.48% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.47% as of July 25, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.74 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 2 basis points to 1.79%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 5 basis points to 4.30%, while the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) increased 6 basis points to 7.44%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 1 basis point to 3.67%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 2 basis points to 3.59%.“Forbearance exits remained low, and there was another increase in new forbearance requests, particularly for Ginnie Mae and portfolio and PLS loans. The net result was another slight decline in the share of loans in forbearance,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “While the overall number of loans in forbearance has changed little in recent weeks, forbearance re-entries have increased, reaching 7.2% this week. Recent economic data continue to show improvement, but it’s clear many homeowners in forbearance still need the relief that is being provided.” 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%."

 Mortgage applications drop in late July | National Mortgage News - Following a one-week jump in mortgage applications driven by elevated refinance activity, volumes edged down again, even as interest rates continued to favor borrowers.The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Market Composite Index, which tracks applications through a weekly survey of MBA members, declined a seasonally adjusted 1.7% for the period ending July 30. On an unadjusted basis, the decrease equaled 2%. Compared to volumes for the same week in 2020, the seasonally adjusted index was 8.1% lower.Although low interest rates have frequently led to surges in refinancing activity in 2021, the Refinance Index decreased 2% on a week-over-week basis and came in 3% lower than the same week a year ago.

MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest Weekly Survey -- From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey: Mortgage applications decreased 1.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 30, 2021.... The Refinance Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week and was 3 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 18 percent lower than the same week one year ago.“Interest rates drifted lower globally last week, as markets assessed the latest concerns regarding the delta variant. 30-year mortgage rates dropped below 3 percent in our survey for the first time since this February, presenting an opportunity for many homeowners who have not yet refinanced to lower their rate and their payments. Refinance application volume slightly decreased, following an 11 percent jump last week,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Purchase application volume decreased again, reflecting the ongoing lack of inventory that continues to drive rapid home-price appreciation across the country.”... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($548,250 or less) decreased to 2.97 percent from 3.01 percent, with points decreasing to 0.33 from 0.34 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.The first graph shows the refinance index since 1990. With low rates, the index remains elevated.The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. According to the MBA, purchase activity is down 18% year-over-year unadjusted. Note: The year ago comparisons for the unadjusted purchase index are now difficult since purchase activity picked up in late May 2020.

30 Year Mortgage Rates Decline to 2.80% - From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: MBS RECAP: Bonds Surge Into August Despite Headwinds: It was an interesting juxtaposition to see a Fed speaker talking about tapering being announced as early as September while bond yields hit the 3pm close at the lowest levels since February. Headwinds are definitely present, whether we're talking about tapering risk or simply the selling opportunity presented by such low yields at a time when the economy may soon suggest a bounce. But tailwinds remain because that suggestion has yet to be made. ... [30 year fixed 2.80%] This is a graph from Mortgage News Daily (MND) showing 30 year fixed rates from three sources (MND, MBA, Freddie Mac). Go to MND and you can adjust the graph for different time periods. 30 year mortgage rates are close to the record lows in 2020.

CoreLogic: House Prices up 17.2% Year-over-year in June - The CoreLogic HPI is a three month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA). From CoreLogic: CoreLogic Reports Annual Home Price Growth of 17.2% — the Highest Level Since the Late-1970s Despite the economic ups and downs brought on by the pandemic, the housing market is still going strong. As supply and demand pressures endure and construction costs spike, in June, home price gains reached the highest annual growth since 1979. While affordability challenges intensify, low mortgage rates, rising savings and an improving labor market are helping to keep homeownership within reach for many prospective buyers. However, CoreLogic projects home price gains may slow over the next 12 months as demand moderates and for-sale inventory rises.“Home prices have been rising in the mid-single digits for some years now. The recent surge to double-digit price jumps reflect the convergence of exceptional demand and persistent low supply,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “With plenty of cash on the sidelines, along with very low mortgage rates, prices are heading up and affordability will become a more acute issue for the foreseeable future.”...Nationally, home prices increased 17.2% in June 2021, compared to June 2020. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 2.3% compared to May 2021....“The pandemic sparked an increase in buyer desire for lower density neighborhoods and more living space — both inside and outside their home,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Communities with single-family detached houses fill this need. Detached homes had the highest annual growth in June since the inception of the CoreLogic Home Price Index in 1976.”

NY Fed Q2 Report: Total Household Debt Increased in Q2 2021 - From the NY Fed: Total Household Debt Climbs in Q2 2021, New Extensions of Credit Hit Series Highs: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Center for Microeconomic Data today issued itsQuarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit . The report shows that total household debt increased by $313 billion (2.1%) to $14.96 trillion in the second quarter of 2021. The total debt balance is now $812 billion higher than at the end of 2019. The 2.1% increase in aggregate balances was the largest seen since Q4 2013 and marked the largest nominal increase in debt balances since Q2 2007. The Report is based on data from the New York Fed's Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative random sample of individual- and household-level debt and credit records drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data.Mortgage balances—the largest component of household debt—rose by $282 billion and stood at $10.44 trillion at the end of June. Credit card balances started to tick back up, increasing by $17 billion in the second quarter. Despite the increase, credit card balances were still $140 billion lower than they had been at the end of 2019. Auto loans increased by $33 billion, while student loan balances decreased by $14 billion. In total, non-housing balances (including credit card, auto loan, student loan, and other debts) grew by $44 billion, with increases in auto loans and credit card balances offsetting the decline in student loan balances.Here are two graphs from the report: The first graph shows aggregate consumer debt increased in Q2. Household debt previously peaked in 2008, and bottomed in Q3 2013. Unlike following the great recession, there wasn't a huge decline in debt during the pandemic. From the NY Fed: Aggregate household debt balances increased by $313 billion in the second quarter of 2021, a 2.1% rise from 2021Q1, and now stand at $14.96 trillion. Balances are $812 billion higher than at the end of 2019 and $691 billion higher than 2020Q2. The 2.1% increase in aggregate balances was the largest seen since 2013Q4 and marked the largest nominal increase in debt balances since 2007Q2.The second graph shows the percent of debt in delinquency. The overall delinquency rate decreased in Q2. From the NY Fed:Aggregate delinquency rates have remained low and declining since the beginning of the pandemic recession, reflecting an uptake in forbearances (provided by both the CARES Act and voluntarily offered by lenders), which protect borrowers’ credit records from the reporting of skipped or deferred payments. As of late June, 2.7% of outstanding debt was in some stage of delinquency, a 2.0 percentage point decrease from the fourth quarter of 2019, just before the Covid pandemic hit the United States. Of the $405 billion of debt that is delinquent, $316 billion is seriously delinquent (at least 90 days late or “severely derogatory”, which includes some debts that have been removed from lenders’ books but upon which they continue to attempt collection). The third graph shows Mortgage Originations by Credit Score. From the NY Fed: Median mortgage origination credit scores were roughly flat, with the median credit score of newly originated mortgages at 786, reflecting a continuing high quality of underwriting standards and higher shares of refinances. ... There was $1.22 trillion in newly originated mortgage debt in 2021Q2, with 71% of it originated to borrowers with credit scores over 760. There is much more in the report.

Construction Spending increased 0.1% in June - From the Census Bureau reported that overall construction spending decreased:Construction spending during June 2021 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,552.2 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised May estimate of $1,551.2 billion. The June figure is 8.2 percent above the June 2020 estimate of $1,435.0 billion. Private spending increased and public spending decreased: Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,215.2 billion, 0.4 percentabove the revised May estimate of $1,210.3 billion. ...In June, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $337.0 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised May estimate of $340.9 billion. This graph shows private residential and nonresidential construction spending, and public spending, since 1993. Note: nominal dollars, not inflation adjusted. Residential spending is 13% above the bubble peak (in nominal terms - not adjusted for inflation).Non-residential spending is 9% above the bubble era peak in January 2008 (nominal dollars), but has been weak recently.Public construction spending is 4% above the previous peak in March 2009, and 29% above the austerity low in February 2014, but weak recently. The second graph shows the year-over-year change in construction spending.On a year-over-year basis, private residential construction spending is up 29.3%. Non-residential spending is down 6.0% year-over-year. Public spending is down 7.5% year-over-year. Construction was considered an essential service in most areas and did not decline sharply like many other sectors, but some sectors of non-residential have been under pressure. For example, lodging is down 26.5% YoY, multi-retail down 5.2% YoY, and office down 9.1% YoY. This was below consensus expectations of a 0.4% increase in spending, however construction spending for the previous two months was revised up slightly.

 Update: Framing Lumber Prices Down Year-over-year -Here is another monthly update on framing lumber prices. This graph shows CME random length framing futures through Aug 3rd. Lumber is currently at $611 per 1000 board feet. This is down from a peak of $1,733, and down from $647 a year ago.Lumber price are down 6% year-over-year.There were supply constraints over the last year, for example, sawmills cut production and inventory at the beginning of the pandemic, and the West Coast fires in 2020 damaged privately-owned timberland. The supply constraints have eased somewhat. And there was a huge surge in demand for lumber (demand remains strong).

Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 6% Compared to Same Week in 2019 -Note: The year-over-year occupancy comparisons are easy, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. So STR is comparing to the same week in 2019. The occupancy rate is down 6.2% compared to the same week in 2019.From CoStar: STR: US Weekly Occupancy Down, But Rates Increase From Prior Week : U.S. weekly hotel occupancy dipped from the previous week, while room rates were up slightly, according to STR‘s latest data through July 31.
July 25-31, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):
• Occupancy: 70.1% (-6.2%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): $142.76 (+6.8%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): $100.07 (+0.1%)
ADR remained at an all-time high on a nominal basis but not when adjusted for inflation ($135).*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. With solid leisure travel, the Summer months have had decent occupancy - but it is uncertain what will happen in the Fall with business travel.July Vehicles Sales Decreased to 14.75 Million SAAR -The BEA released their estimate of light vehicle sales for July this morning. The BEA estimates sales of 14.75 million SAAR in July 2021 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 4.1% from the June sales rate, and up 0.3% from July 2020. This was well below the consensus estimate of 15.7 million SAAR. This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and the BEA's estimate for July (red).The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month. After April 2020, sales increased, and were close to sales in 2019 (the year before the pandemic). However, sales have decreased recently due to supply issues.Sales-to-date are down 2.4% compared to the same period in 2019.The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.
Note: dashed line is current estimated sales rate of 14.75 million SAAR.

ISM® Manufacturing index Decreased to 59.5% in July - The ISM manufacturing index indicated expansion in July. The PMI® was at 59.5% in July, down from 60.6% in June. The employment index was at 52.9%, up from 49.9% last month, and the new orders index was at 64.9%, down from 66.0%.From ISM: July 2021 Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business® Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in July, with the overall economy notching a 14th consecutive month of growth,:“The July Manufacturing PMI® registered 59.5 percent, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points from the June reading of 60.6 percent. This figure indicates expansion in the overall economy for the 14th month in a row after contraction in April 2020. The New Orders Index registered 64.9 percent, decreasing 1.1 percentage points from the June reading of 66 percent. The Production Index registered 58.4 percent, a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared to the June reading of 60.8 percent. The Prices Index registered 85.7 percent, down 6.4 percentage points compared to the June figure of 92.1 percent, which was the index’s highest reading since July 1979 (93.1 percent). The Backlog of Orders Index registered 65 percent, 0.5 percentage point higher than the June reading of 64.5 percent. The Employment Index registered 52.9 percent, 3 percentage points higher compared to the June reading of 49.9 percent. The Supplier Deliveries Index registered 72.5 percent, down 2.6 percentage points from the June figure of 75.1 percent. The Inventories Index registered 48.9 percent, 2.2 percentage points lower than the June reading of 51.1 percent. The New Export Orders Index registered 55.7 percent, a decrease of 0.5 percentage point compared to the June reading of 56.2 percent. The Imports Index registered 53.7 percent, a 7.3-percentage point decrease from the June reading of 61 percent.”This was below expectations. This suggests manufacturing expanded at a slower pace in July than in June.

Manufacturing sector continues to be on fire; but real construction spending plunges --August data started out mixed. The ISM manufacturing index continued to show strong expansion. Both the overall and new orders components declined slightly m/m, but at 59.5 and 64.9 remained far about the breakeven point between expansion and contractions of 50.0: The simplest way to read this is that the manufacturing sector remains on fire.The story is different with this morning’s release of June construction spending. Total nominal spending increased 0.1%, and spending in the long leading residential construction sector increased 1.1%, the former less than 0.1% below its all time record from a few months ago, and the latter to the highest level ever: But when we deflate by the cost of construction materials, that increase disappears, and in fact shows a plunge, down -3.6% and -2.7% monthly, respectively:In other words, in real terms construction has been faltering badly. This is a substantial negative indicator for spending in the second half of 2022.

July Markit Manufacturing: Record High, Also Record Supply Delays and Price Pressures -The July US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index conducted by Markit came in at 63.4, up from the final June figure and a record high Here is an excerpt from Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit in their latest press release:“July saw manufacturers and their suppliers once again struggle to meet booming demand, leading to a further record jump in both raw material and finished goods prices.“Despite reporting another surge in production, supported by rising payroll numbers, output continued to lag well behind order book growth to one of the greatest extents in the survey’s 14-year history, leading to a near-record build-up of uncompleted orders.“Capacity is being constrained by yet another unprecedented lengthening of supply chains, with delivery delays reported far more widely in the past two months than at any time prior in the survey’s history. Manufacturers and their customers are consequently striving to mainatain adequate inventory levels, often reporting the building of safety stocks where supply permits, to help keep production lines running and satisfy surging sales.“The result is perhaps the strongest sellers’ market that we’ve seen since the survey began in 2007, with suppliers hiking prices for inputs into factories at the steepest rate yet recorded and manufacturers able to raise their selling prices to an unprecedented extent, as both suppliers and producers often encounter little price resistance from customers.” [Press Release] Here is a snapshot of the series since mid-2012.

Trade Deficit Increased to $75.7 Billion in June - From the Department of Commerce reported:The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $75.7 billion in June, up $4.8 billion from $71.0 billion in May, revised. June exports were $207.7 billion, $1.2 billion more than May exports. June imports were $283.4 billion, $6.0 billion more than May imports. Exports and imports increased in June. Exports are up 31% compared to June 2020; imports are up 35% compared to June 2020. Both imports and exports decreased sharply due to COVID-19, and have now bounced back (imports more than exports), The second graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum. The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products. Note that net, imports and exports of petroleum products are close to zero. The trade deficit with China decreased to $27.8 billion in June, from $28.3 billion in June 2020.

U.S. Trade Deficit Widened to Record in June, Showing Strong Pre-Delta Demand - WSJ—The U.S. trade deficit widened to a record in June as the resurgent American economy drove strong demand for foreign-made goods ahead of the Covid-19 Delta-variant surge. The trade gap in goods and services expanded 6.7% from May to a seasonally adjusted $75.7 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Before the pandemic, the monthly trade deficit had hovered for years between $40 billion and $50 billion. The trade report is another example of how American consumers and businesses have stepped up spending and investment as the economy has recovered to its pre-Covid-19 size, fueling demand for imports. Purchases from overseas climbed 2.1% in June to $283.4 billion, also a monthly record. Exports have grown more slowly, reflecting weaker recoveries in some other regions that have made less progress against Covid-19. Exports rose in June by just 0.6% to $207.7 billion. The trade data, and separate labor-market readings, come as the economic recovery faces risks from the Delta variant, supply-chain constraints and a shortage of available workers. The trade report for June covered a period before the Delta variant began its spread in the U.S. By the end of June, Covid-19 cases were still very low, but the re-emergence of the virus has cast a shadow over the broader economic outlook. The rise of the Delta variant underscores a fault line that has emerged in the global economy between advanced economies with high vaccination rates and emerging markets where the rates have lagged behind. The International Monetary Fund last week raised its growth forecasts for the U.S. and other advanced economies while lowering the outlook for emerging-market countries especially in Asia. The dynamic has helped widen the U.S. trade deficit to unprecedented levels this year, as the American economy continues to pull in more goods from abroad. Several rounds of government stimulus payments also have left Americans with plenty of cash to spend, while weakened trade partners limit purchases of U.S. goods and services. The pre-pandemic record for the monthly deficit came in August 2006, with a $68 billion deficit, during an era when U.S. demand for high-price petroleum was the critical driver of the deficit. The increase in imports in June was led by purchases of industrial supplies, iron and steel-mill products, organic chemicals, and nonmonetary gold, which includes gold for industrial use, Thursday’s Commerce Department report showed. Separate reports have shown that manufacturers had a strong month in June, with the Federal Reserve’s industrial production index reaching its highest level since the pandemic struck in 2020. The Institute for Supply Management’s monthly report on manufacturing, released Monday, said that new orders for manufacturers have been strong, suggesting strength in the sector continued through the summer. Imports of consumer goods declined slightly in June, driven primarily by a drop in pharmaceutical imports. The emergence of the Delta variant and the shift away from consumer goods toward services, which are mostly domestically produced, has led some economists to project that the deficit could begin to decline.

A Trucking Crisis Has the U.S. Looking for More Drivers Abroad - A shortage of truckers across the U.S. has become so severe that companies are trying to bring in drivers from abroad like seemingly never before. For the first time in her 10-year trucking career, Holly McCormick has found herself coordinating with an agency in South Africa to source foreign drivers. A recruiter for Groendyke Transport, McCormick has doubled her budget since the pandemic and is still having trouble finding candidates. The U.S. has been grappling with a chronic lack of drivers for years, but the shortage reached crisis levels because of the pandemic, which simultaneously sent demand for shipped goods soaring while touching off a surge in early retirements. The consequences have been both dire and far-reaching: Filling stations have had gasoline outages. Airports have run short on jet fuel. A stainless-steel maker declared force majeure. And lumber prices hit a record, with some suppliers partly blaming delivery delays. As McCormick put it: “If we’re not able to haul these goods, our economy virtually shuts down.” Trucking has emerged as one of the most acute bottlenecks in a supply chain that has all but unraveled amid the pandemic, worsening supply shortages across industries, further fanning inflation and threatening a broader economic recovery. “We’re living through the worst driver shortage that we’ve seen in recent history, by far,” As a result, demand for Visa Solutions’ services from the trucking industry has more than doubled since before the pandemic, and “this is 100% because of the driver shortage,” he said. Bringing in more foreign workers faces a number of hurdles including visa limits and complicated immigration rules, but trucking advocates see an opening now to overcome some of those obstacles after the Biden Administration created a task force to address the supply chain problems impeding the economic recovery. In July, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, and Meera Joshi, deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, held a roundtable meeting with the trucking industry to discuss efforts to improve driver retention and reduce turnover. Among the measures the industry is seeking is lowering the minimum age to 18 from 21 for interstate drivers and adding trucking to the list of industries that can bypass some of the Department of Labor’s immigration certification process. That would be a boon to Andre LeBlanc, vice president of operations at Petroleum Marketing Group, which oversees fuel delivery to around 1,300 gas stations, mostly in the northeast. Some of those depots have seen shortages for as many as 12 hours because “we simply can’t re-supply them because we don’t have the qualified drivers,” he said, estimating the group needs about 40 more to run at full capacity. Meanwhile, of the 24 drivers LeBlanc has tried to hire through a federal immigration program, only three have gotten through all steps of the verification process.. “We can’t seem to get an answer on what we need to do to move that forward.”

Spirit passengers stranded after airline cancels 30 percent of flights - Spirit Airlines canceled 261 flights Monday after having canceled 165 on Sunday, with hundreds of delays being also being reported on both days,according to USA Today.Passengers said they waited hours for refunds and other customer service assistance, with some even noting that they resorted to camping out."It looked like a hurricane shelter," traveler Rebecca Osborn told USA Today of her experience with Spirit at Orlando International Airport. Osborn and her boyfriend, Eddie Gordon, were traveling home to Philadelphia after they arrived in Orlando from a vacation in Puerto Rico. When they arrived at the Florida airport, they were faced with a series of delays before their flight was ultimately canceled."There were people everywhere: little kids, old people," Gordon said of the line of people requesting a refund once the flight was canceled. "They never came out and gave any type of explanation or offered anything.""We're working around the clock to get back on track in the wake of some travel disruptions over the weekend due to a series of weather and operational challenges," Spirit Airlines spokesman Erik Hofmeyer said in an email.The travel disruptions follow a number of similar incidents this summer from other airlines. American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights in June due to a heavy uptick in travel, labor shortages and weather. Southwest, Delta and Alaska Airlines also dealt with flight delays and cancellations as a result of technical issues earlier in the summer.

ISM® Services Index Increased to 64.1% in July --The July ISM® Services index was at 64.1%, up from 60.1% last month. The employment index increased to 53.8%, from 49.3%. Note: Above 50 indicates expansion, below 50 contraction. From the Institute for Supply Management: July 2021 Services ISM® Report On Business®“The Services PMI® registered another all-time high of 64.1 percent, which is 4 percentage points higher than the June reading of 60.1 and eclipses the previous record of 64 percent in May 2021. The July reading indicates the 14th straight month of growth for the services sector, which has expanded for all but two of the last 138 months.“The Supplier Deliveries Index registered 72 percent, up 3.5 percentage points from June’s reading of 68.5 percent. (Supplier Deliveries is the only ISM® Report On Business® index that is inversed; a reading of above 50 percent indicates slower deliveries, which is typical as the economy improves and customer demand increases.) The Prices Index registered 82.3 percent, up 2.8 percentage points from the June figure of 79.5 percent and its second-highest reading ever, behind September 2005 (83.5 percent). “According to the Services PMI®, 17 services industries reported growth. The composite index indicated growth for the 14th consecutive month after a two-month contraction in April and May 2020. The rate of expansion in the services sector recorded another all-time high. The Employment Index reflected growth, even though the constrained labor pool continues to be an issue. Materials shortages, inflation and logistics continue to negatively impact the continuity of supply,” says Nieves.This was above the consensus forecast, and the employment index increased to 53.8%, from 49.3% the previous month.

US Services Surveys Signal Stagflation As Prices Soar - After a mixed bag on the Manufacturing side, (ISM at 2021 lows; PMI at record high), the Services sector did the same... but mirrored.Markit's Services sector survey slipped to its weakest since February (down from 64.6 to 59.9 in the final July print)ISM's Services sector roared back from weakness in June to a record high (up from 60.1 to 64.1) This mixed message ignores the continuing trend in weaker than expected macro data for the US... As the 'hope' in Services tumbles back to reality... Inflationary pressures remained substantial at the start of the third quarter. Input costs rose markedly, and at one of the fastest rates on record amid significant supplier delays and material shortages.Private sector firms noted further efforts to pass on higher costs, where possible, to their clients. As a result, output charges rose at the third-steepest pace since data collection began in October 2009.

 Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decrease to 385,000 --The DOL reported:: In the week ending July 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 385,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 400,000 to 399,000. The 4-week moving average was 394,000, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 394,500 to 394,250.This does not include the 94,476 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was up from 93,060 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 394,000.The previous week was revised down.Regular state continued claims decreased to 2,930,000 (SA) from 3,296,000 (SA) the previous week.Note: There are an additional 5,156,982 receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that decreased from 5,246,162 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 4,246,207 receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) up from 4,233,883.Weekly claims were close to the consensus forecast.

Initial jobless claims continue in range, while continuing claims sharply decline -Initial jobless claims declined another 14,000 this week to 385,000, still 17,000 above their best pandemic levels of 368,000 set on June 26 and July 10. The 4 week average of claims declined by 250 to 394,000, also 9,500 above its pandemic low set on July 11:Significant progress in the decline of initial claims remains stalled, as it has for the last 2 months.The story is quite different for continuing claims, which declined 366,000 to a new pandemic low of 2,930,000:This series, which had also been near a stall, now looks to have begun a new slow declining trend on May 29, and to have accelerated this week. This may reflect the termination of special pandemic benefits in many States, the impact of $15 minimum wages and signing bonuses being offered, or other items.From the long term perspective, this level of continuing claims is consistent with early to mid-expansions over the past 40 years (graph subtracts -2,930,000 so that current level = 0): The decline in continuing claims is good news, provided those whose claims have ended are able to start new jobs, and not just being arbitrarily tossed to the economic wolves. My best guess is that August and September will not be good months, as Delta burns through the dry tinder.

ADP: Private Employment increased 330,000 in July --From ADP: Private sector employment increased by 330,000 jobs from June to July according to the July ADP® National Employment ReportTM. Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis. “The labor market recovery continues to exhibit uneven progress, but progress nonetheless. July payroll data reports a marked slowdown from the second quarter pace in jobs growth,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “For the fifth straight month the leisure and hospitality sector is the fastest growing industry, though gains have softened. The slowdown in the recovery has also impacted companies of all sizes. Bottlenecks in hiring continue to hold back stronger gains, particularly in light of new COVID-19 concerns tied to viral variants. These barriers should ebb in coming months, with stronger monthly gains ahead as a result." This was well below the consensus forecast of 675,000 for this report.

 Jobs report July 2021: Payrolls increase by 943,000, unemployment rate slides - Hiring rose in July at its fastest pace in nearly a year despite fears over Covid-19's delta variant and as companies struggled with a tight labor supply, the Labor Department reported Friday.Nonfarm payrolls increased by 943,000 for the month while the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The payroll increase was the best since August 2020.Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 845,000 new jobs and a headline unemployment rate of 5.7%. However, estimates were diverse amid conflicting headwinds and tailwinds and an uncertain path ahead for the economy.Average hourly earnings also increased more than expected, rising 0.4% for the month and are up 4% from the same period a year ago, at a time when concerns are increasing about persistent inflationary pressures."The data for recent months suggest that the rising demand for labor associated with the recovery from the pandemic may have put upward pressure on wages," the BLS said in the report, though it cautioned that the Covid impact is still skewing data and wage gains are uneven across industries.Markets reacted positively to the report, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting new record highs at the open Friday morning."It feels like a Goldilocks report. You have not too hot in terms of wages, but not too low in terms of job gains," The drop in the headline unemployment rate looked even stronger considering that the labor force participation rate ticked up to 61.7%, tied for the highest level since the pandemic hit in March 2020. A separate calculation that includes discouraged workers and those holding jobs part-time for economic reasons fell even further, to 9.2% from 9.8% in June. As has been the case for the past several months, leisure and hospitality led job creation, adding 380,000 positions, of which 253,000 came in bars and restaurants. The sector took the hardest hit during the pandemic but has been showing consistent gains during the economic reopening.The unemployment rate for leisure and hospitality tumbled to 9% in July from 10.9% in June and compared to 25% a year earlier, though there are still about 1.8 million fewer workers than prior to the pandemic. Wages in the sector rose 1.2% month over month and are up 3.1% from a year earlier.Education also showed strong gains, with 261,000 new hires. The BLS cautioned, however, that the pandemic has distorted the sector's numbers and likely elevated the number for July. That also left private payrolls up 703,000 for the month, about in line with expectations.Professional and business services contributed 60,000, and transportation and warehousing added 50,000. Sectors also showing increases were other services (39,000), health care (37,000), manufacturing (27,000), information (24,000), financial activities (22,000) and mining (7,000). Retail posted a loss of 6,000 while construction and wholesale trade were flat. Jobs report will cause big shift in stock market leaders, says Leuthold's Jim PaulsenThe numbers come amid a rush of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. and around the world, with the most serious illnesses happening in areas with larger unvaccinated populations. The increase has raised fears that it could slow economic activity in a recovery that began in April 2020 and has shown resilience despite the periodic flareups of Covid cases.At the same time, the U.S. is fighting a continuing battle with a scarcity of labor.Job placement site Indeed estimated there were 9.8 million job openings as of July 16, far more than the 8.7 million considered unemployed. In a survey of 5,000 job seekers, however, the amount of those citing health concerns as a reason for not looking for a job declined, with a growing number citing a lack of need due to a financial cushion as the top response.The unemployment rate has tumbled from pandemic high of 14.8% but remains well above the 3.5% before the crisis. Federal Reserve policymakers have vowed to keep ultra-easy monetary policy in place until they see stronger signs of full employment, though Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday criticized the central bank, saying it was risking runaway inflation in its jobs quest.July's job gains added to an overall positive climate for employment. May's numbers were revised up by 31,000 to 614,000, while the June count increased 88,000 to 938,000, for a total gain of 119,000.

July Employment Report: 943 Thousand Jobs, 5.4% Unemployment Rate -- From the BLS: Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 943,000 in July, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.5 percentage point to 5.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in local government education, and in professional and business services. ... The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised up by 31,000, from +583,000 to +614,000, and the change for June was revised up by 88,000, from +850,000 to +938,000. With these revisions, employment in May and June combined is 119,000 higher than previously reported.The first graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968. In July, the year-over-year change was 7.255 million jobs. This was up significantly year-over-year. Total payrolls increased by 943 thousand in June. Private payrolls increased by 703 thousand. Payrolls for May and June were revised up 119 thousand, combined. The second graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms. The current employment recession was by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms, but currently is not as severe as the worst of the "Great Recession". The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate. The Labor Force Participation Rate increased to 61.7% in June, from 61.6% in June. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. The Employment-Population ratio increased to 58.4% from 58.0% (black line). The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate decreased in July to 5.4% from 5.9% in June. This was slightly above consensus expectations, and May and June were revised up by 119,000 combined.

July jobs report: more like this, please While the NBER has declared that the recession ended in April 2020, and income, sales, and GDP have all fully recovered, two of the series that the NBER uses have yet to have made a full recovery: Industrial production, still down -1.2% compared with February 2020, and employment, still down -4.4% as of the jobs report last month. So the main questions for this month’s jobs report for July are how much of that 4.4% has been made up, and do the leading indicators in the report continue to suggest more growth ahead? Here’s my synopsis of the report:

• 943,000 jobs added. Of these, 703,000 were private sector jobs, and 240,000 were government jobs, 220,700 in local education alone. The alternate, and more volatile measure in the household report indicated a gain of 1,043,000 jobs, which factors into the unemployment and underemployment rates below.
• The total number of employed is still -5,702,000, or -3.7% below its pre-pandemic peak. At this rate jobs have grown this year, it will take another 10 months for employment to completely recover.
• U3 unemployment rate declined -0.5% to 5.4%, compared with the January 2020 low of 3.5%.
• U6 underemployment rate declined -0.6% to 9.2%, compared with the January 2020 low of 6.9%.
• Those on temporary layoff declined -572,000 to 1,239,000.
• Permanent job losers declined -257,000 to 2,930,000.
• May was revised upward by 31,000, while June was revised upward by 88,000, for a net gain of 119,000 jobs compared with previous reports.
• the average manufacturing workweek increased 0.2 hours to 40.5 hours. This is one of the 10 components of the LEI.
• Manufacturing jobs increased 27,000. Since the beginning of the pandemic, manufacturing has still lost -433,000 jobs, or -3.4% of the total.
• Construction jobs increased 11,000. Since the beginning of the pandemic, -227,000 construction jobs have been lost, or -3.0% of the total.
• Residential construction jobs, which are even more leading, rose by 8,300. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 42,700 jobs have been *gained* in this sector, or 5.1%.
• temporary jobs rose by 9,700. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have still been 252,800 jobs lost, or -9.8% of all temporary jobs.
• the number of people unemployed for 5 weeks or less increased by 276,000 to 2,257,000, which is 175,000 higher than just before the pandemic hit.
• Professional and business employment increased by 60,000, which is still -556,000, or about -2.6%, below its pre-pandemic peak.
• Average Hourly Earnings for Production and Nonsupervisory Personnel: rose $0.11 to $25.83, which is a 4.7% YoY gain. This is excellent news, considering that a huge number of low-wage workers have finally been recalled to work.
• the index of aggregate hours worked for non-managerial workers rose by 0.7%, which is a loss of -3.3% since just before the pandemic.
• the index of aggregate payrolls for non-managerial workers rose by 1.1%, which is a gain of 4.2% since just before the pandemic.
• Leisure and hospitality jobs, which were the most hard-hit during the pandemic, increased 380,000, but is still -1,737,000, or -10.3% below their pre-pandemic peak.
• Within the leisure and hospitality sector, food and drink establishments gained 253,200, but is still -969,000, or -7.9% below their pre-pandemic peak.
• Full time jobs increased 1,265,000 in the household report.
• Part time jobs decreased -250,000 in the household report.
• The number of job holders who were part time for economic reasons declined by 144,000 to 4,483,000, which is an increase of 85,000 since before the pandemic began.

SUMMARY: This was an excellent report on virtually every front. I really can’t find any negatives or particularly soft spots. Not just the totals, but the leading internals were all positive to very positive, including leading job sectors and wages. Full time jobs increased strongly, and even the decline in part time jobs was really a sign of strength.The only *relatively* negative thing I can say about this report is, in response to the questions I asked at the top, that, even at this rate, it will take until the middle of next year to fully recover to where we were just before the pandemic. In particular, the leisure and hospitality sector, which was particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, still has a long ways to go.In short, more like this, please.

Comments on July Employment Report -- The headline jobs number in the July employment report was slightly above expectations, and employment for the previous two months was revised up significantly. The participation rate increased slightly and the unemployment rate decreased sharply to 5.4%. Leisure and hospitality gained 380 thousand jobs. In March and April of 2020, leisure and hospitality lost 8.2 million jobs, and are now down 1.7 million jobs since February 2020. So leisure and hospitality has now added back almost 79% of the jobs lost in March and April 2020. Construction employment increased 11 thousand in June, and manufacturing added 27 thousand jobs. NOTE: State and Local education added 231 thousand jobs, seasonally adjusted. But this is a seasonal quirk - there were actually 962 thousand education jobs lost in July NSA, but that was fewer than normal for July - since fewer teachers were hired last year (and possibly an increase in summer teaching employment) - so seasonally adjusted this showed a gain. Earlier: July Employment Report: 943 Thousand Jobs, 5.4% Unemployment Rate. In July, the year-over-year employment change was 7.255 million jobs. This turned positive in April due to the sharp jobs losses in April 2020. This graph shows permanent job losers as a percent of the pre-recession peak in employment through the report today. (ht Joe Weisenthal at Bloomberg). This data is only available back to 1994, so there is only data for three recessions. In July, the number of permanent job losers decreased to 2.930 million from 3.187 million in June.These jobs will likely be the hardest to recover. Since the overall participation rate has declined due to cyclical (recession) and demographic (aging population, younger people staying in school) reasons, here is the employment-population ratio for the key working age group: 25 to 54 years old. The prime working age will be key as the economy recovers. The 25 to 54 participation rate increased in July to 81.8% from 81.7% in June, and the 25 to 54 employment population ratio increased to 77.8% from 77.2% in June. The number of persons working part time for economic reasons decreased in July to 4.483 million from 4.627 million in June. This is back close to pre-recession levels. These workers are included in the alternate measure of labor underutilization (U-6) that decreased to 9.2% from 9.8% in June. This is down from the record high in April 22.9% for this measure since 1994. This measure was at 7.0% in February 2020 (pre-pandemic). This graph shows the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more. According to the BLS, there are 3.425 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks and still want a job, down from 3.985 million in June. This does not include all the people that left the labor force. This will be a key measure to follow during the recovery. Summary: The headline monthly jobs number was slightly above expectations, and the previous two months were revised up by 119,000 combined. And the headline unemployment rate decreased to 5.4%. There are still 5.7 million fewer jobs than prior to the recession, but overall this was a strong report.

Black women face a persistent pay gap, including in essential occupations during the pandemic -EPI Blog - This year, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day arrives 10 days earlier than in 2020 (August 13). If this seems inconsistent with current realities, it is. That’s because the August 3, 2021 date is based on the comparison of median annual earnings for full-time, year-round workers reported in the 2020 Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). Since the reference year in that survey is the previous year—2019—the earlier date is more a statement about pay equity during the pre-COVID period of historically low unemployment than the impact of the pandemic. Based on hourly wages available for 2020, the pandemic’s effect on pay inequality in 2020 is challenging to interpret since job losses were concentrated among low-wage occupations, which has the effect of skewing the distribution toward a higher average that is less representative of the workforce as a whole. These lower-paying jobs were concentrated in leisure and hospitality and education and health services—industries that employ a disproportionate share of women.In fact, the pandemic’s effect on pay equity during 2020 is less about a relative difference in dollars per hour and more a matter of a disproportionate share of women—and Black women in particular—becoming unemployed and thus wageless. Nearly 1 in 5 Black women (18.3%) lost their jobs between February 2020 and April 2020, compared with 13.2% of white men (see figure below). As of June 2021, Black women’s employment was still 5.1 percentage points below February 2020 levels, while white men were down 3.7 percentage points. The fact that we are talking about this every year reflects the stubborn, structural nature of pay inequities which is manifold. Occupational segregation limits Black women’s access to higher-paying occupations. But, even when employed in the same occupation, pay discrimination results in lower earnings for women relative to men, including among essential workers as we show below. The lack of a national paid leave policy means that women are more likely to take unpaid time out of the workforce and have breaks in their work and earnings history. The combination of these factors means that, on average, women start their careers with a pay gap that they are never able to close. The infographics below take a closer look at average hourly earnings of Black women and non-Hispanic white men employed in major occupations at the center of national efforts to address the public health and economic effects of COVID-19, based on our previous analysis of CPS microdata from 2014-2019. These occupations include front-line workers in health care and essential businesses like grocery stores, those who have borne the brunt of job losses in the restaurant industry, and teachers and child care workers. As these figures show, equal pay for Black women workers is long overdue.

Amazon to Require Masks for Warehouse Workers as Delta Variant Surges – WSJ - Amazon.com Inc. said all workers at its hundreds of U.S. warehouses will have to wear masks starting Monday, expanding a more limited requirement in response to the resurgent Covid-19 threat posed by the Delta variant.Amazon, which employs about a million people in the U.S., currently requires only those warehouse workers not vaccinated against the coronavirus to wear masks, allowing staff who show proof of vaccination to avoid the requirement unless local directives say otherwise.In a memo to employees Friday, the company said the updated policy will apply to all U.S. warehouse facilities, including in locations where local law doesn’t require face coverings. Amazon told staff it hopes the requirement will last only “a few weeks.” “We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our buildings are optimized for the safety of our teams,” said an Amazon spokeswoman. U.S. businesses have struggled to adjust worker policies in response to the renewed growth in Covid-19 infections from the Delta variant, trying to balance concern for employees’ health and the stability of operations against some workers’ aversion to mandates. Business leaders have tried various tools to get employees vaccinated, including bonuses or other incentives. More than a third of U.S. adults haven’t gotten vaccinated, according to U.S. data.Amazon has stopped short of a step that some U.S. companies have taken: requiring all employees to get a Covid-19 vaccine before returning to company facilities. Friday’s announcement indicated no change to that policy.Other tech giants including Microsoft Corp. , Google and Facebook Inc. —which, unlike Amazon, have predominantly white-collar workforces—have mandated vaccines for employees and guests at their facilities, as have some companies with broader workforces, including meatpacker Tyson Foods Inc.

Kaiser Permanente requires its nearly 250,000 U.S. employees to be vaccinated. -With the rapid spread of the Delta variant fueling a rise in infections across the United States, Kaiser Permanente, the Oakland, Calif.,–based health care giant, announced on Monday that it would require all its employees and physicians to be fully vaccinated.“Making vaccination mandatory is the most effective way we can protect our people, our patients and our communities,” Greg A. Adams, chair and chief executive officer of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan, Inc., said in a statement.The announcement came as infections from the Delta variant have rapidly spread in areas with low vaccination rates, and as 70 percent of eligible U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine dose.Kaiser’s health care network includes 39 hospitals, more than 700 medical offices and a work force of more than 23,000 physicians and more than 216,000 other employees.As of July 30, more than 95 percent of Kaiser’s physicians were vaccinated, along with nearly 78 percent of its other employees, according to Mr. Adams. The statement did not indicate how many nurses were vaccinated.The company’s target date for having its entire work force fully vaccinated is Sept. 30.

United becomes first major airline to mandate vaccines for employees - United Airlines will require its U.S. employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 this fall, becoming the first major airline to implement a vaccine mandate. The airline’s decision came as several corporations announced vaccine requirements for their employees to counter the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. "We know some of you will disagree with this decision to require the vaccine for all United employees,” United CEO Scott Kirby and President Brett Hart told employees in a memo Friday. “But, we have no greater responsibility to you and your colleagues than to ensure your safety when you're at work, and the facts are crystal clear: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated." United employees will be required to show proof of vaccination five weeks after the Food and Drug Administration grants the COVID-19 vaccines full approval, or Oct. 25, whichever comes first. Federal officials are expected to approve Pfizer’s vaccine by early next month. All of the company’s 67,000 employees will be subject to the vaccine mandate, except for those exempted for medical or religious reasons. "Over the last 16 months, Scott has sent dozens of condolences letters to the family members of United employees who have died from COVID-19," United’s executives told employees. “We're determined to do everything we can to try to keep another United family from receiving that letter." United officials told news outlets that about 80 percent of its flight attendants and 90 percent of its pilots are already vaccinated. In June, United required all newly hired employees to be vaccinated after Delta Air Lines implemented the same measure in May.

Maryland, Virginia to require vaccines for state employees -Maryland and Virginia will be mandating that state employees get vaccinated against the coronavirus.Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) office said in a statement on Thursday that all 122,000 state workers will have to show proof that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 1 or be tested for it every week.In a news conference, Northam said it was important to “keep state employees safe and keep the people that we serve safe.”“There is no reason why we need to see more suffering and sickness,” he said.Northam didn’t elaborate on what would happen if an employee refuses to follow the mandate, but said he expects them to do so.Officials said that the vaccination rate for state employees matches that of the state overall.Nearly 73 percent of Virginia’s adults ages 18 and over have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 54 percent are fully vaccinated, Northam’s office said. Separately, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said in a press conference that he will require state employees who work in congregate settings to receive their first vaccine dose by Sept. 1.Employees who are not vaccinated will have to adhere to “strict face covering requirements” and repeated COVID-19 testing."Please, just get the damn vaccine," Hogan said. "The vaccines are free, safe, they work, and they are widely available everywhere across the state at thousands of distribution points, including hundreds of pharmacies and primary care providers. The mandate applies to workers in 48 different state facilities, including health care facilities and ones within the state’s Department of Juvenile Services, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and Department of Veterans Affairs.Hogan encouraged operators of private nursing homes to institute similar vaccination mandates.

California mandates vaccinations for all health care workers - California is mandating all health care workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus.The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued an order on Thursday mandating workers in health care settings be fully inoculated or receive their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine by Sept. 30.The order applies to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and other health care facilities such as dialysis centers, hospice facilities, adult psychiatric hospitals, and clinics and doctors' offices.The order is different than the vaccination mandate that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announcedlate last month.Newsom’s mandate, which went into effect Monday, said that state employees and workers in health care and high-risk congregate settings would either have to provide proof of vaccination or submit weekly coronavirus testing.Thursday’s order from the department doesn’t give health care workers the option of being submitted to weekly virus testing.However, it does allow for workers to qualify for either a medical or religious exemption. Employees who receive an exemption would then be submitted to weekly testing and masks requirements.In a statement, CDPH attributed its decision to an increase in coronavirus infections primarily due to the delta variant. The cases are primarily occurring among those that are unvaccinated. “As we continue to see an increase in cases and hospitalizations due to the Delta variant of COVID-19, it’s important that we protect the vulnerable patients in these settings,” Tomás J. Aragón, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer said in a statement.“Today’s action will also ensure that health care workers themselves are protected. Vaccines are how we end this pandemic,” Aragon said. In a separate order, CDPH directed hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities to verify that visitors are fully vaccinated or tested negative for COVID-19 in the prior 72 hours before a visit.

Governors in N.Y. and N.J. require more public employees to be vaccinated or face testing. - Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers will be required to be vaccinated or face weekly testing, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced on Monday, the state’s latest effort to boost lagging vaccination rates amid the rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant.The new requirement applies to 68,000 employees of the M.T.A., which operates New York City’s sprawling subway and bus system, as well as commuter rails that serve the city’s surrounding counties.Mr. Cuomo framed the new policy, which goes into effect on Labor Day, as a crucial step to not only help curb the spread of the virus — transit workers interact with millions of riders each day — but also to help improve confidence among riders concerned about their health and safety.“If it spreads aggressively among the unvaccinated, numerically we would have a problem,” said Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat. “Worst case scenario, a large number of unvaccinated get sick and even worse than that, the delta variant mutates into a vaccine resistant virus and now we’re back to where we started.”The policy shift comes less than a week after Mr. Cuomo announced the same requirement for the state’s 130,000 employees, following the lead of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who rolled out a similar mandate for the city’s 300,000 workers. The requirement has rapidly become a model across the nation: President Biden announced a similar policy for the nation’s millions of federal employees on Thursday, too, as other local governments weigh similar mandates.New York State, just weeks after lifting most of its coronavirus restrictions on businesses and social gatherings, has seen a steady rise in cases as a result of the new variant, even as 75 percent of adults in the state have received at least one dose of the vaccine.The state reported a seven-day average of 2,280 cases on Aug. 1, up from an average of just 328 a month ago on July 1. Hospitalizations have also ticked up, while the number of deaths has remained relatively steady, according to The New York Times coronavirus tracker.At the same time, Mr. Cuomo said it was up to local governments, including New York City, to decide whether to adopt the new federal guidance recommending that vaccinated people wear masks indoors publicly in areas where cases are on the rise.The governor also urged private businesses, including bars, restaurants and venues, to require proof of vaccination from their clientele. Here are details of some more recently announced mandates in the United States:

• Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey said on Monday that all workers in certain state and private health care facilities and high-risk congregate settings, like jails and prisons, will have to be fully inoculated or face regular testing. Employees have until Sept. 7 to comply with the requirement.
• The more than 10,000 municipal employees of Denver, Colo., have to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Sept. 30 or they cannot work on-site, Mayor Michael B. Hancock said on Monday. Private sector employees at schools and congregate care settings, like homeless shelters and correctional facilities, will also need to be vaccinated.

South Carolina and Ohio will not reintroduce public health mandates, governors say. -The Republican governors of South Carolina and Ohio both said on Sunday that they would not renew public health mandates like mask-wearing and social distancing, even as their states continue to battle a raging pandemic.Both states had taken such measures earlier in the pandemic, including declaring a state of emergency.“I really think we have got to stay calm,” Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We have put the fire out — it’s smoldering in places and could come back up — but the house is not on fire again.”In recent weeks, coronavirus cases have risen rapidly across the country, enabled by lagging vaccination rates and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. Despite a vaccination push from the Biden administration, public health protocols remain a state-by-state decision. In South Carolina, coronavirus cases increased 258 percent in the past 14 days, and hospitalization and death rates also rose, according to a New York Times database. Mr. McMaster played down those numbers.

Tennessee won’t incentivize Covid shots — but pays to vax cows -- — Tennessee has sent nearly half a million dollars to farmers who have vaccinated their cattle against respiratory diseases and other maladies over the past two years. But Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who grew up on his family's ranch and refers to himself as a cattle farmer in his Twitter profile, has been far less enthusiastic about incentivizing herd immunity among humans. Even though Tennessee has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country, Lee has refused to follow the lead of other states that have offered enticements for people to get the potentially life-saving Covid-19 vaccine. Lee hasn't always been against incentivizing vaccinations. Tennessee's Herd Health program began in 2019 under Lee, whose family business, Triple L Ranch, breeds Polled Hereford cattle. The state currently reimburses participating farmers up to $1,500 for vaccinating their herds, handing out $492,561 over the past two fiscal years, according to documents from the Tennessee Agriculture Department. Lee, who so far has avoided drawing a serious Republican primary challenge in his 2022 reelection bid, has been accused of complacency in the face of the deadly pandemic. Tennessee's vaccination rates for Covid-19 hover at 39 percent of its total population, versus over 49 percent nationally for the fully vaccinated. The state's Covid hospitalizations have more than tripled over the past three weeks and infections have increased more than five-fold. Speaking at the Tennessee Cattlemen's Association annual conference on Friday, Lee said he did not think incentives were very effective, WBIR-TV reported. “I don’t think that’s the role of government," he added. "The role of government is to make it available and then to encourage folks to get a vaccine.” In an emailed reply to a question about the contrast to incentivizing vaccination for cattle, spokesperson Casey Black wrote, “Tennesseans have every incentive to get the Covid-19 vaccine – it’s free and available in every corner of the state with virtually no wait. While a veterinarian can weigh in on safely raising cattle for consumption, the state will continue to provide human Tennesseans with Covid-19 vaccine information and access.”

‘Freedom,’ Florida and the Delta Variant Disaster -- Paul Krugman --Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, isn’t stupid. He is, however, ambitious and supremely cynical. So when he says things that sound stupid it’s worth asking why. And his recent statements on Covid-19 help us understand why so many Americans are still dying or getting severely ill from the disease.The background here is Florida’s unfolding public health catastrophe.We now have highly effective vaccines freely available to every American who is at least 12 years old. There has been a lot of hype about “breakthrough” infections associated with the Delta variant, but they remain rare, and serious illness among the vaccinated is rarer still. There is no good reason we should still be suffering severely from this pandemic.But Florida is in the grip of a Covid surge worse than it experienced before the vaccines. More than 10,000 Floridians are hospitalized, around 10 times the number in New York, which has about as many residents; an average of 58 Florida residents are dying each day, compared with six in New York. And the Florida hospital system is under extreme stress.There’s no mystery about why this has happened. At every stage of the pandemic DeSantis has effectively acted as an ally of the coronavirus, for example by issuing orders blocking businesses from requiring that their patrons show proof of vaccination and schools from requiring masks. More generally, he has helped create a state of mind in which vaccine skepticism flourishes and refusal to take precautions is normalized.So, given these grim developments, one might have expected or at least hoped that DeSantis would reconsider his position. In fact, he has been making excuses — it’s all about the air-conditioning! He has been claiming that any new restrictions would have unacceptable costs for the economy — although Florida’s recent performance looks terrible if you place any value on human life.Above all, he has been playing the liberal-conspiracy-theory card, with fund-raising letters declaring that the “radical left” is “coming for your freedom.”

More Bay Area restaurants close temporarily because of breakthrough coronavirus cases on staff - With the highly contagious delta variant on the rise in the Bay Area, there’s one early pandemic trend that’s coming back: temporary restaurant closures because of staffers being exposed to the coronavirus. After starting with a trickle, these closures have happened more in the last week — specifically among fully vaccinated employees. Most closures happened after a staffer suspected being exposed to someone with the virus tested positive thereafter, subsequently prompting the entire restaurant staff to get tested. San Francisco restaurants Nari and Aziza both recently announced days-long closures after vaccinated staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. Oakland’s Ramen Shop is also closed after a vaccinated employee tested positive, according to an Instagram post. And North Beach institution Tosca Cafe has closed twice in the past three weeks, with the most recent closure happening last week after a vaccinated employee tested positive, according to an email sent to diners with reservations. Japantown’s Nari announced a weeklong closure Thursday on Instagram after three fully vaccinated employees tested positive, according to owner and chef Pim Techamuanvivit. When a server first tested positive for the coronavirus last week, the entire staff got tested and received negative results. But Techamuanvivit said she sent back a few employees who had gotten rapid antigen tests for a PCR test, which is considered more accurate because it detects the virus’ actual genetic material. Afterward, two more employees tested positive. Two of the three are showing mild symptoms and the third is asymptomatic, she said. It’s unlikely for fully vaccinated people who contract the virus to fall seriously ill or need hospitalization, public health officials have said. At Aziza, managing partner Scott Chilcutt confirmed the restaurant has been closed since last Saturday after three fully vaccinated staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. Aziza won’t reopen until next weekend, he said. Tosca co-owner Anna Weinberg said three fully vaccinated employees have tested positive in recent weeks, with mild symptoms. Restaurants’ closing and reopening cycle, she said, feels like an “accordion.” Weinberg said she isn’t rushing to reopen her other restaurants, including Petit Marlowe and Leo’s Oyster Bar, because of the uncertainty about the delta variant.

White House indicates NJ will get $12B if Congress approves infrastructure bill | Video - According to the White House, New Jersey would get $12 billion over the next five years if Congress approves a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. That includes $7.9 billion for highway improvements and bridge repair and replacement. New Jersey would also receive $4.1 billion for public transit, and money to build out a network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The bill also includes funding to help expand broadband internet coverage, providing access to more than 115,000 residents. Another 1.6 million low-income residents would get help paying for their internet service. Separately, there is additional money for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and potential funding sources for the Gateway Tunnel project.

Michigan activists: Utility customers need bailout - Michigan activists are calling for a federal bailout of utility customers as a starting point for helping people who have been unable to pay bills during the pandemic and now face mounting debt and service cut-offs. The Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, which represents 50 organizations statewide, is rallying support for the Maintaining Access to Essential Services Act of 2021. The legislation would offer forgivable, low-interest loans to utilities that eliminate customer debt and agree to suspend service disconnections. The need is particularly dire in Michigan, supporters say. State regulators reported in May that over 1 million utility customers held about $325 million in past-due debt. “It’s nothing short of a scandal that in the richest country in the world, in the middle of a deadly pandemic, American families are having to worry about whether they’ll lose the utility access they need to survive,” said U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who plans to introduce a House version of the bill Thursday, in a statement to the Energy News Network. In Michigan, those struggling families can be found everywhere from the remote, rural Upper Peninsula to the metro area of Detroit — the lowest-income large city in the country. A recent poll by the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition and We Want Green Too found that almost a third of the 650 residents surveyed in those regions said they were worried about being able to pay their utility bills. Many of those who had experienced electricity shutoffs before reported having to temporarily leave their homes, which can disrupt access to childcare and the ability to work. And reconnection fees added to unsustainable financial challenges.

Portland, Ore., Can’t Find Police for Unit to Fight Rising Murder Rate – WSJ - Leaders in Portland, Ore., are looking to combat the city’s rising homicide rate by resurrecting a police unit focused on gun violence. But after a year of growing tension within the department, they can’t find enough officers to join.Since 14 job openings were announced in May, only four police personnel have applied to work with the new version of Portland’s Gun Violence Reduction Team, which was shut down last year amid long-running protests seeking racial justice and an overhaul of police practices. None have yet been assigned.Portland officers say such positions, once considered prestigious, are now less desirable, given the increased scrutiny that accompanies them. The new unit has its own citizen-advisory board, instituted after the old unit was criticized by city leaders for racial profiling. A job description says qualifications include the ability to fight systemic racism.“They’re demonizing and vilifying you, and then they want to put you in a unit where you’re under an even bigger microscope,” said Daryl Turner, head of the union that represents Portland’s officers.Portland police have coped with frequent late-night street violence in the past year, as well as criticism from politicians and activists on the right and left.

Texas Republicans Are Trying to Stop Nonprofits From Bailing People Out of Jail --The Texas GOP has continually targeted the LGBTQ+ community in 2021. Now the state’s Republican party is pushing legislation that will hurt not only queer and transgender people but all low-income Texans affected by incarceration. Senate Bill 21, which was introduced as part of a special legislative session that began on July 8, seeks to prevent charitable organizations from providing bail funds to anyone who has been charged with or convicted of a violent crime. The bill would also prevent such individuals from utilizing a personal bond, which allows them to forgo paying cash upfront by promising to appear on their court date.The legislation mandates that only those with enough money to pay the full cash bail amount, which can sometimes be thousands of dollars, will be granted release while awaiting trial.Critics say the bill targets low-income people and leaves them at risk of waiting in jail for months — or even years — while they wait to stand trial. Robin Steinberg, CEO of The Bail Project, claimed the bill limits advocacy organizations like hers from helping people, but does nothing to stop those in the for-profit bail bond industry from intervening."It's an example of how cash bail can criminalize poverty," she told Houston Public Media.Activists believe the legislation is designed to target organizations that crowdfund bail money for protestors, such as the 400+1 Bail Fund and Next Generation Action Network. Last summer’s surge of Black Lives Matter protests in response to the police murder of George Floyd led bail fund groups across the country to mobilize to free protesters jailed by police, as well as a surge in donations to those advocating on activists’ behalf. The Minnesota Freedom Fund raised $31 million in one week, according to Time magazine.

EconoSpeak: K-12 Schools Opening In July, Barkley Rosser -- I long knew it was coming, but it has arrived. I learned of this because some have closed due to heat and or the pandemic surging, K-12 schools. This happened in Arizona. They opened in July. Really. People in those districts may think this is fine, but I am horrified. I view this as a situation where a frog has been in a pot of increasingly hot water that has now boiled, almost literally given some of these schools having to close temporarily due to extreme summer heat. What were they thinking? They were not thinking. It just crept up on them, and I know of districts near me that will open in just over a week, early in August, while others will open later. How did this come about?Control over timing of school schedules has always been locally controlled, although sometimes state governments have intervened somewhat. When I was in school long ago it was a norm throughout the whole country that K-12 schools did not open until after Labor Day. That began to break down in the 1979s in many places, although there are still places that hold to that old norm and do not start until after Labor Day. One thing that encouraged this was coming from higher education. When colleges and universities start after Labor Day, the first semester does not end until in January after the Christmas break, which many did not like. There is a certain virtue of finishing the semester before that winter break, but in most places that means starting a bit earlier, basically in late August. And that is what has been the case where I have been teaching, JMU, since I started 44 years ago, and still holds. This year classes will start on August 25, not too bad and getting us done for the fall semester before the winter break. So many local school systems moved to start earlier, but why did they not keep their starting times in late August? The problem is that if one does not think about it and make appropriate adjustments every few years, there is a tendency for the starting time to creep earlier by a day each non-leap year and two days earlier during leap years. This year August 25 is a Wednesday, but the equivalent Wednesday last year was on August 26, and the year before it was August 28. If a system does not have some external rule such as starting after Labor Day, there is no clear incentive for local school boards to make the adjustment of moving the starting date to nearly a week later than it did the previous year, which must be done once every several years if one is going to avoid having that starting date creep earlier and earlier. Well, obviously there are lots of school boards that have been just too stupid, frankly, to figure this out and have simply let this go on and on. So now we are here where some are starting in July. As I started with, this is absurd, and even early August is just too darned soon. But I do not hold my breath that these places will figure this out and make proper adjustments. Heck, we may end up with schools starting in June is some especially stupid places some day.

'Here We Are Again:' Weary Teachers Brace for Another COVID School Year -- As teachers head back into their classrooms for yet another pandemic school year, many feel a foreboding sense of déjà vu. Most teachers are now vaccinated against COVID-19, a major distinction from the last school year. But children younger than 12 are still ineligible for the vaccine, and among the students who are eligible, uptake has been slow. (Only 30 percent of children ages 12 to 15 have been fully vaccinated, along with 40 percent of the 16 to 17 age group.) Mask wearing has become politicized and hotly controversial, with at least eight states forbidding schools from requiring face coverings, according to the tracking firm Burbio. And the Delta variant, which in rare cases can cause infections among the vaccinated, is spreading rapidly.“I thought we’d be past this, but God, here we are again,” said Kathryn Vaughn, an elementary art teacher in rural west Tennessee. “It feels heavier this time.”Most school districts are planning for students to come back to classrooms five days a week, and many have eliminated remote learning options. About one-third of school and district leaders said no one will be required to wear masks, and another third said they have not yet made a decision about requirements, according to a recent nationally representative survey from the EdWeek Research Center.Teachers say they’re eager to return to normalcy and think that in-person instruction is the best option for most students, but they worry about all the unknowns with new coronavirus variants. And after a disruptive school year in which teacher stress levels skyrocketed and morale plummeted, the thought of going back to remote or hybrid learning weighs heavily.Some experts have predicted that schools will struggle to remain open amid the recent surge in coronavirus cases. Indeed, just days into the school year, some schools have already had to shut down because of outbreaks. Others have delayed the start of school. Many teachers say they’re bracing for another year of disruption.Yet teachers’ unions—which received blowback last year for taking a conservative approach to schools reopening—are championing students returning to school buildings five days a week. The American Federation of Teachers, for instance, is spending $5 million to fund 60 “back-to-school” campaigns in 30 states. In many places, local union members are going door to door to encourage parents to send their children back into school buildings.“We know that [kids] need to be in school, and we know everybody needs to be healthy and safe,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten in an interview.

What the delta variant means for this school year - We’re in the final days before students return to schools around the country. Yet, the rhetoric from many government leaders around school reopening has been like so many others related to COVID-19: Clunky, often more emotional than scientific and presented as certain. But little is certain.We are facing exponential increases in COVID-19 cases due to the highly contagious delta variant. In fact, in counties where the majority of adults had chosen not to get vaccinated, we are seeing infection rates that have eclipsed previous records and hospitals in these areas are nearing capacity. In these areas the rapid transmission of the delta variant may lead to subsequent and more dangerous variants that can put the health and economic recovery of the rest of the country, the world even, at risk.A lot has changed since the pronouncements that schools will return to pre-pandemic form were first made in the spring. First, the delta variant is now ubiquitous. It is extremely transmissible-at least 50 percent morethan the alpha variant that fueled our winter peak. Second, children are getting infected more frequently than at any other point. What hasn’t changed is that our “leaders” haven’t stopped politicizing COVID-19 — but now our children are at increased risk.Based on the data from last school year, most K-12 schools that operated in some capacity pre-delta had at least one class sent home to quarantine following the news that one of their students tested positive. In the spring, some schools returned to hybrid instruction after nearly a year online. Those schools and school systems that could afford it, implemented testing protocols, symptom and exposure screening, along with enforcement of masks and physical distancing guidelines.These measures should have been viewed as a warm-up drill for what would be needed in most school districts in the coming school year — given a more contagious strain of COVID-19 and the increased number of children being infected. It was inevitable that we would see a spike in COVID-19 cases given the experiences of the UK and India.Rather than taking steps to safeguard our children, divisive politicians have sent out the message that kids need to be unmasked to be happy or to learn. On the contrary, the data have been pretty clear that masking especially in the early elementary school years is not a problem for most kids. They comply. It’s the adults who are turning it into a political statement.With a “post-pandemic” mindset prevailing in many places, more children have been engaged in group activities since the introduction of delta to our country. As a result, more children are testing positive. It’s a numbers game. More children will be infected with COVID-19, particularly in those counties where vaccination rates are low and where masks continue to be used as more of a political statement than a public health measure to save lives. Sadly, we are moving to a place where it will be inevitable that every school district will have to share the news that one of its own students has been hospitalized due to COVID-19 or, tragically, succumbed to the disease. There is no reason for this. Every school should require masking of its students and vaccination of all of its staff with rare medical exemptions. Schools should be able to facilitate physical distancing. These simple and effective measures can go a long way in reducing the chance of infection.

The Delta variant adds new uncertainty to the coming school year.--Last week, in what was intended to be an internal document, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the highly contagious Delta variant had redrawn the battle lines of the coronavirus pandemic.The news came just as the first U.S. school districts were preparing to reopen; children in Atlanta and some of its suburbs head back to the classroom this week.Over the past year, there has been contentious debate over how much schools contribute to the spread of the virus and whether, and when, they should close. For some parents, teachers and officials, keeping schools open when a new, poorly understood virus was circulating seemed like an unacceptable risk.For others, however, it was school closures that posed the bigger danger — of learning loss, widening educational disparities and worsening mental health, not to mention the hardships for parents.As the new school year begins, however, the C.D.C., the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other experts agree that reopening schools should be a priority.Just a few months ago, with vaccinations for those 12 and older proceeding at a steady clip and new cases declining, the stage seemed set for at least a partial return to normal.Delta has thrown that into question. Much remains unknown aboutthe variant, including whether it affects children more seriously than earlier forms of the virus.And with vaccination rates highly uneven, and most decision-making left up to local officials, the variant adds new uncertainty to the coming school year — and makes it even more critical for schools to take safety precautions as they reopen, scientists said.“Delta, because it’s so contagious, has raised the ante,” said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University. “It makes all these details all the more important.”

 Biden administration promotes fully opening schools amid surge of Delta variant -The United States is in the midst of a massive surge of COVID-19 infections due to the spread of the highly infectious and virulent Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. In the past month alone, the seven-day moving average of daily new cases has skyrocketed by over 500 percent to exceed 91,000 as of Monday. Amid this deepening surge of the pandemic, the Biden administration released a document Monday making clear that the drive to fully reopen schools over the coming weeks will continue apace. This is despite the fact that as of July 29, only 28 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds in the US were fully vaccinated, while children under 12 years old will likely not be eligible for any vaccine throughout the fall semester. In pushing to fully reopen schools, the White House is giving the green light to the criminal banning of mask mandates in schools, which have now been signed into law by Republican governors in Florida, Texas, Iowa, South Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona. These states, each of which is experiencing a significant surge in daily new cases, provide public education to a combined roughly 12.7 million children who will be packed into poorly-ventilated buildings for hours each day. The most extreme measure has been taken in Florida, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, an acolyte of former President Donald Trump, signed an executive order Friday which allows the cutoff of funding to any school district that issues a mask mandate. The order was signed into law on the same day that Florida set a single-day record of new cases, logging an astronomical 21,683 confirmed infections. The executive order prompted Broward County Public Schools to rescind its mask mandate on Monday, leaving roughly 260,000 students at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19. Only eight states in the US are requiring masks in schools, serving another 12.7 million children, while the remaining 34 states, which serve roughly 25 million children, are leaving this decision up to local school districts. From the standpoint of public health, this haphazard and uncoordinated policy is absolutely criminal. The Department of Education (ED) document released Monday, titled, “Return to School Roadmap,” notes that under Biden, “America’s public schools have been steadily reopening for in-person learning, and students are returning to classrooms. We must continue that progress and provide every student, from every community and background, the opportunity to return to in-person learning full-time this fall. We must keep opening school doors and welcoming students back into classrooms.”

Schools must reopen, because ‘sitting behind a screen simply isn’t the same,’ Cardona says. -Education Secretary Miguel Cardona took the Biden administration’s urgent message about the need for vaccinations and in-person schooling on the road Wednesday, making a full-throated pitch for every student to return to a physical classroom this year.During a visit to a Baltimore school, Mr. Cardona signaled that the administration doesn’t intend to see the nation’s 50 million public school students endure another year of haphazard or nonexistent remote learning, which led to significant setbacks in academic achievement and mental health for children last year, especially among the most vulnerable populations.“Over the last year, what was made clear is that sitting behind a screen simply isn’t the same for a child as learning in a classroom,” Dr. Cardona said in remarks broadcast from Graceland Park/O’Donnell Heights Elementary/Middle School, where he toured classrooms and visited students in a summer enrichment program. “And we know that many students may have been disconnected from their school communities for weeks, months, and for some, over a year.”Dr. Cardona echoed messages in the past week from President Biden and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating that closing schools is not part of the administration’s equation for fighting the surge in coronavirus cases being driven by the Delta variant.When the C.D.C. revised its guidance last week and called for all teachers, other staff members, students and visitors to wear masks in schools, Dr. Walensky cited the need for students to get back to school in the fall. Mr. Biden said bluntly in a speech: “We can and we must open schools this fall, full time. It’s better for our children’s mental and emotional well-being, and we can’t afford another year out of the classroom.”In his remarks on Wednesday, Dr. Cardona called the rise in Delta-variant cases “concerning” and said vaccines were “key to winning the fight against the pandemic and to fully reopening schools.”“The difference this year,” he said, “is that we can control the virus.”Fully vaccinated people are protected against the worst outcomes of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant. Students 12 and older are now eligible to be vaccinated, but no vaccine has yet been authorized for children under 12.

WNY schools reveal COVID-19 policies for 2021-22 school year -— The New York State Department of Health confirmed Thursday that it will not issue guidance on re-opening schools.That responsibility will be left up to each school district.The New York State Department of Health said Thursday that school districts should develop plans to open in-person in the fall as safely as possible with the recommendation of following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health department guidance."I've been advocating for a long time that local municipalities and local school districts should have the autonomy to make these decisions 18 months into this pandemic," Superintendent Mark Laurrie said.Niagara Falls City School District Superintendent Mark Laurrie is ready to propose to the school board that for this year, students wear masks on buses and in hallways, and they are strongly encouraged to wear them in the classroom. Ultimately, that choice will be left up to families."With that guidance, we'll monitor the science, we'll stay in contact with the Niagara County Health Department, we'll watch any trends in the school district, and we'll adjust if we have to," Laurrie said.He says that could mean stronger mask rules. In both Niagara Falls and Hamburg, students will be going back to school five days a week for in-person learning."I think generally what you can expect is an opening of school that looks substantially like it did in 2019," Superintendent Michael Cornell said.Michael Cornell is the Hamburg Central School District Superintendent and the President of The Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association. Cornell asked the state for guidance for the 2021-22 school year in May, requesting it by June, and it never came."We're going to have three feet of physical distance with discretion beyond that. We're going to have full school buses, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that we do all of those things in the safest possible way because we want our schools to be safe for learning and work," Cornell said.Cornell says by collaborating with the county health department, most districts will wait to see what's happening with the infection rate closer to the start of the school year before setting certain policies.

Michigan urges schools to follow CDC guidelines on masks for students and staff - Michigan health officials are urging schools in the state to follow federal guidelines on safety measures for the upcoming year, including recommendations that all students and staff wear masks inside school buildings and on buses. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday afternoon updated its guidance to schools for 2021-22 school year. Department officials said the update is designed to prevent COVID cases in schools, reduce disruptions to in-person learning, and protect those who are not fully vaccinated. Schools do not have to follow the state recommendations. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told media last week she doesn’t intend to require a mask mandate in the state. “We are committed to ensuring Michigan students and educators are safe in the classroom, including those who may not yet be vaccinated,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, state chief medical executive. “MDHHS is issuing this guidance to help protect Michiganders of all ages. We continue to urge all eligible residents to get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible as it is our best defense against the virus and the way we are going to end this pandemic.” The updated guidance comes as school districts across the state prepare for a school year in which more students are likely to be learning in person rather than online. “Our students and staff need to be in schools as much as possible this year,” said State Superintendent Michael Rice. “Following the informed guidance from national and state health experts will help keep our students and staff healthy and help maximize student learning.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week issued new guidelines that call for masks to be worn by students, staff and visitors inside schools and on public transportation, which includes school buses.

Virginia community colleges to require masks indoors - Community colleges in Virginia will require staff and students to wear masks indoors in light of new masking guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week and the rapid spread of the delta variant.In the CDC’s updated guidance on masking last week, it recommended that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with “substantial” or “high” levels of transmission of COVID-19. In a letter to the state’s 23 college presidents on Wednesday, the chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, Glenn DuBois, said that all of its colleges serve in areas that have either seen substantial or high levels of COVID-19 transmission within the last few days, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.“The rise of the virus’s easily transmitted Delta variant is requiring us, once again, to reconsider what is necessary to continue to pursue our academic mission as safely as possible,” DuBois said in his letter, according to the news outlet.According to the news outlet, colleges have been given the ability to choose how the mask mandates will apply in indoor settings and when to start enforcing the rules. Vaccinations will not be required for staff or students to return to campuses.About 55 percent of Virginia’s population is fully vaccinated, according to data from John Hopkins University. But cases have begun trending upward in the state since around mid-July. While the state had reported new cases as low as in the double digits in early July, the state reported 1,761 new cases on Wednesday, per CDC data.Cities, businesses and schools have begun having their own discussions about whether masks mandates need to be reinstated given the rapid spread of the delta variant in unvaccinated communities. Several school districts in Florida have already said that they will require students to wear masks in classrooms, defying Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) who has said that the choice to wear masks in schools should be made by parents and not schools, the Associated Press noted.

Appeals court sides with Indiana University on vaccine mandate - A federal appeals court is siding with Indiana University over its requirement that all students next semester be vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear masks if they cannot get the shots for religious or medical reasons. A group of eight students at Indiana University had sued the school over the policy, but in court documents filed on Monday, the panel of three of Republican-nominated judges pointed to a 1905 case that held that the state was permitted to require all members of the public to be vaccinated against smallpox. "There can't be a constitutional problem with vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2," they wrote. The judges ruled that the case for Indiana University's rule was in fact easier to argue than the 1905 smallpox one for two reasons. First, the 1905 case did not include exceptions for adults, which Indiana University has done. The court added that the testing and masking requirements that the school has in place for those who are exempted from vaccinations are "not constitutionally problematic." And second, the judges said, the college's rule is only applicable to those wishing to attend the school, and does not apply to the entire state as the 1905 case did. "Many universities require vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, but many others do not. Plaintiffs have ample educational opportunities," the judges wrote. "Other conditions of enrollment are normal and proper. The First Amendment means that a state cannot tell anyone what to read or write, but a state university may demand that students read things they prefer not to read and write things they prefer not to write." As Reuters reports, the lawyer representing the eight students, James Bopp of the Bopp Law Firm, said he planned on filing an appeal of this ruling with the Supreme Court. Reuters notes that more than 500 colleges and universities have enacted COVID-19 vaccine requirements for their students.

 Colleges split on tracking coronavirus vaccination as school year nears - The University of Virginia requires its students in Charlottesville to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, and they are complying in overwhelming numbers: More than 90 percent are now inoculated ahead of the fall term.The University of Idaho strongly recommends vaccination, but it is unknown how many students have followed that advice. “We do not track who is vaccinated,” Jodi Walker, U-Idaho’s spokeswoman, wrote in an email.These two flagship public universities illustrate a wide gulf in approaches to the pandemic as higher education approaches another gut-check moment. Both want a normal school year despite the summer surge of the dangerous delta variant that is leading campuses across the country to ask students once again to wear masks indoors. One is avoiding vaccination metrics and mandates. The other is keeping close tabs on vaccinations.On July 29, U-Va. marked 22,178 students as fully vaccinated out of 24,617 eligible to register for courses on the main campus. That yielded a student vaccination rate of 90 percent. By Monday, the rate had reached 91 percent. A few hundred students had obtained waivers for medical or religious reasons. Others had trouble accessing vaccines or had not yet submitted documents. Among faculty and staff, 91 percent were fully or partially vaccinated.The university views this data as essential to navigate the pandemic. To U-Va., monitoring vaccinations for the coming school year is just as important as all the viral testing in the past year that helped protect the campus from deadly outbreaks.“My view is, you need to know what you’re dealing with,” said U-Va. President James E. Ryan. Without knowing vaccination levels, he said, “you’re flying a little blind.” To have almost everyone on campus immunized, Ryan said, “is just critical to being able to have full classrooms … and full dorms and full dining halls.”A Washington Post survey of a number of prominent universities found several that publicize vaccination rates, even among schools that are not mandating shots. The University of Kentucky, which doesn’t mandate vaccines, reported that 69 percent of its students, faculty and staff had been immunized as of July 30 or were in the process of doing so.At Ohio State University, another school that encourages but doesn’t mandate vaccines, the vaccination rate for students, faculty and staff stood at more than 73 percent as of Monday. President Kristina M. Johnson, using the lure of letter grades, is exhorting the campus to go further. “We really want them to get an A, so we want to be above 90 percent if we can,” Johnson told the Columbus, Ohio, television station WSYX.

California announces deal to treat fintech's ISAs as student loans -State authorities in California struck a deal with a fintech firm to treat a controversial finance product known as income-share agreements as student loans, requiring compliance with the state’s student borrower protection laws. The voluntary agreement announced Thursday between Meratas, a New York-based ISA provider, and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation was hailed by state officials as “groundbreaking.” ISAs offer students tuition dollars in exchange for a percentage of their post-graduation income. But critics say the product is a form of credit that has avoided necessary regulation. In order for Meratas to be approved for a state license, the company agreed to have state regulators treat its ISAs as student loans as defined by the California Student Loan Servicing Act.

 Long Drives, Air Travel, Exhausting Waits: What Abortion Requires in the South - Becca Turchanik, of Nashville, Tennessee, drove four hours to Atlanta for an abortion in 2019, and the emotions of the ordeal have stayed with her, she says. She’s angry that she had to call from state to state to find care, and that she couldn’t have her abortion close to home, with friends nearby. “We got an appointment in Georgia because that was the only place that had appointments,” she says. Just a quick walk through the parking lot of Choices-Memphis Center for Reproductive Health in this legendary music mecca speaks volumes about access to abortion in the American South. Parked alongside the polished SUVs and weathered sedans with Tennessee license plates are cars from Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida and, on many days, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. Choices is one of two abortion clinics in the Memphis metro area, with a population of 1.3 million. While that might seem a surprisingly limited number of options for women seeking a commonplace medical procedure, it represents a wealth of access compared with Mississippi, which has one abortion clinic for the entire state of 3 million people.A tsunami of restrictive abortion regulations enacted by Republican-led legislatures and governors across the South have sent women who want or need an early end to a pregnancy fleeing in all directions, making long drives or plane trips across state lines to find safe, professional services. For many women, that also requires taking time off work, arranging child care and finding transportation and lodging, sharply increasing the anxiety, expense and logistical complications of what is often a profoundly difficult moment in a woman’s life.“Especially for women coming from long distances, child care is the biggest thing,” said Sue Burbano, a patient educator and financial assistance coordinator at Choices. “They’re coming all the way from Oxford, Mississippi, or Jackson. This is a three-day ordeal. I can just see how exhausted they are.”

 Stunning new report ranks US dead last in health care among richest countries—despite spending the most - The U.S. health care system ranked last among 11 wealthy countries despite spending the highest percentage of its gross domestic product on health care, according to an analysis by the Commonwealth Fund. Researchers behind the report surveyed tens of thousands of patients and doctors in each country and used data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Health Organization (WHO). The report considered 71 performance measures that fell under five categories: access to care, the care process, administrative efficiency, equity and health-care outcomes. Countries analyzed in the report include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S.Norway, the Netherlands and Australia were the top-performing countries overall, with the U.S. coming in dead last. The U.S. ranked last on access to care, administrative efficiency, equity and health care outcomes despite spending 17 percent of GDP on health care, but came in second on the measures of care process metric. The nation performed well in rates of mammography screening and influenza vaccination for older Americans, as well as the percentage of adults who talked with their physician about nutrition, smoking and alcohol use. Half of lower-income U.S. adults in the report said costs prevented them from receiving care while just over a quarter of high-income Americans said the same. In comparison, just 12 percent of lower-income residents in the U.K. and 7 percent with higher incomes said costs stopped them from getting care. The U.S. also had the highest infant mortality rate and lowest life expectancy at age 60 compared with other countries. Researchers said several key factors set the high-performing nations apart from the U.S.: universal coverage, the removal of cost barriers, investment in care systems to reduce inequities and investing in social services for children and working-age adults. “The U.S. has two health care systems. For Americans with the means and insurance to have a regular doctor and reported experiences with their day-to-day care are relatively good, but for those who lack access, the consequences are stark,” Schneider said.

‘Very Real Fourth Wave’ Presses FDA to Fully Approve Covid Shots — A surge in COVID-19 cases brought on by the rapidly spreading Delta variant across the U.S. is mounting pressure on U.S. drug regulators to fully approve Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine, which is applying for a full license. is the first to do. America Full approval could help the Biden administration speed up its vaccination campaign and reassure vaccine holders that the shots are safe. It could make it easier for more schools and workplaces to implement vaccination mandates. Meanwhile, the success cases that sneak into the defense of the shot are being monitored by the health authorities. While the Pfizer-BioNTech SE messenger RNA-based vaccine, approved in the US through an emergency-use authorization late last year, remains highly effective in preventing serious disease, the question of whether booster shots are needed. The need will loom as the decline approaches. Businesshala News spoke with Peter Marks, the head of the FDA division that is reviewing Pfizer’s approval application, about the process, and other vaccine topics, in which the agency will decide whether booster shots are needed. The question and answer have been edited for clarity and length. Businesshala: President Biden recently said he expects COVID-19 vaccines, such as the Pfizer vaccine, to be fully approved by September or October. Is this a timeline you’ll meet? Peter Marx: I hope we don’t disappoint the president. Everyone here understands the need to do this with the same caution and rigor that we always do, and also with speed and urgency, given that we are in the midst of a global pandemic. Businesshala: There is a perception that the FDA has dragged its feet when it gives full approval to the Pfizer vaccine. Can you tell what extra steps are involved? Mark: The original emergency use authorization was based on two months of average follow-up data. We now have six months of follow-up data, and all the manufacturing information we normally need for a full license. Going over an order of magnitude more data, inspecting features, and doing all the things we normally do, takes a little bit of time. The last thing I want is anyone who is hesitant to say, now it’s approved, but it wasn’t the same kind of approval, so I’m still not going to vaccinate.

The known global virus caseload has surpassed 200 million infections. -The known total of global coronavirus infections has surpassed 200 million on Wednesday, according to a New York Times database, a daunting figure that also fails to capture how deeply the virus has embedded itself within humanity.The official tally stands at more than 614,000 deaths in the United States. More than 550,000 in Brazil. More than 425,000 in India.Mexico has recorded more than 240,000 fatalities, and Peru nearly 200,000. Britain, Colombia, France, Italy, and Russia have all recorded well north of 100,000 deaths. The global toll as of Wednesday was 4.2 million, itself a rough estimate given the discrepancies in the way nations record Covid-19 deaths.As the coronavirus continues to find new hosts across the planet, the emergence of the Delta variant — thought to be twice as infectious as the initial form of the virus — is adding fuel to a fire that has never stopped raging. Fully vaccinated people are protected against the worst outcomes of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant.Some countries, such as Australia, once had success keeping case counts low thanks to geographic isolation and strict lockdown measures. But that may not be possible with the Delta variant; Australia’s largest city, Sydney, is scheduled to be under lockdown until at least Aug. 28 as it tackles a continuing Delta outbreak. And governments have faced increasingly angry protests while enforcing lockdowns on weary populations and struggling businesses, and imposing new vaccine requirements.Over the last six months — as the world raced to 200 million cases in half the time it took to reach 100 million — the calculus for measuring the danger of the moment has become more nuanced. In Spain and Britain, where vaccine supplies are ample, cases have begun declining after the Delta variant drove numbers to concerning heights. But in other countries like Malaysia and Thailand, where doses are more scarce, that climb is continuing.In the United States, with about 93 million people eligible for shots who have chosen not to get them, experts say that a rise in cases this winter is inevitable.

CDC Scaled Back Hunt for Breakthrough Cases Just as the Delta Variant Grew​​​​​​ - Bloomberg identified more than 100,000 vaccine breakthroughs. The U.S. agency leading the fight against Covid-19 gave up a crucial surveillance tool tracking the effectiveness of vaccines just as a troublesome new variant of the virus was emerging. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped comprehensively tracking what are known as vaccine breakthrough cases in May, the consequences of that choice are only now beginning to show.At the time, the agency had identified only 10,262 cases across the U.S. where a fully vaccinated person had tested positive for Covid. Most people who got infected after vaccination showed few symptoms, and appeared to be at low risk of infecting others. But in the months since, the number of vaccine breakthrough cases has grown, as has the risk that they present. And while the CDC has stopped tracking such cases, many states have not. Bloomberg gathered data from 35 states and identified 111,748 vaccine breakthrough cases through the end of July, more than 10 times the CDC’s end-of-April tally.The CDC said when it announced the change in May that it would continue to collect data on breakthrough cases if the infections resulted in hospitalization or death — a rare occurrence, since vaccines provide significant protection. The decision to stop tracking non-severe cases was made to “help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance,” the agency says on its website.But that decision to follow not track mild or asymptomatic cases is now being questioned, including by state officials dealing with the virus on the front lines. At the same time the CDC stopped tracking those cases, the delta variant began to spread in the U.S. Small numbers of delta-variant cases were identified in mid-April. The strain began to take over in some parts of the country in June, then exploded nationally in July.It now makes up the vast majority of cases, in part because it is more contagious than prior strains. New waves of Covid cases have caused a surge in hospitalizations in the South among unvaccinated people, and led the Biden administration and states to push for vaccine mandates. “When I saw CDC was going to stop tracking vaccinated people who get infected, my heart sank,” said Charity Dean, who helped lead California’s response to Covid as the state health department’s assistant director. “We lost our shot at being able to characterize how this variant is moving through the population and how new variants might emerge.”

Fully vaccinated people who get a Covid-19 breakthrough infection can transmit the virus, CDC chief says - Fully vaccinated people who get a Covid-19 breakthrough infection can transmit the virus, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday."Our vaccines are working exceptionally well," Walensky told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They continue to work well for Delta, with regard to severe illness and death -- they prevent it. But what they can't do anymore is prevent transmission."That's why the CDC changed its guidance last week and is now recommending even vaccinated people wear masks indoors again, Walensky said.Last week, the agency released a study that showed the Delta variant produced similar amounts of virus in vaccinated and unvaccinated people if they got infected -- data that suggests vaccinated people who get a breakthrough infection could have a similar tendency to spread the virus as the unvaccinated."If you're going home to somebody who has not been vaccinated, to somebody who can't get vaccinated, somebody who might be immunosuppressed or a little bit frail, somebody who has comorbidities that put them at high risk, I would suggest you wear a mask in public indoor settings," Walensky said.The dangerous Delta variant has fueled the country's latest surge of Covid-19 cases and if more Americans don't get vaccinated and mask up, the country could soon be seeing "several hundred thousand cases a day," similar to the winter surge, Walensky said. And while states across the South -- including Florida and Louisiana -- have seen exponential rises in cases, Walensky said, they have not reached their peak just yet.

Why has the CDC stopped collecting data on breakthrough Covid cases? -Breakthrough cases – infections among vaccinated people – are happening. These are normal and expected because the vaccines, though all powerfully protective against Covid-19, are not 100% effective. But how many people, and which populations, are having breakthrough infections? And what are the chances they will develop long Covid, the cluster of debilitating symptoms that can last for weeks or even months? It’s difficult to answer these questions because there’s a dearth of rigorous data on breakthrough cases in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks only breakthrough cases that lead to hospitalization and death, which it does by gathering data from state health departments. Only 25 states report some data on breakthroughs, and only 15 of those states update it regularly, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of state data. Encouragingly, this data suggests that breakthrough cases among the fully vaccinated are extremely rare – well below 1% in states collecting this information. (Note that undercounts are expected, since people with breakthrough infections may not know they are sick or bother to get tested.) This is the kind of information that the public needs in order to understand the risks of daily life during the pandemic, and that scientists need to assess the shifting epidemiology of the virus. We should be able to rely on the CDC to collect and share this data. Instead, we are relying on nonprofits, media outletsand patient advocacy groups to fill the gap.The CDC used to be more thorough in its surveillance of breakthrough cases. It tracked them all between 1 January and 30 April of this year, counting 10,262 in that time frame. But on 1 May, the agency changed its strategy to investigate only breakthrough cases that led to hospitalization or death. “This shift will help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance,” it explained.There’s no question that learning about hospitalized or fatal breakthrough cases is critical. But it is just as important to know about the ones that don’t – the ones that are asymptomatic but still contagious, those that lead to mild symptoms and, crucially, those that develop into long Covid.The general public must have this information so they understand how and why to protect themselves, even if they are vaccinated. Vaccine-hesitant people must have it so they can see that the likelihood of breakthroughs is rare because the vaccines are such a powerful shield against new infections. And researchers must have it so that they can understand how the virus is evolving and track any emerging vaccine-resistant variants that may be driving breakthrough cases.

Covid Death Undercounts, but How Large? - Yves Smith - The US is operating with appallingly poor Covid data thanks in no small measure to officials at every level of government acting as if managing PR in a pandemic is more important than managing public health. We have the CDC in an act of what ought to be criminal negligence refusing to track “breakthrough” cases among the vaccinated. That means that clinicians and scientists are now playing blind man and the elephant, groping with their information and trying to guess how representative it is. GM, by e-mail, points out we are in a similar spot with Covid death reporting, albeit for different reasons: During the winter wave, some states failed to even keep track of the death count. For example, Ohio had a very suspiciously low deaths for several months, then just dumped 6-7K deaths and got in line with the average. But it was far from alone, there were big data dumps in February and March from several other states (e.g. VA and NM), and to this day the death counts are highly suspicious in UT, KY, OK, and a few others. Florida at some point last year was often reporting deaths months after they happened, and I don’t imagine that having improved much, etc. But right now, with states scaling back reporting, it is a total mess. With today’s 130K cases, we should see 2K deaths a day at some point, and there is a delay of 3-4 weeks between cases and deaths, and deaths are going up, but not as fast as perhaps expected, and one can’t figure out at all how much of that is the vaccine effect and how much it is just the lack of reporting. I was reading about morgue capacity in some SW MO hospitals being exceeded, but meanwhile MO seems to have just stopped reporting deaths altogether — they post single-digit numbers retoractively, but it’s been more than a month of rising cases now, and it is not reflected in the death count, which certainly does not match the reports from the hospitals either. Meanwhile in neighboring AR they seem to be reporting more accurately and deaths are up massively.And that sort of thing is happening in lots of places. Complete mess and very hard to figure out what the real situation is exactly. P.S. Today Psaki has said that there is “no going back”, i.e. everything will remain fully open and kids will be herded into schools. And there was this video from Miguel Cardona that just makes you want to throw stuff at the wall in rage: At this point it is a serious question which administration did worse with its COVID response. Some of the things that are being said and done now in terms of denial of what is happening I have hard time imagining last year, as there would have been serious backlash, but now there is none…

The signs you have the delta variant are different than original COVID-19 -The delta variant of COVID-19 can have symptoms that are more mild and typically not associated with the virus that some may mistake the illness as allergies or another common sickness.Louisiana State Health Officer Joe Kanter said the delta variant of COVID-19 still has its usual symptoms like cough, fever, and shortness of breath. However, Kanter is seeing many patients present with symptoms that appear to be run-of-the-mill illnesses, like sinus congestion, runny nose, sore throat. These symptoms could be signs that patients have the delta variant, he told Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, a CBS property.“You can present with relatively mild symptoms that you can easily confuse for allergies or something that you picked up from your kid who is in daycare, all of those things,” said Kanter. “If you have any symptoms, no matter how mild, even if it is a sore throat, even if it is a runny nose, even if it is sinus congestion, go get yourself tested and limit your contact with other people until you do so.”As Changing America previously reported, according to researchers at the ZOE COVID Symptom Study, excessive sneezing is also a symptom of having the delta variant."Our data shows that people who had been vaccinated and then tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to report sneezing as a symptom compared with those without a jab," researchers wrote. Changing America also notes that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are about 95 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19; Johnson & Johnson is around 66 percent. Additionally, one expert told CNN that cloth masks may not be as effective as KN95 masks or N95 masks at defending against the delta variant.

All levels of COVID infection come with cognitive impairment, study says.- As we get further from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our knowledge about the virus expands. A new study from the UK suggests in the illness' wake, cognitive functions may suffer. What started out as a COVID "long-hauler" symptom, has been found in the short term patients, even those who had a mild case of the illness. It’s called brain fog, and it’s commonly used to describe sluggish, fuzzy thinking. Research out of the UK gives us a look behind the fog. “It's not in your head, but it's in your head,” said Dr. Sheryl Williams, a hospitalist and Medical Director of Infection Prevention at BSA. “It’s a physical change that's happening to your cognition. It's not like you can't add two and two and get four, but you're foggy. You're just not thinking right.” In the study, just over 81,000 participants filled out a COVID questionnaire and completed nine tests used to measure different aspects of human cognition. The results found functions like reasoning, problem solving, working memory, emotional processing are all affected. “It's not an isolated, patient-by-patient thing. It is a large proportion of people who had COVID,” said Dr. Williams. On top of that, there’s a scale of impairment quantified by IQ. Those who had respiratory symptoms but made it through on their own at home saw about a 1 point drop. Those who were put on a ventilator, went down 7 points. “The NIH (National Institutes of Health) has just received $1.15 billion dedicated to studying this long COVID phenomenon,” Dr. Williams said. “I think that this study itself [is] simply is another piece of information added to this puzzle that's all saying the same thing.”

There's one kind of mask that won't protect you from the delta variant - When it comes to wearing masks, cloth face coverings may not be the most effective tool in reducing the spread of the coronavirus and preventing infection, one expert says. Michael Osterholm, director for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, spoke to CNN on Monday and said that people should upgrade from cloth masks, bandanas and gators to more-effective N95 respirators. Face masks do not prevent the spreading as effectively as some like to believe, Osterhold said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says cloth masks still offer some protection and their effectiveness depends on the type of fabric, number of layers and the fit of the mask. The CDC is continually studying these factors. Studies have shown that multiple layers of cloth with higher thread counts are more effective than single layer cloths, in some cases filtering 50 percent of fine particles, according to the CDC. Overall, analysis has demonstrated that universal masking has led to a significant drop in new infections. "We need to talk about better masking," Osterholm said. "We need to talk about N95 respirators, which would do a lot for both people who are not yet vaccinated or are not previously infected. Protecting them as well as keeping others who might become infected having been vaccinated from breathing out the virus."The CDC classifies KN95 and N95 masks as those that are “designed and tested to ensure they perform at a consistent level to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”"You know I wish we could get rid of the term masking because, in fact, it implies that anything you put in front of your face works, and if I could just add a nuance to that which hopefully doesn't add more confusion is we know today that many of the face cloth coverings that people wear are not very effective in reducing any of the virus movement in or out," Osterholm said. He then pointed out that people who wear cloth masks in the Northwest can still smell the wildfires."Either you're breathing out or you're breathing in and in fact if you're in the upper Midwest right now anybody who's wearing their face cloth covering can tell you they can smell all the smoke that we're still getting," he added.Similarly, Scott Gottlieb, former Food & Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, said in July that the right quality mask was necessary to protect against a strain as contagious as the delta variant."It's not more airborne, and it's not more likely to be permeable to a mask. So a mask can still be helpful," Gottlieb told host John Dickerson. "I think, though, if you're going to consider wearing a mask, the quality of the mask does matter. So if you can get your hands on a KN95 mask or an N95 mask, that's going to afford you a lot more protection."

In addition to Covid, more children are getting a respiratory virus more commonly seen in winter. - U.S. health officials have expressed concern over a simultaneous rise in Delta infections and cases of respiratory syncytial virus, a highly contagious seasonal flulike illness that is more likely to affect children and older adults.Cases of R.S.V. have risen gradually since early June, with an even greater spike in the past month, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illness, which can cause symptoms that include a runny nose, coughing, sneezing and fever, normally begins to spread in the fall, making this summer spike unusual.In a series of posts on Twitter, Dr. Heather Haq, a pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, described an increase in both coronavirus and R.S.V. hospitalizations.“After many months of zero or few pediatric Covid cases, we are seeing infants, children and teens with Covid pouring back into the hospital, more and more each day,” she wrote, adding that patients have ranged in age from 2 weeks to 17 years old, including some with Covid pneumonias. “We are on the front end of a huge Covid surge,” wrote Dr. Haq, who could not be reached for comment on Sunday. “We are now having winter-level patient volumes of acutely ill infants/toddlers with R.S.V., and I worry that we will run out of beds and staff to handle the surge upon surge.”

Most children with Covid-19 recover within a week, but a small percentage have long-term symptoms, a study says. -Although most children with Covid-19 recover within a week, a small percentage experience long-term symptoms, according to a new study of more than 1,700 British children. The researchers found that 4.4 percent of children have symptoms that last four weeks or longer, while 1.8 percent have symptoms that last for eight weeks or longer.The findings suggest that what has sometimes been called “long Covid” may be less common in children than adults. In a previous study, some of the same researchers found that 13.3 percent of adults with Covid-19 had symptoms that lasted at least four weeks and 4.5 percent had symptoms that lasted at least eight weeks.“It is reassuring that the number of children experiencing long-lasting symptoms of Covid-19,” is low, Dr. Emma Duncan, an endocrinologist at King’s College London and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “Nevertheless, a small number of children do experience long illness with Covid-19, and our study validates the experiences of these children and their families.”The study, published on Tuesday in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, is based on an analysis of data collected by theCovid Symptom Study smartphone app. The paper focuses on 1,734 children between the ages of 5 and 17 who tested positive for the virus and developed symptoms between Sept. 1 and Jan. 24. Parents or caregivers reported the children’s symptoms in the app.In most cases, the illness was mild and short. Children were sick for six days, on average, and experienced an average of three symptoms. The most common symptoms were headache and fatigue.But a small subset of children experienced lingering symptoms, including fatigue, headache and a loss of smell. Children between 12 and 17 were sicker for longer than younger children and more likely to experience symptoms that lasted at least four weeks.The researchers also compared children who tested positive for the coronavirus with those who reported symptoms in the app but tested negative for the virus. Children who tested negative — and may have had other illnesses, such as colds or the flu — recovered more quickly and were less likely to have lingering symptoms than those with Covid. They were ill for three days, on average, and just 0.9 percent of children had symptoms that lasted at least four weeks.

Doctors say unvaccinated young adults are becoming more severely ill, and more quickly. -Recently, a 28-year-old patient died of Covid-19 at CoxHealth Medical Center in Springfield, Mo. Last week, a 21-year-old college student was admitted to intensive care. Many of the patients with Covid-19 now arriving at the hospital are not just unvaccinated — they are much younger than 50, a stark departure from the frail, older patients seen when the pandemic first surged last year. In Baton Rouge, La., young adults with none of the usual risk factors for severe forms of the disease — such as obesity or diabetes — are also arriving in E.R.s, desperately ill. It isn’t clear why they are so sick. Physicians working in Covid hot spots across the nation say that the patients in their hospitals are not like the patients they saw last year. Almost always unvaccinated, the new arrivals tend to be younger, many in their 20s or 30s. And they seem sicker than younger patients were last year, deteriorating more rapidly. Doctors have coined a new phrase to describe them: “younger, sicker, quicker.” Many physicians treating them suspect that the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which now accounts for more than 80 percent of new infections nationwide, is playing a role. Studies done in a handful of other countries suggest that the variant may cause more severe disease, but there is no definitive data showing that the new variant is somehow worse for young adults. Some experts believe the shift in patient demographics is strictly a result of lower vaccination rates in this group. As of Sunday, more than 80 percent of Americans ages 65 to 74 were fully vaccinated, compared with fewer than half of those ages 18 to 39, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..

Does the Tuskegee Experiment Really Explain Black Vaccination Rates? - Black vaccination rates lag the rest of the country, according to data from the Census Household Pulse Survey and other similar sources. One common explanation for this in the discourse is that black people are skeptical of the vaccine because of prior historical events in which they were abused and experimented upon by the US government and healthcare authorities. The main incident brought up in this explanation is the Tuskegee Experiment. In that experiment, black people with syphilis were told they were receiving drugs to treat the disease but they were actually given placebos while the researchers studied the effects of untreated syphilis.This theory checks off certain boxes that make it resonate well within current discourse frameworks, but it doesn’t really make a lot of sense. If the coronavirus vaccines were only being given to black people, then you could see how someone might reason that it is a trick. But they are being given to everyone, including over 100 million white people. Are we meant to think that black people who aren’t getting the vaccine believe that the government is poisoning 100 million white people because the government has a racist history of poisoning black people? The racial analysis here would tell you that there is no way the white supremacist government would do such a thing and so the vaccine must be safe!Perhaps more compelling than this abstract reasoning is the breakdown of the black vaccination rate by education level. As with the population in general and every other racial group, black vaccination rates climb in lockstep with educational attainment. Educational attainment of course is also a decent proxy, on average, for income, wealth, and other socioeconomic indicators.I would guess that awareness of the Tuskegee Experiment and black history more generally is greater among those with higher education than those with lower education. If this guess is right, then knowledge of historical racist medical abuses is actually strongly correlated with getting the vaccine.One of the reasons I am bringing this up because it seems to me that this just-so story about black vaccine hesitancy is actually very unhelpful when it comes to trying to getting black people and the population more generally vaccinated. It’s soothing to a certain mindset that is prevalent in the discourse, but it’s totally detached from reality and papers over the much more significant socioeconomic factors.

F.D.A. plans to give final approval to Pfizer vaccine by early September.- The F.D.A. said it recognized that full approval might inspire more public confidence in the coronavirus vaccines.Credit...Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWith a new surge of Covid-19 infections ripping through much of the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has accelerated its timetable to fully approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine, aiming to complete the process by the start of next month, people familiar with the effort said.President Biden said last week that he expected a fully approved vaccine in early fall. But the F.D.A.’s unofficial deadline is Labor Day or sooner, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. The agency said in a statement that its leaders recognized that approval might inspire more public confidence and had “taken an all-hands-on-deck approach” to the work.Giving final approval to the Pfizer vaccine — rather than relying on the emergency authorization granted late last year by the F.D.A. — could help increase inoculation rates at a moment when the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus is sharply driving up the number of new cases.A number of universities and hospitals, the Defense Department and at least one major city, San Francisco, are expected to mandate inoculation once a vaccine is fully approved. Final approval could also help mute misinformation about the safety of vaccines and clarify legal issues about mandates.Federal regulators have been under growing public pressure to fully approve Pfizer’s vaccine ever since the company filed its application on May 7. “I just have not sensed a sense of urgency from the F.D.A. on full approval,” Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said in an interview on Tuesday. “And I find it baffling, given where we are as a country in terms of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.”

Sloppy Pfizer Booster Clinical Trial Consent Form Provides Way to Exclude Reactions That Require Emergency Care --Yves Smith -Bloomberg Law complained recently that the consent forms for Covid 19 vaccine clinical trials are larded with unimportant information and difficult to understand. Based on our reading of a Pfizer consent form for a trial of a third shot of its Covid-19 vaccine, those aren’t the biggest causes for pause.We’ve embedded a Pfizer consent form for a Covid-19 booster vaccine clinical trial below, which as of posting time was available at careidresearch.com. We strongly encourage you to read it in full. We’ll discuss first how the form does not appear to have been reviewed by the oversight body tasked by the FDA to do so, and then will discuss why key parts are troubling.The biggest issue, flagged in our headline, is that the consent form allows for participants who need emergency care and go straight to their doctor or hospital to be ejected from the study. But it’s not the only one.The FDA has tasked Institutional Review Boards, aka IRBs, to provide independent oversight of biomedical research projects to protect study participants, as you can see on the agency’s website.Historically, academic medical centers and large local hospitals operated most IRBs. IM Doc, who was on an IRB for nearly two decades and its chairman for several years, explains how major drug companies have successfully shifted many over to private sector players to gut oversight:In our IRB we oversaw usually between 250-400 active trials at any one time. There was a staff of 6 RNs dealing with all the documents, the patient contacts, and any other work needing to be done. The Board itself consisted of a committee of LOCAL individuals. There were 15 people on ours. 3 were doctors, 3 were nurses, 3 were clergy, 3 were professional people from the community (lawyers, accountants, business owners) and 3 were blue collar workers. You notice the majority was ALWAYS NON-MEDICAL. We were tasked with going over any new research studies in our center, and coming up with a document called an “Informed Consent”. The researcher always had a template for this from either the NIH or other agency or Big Pharma. But the committee went over it with a fine tooth comb.This process almost always took 2-4 weeks.Over time, Big Pharma has obtained more control over IRBs by moving Phase III and Phase IV clinical trials over to more cooperative private sector operators. A big motivating factor is that if an IRB (and historically there would be multiple local/regional IRBs supervising a clinical trial) suspended a study, every other IRB involved would have to be informed of the suspension and the reason why. Needless to say, that would have the potential to generate other suspensions or calls for revisions of study procedures midstream….which would be tantamount to having to go back to the drawing board. ¹One of the side effects was to weaken, and as appears to be the case here, effectively end IRB review and negotiation of consent forms. Have a look at this image, which is at the top of every page of the Pfizer consent form:

Vaccination reduces the risk of getting Delta symptoms by 60 percent, a study in England finds. -Vaccines in England were 60 percent effective at preventing symptomatic cases of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant, researchers reported on Wednesday, a figure lower than most previous estimates that scientists nevertheless said ought to be interpreted cautiously.The results, drawn from testing a random sample of nearly 100,000 volunteers, offered some of the most extensive evidence to date of vaccines’ performance against the Delta variant, which has driven surges of cases in Britain, the United States and elsewhere. They indicated that vaccines were 50 percent effective at preventing people from becoming infected, with or without symptoms.But scientists cautioned that the results had an exceedingly high degree of statistical uncertainty, and relied largely on volunteers self-reporting their vaccination status.The study sent tests to a random sample of volunteers, rather than relying on people to seek coronavirus tests themselves, so its figures include people who may not otherwise have thought much of their symptoms or known they had the virus at all. Estimates of vaccine effectiveness tend to be lower in studies that include mild or asymptomatic cases.The results also did not distinguish between the different vaccines being used in Britain. By mid-July, roughly twice as many people had been fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine as with Pfizer’s, the main two shots in use in Britain. In previous studies, the Pfizer vaccine has appeared more effective against the Delta variant than AstraZeneca’s. The researchers, led by a team from Imperial College London, said that their estimates of vaccine effectiveness were lower than those reported previously in England, but consistent with data from Israel.Other studies in England have suggested that vaccines are more than 90 percent effective in preventing people from being hospitalized with a Covid-19 case caused by the Delta variant.

What Does Vaccine Effectiveness Mean? --Peter Dorman - What do people most want to know about the coronavirus vaccines? How much protection they give you against the risk of getting infected with the virus, right? And how much protection they give against more severe symptoms, such as those requiring hospitalization or resulting in long Covid. When public health authorities throw out numbers about vaccine effectiveness, that’s probably how most people interpret them.But that’s not what effectiveness means in medical research. When pharmaceutical companies or public health outfits conduct effectiveness tests, they assemble and compare two groups, a treatment and a control (or multiple treatment groups with different protocols). The treatment group gets the vaccine, the control group doesn’t. Who gets assigned to which group is determined randomly, and participants don’t know which one they’re in. (The controls get injected with a placebo.) Then they go about their life, monitored to see if they get infected or not. Vaccine effectiveness is a ratio, the fraction of the control group that gets infected divided by the corresponding fraction of the treatment group; it’s a ratio of two ratios. You can also calculate effectiveness within subgroups, like treatments-over-65 and controls-over-65. If the trial is conducted properly, the samples are representative and large and the public health context, including the virus variant, is stable, you can generalize effectiveness in the samples to the population as a whole.Now notice a subtle difference in language. The everyday use of “effectiveness” is effectiveness against the virus. The research use is effectiveness relative to the control group. This is immense, but widely misunderstood and seldom explained. Next, imagine that a new virus variant appears, combined with more relaxed public behavior—more indoor gathering, less masking. Let’s say that an unvaccinated person now has a 5% monthly risk of infection. If the vaccine is equally effective against the new variant, our typical vaccinated person now has a .25% risk of infection. The numerator and denominator have both risen fivefold, but the effectiveness ratio of treatment vs control is unchanged. Suppose further that the vaccine loses effectiveness against the new variant; it is now just 40% rather than 95%. 40% of 5% is 2%, the new monthly infection risk of those who have been vaccinated. The bottom line: vaccine effectiveness measures the risk faced by vaccinated individuals compared to those who aren’t vaccinated. If the risk rises for the second group it rises for the first, even more if effectiveness is also falling.

Moderna says booster 'likely' to be needed this fall for 'robust’ response against Delta - Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine booster appears to produce a “robust” antibody response against the fast-spreading delta variant, the company said Thursday as it warned that a third shot would “likely” be needed this fall.The Massachusetts-based drugmaker revealed in a quarterly-earnings report that its original two-dose vaccine regimen remains highly effective through six months after the second shot, but the company believes that the “increased force of infection resulting from delta” will lead to a surge of breakthrough infections in vaccinated people over the next few months.The delta variant is said to be as contagious as chickenpox and has already become the dominant strain in the U.S. and many other countries.“We are pleased that our COVID-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93 percent through six months, but recognize that the Delta variant is a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement. Moderna’s 93 percent efficacy rate after six months is higher than Pfizer’s estimate for its own vaccine, which the New York company reported last week to be about 84 percent, and it’s just slightly lower than the 94.1 percent rate in the immediate days after full immunization. “While we see durable Phase 3 efficacy through 6 months, we expect neutralizing titers will continue to wane and eventually impact vaccine efficacy,” Moderna said in a slide presentation shared online. “Given this intersection, we believe dose 3 booster will likely be necessary prior to the winter season.”

An outbreak in a Massachusetts beach town shows the pandemic is ‘nowhere near over.’ - By the Fourth of July, the tourist season in Provincetown, Mass., had built to a prepandemic thrum. Restaurants were booked solid, and snaking lines formed outside dance clubs. There were conga lines, drag brunches and a pervasive, joyous sense of relief. “We really thought we had beat Covid,” said Alex Morse, who arrived this spring as town manager.Mr. Morse didn’t think much of it, five days after the holiday, when the town’s Board of Health logged two new cases of coronavirus. A week later, though, the cluster of cases associated with gatherings in Provincetown was growing by 50 to 100 cases per day. Alongside the numbers was an unsettling fact: Most of the people testing positive were vaccinated. Provincetown, a quirky beach community at the tip of Cape Cod, has provided a sobering case study for the country, abruptly tugging Americans back to the caution of winter and spring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited the cluster on Friday as key to its decision to issue new indoor mask guidance, saying viral loads among the vaccinated people there were found to be as high as among the unvaccinated.

Breakthrough Symptomatic COVID-19 Infections Leading to Long Covid: Report from Long Covid Facebook Group Poll (preprint) medRxiv -Vaccines have been shown to be extremely effective in preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. However, a question remains whether vaccine breakthrough cases can still lead to Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), also known as Long Covid. To address this question, the Survivor Corps group, a grassroots COVID-19 organization focused on patient support and research, posted a poll to its 169,900 members that asked about breakthrough cases, Long Covid, and hospitalizations. 1,949 people who self-report being fully vaccinated have responded to date. While robust data are needed in a larger, unbiased sample to extrapolate rates to the population, we analyzed the results of this public poll to determine what people were reporting regarding Long Covid after breakthrough infection and to prompt discussion of how breakthrough cases are measured. The poll was posted in the Survivor Corps Facebook group (∼169,900 members). Of the 1,949 participants who responded to the poll, 44 reported a symptomatic breakthrough case and 24 of those reported that the case led to symptoms of Long Covid. 1 of these 24 cases was reported to have led to hospitalization in addition to Long Covid.

Cognitive assessment in asymptomatic COVID-19 subjects - The people afflicted with SARS -CoV-2 were reported to have respiratory symptoms in the earliest studies. Thereafter a number of extra respiratory features were also observed. These included neurological deficits also. Some of these were stroke, seizures, neuropathy and movement disorders [2]. Recent pathological studies have shown the neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2, thus establishing a direct pathophysiological basis to the neurological features [3]. Neurological features of higher mental functions were reported by Zhou et al. who performed a study on the cognitive functions of 29 COVID-19 recovered patients. The patients secured lower scores in Continuous Performance Test (which is used to assess attention and impulse) than the controls [4]. Others have reported a dysexecutive syndrome in the COVID patients [5]. Thus symptomatic patients do suffer cognitive deficits in addition to the earlier reported neurological features. Neurological features such as weakness, pain and numbness are reported readily as they are easily noticed by the patients. However dysfunctions of the higher mentation go unnoticed especially if they are mild and occur in otherwise asymptomatic persons [6]. Such unrecognised deficits have been brought out in asymptomatic subjects in many other diseases by targeted cognitive tests like MiniMental Status Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA) [7,8]. Although MMSE has been widely used for detecting cognitive impairment, it has been found inferior [9] to the MoCA in detecting Mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MoCA has been widely validated in diagnosing MCI in many studies [6]. We used the MoCA test to detect MCI in asymptomatic COVID-19 subjects.Our study shows that even otherwise asymptomatic COVID-19 subjects have cognitive deficits in certain subdomains and suggests the need for a detailed psychometric assessment especially in the elderly population.

 The U.S. is wasting vaccine doses, even as cases rise and other countries suffer shortages. -A survey of data from 10 states shows that about one million doses have gone to waste since the nation began administering Covid-19 vaccines in December.Much of the loss has come as demand for inoculations plummeted, with the daily rate of vaccinations now at less than one-fifth of its peak average of 3.4 million shots, reached in mid-April.More than 110,000 doses have been destroyed in Georgia, officials there said. Of the more than 53,000 doses wasted in New Jersey, nearly 20,000 were discarded in June, up from around 4,000 in April. Around 50,000 doses in Maryland were not used, officials said.In Ohio, state officials reported on July 20 that more than 370,000 doses have been reported as unusable by state providers. [Update Aug. 2, 2021: On Monday, the day after this article was originally published, a spokeswoman for the state health department revised the number downward to more than 230,000.] Reasons for vaccine wastage include breakage, storage and transportation problems, expiration, and shots that were prepared but not used after people did not show up for appointments, officials said. In many states, data shows that wasted or unusable doses are no more than about 2 percent of those received from the federal government and successfully administered.

Wild U.S. deer found with coronavirus antibodies.--White-tailed deer, a species found in every U.S. state except Alaska, appear to be contracting the coronavirus in the wild, according to the first study to search for evidence of an outbreak in wild deer.Researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) analyzed blood samples from more than 600 deer in Michigan, Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania over the past decade, and they discovered that 40 percent of the 152 wild deer tested from January through March 2021 had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Another three deer from January 2020 also had antibodies.Their presence means that deer likely had encountered the virus and then fought it off. The animals didn’t appear sick, so they probably had asymptomatic infections, the agency says. Roughly 30 million white-tailed deer live in the U.S. “The risk of animals spreading SARS-CoV-2 to people is considered low,” the USDA told National Geographic in a statement. Still, the results may suggest that “a secondary reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 has been established in wildlife in the U.S.” says Jüergen Richt, a veterinarian and director of the Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at Kansas State University who was not involved in the USDA’s work. If the virus is circulating in other species, it could continue to evolve, perhaps in ways that make it more severe or transmissible, undermining efforts to slow the pandemic.Earlier this year, researchers established that deer are susceptible to the virus when infected in the lab—and that they can pass the virus to each other. But scientists didn’t know until now if infections were occurring in nature. The only species with lab results indicating that they hadcontracted the virus in the wild had been mink, though cats, dogs, otters,lions, tigers, snow leopards, gorillas, and a cougar have all had outbreaks in captivity or in zoos.

New COVID variants Epsilon, Lambda may be resistant to vaccines, early lab studies show.-The Epsilon and Lambda variants of COVID-19 are “variants of interest,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and early studies show they have developed a resistance to vaccines. Japanese researchers found the Lambda variant, which was initially discovered in Peru and is now spreading throughout South America, is highly transmissible and more resistant to vaccines than the initial COVID-19 strain. The researchers warned in a paper posted July 28 that has yet to be peer reviewed that Lambda’s label as a “variant of interest” instead of a “variant of concern” might downplay the growing threat of the strain. Meanwhile, the Epsilon variant that was initially discovered in California in 2020 is spreading in Pakistan and is proving to be resistant to vaccines, according to researchers.Health authorities issued an alert after they discovered five cases of the Epsilon variant in Lahore, Pakistan. Medical experts there believe the vaccine-resistant strain is putting vaccinated people as well as unvaccinated people at risk, adding that the strain is just as transmissible as the Delta variant.Despite these early studies, previous studies have shown vaccines, including those available in the United States, work against “variants of concern,” such as the Delta variant. The vaccines also prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death in most breakthrough cases where a fully vaccinated person tests positive for the coronavirus. For example, a U.K. study published in May showed two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were 88% effective at preventing against symptomatic infection of the Delta variant and 96% effective against preventing hospitalization.

“Potentially Very Bad”: Lots of New Covid Variants in New York City Rats -- Yves Smith -Our reader GM is not happy that the possible very big downside of a recent Covid discovery is not being taken seriously. Lots of nasty new variants of Covid have been found in New York City wastewater. They appear to come from rats.Now so far, there is no evidence that one of these rat Covid variants has jumped species to humans. But as we’ll explain, were that to happen, it could be Seriously Bad. Many of these variants are novel and have the potential to escape current vaccines.But the reaction to the wastewater study has been underwhelming. And the US already does one of the worst jobs of any advanced economy in terms of sequencing Covid cases to determine the prevalence and spread of variants. So if a ratty Covid were to infect humans, the US would be late to work that out.From a preprint in MedRxIV, Tracking Cryptic SARS-CoV-2 Lineages Detected in NYC Wastewater:To monitor New York City (NYC) for the presence of novel variants, we amplified regions of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein gene from RNA acquired from all 14 NYC wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and ascertained the diversity of lineages from these samples using high throughput sequencing. Here we report the detection and increasing frequencies of novel SARS-CoV-2 lineages not recognized in GISAIDs EpiCoV database. These lineages contain mutations rarely observed in clinical samples, including Q493K, Q498Y, H519N and T572N. Many of these mutations were found to expand the tropism of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses by allowing infection of cells expressing the human, mouse, or rat ACE2 receptor. In addition, pseudoviruses containing the Spike amino acid sequence of these lineages were found to be resistant to many different classes of receptor binding domain (RBD) binding neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. We offer several hypotheses for the anomalous presence of these mutations, including the possibility of a non-human animal reservoir.GM explains:I was never worried about minks as a reservoir, those are mostly solitary and likely can’t sustain a transmission chain.But rats in the sewer is a completely different situation.And it’s not just that there is an external reservoir, as the paper notes, you select for somewhat different mutations in rodents. That can still infect humans, only now the major neutralizing epitopes are taken out.Also, this will screw up the few remaining ZeroCOVID countries too unless they start maniacally screening all cargo shipments. The Chinese might try, but they also have a gigantic land border and that effort is doomed in the long run… Now on the one hand, New York City is estimated to have only about 2 million rats, compared (pre Covid) about 10 million humans. In London, the population jumped about 25% during 2020, so it’s reasonable to assume if anything their numbers are higher now. On the other hand, if you look at the CDC website, the very first rodent disease listed as directly transmitted to humans, Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, has a primary transmission mechanism that doesn’t even require you to have been within eyeshot of a rat: “Breathing in dust that is contaminated with rodent urine or droppings.”

Florida breaks record for new coronavirus cases as surge of infections rips through state -Florida reported 21,683 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the state’s highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to data released Saturday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The data shows the severity of the surge in Florida, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak and now responsible for 1 in 5 new infections nationally. The previous peak in Florida had been on Jan. 7, when the state reported 19,334 cases, according to the CDC — before the widespread availability of coronavirus vaccinations. Florida has reported an average of 15,818 new cases a day over the past seven days, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. The Florida Department of Health reported that coronavirus cases in the state had jumped 50 percent in the past week. In that time, the state has reported 409 deaths.In addition to the highly transmissible delta variant, vaccine holdouts and the widespread resumption of normal activities have led to a surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths nationwide. With the United States reporting more than 70,000 cases a day, case numbers have risen to levels not seen since February.About 49 percent of Florida’s population has been fully vaccinated as of Sunday.White House Covid-19 Response Team coordinator Jeff Zients underscored new U.S. coronavirus cases occurring in Florida while speaking to reporters on July 16. (The Washington Post)State health officials have indicated that hospitals are struggling to keep up with the number of covid-19 patients. The Florida Hospital Association said Friday that covid hospitalizations are approaching last year’s peak. The state leads the nation in hospitalizations, with more than 10,000 as of early Sunday, according to The Post’s covid tracker. The number of covid hospitalizations is close to breaking the record set in the state in July 2020.

Average daily COVID-19 infections topped last summer's peak, CDC says - Nationwide COVID-19 infections have surpassed last summer's peak, White House officials said Monday, but vaccination rates are increasing in states with some of the highest COVID-19 infection rates. "In the states with the highest case rates, daily vaccination rates have more than doubled," White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said in a press briefing. For example, Zients said Louisiana has seen a 302 percent increase in the average number of newly vaccinated per day, while Mississippi has increased 250 percent, Alabama has increased 215 percent and Arkansas has increased 206 percent. "This increase in vaccination rates in states that have been lagging is a positive trend. Americans are seeing the risk and impact of being unvaccinated and responding with action. And that's what it's going to take to get us out of this pandemic," Zients said. Nationwide, 3 million Americans have gotten their first shot over the past seven days, the highest since July 4. But infections are still rapidly increasing. Over the weekend, the seven-day moving average of daily new COVID-19 cases was about 72,000 per day, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said, a number higher than the peak from last summer, which was well before any authorized vaccines were available. At that time, the nation was reporting about 68,700 new cases per day, according to the CDC. Cases reached record highs in the fall and winter months that followed. The vaccination campaign has slowed compared to the spring months, as hesitancy and outright resistance to the vaccine have created a major obstacle for public health officials. According to Zients, one out of three new COVID-19 cases occurred in Florida and Texas over the past week. About 17 percent of cases came from seven states with low vaccination rates, he added. Walensky and chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci noted that the vast majority of people who are testing positive are not vaccinated and "breakthrough" infections are rare. "This remains a pandemic of the unvaccinated where the vast majority of spread in this country is among those who are unvaccinated," Walensky said. The delta variant spreads much more easily among unvaccinated people than the original alpha variant. Walensky said an unvaccinated person who is infected with the delta variant could infect as many as five other unvaccinated people, more than twice as many as the original strain. The extremely high viral loads carried by anyone who is infected are concerning, Walensky said, but the risks of a vaccinated person spreading to another vaccinated person are extremely low, and if it does happen, vaccination will prevent serious illness and hospitalization.

Florida Covid hospitalizations shatter record as DeSantis downplays threat — The head of Florida’s largest hospital association warned that the skyrocketing number of Covid hospitalizations is unlike anything the state has seen before — even as Gov. Ron DeSantis downplays the spike.The Florida Hospital Association on Monday reported 10,389 Covid-19 hospitalizations, the most statewide during any point in the pandemic. This follows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting over the weekend that the state had more than 21,000 new coronavirus infections on Friday. It was the highest one-day total for Florida, which now makes up roughly one and five new cases nationally.About 95 percent of those hospitalized are unvaccinated, and Mary Mayhew, the president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, said the Delta variant that is sweeping through Florida is infecting young and unvaccinated people and is much different than the previous strain.“We have to convince 25-year-olds, 30-year-olds that this is now life threatening for them,” Mayhew said during an interview on Morning Joe. “That is not what they saw and what we experienced last year.”As Florida’s coronavirus infections continue to soar, public health officials and local elected leaders have pressed the DeSantis administration to take more drastic steps to get the virus under control. DeSantis, however, has maintained a strict “no-mandate” approach to the virus, including touting an executive order last week that prohibits school districts from requiring masks in K-12 facilities. He also vowed to fight any cities or municipalities that try to institute Covid restrictions, including mask mandates or lockdowns.DeSantis’ administration points to the Covid cases in the younger population as evidence of the governor’s successful push to get the elderly in the state vaccinated. More than 85 percent of those older than 65 in Florida have been fully vaccinated. Overall, about 52 percent of Florida’s population is fully vaccinated.“We recognize that cases and hospitalizations have shifted to a younger demographic because we have been so successful with vaccinating seniors,” said DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw, who added that the vaccinated made up 6 percent of new infections last month. “Again, we must continue this stride to expand vaccination rates across eligible age groups.”Yet on Sunday night, Pushaw sparred with reporters on Twitter over the increase in Covid hospitalizations at Tallahassee’s largest hospital, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. At one point, Pushaw noted the city is Democratic-leaning and questioned why more people did not get vaccinated even though a reporter tweeted a story quoting Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare chief communications officer Stephanie Derzypolski saying “this is the most we’ve ever had.”

Florida children's hospitals see pediatric COVID-19 cases soar -The number of new COVID-19 hospitalizations among children is rising in Florida as the state faces a surge in cases due in part to the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus. On Tuesday, 46 pediatric patients were admitted to Florida hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of pediatric coronavirus patients in the state to 135, according to hospital capacity data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Florida is behind only Texas in the current number of children hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, with the Lone Star State recording a total of 142 as of Tuesday. According to a Miami Herald analysis of weekly COVID-19 case data, the sharpest increase of Florida COVID-19 infections over the past month has been among children under the age of 12, who are not yet eligible to receive any of the three vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S.The two-shot Pfizer vaccine has been authorized in the country for people as young as 12 years old. Ronald Ford, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System’s Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., told the Herald that its emergency rooms are seeing more symptomatic cases among children than during previous COVID-19 surges. “In our previous iteration of the pandemic, it was more they’re positive but they’re not sick or minimally sick,” he explained. “This is different. ... There’s a much higher percentage of pediatric patients becoming infected and symptomatic.”In the past week, Florida has repeatedly broken records for daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and as of Tuesday accounted for roughly 1 in 5 new cases nationally. As of Wednesday, there have been a total of 2.6 million infections in the Sunshine State, along with nearly 40,000 fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite the latest surge, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has pushed back against implementing a statewide mask mandate or vaccination requirements, and has even signed directives banning mask mandates in public schools and preventing businesses from requiring proof of vaccination. While the CDC has said that children are at less risk to develop severe illnesses from COVID-19, the agency updated its guidance this week to recommend that all teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools wear masks upon returning to the classroom this fall, regardless of vaccination status. The guidance follows recent similar recommendations unveiled by the agency for all people to wear masks indoors in areas across the country with “high” or “substantial” levels of COVID-19 transmission, based on new data showing that vaccinated people may be able to spread the delta variant to unvaccinated people.

If Hospitalizations Lead Fatalities: Prospects for Florida - Menzie Chinn - With large shares of populations vaccinated, case counts are no longer a good predictor of fatalities arising from Covid-19. Hospitalization might prove better (and ICU hospitalizations even better). The statistics do not augur well, particularly for Florida. Obviously, Florida remains a big problem when you consider its 21 million population, and that it accounts for 5.1% of US GDP (as of 2019Q4). For comparison, California, as the economically largest state, accounted 14.8%. Here is IHME’s latest fatalities forecasts, from July 30. The IHME forecast presented above was not include in the July 26th CDC ensemble forecast. At the time of the CDC ensemble forecast compilation, IHME’s forecast was above the ensemble forecast, but not at the very top. Since it’s hard to see, here’s a detail. The IHME forecast available as of 7/26 was for about 1000 fatalities per week, compared to the ensemble forecast of a bit below 600. The IHME forecast was at the top of the 95% band. A new ensemble forecast should be released on 8/4. It’s clear why Mr. De Santis wants to avoid the specter of Covid-19. The late summer and winter waves clearly slowed Florida’s recovery. Rising deaths might spur — if not additional public health measures such as mask mandates that the governor has banned — then increasing aversion by those who perceive risks associated with going about business as usual. Figure 1: Florida Reported deaths due to Covid-19 (black, left log scale), nonfarm payroll employment, in 000’s, s.a. (teal, right log scale). NBER defined recession dates shaded gray. July observation for deaths is IHME forecast. I expect risk aversion to induce a reduction in consumption of high contact services. If mask mandates and other public health measures were imposed, that might lead to a greater short term reduction in economic output (although in the long run, total hours might be higher, as in the Eichenbaum pandemic/output model). Any lessons to be gleaned from the past episodes? The employment losses thus far can be decomposed into two groups — the high contact services associated with leisure and hospitality services, and everything else covered in nonfarm payroll employment. Figure 2: Florida employment relative to 2020M02 in leisure and hospitality services (blue bars), and in rest-of-nonfarm payroll employment (tan bars), in 000’s, s.a. You can see that leisure and hospitality employment recovery stalls out in July-August 2020, and January 2021. If the rise in deaths occurs as forecasted in Figure 1, then All this takes place in the context of already slowing growth, as far as we can tell (these indicators run only through June). Figure 3: Florida Coincident index (black), real GDP (purple), and nonfarm payroll employment (teal), all in logs, 2019Q4=0. NBER defined recession dates shaded gray. Quarterly data for coincident index, employment converted from monthly to quarterly by averaging.

Arkansas reports biggest one-day spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations - Arkansas on Monday reported 1,220 COVID-19 related hospitalizations, its highest-ever one day jump since the pandemic began. The record comes as the state is also swiftly approaching its record for COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the state's Department of Health. The state's highest number of hospitalizations was recorded in January at 1,371. "Today’s increase in hospitalizations is the highest increase we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic. We continue to see nearly all hospitalizations among the unvaccinated," Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) tweeted on Monday. On Monday, the state reported 42 deaths and 844 new cases with 6,199 people having died due to COVID-19 in total in Arkansas. Last week, Hutchinson asked the state legislature to roll back its ban on allowing local governments from enacting mask mandates, asking that public schools be allowed to make that decision themselves. “This is not a debate about mask mandates for those that can make their own decisions and have the means to get vaccinated,” Hutchinson said. "This is a discussion about the school environment where schools can make decisions about the public health for their school environment and the children they have responsibility to protect." The action will be difficult to accomplish as a majority in both legislative houses would be needed for the ban to be lifted before school resumes in the fall. Hutchinson has acknowledged Arkansas' low vaccination rate, attributing it to the state being "very rural" and "conservative." "Sometimes conservatives are hesitant about the government, and we’ve just got to counteract that by getting better information to them, building confidence," he said earlier in July.

Louisiana governor reinstates mask mandate -Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) reinstated a statewide mask mandate for everyone 5 years old and up as the Pelican State has hit the most cases per capita in the U.S.The governor announced the mask requirement over Twitter, citing surging COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, which he said are “threatening the ability of hospitals to deliver care.”The mandate will go until at least Sept. 1, but Edwards said it could be extended if needed. The move was based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), advice from health advisers and insight from hospitals and businesses, Edwards said in a press release. “This decision is not one I take lightly, but as the fourth surge of COVID-19 is upon us, we know that mask wearing when you are in public is one way to greatly lower your risk of spreading or catching COVID. Being vaccinated against COVID-19 is another,” he said in the statement.“We have the tools we need to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities and save lives, and I am pleading with unvaccinated Louisianans to get their shot as soon as they can to protect themselves,” he added. “We can end this nightmare, but it is going to take all of us working together to do it.”Louisiana’s case count per capita skyrocketed in July, starting the month with an average of eight daily cases per 100,000 people before documenting 89 cases per 100,000 people on Saturday, according to data from The New York Times. With a daily average of 4,119 new cases as of Sunday, Louisiana has seen its case count more than triple within two weeks. A majority of the 10 counties and parishes with the highest case count per capita in the U.S. are in Louisiana.The state’s daily average hospitalizations of more than 1,500 is almost triple the amount from 14 days ago. At the same time, Louisiana has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country with 37 percent of the population considered fully vaccinated, according to the Mayo Clinic. Less than half of adults, 47 percent, are fully vaccinated.

Americans suffer pandemic whiplash as leaders struggle with changing virus.A week of public health reversals from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has left Americans with pandemic whiplash, sowing confusion about vaccines and mask wearing.The crisis President Biden once thought he had under control is changing shape faster than the country can adapt. An evolving virus, new scientific discoveries, deep ideological divides and 18 months of ever-changing pandemic messaging have left Americans skeptical of public health advice.Monday was another day that underscored the crosscurrents for the nation’s leaders as their efforts at a disciplined public health campaign collided yet again with the chaotic nature of the pandemic.The virus continued to scramble traditional politics. In left-leaning Chicago, city officials announced that more than 385,000 people had attended the four-day Lollapalooza music festival — and Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended it. In Washington, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a longtime supporter of former President Donald J. Trump, announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus but said his symptoms have been mild, which he attributed to being vaccinated.Some experts say the C.D.C. is to blame for some of the confusion. After saying in May that vaccinated people could go maskless indoors and outdoors, the agency did an about-face, once again recommending indoor masking in places where the virus is spreading rapidly.Only days later did a leaked document deliver the grim reasoning: The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and spreading even among the vaccinated.A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s thinking, conceded on Monday that many Americans remained perplexed. Another administration official said Mr. Biden would address the nation later this week — the second time in less than a week — to reiterate and clarify his main takeaway points: The vaccines are safe and effective; even vaccinated people have to mask up again because so many people are unvaccinated; go get your shots and tell your friends and neighbors to do the same.

 Oregon reports 1,575 coronavirus cases, one of highest daily tallies of entire pandemic - Oregon on Tuesday reported 1,575 new cases of coronavirus, one of the highest daily case counts reported over the entire COVID-19 pandemic and a deeply worrying number for public health officials due to the resurgence of the virus driven by the contagious delta variant.Even more worrisome, the number of Oregonians hospitalized with the virus across the state increased by 39 to 379, and there are 119 COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds, 17 more than the previous day. Both numbers are the highest seen since the surge last winter.And the rising case and hospitalization tallies shows no sign of slowing. The state on Tuesday reported that more than one in 10 coronavirus tests yielded a positive result, one of the highest daily rates of the pandemic at 10.8%.The state also reported nine new coronavirus deaths, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 2,872. Deaths from the current wave likely won’t begin mounting until later this month or September.To date, the Oregon Health Authority and Gov. Kate Brown have taken little statewide action to combat the virus’ summer resurgence other than reiterating guidance from the Centers for Disease Control that even fully vaccinated people should wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of “substantial or high transmission.”Thirty-five of Oregon’s 36 counties fall into that category, which is determined by test positivity rates or the number of cases per 100,000 residents. Instead of issuing new public restrictions, state officials are leaving that decision to individual counties. And while many counties have reiterated the same federal guidance in public communications, none have reimposed mask mandates or required vaccinations to dine indoors or use gyms, unlike jurisdictions in other states that are seeing a similar surge in cases. Some 69.1% of adult Oregonians have received at least one dose of vaccine, the most effective protection against the virus, with 64% having completed the series of one or two doses, according to the Oregon Health Authority. And while the state has established a goal of 80%, it is making very slow progress, administering only about 5,000 doses a day in the past week. Vaccination rates vary widely across the state. In large urban counties like Washington and Multnomah the rate exceeds 75% of adults having received at least one dose, while 12 rural counties remain below 50%. Only 14 of the state’s 36 counties exceed 60%.

The delta variant is breaking records and ‘clobbering’ Oregon – OPB - Younger people are getting sicker, faster, as doctors and nurses watch -- One-hundred-thirty-three — that’s the number of Oregonians in hospital intensive care units battling COVID-19, according to official numbers out this week. That’s the highest it’s been in the last eight months, and just 10 people fewer than the highest number of ICU patients all pandemic, set when COVID-19 peaked in December. In Southern Oregon, the records set over the winter are being broken this summer Dr. Renee Edwards, the chief medical officer at OHSU Health, said that in large measure the people she’s seeing in the hospital are unvaccinated. Many are sick with the more contagious delta variant. The delta variant has been blamed for a recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, with many states posting record-high case counts. While vaccines protect people from catching COVID-19 and getting seriously ill, the delta variant has undone all the progress vaccines made at slowing transmission of the virus. And the patients falling ill with the delta variant are younger than in past waves. They seem to get sicker, faster, and appear more likely to get seriously ill. It’s no longer a disease that just hospitalizes the old. “Patients who are presenting with this delta variant who are being hospitalized do tend to be sicker and more likely to require ICU level care,” Edwards said. Since the pandemic started, doctors treating COVID-19 have learned how to treat patients and how to keep them out of the ICU. That means that once patients are admitted to an ICU, they are extremely sick. “PTSD is common in this patient population because they’re drowning in the air,” said Dr. Sabra Bederka, an ICU nurse at Providence in Portland. “They literally cannot get air into their lungs, no matter how hard they try, no matter how hard we try. And they’re terrified. It’s a panic situation.” Then it’s on nurses to calm the panicking patients down and reassure them. “It’s terrifying for us because we’re in the middle of it,” #160;

New US COVID Cases Cross 100K Mark For Second Day In A Row; Highest Daily Death Toll In 2 Months - New coronavirus infections in the United States crossed the 100,000 mark for the second consecutive day, and the highest daily death toll in more than two months was reported in the country on Tuesday. The worrisome COVID data coincided with President Joe Biden's stark reminder that the states with the lowest vaccination rates are seeing 10 to 20 times as many new cases per 100,000 people. "It's moving like wildfire through the unvaccinated community. And it's heartbreaking, particularly because it's preventable," he said while delivering remarks on his Administration's progress toward fighting the pandemic. With 106557 additional cases reporting, the national total has increased to 35,238,173, as per the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. From an average of 20000-plus cases reported on July 3, the seven day average has more than quadrupled to 92005 on Tuesday, according to data analyzed by the New York Times. This is the highest weekly average recorded since February 13, and marks a 139 percent increase in two weeks. 617 additional casualties recorded on Tuesday took the national COVID death toll to 614,295. This is the worst daily death toll recorded since May 28. And seven-day average of daily deaths has also increased to 414 per day.

 Milwaukee Bucks’ championship games may be linked to a steep rise in cases, officials say. -When the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the N.B.A. finals last month, thousands of fans watching the victory in person in the arena yelled and cheered.Tens of thousands more fans gathered to watch the game on giant, open-air screens erected outside the arena in the area known as the Deer District. Afterward, there was a huge parade.Now, those gatherings are raising concerns among Wisconsin health officials. Milwaukee County has seen a steep rise in cases since the Bucks won, and health officials say they believe the game and surrounding events may have contributed to the increase.Among people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Wisconsin, 491 said they had been in the Deer District in the two weeks before their positive test result, Elizabeth Goodsitt, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said in a statement on Wednesday.Around 52 percent of people in Wisconsin are fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times database.The combination of unvaccinated people in the state, the presence of the highly contagious Delta variant and crowded Bucks events where less than half the attendees wore masks, could lead to a further rise in cases, Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of the state health department, told reporters on Wednesday.In the county of Milwaukee, the seven-day average of new cases rose to 315 on Tuesday, up from 67 on the day of the championship game, July 20, according to the Times database.Statewide, the one-week average of new Covid-19 cases each day in Wisconsin has shot up in the last two weeks, to 962 on Tuesday, from 223 on July 20, according to the database. The victory parade took place on July 22.

Breakthrough COVID cases, while rare, frustrate vaccinated Marylanders - - They followed all the guidance, took every precaution, but got COVID-19 anyway.Christina Van Norman and David Coe had resumed small gatherings — finally — of their fully vaccinated friends in their home in Montgomery County, where coronavirus transmissions were relatively low. The day after the last event, she felt run-down. Two days later she had a fever and body aches, and a rapid test confirmed that the infection wasn’t a seasonal cold but the coronavirus. Her husband soon tested positive and they alerted their guests.“We thought we were vaccinated and safe, and that’s the scary part,” Van Norman said. “I’m not dying, but I’m pretty darn sick and absolutely spreading it to others.” Ultimately 14 of 17 vaccinated people tested positive after the gathering — results that are becoming more common in Maryland and across the country as more people emerge from COVID lockdowns and mask mandates and run headlong into the more contagious and fast-spreading delta variant. Cases are again on the rise. Still, the overarching message from public health officials is that vaccines are working and are the best line of defense against serious illness. Official reports of so-called breakthrough cases, fully vaccinated people becoming infected, remain low in Maryland and around the country.

Nearly 8,000 Breakthrough COVID Cases Reported in Mass.; 100 Have Now Died – Nearly 8,000 fully vaccinated Massachusetts residents have now tested positive for COVID-19 and 100 of them have died, according to state data on breakthrough cases published Tuesday.The Department of Public Health tracked a cumulative 7,737 confirmed COVID-19 infections among those fully vaccinated in the state as of July 31, representing 0.18% of the immunized population.The 100 deaths out of nearly 4.3 million vaccinated residents represents a rate of just 0.002%.Saturday's cumulative count reflects an increase of 1,364 breakthrough cases over July 24. That accounts for a bit more than 30% of all new coronavirus cases confirmed in the state during that one-week span. Since the first residents became fully vaccinated in January, DPH has counted 395 immunized residents hospitalized with COVID-19 cases and 100 who died from the virus. Those numbers include 34 new breakthrough hospitalizations and nine additional deaths among those fully vaccinated tracked in the past week. Doron says while breakthrough cases are concerning, they're not as concerning as the need for vaccinations worldwide."We do need to put some of these numbers in a more realistic context just so people – you know, so people don't panic, so people make the right decisions based on the actual risk," "Before delta, we had hoped that we had seen kind of the worst of what the virus could do in terms of mutation," Doron said. Now, with the "delta plus" variant detected in smaller numbers, she says looking at this pandemic globally is more important than ever. "When we allow it to rage uncontrolled in other parts of the world and don't get vaccine to them, the virus will keep mutating," she said.

Breakthrough COVID cases on the rise in Arizona - The number of breakthrough COVID-19 cases in Arizona is increasing as a percentage of the overall new cases.According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, 11% of the new COVID cases in July were breakthrough cases.A breakthrough case is where a person who is fully vaccinated still comes down with the disease.In May, 5% of the cases were breakthrough and in June it was 8%.The state health department says the efficacy of Pfizer and Moderna is about 90%, so the numbers are not unexpected even though the percentage of cases is rising.The department also points out a breakthrough case is much less serious than it is for people who are unvaccinated who still make up a preponderance of the cases.The concern in Pima County is the number of cases is rising overall and not just among breakthroughs.According to the state dashboard, there were 280 cases reported yesterday making it the highest number since February 9, 2021. Some of that can be attributed to the reopening of in person learning in Tucson’s schools.According to the county’s new data dashboard of not just school districts but individual schools. it shows the Vail Unified School District has nearly 70 active cases among students and staff. The Marana Unified School District has 53 active cases..The county health department has reported there are now 212 active school COVID-19 cases in less than two weeks and the largest school districts have just opened their doors..With all school districts now open in Pima County, the health department sent a letter to remind districts that it’s a violation of state statutes to not report individual cases and outbreaks. Anyone not doing so could be charged with a class three misdemeanor.

19% of California COVID cases are breakthroughs - About 19% of recent documented COVID-19 cases in California are breakthroughs, and state data shows that those who have been fully vaccinated account for an increasing portion of positive tests. The number, which contradicts a repeated public portrayal that breakthrough cases are negligible, can be easily misinterpreted. To be clear, this is not an indication of some sort of vaccine failure. Quite the contrary. Breakthrough cases were expected. State data still suggests that unvaccinated people are nearly five times as likely to be infected as those who are inoculated. And almost all the hospitalizations and deaths are among unvaccinated people. Vaccines remain the most important tool for fighting the pandemic. Rather, the rising proportion of breakthrough cases suggests that even people who have been vaccinated are potentially significant spreaders of coronavirus, especially the delta variant. It reinforces why vaccinated people should also wear masks in public settings. Breakthrough case rates are a sensitive topic, one that some health officials are trying to avoid and which has sparked a lot of handwringing in the media about how to report it. The fear is that misinterpretation of the numbers will dissuade people from getting vaccinated. But, without the data, the important push for everyone to wear masks is weakened. Although vaccinated people are well-protected against serious illness, they can, if infected and even if they’re not showing symptoms, spread the virus to others. Indeed, people with breakthrough infections of the delta variant might be just as contagious as unvaccinated people, although the science continues evolving on that point. The call for vaccinated people to don masks is not just for their own protection. “It’s not about you, it’s about everybody,” says Contra Costa County Health Officer Chris Farnitano. “It’s about keeping the cases down.” But, to make that point, it’s critical to have the supporting data. Unfortunately, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped tracking breakthrough cases on May 1, focusing only on patients who are hospitalized or die. The thinking was apparently that the risk of transmission from breakthrough cases was negligible. We now know, with the delta variant, that’s no longer the case.

Lessons from Oregon’s July COVID-19 breakthrough report – OPB - One out of every five COVID-19 infections reported in Oregon in July were breakthrough cases; those which were were diagnosed in people who are fully vaccinated, according to the Oregon Health Authority. It’s a discouraging number, but there’s a silver lining: vaccinated people made up just one out of ten COVID-19 deaths. The breakthrough cases that ended in death were almost exclusively in the elderly. COVID-19 cases are surging in Oregon and across the country, fueled by the more contagious, more severe delta variant. Oregon hospitals are quickly reaching capacity, and many counties are seeing more hospitalizations than they were in December before vaccinations were available. The delta variant appears to be two to three times more infectious than other COVID-19 variants. As Dr. Melissa Sutton, the medical director for respiratory viral pathogens at the Oregon Health Authority, put it during a press conference Friday, “for unvaccinated individuals, the risk of COVID-19 has never been greater.”With state and local officials reluctant to pass any new mandates, Oregonians are left trying to make decisions for themselves about the sort of risks they are willing to take. But there are some lessons we can learn from Oregon’s COVID-19 data, about vaccines, masks, and the steps we can take to stay safe. It can be hard to tease lessons out of data like this. It’s collected in the real world, and the data is only as good as the system that collects it.During Friday’s press conference, Sutton said that Oregon’s data does come with caveats. Not all cases are reported, and since breakthrough cases are more likely to be mild, they’re also less likely to be reported.What does that mean? It means that there are probably more breakthrough cases — and more cases, period — of COVID-19 than have been reported. But it also means that the percent of breakthrough cases that result in death is not as high as it appears.

Israel's public health chief says evidence points to waning COVID vaccine immunity - – Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, Israel's director of public health services, said Sunday that evidence points to the waning immunity in the COVID-19 vaccine, saying her two biggest concerns with the delta variant relate to its level of infectiousness and the rising rate of vaccinated individuals testing positive."It's 50 percent more infectious than the previous variant, which was 50 percent more infectious than the original one," Alroy-Preis told CBS' Face the Nation, noting that a third of Israel's population has not been covered, particularly Israel's large population of non-vaccinated children.She added that 50 percent of the current infections are vaccinated individuals. "Previously we thought that fully vaccinated individuals are protected, but we now see that vaccine effectiveness is roughly 40 percent." She noted that while effectiveness remains high for severe disease, Israel is seeing diminished protection, particularly for those who have been vaccinated longer. She said the debate between whether the infections are related to the timing of the vaccine versus whether the vaccine provides robust protection is "the million-dollar question," though evidence over the past several weeks shows there is, in fact, waning immunity.

Israel’s Director of Public Health Stuns TV Viewers with Statement that 50 Percent of New COVID Cases Are Among Fully Vaccinated - As of its most recent July 27 update on COVID vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States carries this statement:“Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, even with the Delta variant.”That statement stands in stark contrast to what the Director of Public Health Services in Israel told television viewers of the CBS program, Face the Nation, on Sunday, reporting that 50 percent of new infections in Israel are from fully vaccinated people. The Pfizer–BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was the exclusive vaccine used to inoculate the broad population of Israel. It was also one of the two most highly-administered vaccines in the United States, with Moderna’s mRNA vaccine being the other. As of July 12, only 12.8 million people in the U.S. had been vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine versus 146 million people in the U.S. that were fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, both of which require two doses.Israel has been closely tracking the effectiveness of the vaccine over time and publishing its studies. These reports have critical implications for health policy in the U.S. – particularly when it comes to the need to protect oneself against waning immunity by wearing a proper mask.On Sunday, Face the Nation included interviews with both Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) who is also the Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden, as well as Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the Director of Public Health Services in Israel.Even though the COVID-19 vaccines were administered at roughly the same time in both countries (beginning in December of 2020 and expanded in January of 2021 and thereafter) Fauci parroted the view of the CDC, which differs dramatically from the facts on the ground in Israel.When Face the Nation host, John Dickerson, asked Alroy-Preis about her biggest concern from the “uptick in cases because of the Delta variant,” she said this:“…we are seeing about 50 percent of the people who are infected right now are vaccinated, fully vaccinated individuals. And so that is obviously of concern.”If half the people becoming infected in Israel are fully vaccinated individuals, it stands to reason that the U.S. should be seeing a similar outcome in more heavily populated areas of the U.S. In fact, according to the CDC’s own data, in an outbreak in July in Barnstable County, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) 469 cases were detected among Massachusetts residents, with 74 percent of those fully vaccinated.

The known global virus caseload has surpassed 200 million infections. -The known total of global coronavirus infections has surpassed 200 million on Wednesday, according to a New York Times database, a daunting figure that also fails to capture how deeply the virus has embedded itself within humanity.The official tally stands at more than 614,000 deaths in the United States. More than 550,000 in Brazil. More than 425,000 in India.Mexico has recorded more than 240,000 fatalities, and Peru nearly 200,000. Britain, Colombia, France, Italy, and Russia have all recorded well north of 100,000 deaths. The global toll as of Wednesday was 4.2 million, itself a rough estimate given the discrepancies in the way nations record Covid-19 deaths.As the coronavirus continues to find new hosts across the planet, the emergence of the Delta variant — thought to be twice as infectious as the initial form of the virus — is adding fuel to a fire that has never stopped raging. Fully vaccinated people are protected against the worst outcomes of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant.Some countries, such as Australia, once had success keeping case counts low thanks to geographic isolation and strict lockdown measures. But that may not be possible with the Delta variant; Australia’s largest city, Sydney, is scheduled to be under lockdown until at least Aug. 28 as it tackles a continuing Delta outbreak. And governments have faced increasingly angry protests while enforcing lockdowns on weary populations and struggling businesses, and imposing new vaccine requirements.Over the last six months — as the world raced to 200 million cases in half the time it took to reach 100 million — the calculus for measuring the danger of the moment has become more nuanced. In Spain and Britain, where vaccine supplies are ample, cases have begun declining after the Delta variant drove numbers to concerning heights. But in other countries like Malaysia and Thailand, where doses are more scarce, that climb is continuing.In the United States, with about 93 million people eligible for shots who have chosen not to get them, experts say that a rise in cases this winter is inevitable.

World marks 200 million cases of coronavirus pandemic The world this week marked the 200 millionth confirmed case of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest in a series of grim milestones amid a pandemic that has been plaguing humanity for the past 20 months. Alongside that sobering figure, the virus has prematurely taken more than 4.26 million human lives from their coworkers, friends and families. This week is also the sixth week in a row that daily new cases have increased and the fourth week in a row that daily deaths have risen. As of August 3, there was an average of more than 605,000 new known cases each day, and more than 9,300 fatalities. An ominous warning was given by Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Chief Medical Officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, “that these are the DARKEST DAYS of this pandemic.” The three most hard-hit countries are the United States, with 36.1 million cases and 631,000 deaths, India, with 31.8 million cases and 426,000 deaths, and Brazil, with 19.9 million cases and 559,000 deaths, totaling more than 44 percent of the world’s cases and nearly 38 percent of official deaths. Overall, there are 19 countries with more than two million confirmed cases and 12 with more than four million. Twelve countries have also reported at least 100,000 deaths, the aforementioned three and Mexico, Peru, Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Colombia, France, Argentina and Indonesia. The scale of the pandemic across continents is equally revealing. Asia and the Pacific have suffered more than 63 million cases, followed by 52 million in Europe, 43 million in North America, 35 million in South America and nearly 7 million in Africa. In percentage terms, 8.2 out of 100 people in South America have been infected, 7.2 out of 100 in North America, 6.9 out of 100 in Europe, 1.3 out of 100 in Asia, and 0.5 out of 100 in Africa. And in reality, the figures are far worse when unreported cases and deaths are taken into account. An estimate by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) calculates that, based on excess death counts internationally, nearly 9.2 million men, women and children have lost their lives to the pandemic. A similar count by the Economist found that there are between 8–16 million dead. Given that the average infection fatality rate of the coronavirus is about 0.5 percent, these calculations indicate that the real number of cases stands at about 2 billion, ten times official figures. That such mass death and colossal social misery has occurred is a damning indictment of the world’s capitalist governments and the socioeconomic system which they defend. The world’s ruling elites have had ample opportunities to stem the tide, including the chance to stop the spread before it fully took hold around the globe in January and February 2020, to allow the global lockdowns in March and April of last year, which had begun to lower infection rates, to continue, and to the widespread deployment of highly effective vaccines, begun in January 2021.

Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong NYT --Deaths from Covid-19 were surging across Africa in June when 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Chad. The delivery seemed proof that the United Nations-backed program to immunize the world could get the most desirable vaccines to the least developed nations. Yet five weeks later, Chad’s health minister said, 94,000 doses remained unused.Nearby in Benin, only 267 shots were being given each day, a pace so slow that 110,000 of the program’s AstraZeneca doses expired. Across Africa, confidential documents from July indicated, the program was monitoring at least nine countries where it said doses intended for the poor were at risk of spoiling this summer.The vaccine pileup illustrates one of the most serious but largely unrecognized problems facing the immunization program as it tries to recover from months of missteps and disappointments: difficulty getting doses from airport tarmacs into people’s arms.Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.Instead, Covax has struggled to acquire doses: It stands half a billion short of its goal. Poor countries are dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant runs rampant, just the scenario that Covax was created to prevent.The urgent need to vaccinate the world goes far beyond protecting people in poor nations. The longer the virus circulates, the more dangerous it can become, even for vaccinated people in wealthy countries.The program has struggled with delays and infighting. According to interviews and records from Covax, bureaucratic barriers imposed by its leadership have held up the disbursement of $220 million to help countries administer vaccines.Driven by a nonprofit funded by the Gates Foundation, Covax is a creation without precedent. It has gotten vaccines to poorer countries faster than was previously typical and developed a system to compensate people for serious post-vaccine reactions and protect vaccine makers from legal liability — a plan that saved those countries months of negotiations. Still, the 163 million doses it has delivered — most free to poorer nations, with the rest to countries like Canada that paid their way — are a far cry from plans to have at least 640 million doses available by now.

Biotechnology Greed Is Prolonging the Pandemic. It’s Inexcusable. -- Greed just saved the day? That’s what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed recently. “The reason we have the vaccine success,” he said in a private call to Conservative members of Parliament, “is because of capitalism, because of greed.”Despite later backpedaling, Johnson’s remark reflects a widely influential but wildly incoherent view of innovation: that greed — the unfettered pursuit of profit above all else — is a necessary driver of technological progress. Call it the need-greed theory.Among the pandemic’s many lessons, however, is that greed can easily work against the common good. We rightly celebrate the near-miraculous development of effective vaccines, which have been widely deployed in rich nations. But the global picture reveals not even a semblance of justice: As of May, low-income nations received just 0.3 percent of the global vaccine supply. At this rate it would take 57 years for them to achieve full vaccination. This disparity has been dubbed “vaccine apartheid,” and it’s exacerbated by greed. A year after the launch of the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Technology Access Pool — a program aimed at encouraging the collaborative exchange of intellectual property, knowledge, and data — “not a single company has donated its technical knowhow,” wrote politicians from India, Kenya, and Bolivia in a June essay for The Guardian. As of that month, the U.N.-backed COVAX initiative, a vaccine sharing scheme established to provide developing countries equitable access, had delivered only about 90 million out of a promised 2 billion doses. Currently, pharmaceutical companies, lobbyists, and conservative lawmakers continue to oppose proposals for patent waivers that would allow local drug makers to manufacture the vaccines without legal jeopardy. They claim the waivers would slow down existing production, “foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines,” and, as North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr said, “undermine the very innovation we are relying on to bring this pandemic to an end.” All these views echo the idea that patents and high drug prices are necessary motivators for biomedical innovation. But examine that logic closely, and it quickly begins to fall apart.

Germany to Offer Covid Shots to Youngsters as Vaccinations Slow - Germany is poised to widen Covid-19 vaccinations to include all 12-17 year-olds, stepping up efforts to spur its flagging inoculation drive. The move set to be agreed Monday goes beyond advice published by the government’s independent vaccine commission. The authority, known as STIKO, recommends inoculating those in that age group who have pre-existing conditions that put them at heightened risk from the coronavirus, or those who are in regular contact with people who are in particular danger.“In other countries this is already happening and we think it’s important not to lose any time,” Bavaria Health Minister Klaus Holetschek said Monday in an interview with ARD television.“If anyone is unsure, they should consult their doctor,” he added ahead of talks with regional counterparts and Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn. “The key thing is that we’re making an offer of vaccines to a group that is not yet protected.”The European Medicines Agency, which monitors and supervises the safety of medicines in the European Union, has recommended giving either the Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE or the Moderna Inc.Covid-19 shots to 12-17 year-olds.Germany’s STIKO has been more cautious, arguing that safety studies of the vaccine for young people aren’t yet extensive enough to allow a recommendation for general use, given that most Covid cases in teens are mild.As of Friday, 52% of the German population were fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and just under 62% had received at least one shot, according to the latest health ministry data. The inoculation campaign has lost steam in recent weeks. In May and June, Germany was regularly vaccinating more than 1 million people per day, but the total has fallen back significantly since the start of July.

UAE Approves Sinopharm Shot for Children Aged Three and Over The United Arab Emirates has approved the emergency use of Sinopharm’s coronavirus vaccine for children, joining China in authorizing shots for those as young as three.The decision to approve the vaccine for children aged three to 17 was based on the results of clinical studies and local evaluation, state-run WAM news agency said on Monday.Few countries have so far approved vaccines for children as young as three. The UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hong Kong and some U.S. states have authorized shots for those aged 12 and above.The Middle-Eastern nation has rolled out one of the fastest vaccination programs around the world, with 16.8 million shots administered in a population of 10 million.The UAE has so far approved vaccines from Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc. The inoculation program, though, has hinged on Sinopharm, which is being produced locally.

Endangered Sumatran tigers recovering from COVID in Jakarta zoo - In Indonesia, two male Sumatran tigers are recovering from coronavirus after testing positive in mid-July, with officials trying to determine how they were infected.Jakarta city officials say two critically endangered male Sumatran tigers at a zoo in Indonesia’s capital tested positive for coronavirus but are expected to recover.Nine-year-old Tino and 12-year-old Hari were receiving medication and remained under close observation by veterinarians at Ragunan Zoo, the head of Jakarta Parks and Urban Forest Agency, Suzi Marsitawati, said on Sunday. Tino began to show symptoms including sneezing, breathing difficulties and a decrease in appetite on July 9. Two days later, Hari started exhibiting the same. Marsitawati said samples taken from the animals on July 14 tested positive for the virus.The two critically endangered big cats are believed to be Indonesia’s first known cases of animals contracting COVID-19.“The two tigers had received medication, including antibiotics, and multivitamins, since they began showing symptoms. After 12 days of medications, their conditions began to improve and they are expected to recover,” Marsitawati said.“Their appetites have returned and they are back to being active.”She added in a statement that the zoo is still trying to trace how the tigers were exposed, since the facility was closed under Jakarta’s pandemic-related restrictions when the cats started showing symptoms.“We have traced all caretakers and zoo staff on duty when the tigers began to get sick, but so far none of them were exposed to COVID-19,” Marsitawati said. The Sumatran tiger is Indonesia’s only remaining tiger subspecies, and only 600 remain. The other two subspecies – the Javan tiger and the Bali tiger – are extinct.

Virus Flares in Wuhan as Delta Challenges China’s Defenses - China is confronting its broadest Covid-19 outbreak since coronavirus first emerged there in late 2019, with the delta variant spreading to places that had been virus-free for months, including the original epicenter of Wuhan. Delta has broken through the country’s virus defenses, which are some of the strictest in the world, and reached nearly half of China’s 32 provinces in just two weeks. While the overall number of infections -- more than 300 so far -- is still lower than Covid resurgences elsewhere, the wide spread indicates that the variant is moving quickly.he virus was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that saw the world’s first lethal outbreak. The country’s strict anti-virus measures, which include mass testing as soon as a case appears, aggressive contact tracing, widespread use of quarantines and targeted lockdowns, have crushed more than 30 previous flareups over the past year.The arrival of the more infectious delta variant, however, is testing even that approach. The new strain may be exploiting an easing off in masking and social distancing in some places, since much of the country has been Covid-free for months. That, along with increased travel for summer vacation, created a viable environment for delta to gain a foothold.China reported 99 infections on Monday, including 44 who tested positive but have no symptoms. By number of cases, it’s the biggest outbreak since a flareup in Hebei province in northern China in January, when 2,000 people were infected.

 Wuhan ordered its entire population of 11 million to get tested for COVID-19 after it found 3 local cases --The Chinese city of Wuhan has ordered its entire population of 11 million people to take coronavirus tests after finding three locally-transmitted cases of the Delta variant, Reuters and the Associated Press reported."To ensure that everyone in the city is safe, city-wide nucleic acid testing will be quickly launched for all people to fully screen out positive results and asymptomatic infections," Li Qiang, a Wuhan city official, said Tuesday, according to Reuters.The three cases recorded on Monday were the first ones that did not come from an outside traveler, Reuters reported. Wuhan, the first epicenter of the global COVID-19 outbreak, had not reported any locally transmitted cases since May 2020.China reported 90 new cases in total on Monday, the BBC reported. It is unclear how many of those were in Wuhan, aside from the three Delta variant cases. According to the BBC, this is China's biggest COVID-19 outbreak in months. It has seen around 300 cases in 10 days, prompting some regions to introduce mass testing and new restrictions.

 The W.H.O. urges wealthy countries to halt booster shots and send more doses to poorer nations. -The World Health Organization urged wealthy nations not to distribute booster shots until at least the end of September to reserve supplies and help every country inoculate at least 10 percent of its population.CreditCredit...Christopher Black/Who, via ReutersThe World Health Organization called on Wednesday for a moratorium on coronavirus vaccine booster shots until the end of September, so that vaccine supplies can be focused on helping all countries vaccinate at least 10 percent of their populations. The agency made its appeal to the world’s wealthiest nations to address the wide disparities in vaccination rates around the world.“I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the W.H.O., said in a briefing. “But we cannot — and we should not — accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected.”With the debate over booster shots heating up, the call highlighted a moral and scientific case long pressed by humanitarian groups: With the staggering gaps in vaccination rates around the world and cases surging as the Delta variant spreads, vaccine doses should be given first to vulnerable people in poorer nations. Fully vaccinated people are protected against the worst outcomes of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant.W.H.O. officials went to pains to distinguish between booster shots used to shore up immunity in vaccinated populations, for which the science is not yet clear, and additional doses that may be needed by the immunocompromised to develop immunity in the first place. Officials said they objected to boosters, not to additional doses for some subgroups.Of more than four billion vaccine doses in total that have been administered around the world, more than 80 percent have been used in high- and upper-middle-income countries, which account for less than half of the world’s population, Dr. Tedros said.

Japan Reports Record Number of Coronavirus Cases as Virus Pulls More Athletes From Olympics - 27 new cases of the virus, including among three athletes. One athlete was identified as a member of Team USA. Additional cases were among Tokyo 2020 contractors, volunteers, members of the media and Games-concerned personnel.Friday's cases brings the total number of Olympic-related COVID-19 cases up to 220, including 23 athletes.Tokyo reported a total of 3,300 new cases of the virus on Friday, with health officials stating that the "infection is spreading" and warning that Japan's health care system "is under strain." According to data from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 3,135 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.Across the country, Japan reported more than 10,000 new cases on Friday, the most cases ever reported in Japan during the pandemic.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that states of emergency would be extended until after the conclusion of the Olympic Games, lifting on Aug. 22 in Tokyo and Okinawa.

Japan tries a new tactic as virus surges: public shaming - As Japan strains to control its galloping coronavirus outbreak, and to keep an Olympic bubble from bursting in the final days of the Games, the government is trying a new tactic: public shaming.On Monday, Japan’s health ministry released the names of three people who broke COVID-19 rules after returning from overseas. An official statement said that the three people — two Japanese nationals in their 20s who returned from South Korea, and a third who returned from Hawaii — had clearly acted to avoid contact with the authorities.All tested negative for the virus at the airport but subsequently failed to report their health condition and did not respond to location-monitoring apps or video calls from health authorities, as required under Japan’s COVID-19 protocols. The Japanese government had said in May that about 100 people a day were flouting the border control rules and signaled that it would soon begin to disclose the names of violators.Japanese authorities are struggling to adapt their COVID-19 response as caseloads surge to their highest levels of the pandemic and vaccinations continue to lag behind other wealthy nations — and as many members of the Japanese public appear to have tired of the on-and-off emergency measures the government has imposed in Tokyo and other cities since early 2020.

Iran Records Highest Number of Daily COVID Cases in Pandemic (AP) — Iran on Monday reported more than 37,000 new coronavirus infections, the country's single-day record so far in the pandemic, state media reported. State TV said health workers registered 37,189 new COVID-19 cases since Sunday — surpassing the previous daily record of 34,951 infections reported on Tuesday. Also, there were 411 deaths, bringing the country's total death toll in the pandemic to 91,407 — the highest in the Middle East.The new surge has been fueled by the contagious delta variant, and Iranian authorities say less than 40% of the population follows measures such as wearing face masks and social distancing. Iranian health officials have regularly warned that hospitals in the capital, Tehran, and other major cities are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.Also on Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the government to discuss the possibility of a two-week shutdown of the country, which Health Minister Saeed Namaki requested a day earlier. Namaki in a letter to Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, suggested the military could help enforce a lockdown.

Turkey Covid Cases: Turkey's coronavirus cases jump to nearly 25,000, highest since early May --The number of new cases in jumped to nearly 25,000 on Tuesday, government data showed, the highest level in almost three months, and the coronavirus Turkey minister urged Turks to get vaccinated against the virus. The number of deaths from also rose to 126, the most fatalities since June 1, as the country battles another wave of the virus which has spread since authorities relaxed pandemic-related restrictions. The number of new cases hit 24,832 on Tuesday, up from 22,898 the day before. "If we follow the rules of combating the epidemic and get our vaccinations, we will take action to end the epidemic," health minister said in a tweet accompanying the daily data. Two-thirds of Turkish adults have received at least one Covid- 19 vaccine, while slighly less than half have received two or more doses. Covid-19 Fahre

Wuhan lab's virologist warns more COVID mutations coming - China’s now-notorious “bat woman” — the head of the Wuhan lab accused of being a possible source for the pandemic — has warned that deadly new mutations of COVID-19 will continue to emerge. Virologist Shi Zhengli gave the dire proclamation to state-run media this week as she joined calls for people to get vaccinated, according to the South Morning China Post (SCMP).“As the number of infected cases has just become too big, this allowed the novel coronavirus more opportunities to mutate and select,” Shi told Health Times under the state-run People’s Daily, SCMP said.“New variants will continue to emerge,” Shi warned.The contagion has already repeatedly mutated since first emerging in late 2019 in Wuhan, the city where Shi’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) carried out pioneering research on almost identical viruses.The current most dominant strain, the Delta one first identified in India, is also the most infectious and most dangerous, health officials have warned.Researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) even said in a leaked report that the variant was so different than the initial strain that it was time to “acknowledge that the war has changed,” leading to new advisories on mask-wearing even for the vaccinated.

China pledges to supply 2 billion global vaccines by end of the year -China’s president on Thursday said his country would provide two billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to other nations through this year, as China continues its muscular vaccine diplomacy effort.In a written statement to a Chinese government-chaired international vaccine cooperation forum, President Xi Jinping said that China would also donate $100 million to COVAX, which is a global program backed by the World Health Organization that provides vaccines to lower income countries, The New York Times reported.The Times reported that it was unclear whether the two billion doses would be donated by the country or sold.China has provided far more vaccine doses to other countries than the United States. The donations are seen as a form of soft diplomacy that can lead to alliances on foreign policy and business issues around the world. China has already delivered about 770 million doses, said Wang Xiaolong, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Economic Affairs, the Associated Press reported.The White House reported earlier this week that 110 million doses had already been donated by the U.S., the AP noted.The announcement comes as countries are still struggling to contain the delta variant and others as portions of the country await COVID-19 doses and see high numbers of new cases. Even the United States has seen a surge of new cases amid the spread of the delta variant, worrying officials who hoped that the new variants and new cases would be contained following the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines earlier this year.Those worries have prompted U.S. officials to start readying plans for a national COVID-19 booster strategy that is expected to be ready by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by early September.The World Health Organization has pushed back on booster shots, saying wealthy countries should ensure people in poorer countries are vaccinated first.

Thousands storm Philippine vaccination sites after false reports -Thousands of people flooded Philippine COVID-19 vaccination centers on Friday following false reports that unvaccinated residents would not be able to receive monetary aid or would be restricted to their homes during a two-week-long lockdown. According to The Associated Press, local officials placed the Philippine capital of Manila on lockdown until Aug. 20 in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus as the city sees spikes in infections. Three other regions were placed under lockdown restrictions until Aug. 15. Local residents began to show up to vaccination centers in droves just a day before lockdown after misinformation was spread claiming that they could miss out on up to $20 in aid or be restricted to their homes if they did not get inoculated, the AP reported. Crowds of people faced lines spanning several blocks and traffic as they flocked to vaccination centers in Manila, Las Pinas and Antipolo. Many also showed up without registering for the shot prior, the AP noted. Nearly 22,000 people reportedly lined up at vaccination centers in Manila before dawn and some groups resorted to “rowdily removing barricades," resulting in police being called to halt vaccinations and asking people to return home. “We cannot allow our national immunization program to become superspreader events, especially given the threat posed by the delta variant,” the Philippine Department of Health said of the disorder, according to the AP. Officials reportedly urged residents to be wary of misinformation and told them to adhere to announcements made by government sources, noting that unvaccinated residents would be allowed to leave their homes in the event of a medical emergency or if they needed to purchase essential items. The Philippine government rolled out a vaccination campaign in March and has since fully vaccinated nearly 10.2 million Filipinos, the AP reported.

Plague-infected chipmunks force closures around Lake Tahoe - California officials have closed down areas near Lake Tahoe due to plague-infected chipmunks, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported on Monday.El Dorado County spokeswoman Carla Hass told the newspaper that the positive tests were found in chipmunks that had no human contact. The El Dorado County Public Health Department said that the plague is naturally present in some parts of California, according to the Tribune. The plague is an infectious bacterial disease that can spread through various wild animals and rodents, which can lead to humans being infected if they have close contact with the animals, the Tribune reported. The U.S. Forest Service said that nearby locations such as the Taylor Creek Visitor Center and Kiva Beach have been closed until Friday. The Tallac Site and the Kiva parking area will remain open during the duration of the closure. A South Lake Tahoe resident tested positive for the disease in September 2020, prompting Public Health Officer Nancy Williams to share the importance of taking precautions when hiking in the area. “It’s important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking or camping in areas where wild rodents are present,” Williams said. “Human cases of plague are extremely rare but can be very serious.”

 Lake Tahoe Sites Closed After Chipmunks Test Positive for Plague -Some iconic Lake Tahoe sites were closed to visitors this week after chipmunks tested positive for plague.The closures impact some of the most scenic hiking routes in the area, The Guardian reported, including one that follows a creek to the shore of the lake."Based on positive plague tests and planned treatments, Taylor Creek Visitor Center and Kiva Beach parking areas will be closed Sunday through Friday," the Lake Tahoe U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced Monday on Twitter.The incident comes a little less than a year after the first Californian in five years was diagnosed with the disease responsible for the Black Death, also in the Lake Tahoe area. However, El Dorado County spokesperson Carla Hass told the Tahoe Daily Tribune on Monday that the impacted chipmunks had not come into contact with any people.Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is carried by fleas, and humans usually contract it either being bitten by a flea or handling another infected animal. While it wiped out 50 million people in Africa, Asia and Europe during the 14th century, it can now be treated effectively with antibiotics if caught early."Bubonic plague is naturally occurring in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and this region," Lisa Herron, a public affairs specialist for the USFS Lake Tahoe basin management unit, told The Guardian. The disease ended up in the region from rats arriving on steamships in 1900, according to the CDC. These rats brought it to the rural rodents of the Western U.S., and most U.S. cases now occur either in northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado or in California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada. On average, seven people in the U.S. contract the disease every year.In the Sierra Nevada specifically, it is spread by squirrels, chipmunks, other rodents and their fleas, which is why regional officials periodically trap these rodents and test their fleas for the plague. If the test result is positive, animal control workers do not target the rodent population but instead treat the area for the fleas themselves. If a human does come into contact with an infected flea or animal, symptoms usually begin within two weeks and include fever, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes, according to The AP. While it's the result of routine testing, the incident comes at a difficult time for the residents of Lake Tahoe, who are already contending with drought, wildfires and the coronavirus pandemic.

The Invasive Spotted Lanternfly Is Spreading Across the Eastern U.S. ​– Here’s What You Need to Know - The spotted lanternfly was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has since spread to 26 counties in that state and at least six other eastern states. It's moving into southern New England, Ohio and Indiana. This approximately 1-inch-long species from Asia has attractive polka-dotted front wings but can infest and kill trees and plants. It is native to India, China and Vietnam and probably arrived in a cut stone shipment in 2012. The first sighting was in 2014 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on a tree of heaven — a common invasive tree brought to North America from China in the late 1700s. By July 2021 the lanternfly had spread to about half of Pennsylvania, large areas of New Jersey, parts of New York state, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. It also had been found in western Connecticut, eastern Ohio, and now Indiana. To give an idea of how fast these lanternflies spread, they were introduced into South Korea in 2004 and spread throughout that entire country – which is approximately the size of Pennsylvania – in only three years.In only seven years, the spotted lanternfly has infested large areas of the Middle Atlantic and has begun to push into Connecticut. New York State Integrated Pest Management Program The lanternflies lay egg masses in late summer and autumn on the trunks of trees and any smooth-surfaced item sitting outdoors. The egg masses, which resemble smears of dry mud, can also be laid on the smooth surfaces of cars, trucks and trains. Then, they can be unintentionally transported to any part of the country in just a few days. Once the eggs hatch, they crawl to nearby host plants to start a new infestation. : They feed by piercing the bark of trees and vines to tap into the plant's vascular system to feast on sap. For a sucking insect, lanternflies are relatively big. They remove large amounts of sap and excrete copious amounts of clear, sticky "honeydew" that can coat the tree and anything beneath. A black sooty mold grows wherever the honeydew has been deposited. While unsightly, sooty mold isn't harmful when growing on the bark of the tree or beneath it. Lanternfly feeding seriously stresses trees and vines, which lose carbohydratesand other nutrients meant for storage in the roots and eventually for new growth. Infested trees and vines grow more slowly, exhibit dieback – begin to die from the branch tips – and can even die.

 Pesticide Cocktails Kill More Bees, Study Finds - It is clear that the world's pollinators are under threat. A 2019 study found that almost half of all insects have disappeared since 1970 and 41 percent of insect species are at risk of extinction. Further, one in six beespecies have gone locally extinct in at least one area, as AFP pointed out.But how exactly do the threats these essential animals face interact with each other? To answer that question, a team of researchers analyzed 90 studies to see how pesticide use, parasites and nutritional stress interacted to harm bees. The results, published in Nature on Wednesday, found that a combination of different pesticides was especially damaging."[I]nteractions between multiple agrochemicals significantly increase bee mortality," lead author Harry Siviter of the University of Texas at Austin told AFP.In particular, the researchers wanted to know if the different stressors impacted key bee behaviors and health in ways that were additive or synergistic.Siviter explained the difference between the two for BBC News: "If you have a honeybee colony exposed to one pesticide that kills 10% of the bees and another pesticide that kills another 10%, you would expect, if those effects were additive, for 20% of the bees to be killed," Dr Siviter said. But a "synergistic effect" could produce 30-40% mortality. This is exactly what the researchers found to happen when bees were exposed to multiple pesticides, which is a problem because farmers are often sold a "cocktail" of different chemicals under a single label. The researchers therefore warned that current pesticide regulations were not doing enough to protect bees. They recommended that testing include common chemical combinations in addition to individual ingredients. "Ultimately, our results demonstrate that the regulatory process in its current form does not protect bees from the unwanted consequences of complex agrochemical exposure," the study authors wrote. "Failure to address this and to continue to expose bees to multiple anthropogenic stressors within agriculture will result in the continued decline in bees and their pollination services, to the detriment of human and ecosystem health." The research found that parasites and poor nutrition were also a problem for bees, but these issues tended to interact with each other and with pesticide exposure in an additive rather than synergistic way.

 Drought Is Driving More Wild Horse Roundups Throughout the West --The plight of the roughly 95,0000 wild horses that roam public lands across the Western United States is bothcomplicated and controversial. This year, unprecedented widespread drought is exasperating the issues the horses face. Because they have no natural predators, wild horse and burro populations in the U.S. can double every four years, quickly outgrowing the landscape and food systems that support them, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Capturing the horses, sterilizing them, and then returning them to public lands has long been the way land managers keep wild horse populations in check.Officials have already rounded up 1,200 wild horses this year, with an original goal of 12,000 for the year. But a recent push to increase that number by 50 percent means about 6,000 additional animals primarily in Nevada, Oregon and Colorado, making for around 18,000 across 10 states from California to Montana this year. The roundups are slated to continue through September, Newsweek reported.Emergency roundups will begin Sunday in Oregon and Monday in Nevada and will focus on places where "chronic overpopulation already has stretched the available food and water to its limits," the Bureau of Land Management said in a statement.Reducing overpopulation will "achieve healthy, sustainable herd sizes that are more capable of withstanding severe conditions, including prolonged drought, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change," Nada Wolff Culver, the BLM's deputy director for policy and programs, said Monday, according to The Associated Press. However, horse advocates say the emergency captures are being driven by pressure from ranchers who graze livestock on public lands. They say the ranchers don't want the wild herds competing with their livestock for limited food and water, said The Associated Press.

 Lake Oroville reaches all-time low level; hydroelectric plant shuts down for first time ever - Four years ago, Oroville Dam, the tallest in the United States, made international news when its massive 10-mile-long reservoir filled to the top in heavy winter storms, and raging waters destroyed its spillway, causing the emergency evacuation of 188,000 people. But now, in the latest symbol of California’s worsening drought, the opposite problem is underway: Lake Oroville’s water level has fallen so low that on Thursday, for the first time since the dam was built in 1967, its power plant was shut down because there is no longer enough water to spin the turbines and generate electricity. “This is just one of many unprecedented impacts we are experiencing in California as a result of our climate-induced drought,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, which owns the dam. On Thursday, the reservoir was only 24% full, having fallen below an all-time low record set in September 1977. The lake level has dropped a stunning 250 feet in the past two years. The water level has fallen below the intake pipes that normally send water to spin six huge turbines at the Edward Hyatt Power Plant in the bedrock under the dam.The loss of Oroville’s electricity won’t by itself cause blackouts. Even when the lake is full, the Hyatt power plant, one of the largest hydroelectric plants in the state, provides about 1% of California’s peak statewide electricity demand. But the problem illustrates a wider challenge facing California this year from the drought. Reservoirs are low all over. And hydroelectricity is the state’s second-largest source of power, providing about 15% of California’s electricity each year. During the first four months this year, hydroelectric production in California fell 37% compared with the same time last year and 71% compared with 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That power has to be made up to reduce the risk of blackouts.

Homeless scramble to survive rare cold snap, Brazil (video) An intense polar blast affecting southern Brazil this week made headlines after more frosts hit the country's agricultural regions and dozens of cities received rare snow and freezing rain.The situation also made authorities, activists, and religious leaders do what they can to limit suffering on the streets as temperatures in some areas of southern Brazil dropped below freezing.On Friday, July 30, 2021, Brazil's biggest metropolis -- São Paulo, recorded 4 °C (40 °F) -- its lowest temperature in five years, according to the national meteorological institute. Low temperatures are expected to continue through the weekend, with -10 °C (14 °F) expected in high-altitude areas of the country's southern region.

Greece sets new European all-time highest temperature record -Greece has set a new European highest temperature record with 46.3 °C (115.3 °F) registered in Makrakomi, Phthiotis on Monday, August 2, 2021. The meteorological station where the temperature was registered is operated by the National Observatory of Athens (NOA). This is the highest ever reading recorded by NOA and its affiliated meteo.grOther Greek mainland areas also recorded extremely high temperatures on Monday, with 45 °C (113 °F) registered in Debra, 44.9 °C (112.8 °F) in Larissa, 44.7 °C (112.4 °F) in Sparta, 44.4 °C (111.9 °F) in Lefkochori and 44 °C (111.2 °F) in Thebes.On the same day, the maximum temperature in the capital Athens reached 42 °C (107.6 °F)."Greece held 5 highest temperatures in Europe on Monday," said Giannis Kallianos, an MP and meteorologist for Greece’s MEGA TV channel."Makrakomi, Larissa, and Sparta were the three hottest towns and cities in Europe, followed by two more Greek urban areas -- Lefkochori in Phthiotis and the city of Thebes," Kallianossaid.Due to high temperatures expected to continue through the rest of the week, the Ministry of Culture and Sports announced the closure of open-air archeological sites across the country between 12:00 and 17:00 through August 5.In addition to high risk to the population, Greek authorities said there's a risk of power outages due to excessive consumption.The country has already broken its electricity consumption record on Monday afternoon, with 11 000 megawatts demanded at the one point, and authorities fear the record might fall again before the end of the week.All citizens were asked to limit demand for electricity, especially during peak hours.Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece is hit by its worst heatwave since 1987 when the country recorded more than 1 000 heat-related deaths.

Extreme Heat Waves in a Warming World Don’t Just Break Records – They Shatter Them --Summer isn't even half over, and we've seen heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Canada with temperatures that would be hot for Death Valley, enormous fires that have sent smoke across North America, and lethal floods of biblical proportions in Germany and China. Scientists have warned for over 50 yearsabout increases in extreme events arising from subtle changes in average climate, but many people have been shocked by the ferocity of recent weather disasters.A couple of things are important to understand about climate change's role in extreme weather like this.First, humans have pumped so much carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that what's "normal" has shifted. A new study, published July 26, 2021, for example, shows how record-shattering, long-lasting heat waves – those that break records by a wide margin – are growing increasingly likely, and that the rate of global warming is connected with the increasing chances of these heat extremes.Second, not every extreme weather event is connected to global warming.Like so many things, temperature statistics follow a bell curve – mathematicians call these "normal distributions." The most frequent and likely temperatures are near the average, and values farther from the average quickly become much less likely.All else being equal, a little bit of warming shifts the bell to the right – toward higher temperatures. Even a shift of just a few degrees makes the really unlikely temperatures in the extreme "tail" of the bell happen dramatically more often. Watching the Land Temperature Bell Curve Heat Up (1950-2020) - The stream of broken temperature records in the North American West lately is a great example. Portland hit 116 degrees – 9 degrees above its record before the heat wave. That would be an extreme at the end of the tail. One study determined the heat wave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change. Extreme heat waves that were once ridiculously improbable are on their way to becoming more commonplace, and unimaginable events are becoming possible.The width of the bell curve is measured by its standard deviation. About two-thirds of all values fall within one standard deviation of the average. Based on historical temperature records, the heat wave in 2003 that killed more than 70,000 people in Europe was five standard deviations above the mean, so it was a 1 in 1 million event.Without eliminating emissions from fossil fuels, studies have found that heat like that is likely to happen a few times a decade by the time today's toddlers are retirees.

Heat waves to drastically worsen in Northern Hemisphere, studies warn --In July 1936, the central United States roasted during one of the most notable summers of the Dust Bowl-era. Parched lands, low rainfall and a strong ridge of high pressure over the region led to record-breaking temperatures in the Upper Mississippi River Valley — a handful of which still stand today. But if those same conditions happened now, the outcomes would be worse.“If the same weather patterns of the 1930s-era heat waves occurred today again, they would happen in a much, much warmer climate,” said Erich Fischer, scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. “The heat wave we would experience will be way, way warmer than they were in the 1930s.”As global temperatures have increased, extreme heat events in the Northern Hemisphere have occurred with greater frequency and intensity. Deadly, record-crushing heat waves have scorched parts of the United States, Europe and the Arctic in just the past two decades. The World Health Organizationreports that more than 160,000 heat-related deaths occurred from 1998 to 2017 globally.Recent studies show the magnitude of extreme heat events, and their effect on people will escalate in coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are not slashed. Climate models show record-breaking heat waves and heat stress will more than double in the northern midlatitudes before the end of the century.Extreme heat events have been occurring more in recent decades: the 2003 European heat wave, the Russian heat spell in 2010, Australia’s “angriest summer” in 2018-2019, the Siberian heat anomaly in 2020 and the Pacific Northwest heat blitz in 2021. In a study published last week in Nature Climate Change, Fischer and his colleagues ran nearly 100 computer simulations to determine the frequency and intensity of record-breaking heat waves with future projections of Earth’s climate. They defined the intensity of the events by the margin by which they broke previous records.They found week-long record-breaking heat events were up to seven times more likely to occur from 2021 to 2050. From 2051 to 2080, these events were up to 21 more times likely to occur and could happen every six to 37 years somewhere in the northern midlatitudes. These events would break previous heat records by 6.4 to 7.6 degrees Fahrenheit (3.6 to 4.2 Celsius).

Devastation of Boulder 2700 fire seen from Flathead Lake— A wildfire that exploded over the weekend destroyed several structures and forced evacuations along Montana Highway 35 in the Finley Point area. MTN’s Jill Valley got a firsthand look at the boulder 2700 fire near Polson from Flathead Lake.We were able to take a boat near the fire scene around noon Sunday with the permission of the Lake County Sheriff‘s Office and being very careful to avoid all firefighting efforts.From Polson Bay you don’t see much but as we approached we suddenly saw the stretch of smoke and fire on the mountainside.Every now and then a column of smoke would come up but what struck us was the area above Highway 35 had burned so hot Saturday night that the mountainside looked just like ash with some birch trees stuck in between.Two helicopters were working diligently to scoop water out of the lake -- a smaller helicopter and a Chinook. Fire trucks could also be seen along Highway 35 patrolling the area to make sure everybody was safe and to keep an eye on the fire spread.There were areas where the fire had gone over the highway burning towards the lake. There did appear to be some structure damage here and there but it’s hard to speculate on what we were seeing.We also had debris and ash coming down on the boat and in the lake itself but none of it was on fireWhen we talk about cabins a lot of these are actually houses and some will be getting the bad news that their property has burned.

‘We lost Greenville’: Dixie wildfire burns down California town -A 3-week-old wildfire engulfed a tiny Northern California mountain town, leveling most of its historic downtown and leaving blocks of homes in ashes as crews braced for another explosive run of flames Thursday amid dangerous weather. The Dixie Fire, swollen by bone-dry vegetation and 40 mph (64 kph) gusts, raged through the northern Sierra Nevada community of Greenville on Wednesday. A gas station, church, hotel, museum and bar were among the fixtures gutted in the town dating back to California’s gold rush era where some wooden buildings were more than 100 years old. The fire “burnt down our entire downtown. Our historical buildings, families’ homes, small businesses, and our children’s schools are completely lost,” Plumas County Supervisor Kevin Goss wrote on Facebook. Plumas County Sheriff Tom Johns, a lifelong resident of Greenville, said that “well over” 100 homes were destroyed, as well as businesses. “We lost Greenville tonight,” U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who represents the area, said in an emotional Facebook video. “There’s just no words.” As the fire’s north and eastern sides exploded Wednesday, the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office issued an urgent warning online to the town’s approximately 800 residents: “You are in imminent danger and you MUST leave now!” A similar warning was issued Thursday as flames pushed toward the southeast in the direction of another tiny mountain community, Taylorsville, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Greenville. To the northwest, crews were protecting homes in the town of Chester. Residents there were among thousands under evacuation orders or warnings in several counties.

Dixie Fire becomes largest single wildfire in California history -The Dixie Fire burning in two Northern California counties is now the largest single wildfire in recorded state history, exploding in size overnight as drought-stricken lands continue to fuel the flames. The fire, which has burned for 23 days and forced mass evacuations, razed the Gold Rush town of Greenville on Thursday, destroying 91 buildings and damaging five others. Smoke from the blaze has blown to lower parts of Northern California, including the state capital of Sacramento where the air quality index on Friday reached "unhealthy" levels. The troubling development reflects not just the dire effects of climate change and neglected forest management, but also that the electric grid remains prone to sparking wildfires. Pacific Gas & Electric disclosed last month that its equipment may have caused the catastrophic blaze. The Dixie Fire is eerily similar to the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive blaze in state history — and sparked by PG&E. The two fires started less than 10 miles apart from each other in the Feather River Canyon, a heavily wooded area with decrepit transmission lines. The Camp Fire leveled the towns of Paradise and Concow, destroying nearly 19,000 structures and killing 85 people. The blaze pushed PG&E to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Last summer, the utility pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges for the disaster. By Friday morning, the Dixie Fire had burned 432,813 acres and was just 35 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The blaze's overnight growth gave it the grim distinction of becoming the largest standalone fire in state history, but it still ranks behind two multi-fire conflagrations. The lightning-ignited 2020 August Complex burned over 1 million acres in seven counties, and the 2018 Mendocino Complex burned more than 459,000 acres in four counties. The latter was infamously caused by a man trying to plug a wasp's nest with a hammer and stake. Warm temperatures, low humidity and high winds continuing to challenge firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. The Butte County and Plumas County DAs are probing PG&E over the Dixie Fire, although Cal Fire has not yet officially announced the blaze's cause.

PG&E power line may have started the Fly Fire that merged with big Dixie Fire - A smaller wildfire that became part of the huge Dixie Fire now burning in the Sierra Nevada may have started when a tree fell on a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power line. PG&E said late Monday that it filed a report to state regulators about its possible link to the Fly Fire, which burned more than 4,000 acres before merging with the much larger Dixie Fire. Earlier Monday, PG&E helped the U.S. Forest Service move and examine a tree that was on one of the company’s power lines off Highway 70 in Plumas County, according to the company’s report filed with the California Public Utilities Commission.That’s the same general area, a few miles north of the town of Quincy, where officials say the Fly Fire started on July 22. A few days later, the fire was overtaken by the Dixie Fire, which has destroyed 45 major structures and 22 minor structures and burned about 253,000 acres since it began July 14. It was 35% contained as of Tuesday morning.PG&E previously told regulators that the Dixie Fire may have been ignited when a tree fell on another one of its power lines near the Cresta Dam, west of where the Fly Fire started later.Both fires have burned northeast from where the horrific 2018 Camp Fire nearly leveled the Butte County town of Paradise, becoming the deadliest and most destructive wildfire the state has ever recorded. That fire started after a hook broke on a century-old PG&E transmission tower.According to PG&E’s most recent regulatory report, fire-watching cameras first spotted smoke near Butterfly Valley Twain Road and Highway 70 at about 5:01 p.m. on July 22. The company said its own records show that equipment on a PG&E power line “reported alarms and other activity” between about 4:50 p.m. and 6:10 p.m., when that part of the line was turned off.

Wildfire smoke from out-of-state fires darkens Utah skies — Smoke filled the skies of Utah Friday as a cold front swept wildfire smoke into the state. The front moving in from the west picked up smoke from fires in California and Oregon, including the growing Dixie Fire that leveled a small California town earlier this week, National Weather Service meteorologist Christine Kruse told KSL.com. The level of smoke is expected to linger in Utah through at least Saturday and, maybe into Sunday, The air quality got so bad that the site WorldIQ Air, which tracks air quality across dozens of cities globally, ranked Utah's capitol among the worst in the world. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality forecast air quality to reach levels unhealthy for all groups of people in Salt Lake, Davis, Tooele and Utah counties. Division of Air Quality recommended everyone avoid outdoor activity as much as possible and limit driving. Those in sensitive populations were recommended to be even more careful. Several schools canceled outdoor activities. Poor air quality is linked to spikes in multiple health issues, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, heart attacks and stroke. It also increases the risk of viral infections, such as COVID-19, said Dr. Denitza Blagev, a pulmonary physician at Intermountain Healthcare.

Oregon Wildfire Could Burn Until Fall, As Fire Season Worsens - Pockets of the American West continued to burn over the weekend, as another nine large fires were reported on Saturday in California, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. The 87 fires still active in 13 states have consumed more than 1.7 million acres. Just shy of 3 million acres have been scorched since the start of 2021, with months left in what experts predict will be a devastating fire season. In southern Oregon, the Bootleg Fire has become the largest active blaze in the country. The 413,000-acre inferno was contained at 56%, as of Saturday night. A fire line has been constructed around the entire perimeter, ranging from 100 to 150-feet wide between the burn and unburned areas. However, that fire line may have to double, up to 300 feet, to prevent the fire from spreading. The U.S. Forest Service is predicting critical fire weather over the weekend in the Bootleg Fire area. Drought conditions, combined with low humidity and strong winds, could increase fire activity, potentially carrying embers and creating nearby spot fires. Residents in neighboring Lake County have been advised to be prepared to evacuate should things take a turn for the worst. Officials don't anticipate the fire to be entirely contained until the beginning of October. In Northern California, east of Chico, some 5,500 individuals are working to contain theDixie Fire, currently the second-largest fire in the U.S. As of Saturday, the 244,000-acre blaze was contained at 30%, with crews expecting 100% containment in two weeks. More than 22,000 personnel are currently assigned to wildfires across the country, sometimes moving from one incident to another. The two biggest fires are occupying approximately one-third of the nation's active wildfire personnel. The Bootleg Fire, about the size of the city of Houston, has 1,900 workers tending to it. The Dixie Fire to the south is slightly smaller than the city of San Diego and has almost three times the number of personnel working the area than that of the bigger Bootleg fire.

Wildfires reach outskirts of Athens, seriously damage or destroy more than 100 homes, Greece -- (videos) Severe heatwave affecting Greece and neighboring countries over the past 7 days sparked numerous wildfires, including near capital Athens where more than 500 people were forced to evacuate on Tuesday, August 3, 2021.More than 500 firefighters battled the flames on the northern outskirts of Athens into Thursday, August 4, where fires destroyed or seriously damaged more than 100 homes and businesses.The affected areas include Varympompy and Tatoi, located at the foot of Mount Parnitha next to large pine trees forests.According to the AP, the blaze damaged electricity pylons, adding further strain on the electricity network already under pressure due to the widespread use of air conditioning.81 wildfires had been reported around the country in 24 hours from late Monday, August 2 to late Tuesday, August 3. The fires come during the country's severe heatwave, the worst since 1987, according to local authorities.

Raging wildfires force more than 10 000 people to evacuate, claim 8 lives in southern Turkey - At least 8 people have been killed and more than 10 000 forced to evacuate as raging wildfires spread through parts of southern Turkey over the past 7 days. Authorities said this is the country's worst fire crisis in a decade.Over the past 7 days, 132 wildfires raging across the country's south scorched at least 118 790 ha (293 536 acres), according to the European Forest Fire Information System.One of the worst-affected areas is Manavgat, Antalya Province where 7 people lost their lives. The eighth victim was found in Marmaris.More than 2 200 people were evacuated by boats from the tourist resort of Bodrum on July 31 and August 1.Investigations are underway for potential arson, which may have caused the major fires, the Daily Sabah reports.Authorities had earlier stated that it was being investigated whether the PKK terrorist group, which was behind previous arsons, was also the perpetrator of these forest fires.In some neighborhoods of Manavgat, where fires broke out one after another, people have started patrolling streets against 'arsonists.'

Eight dead as wildfires continue to rage across southern Europe -Eight people have died and thousands have been evacuated from their homes as extreme wildfires continue to rage in parts of southern Europe. The deaths occurred in Turkey, where for the past week firefighters have battled blazes in several coastal resort towns. Ten other people have been hospitalised. On Thursday, Turkish coastguards evacuated hundreds of villagers living close to a burning power plant in the Aegean province of Muğla. In Italy, the number of large wildfires is estimated to have tripled this summer compared to the yearly average, causing millions of euros-worth of damage to the environment and economy in central and southern regions. At the same time, the north of the country has been plagued by severe flooding and landslides in recent days, especially in Lombardy, where heavy rainfall caused Lake Como to burst its banks early on Thursday morning. “Flooding and intense rains in the north, fires in the south – the country has been split in two,” said Fabrizio Curcio, the chief of Italy’s civil protection authority. In Greece, Eleni Myrivili, who was appointed Athens’ first chief heat officer in July, described “apocalyptic” scenes after houses and villages burned down as a result of wildfires in the north-east of the Greek capital amid a protracted heatwave. The most intense days for the fires were Tuesday and Wednesday as temperatures reached 45C. “There was an incredible fight with the fire all day yesterday,” Myrivili told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday morning, adding that the blaze appeared to be subsiding. “The skies were grey and red, and there was ash falling on us. It was apocalyptic. On [Tuesday] night, the smoke came into my house and I had to sleep with a mask because I couldn’t breathe.” She added that it was a struggle to be outdoors under the extreme heat. “You run out of breath and it’s very easy to feel as if you’re getting dizzy, a kind of brain fog.” The Acropolis was also closed to visitors. “It’s an issue of health,” Myrivili said. “We don’t want people to be exposed to the sun and heat for long periods of time in an area where there is no shade. This is the thing with extreme heat – it’s a subtle, slow and invisible kind of enemy.”

In photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heatwaves - A summer of record-setting heat in southern Europe has set off devastating wildfires that have torn through forests, homes and destroyed vital infrastructure from Turkey to Spain. In Greece, firefighters battled flames moving towards ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. In its capital Athens, residents were told to stay at home to avoid the smoke pollution belched into the atmosphere by fires in a northern suburb. Powerful winds helped fan the flames in Turkey, where apocalyptic scenes followed more than a 100 blazes that broke out across the country. As the country reeled from scorching temperatures, hundreds had to evacuate by sea as they fled the advancing fire in the tourist hotspot of Bodrum. Experts say the heatwaves and fires in Europe this summer are signs of the impact of climate change, and that extreme weather will only get worse in coming years.

Area under wildfires in Yakutia reaches 3.6 million ha (8.9 million acres), Russia - The current area under the wildfires in Russia's Sakha Republic (Yakutia) is reported to be 3.6 million ha (8.9 million acres). The fire season in the region started in early May.As of Monday, August 2, there are 156 wildfires in the republic.

 One of the Coldest Places on Earth Is On Fire – WSJ —The smoke from the fires in Russia’s northeast is so thick it has blotted out the sun, plunging swaths of the region into darkness during the brief summer. A state of emergency has been declared in the city of Yakutsk, where freezing winter temperatures have given it the reputation of being the coldest constantly inhabited city on the planet. Residents have been told to stay indoors while volunteers and firefighters brave temperatures surpassing 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In all, the wildfires have devoured over 10 million acres of land in the Yakutia region this summer, with 175 fires still burning, according to government data. Scientists fear the amount of carbon dioxide released from the Russian blazes could surpass last year’s record. Similar scenes are playing out across several parts of the globe as emergency teams battle wildfires in Turkey, Southern Europe and the U.S., including California and Hawaii, where brush fires have exploded to encompass some 40,000 acres. Scientists say extreme heat in some areas and drought have contributed to sparking the fires. More than 2,400 firefighters have been deployed to battle the Russian wildfires, supported by troops and military aircraft, while volunteers such as Ayil Dyulurkha have pitched in, desperate to stop the wildfires spreading to towns where they could destroy homes and businesses. It is a world away from managing the courier company he founded six months ago in Yakutsk, Mr. Dyulurkha said. “When you come back from the fire, you cough and black soot shoots from your nose,” he said. The 48-year-old businessman rallied other volunteers through Facebook and Instagram and soon he had gathered around a dozen people. The number of the ragtag team sometimes falls to five and at others rises to more than two dozen, Mr. Dyulurkha said. Equipped with respirators and wearing overalls, their 10- to 12-hour shifts include shoveling dirt from the trenches made by tractors to secure the fire break, removing fallen trees that block escape routes, and using backpack water tanks to extinguish spot fires. At night, they keep watch to ensure the fires don’t jump the safety line, Mr. Dyulurkha said. Sometimes the heat is so overwhelming that some of the volunteers’ rubber boots melt as they work. One fire burned down their forest camp, consuming everything from their equipment to fuel and food, he said. Fires have burned around 6.8 million acres of land across all of Russia since the beginning of fire season in May, according to government data, making it the fourth year in the row the world’s largest country has been ravaged. The local branch of environmental organization Greenpeace estimates the devastation is likely much greater. “The situation is very bad,” said Alexey Yaroshenko, head of Greenpeace’s forest department. “The problem is not only with very large fires this year, but also the fact that fire disasters of this magnitude are happening every year in the Russian taiga,” or boreal forest.

Last month was worst July for wildfires on record, say scientists -Last month was the world’s worst July for wildfires since at least 2003 when satellite records began, scientists have said, as swaths of North America, Siberia, Africa and southern Europe continue to burn.Driven by extreme heat and prolonged drought, the ignition of forests and grasslands released 343 megatonnes of carbon, about a fifth higher than the previous global peak for July, which was set in 2014. “This stands out by a clear margin,” said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist in the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, which estimates the carbon releases. “The July global total this year is the highest since our records began in 2003.”The unprecedented mid-summer burn is the latest in a series of unwelcome recent records that underscore the destructive impacts of human-driven global heating.More than half of the carbon came from two regions – North America and Siberia – that have experienced unusually hot and dry weather. In western Canada and the US, forest fires have followed protracted and intense heatwaves. In Siberia, much of the taiga in the Sakha Republic has been engulfed in flames and clouds of toxic smoke that have drifted as far as the north pole.The global conflagration is widening to the eastern and central Mediterranean, where many nations are encountering an unusually fierce start to the fire season.Last week, the heat intensity from fires in Turkey was four times higher than the previous daily national record. So far this year, 128,000 hectares (316,000 acres) have burned – eight times higher than the average, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

Death toll from floods in central China jumps to 302, more than 50 missing -More than 300 people have died in recent flooding in central China, according to official data released Monday, August 2, 2021. The number is more than three times higher than previously reported.Henan provincial government said 302 people have died and 50 remain missing after extreme rains hit central China from July 17 - 21.297 people were killed in Henan's capital Zhengzhou and 47 remain missing. 10 others died in 3 other cities.For those of you who don't remember this event, Zhengzhou received record-breaking hourly precipitation of 201.9 mm (7.9 inches) between 16:00 and 17:00 LT (08:00 - 09:00 UTC) on July 20.From Sunday, July 18 to 00:00 LT on Tuesday, July 20, the accumulated average rainfall in the city reached 449 mm (17.6 inches). From Saturday, July 17 to Tuesday, July 20, the capital city recorded 617.1 mm (24.2 inches) of rain, nearly its annual average of 640.8 mm (25.5 inches). Zhengzhou's average monthly rainfall for July is 193 mm (7.6 inches). July is also its wettest month, followed by August with 147 mm (5.8 inches) and September with 87 mm (3.4 inches).According to official data released on July 27, 24 474 houses have been destroyed or severely damaged.In addition, 972 000 hectares (2.4 million acres) of crops in the state have been damaged or destroyed. Henan's economy is essentially based on agriculture and the province is China's main wheat producer.

Severe floods leave 5 dead, 7 injured in 7 provinces, Iran - (video) Heavy rains affecting Iran over the past couple of days have left at least 5 people dead and 7 others injured. According to a statement by the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) on August 3, relief and rescue forces provided services to 846 flood survivors in 7 affected provinces. While relief operations have been completed in 5 provinces, they still continue in Qazvin and Zanjan.The city of Avaj was one of the worst affected after recording just over 36 mm (1.4 inches) of rain in just 40 minutes on August 2, 2021."Over the last two years, Iran was doused with rain which was unprecedented during the past 50 years, but last year, unfortunately, the country faced drought, which shows a 40% decrease in rainfall," the Tehran Times reports.Rainfall extremes over the past 3 years slowly questioned the conception that Iran is experiencing a long-term drought and some of the experts announced that a wet spell will embrace the country, the paper noted."So, some experts claimed that Iran has entered a period of a wet spell after experiencing dry spells over the past few decades, some others highly rejected the claim implying that the country faced a lack of rain by 50 mm (1.96 inches) over the past 50 years."

Yellowstone registers most energetic swarm of earthquakes since 2017 -The month of July saw the most energetic swarm of earthquakes in the region since the Maple Creek earthquake swarm of June-September 2017, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) reported in their monthly update released August 2, 2021.While above average, this level of seismicity is not unprecedented, and it does not reflect the magmatic activity, YVO said.Earthquakes at Yellowstone are dominantly caused by motion on preexisting faults and can be stimulated by increases in pore pressure due to groundwater recharge from snowmelt. If magmatic activity were the cause of the quakes, we would expect to see other indicators, like changes in deformation style or thermal/gas emissions, but no such variations were detected.There was only one eruption of Steamboat Geyser in July 2021, so the total number of eruptions for the year is now 13. Over the past few months, the time between eruptions has increased, which may indicate that the present period of frequent eruptions is coming to a gradual close.In July 2021, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, responsible for the operation and analysis of the Yellowstone Seismic Network, located 1 008 earthquakes in the Yellowstone National Park region. This number is preliminary and will likely increase, since dozens more small earthquakes, from July 16, require further analysis.This is the most earthquakes in a month since June 2017, when over 1 100 earthquakes were located.The largest event of the past month was a minor earthquake of magnitude 3.6 located 17.7 km (11 miles) beneath Yellowstone Lake, 11.9 km (7.4 miles) SSE of Fishing Bridge at 18:45 MDT on July 16. This event was part of an energetic sequence of earthquakes in the same area that began on July 16.July seismicity in Yellowstone was marked by seven earthquake swarms:

1. 1) A swarm of 764 earthquakes occurred beneath Yellowstone Lake (with several small earthquakes from July 16 still requiring analysis). It began on July 16 and includes the largest event of the month (magnitude 3.6, detailed above). This swarm consists of four earthquakes in the magnitude 3 range and 85 in the magnitude 2 range. These numbers will be updated upon completion of the analysis. This sequence has decreased to only a few earthquakes per day but may continue into August.
2. 2) A swarm of 40 earthquakes, ~19 km (12 miles) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT, began on July 19, with the largest event (M2.1) occurring on July 23 at 22:20 MDT.
3. 3) A series of 34 earthquakes ~17.7 km (11 miles) NE of West Yellowstone, MT, continued into July from a swarm that began on June 19. The largest July event (magnitude 1.5) occurred at 19:12 MDT on June 30, ~18.5 km (11.5 miles) NE of West Yellowstone, MT.
4. 4) A series of 24 earthquakes ~17.7 km NE of West Yellowstone, MT, continued up to July 3rd(MDT) from a swarm that began June 9. The largest July event (magnitude 2.6) occurred on July 3 at 07:31 MDT, ~23.3 km (14.5 miles) NNE of Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park.
5. 5) A swarm of 20 earthquakes occurred July 29 - 31 N of Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. The largest event (M1.9) was on July 29 at 09:31 MDT, ~4.8 km (3 miles) N of Norris Geyser Basin.
6. 6) A small swarm of 14 earthquakes occurred July 9 - 10. The largest, M2.0, took place at 12:08 MDT on July 10, located 24.9 km (15.5 miles) S of Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park.
7. 7) A small swarm of 12 earthquakes occurred July 10 - 15. The largest was M2.7 at 11:35 MDT on July 12, 24.1 km (15 miles) NNE of Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park.

Subsidence of Yellowstone Caldera, which has been ongoing since 2015, has paused during the summer months, reflecting seasonal groundwater recharge, YVO said. Every summer, water from snowmelt causes the ground to swell slightly, resulting in a pause in subsidence trends or even a minor amount of uplift (less than 1 cm / fraction of an inch). In the area of Norris Geyser Basin, no significant uplift or subsidence has been detected by a nearby GPS station since the start of 2020. No deformation associated with the energetic earthquake swarm beneath Yellowstone Lake was noted.

Major explosive event at Stromboli volcano, Italy - A major explosive eruption took place at Stromboli volcano, Italy at 20:09 UTC on August 1, 2021. This is the second larger than usual explosion at the volcano since July 28.Analysis of the event indicated that the eruptive activity produced a significant emission of volcanic material that reached heights of over 150 m (490 inches) at the mouth and dispersed beyond the crater terrace, affecting the Pizzo area and rolling along the Sciara del Fuoco.No change in activity was recorded after the explosive event.From the seismic point of view, the event was clearly visible on all seismic stations at Stromboli. Regarding the amplitude of the volcanic tremor, a sharp increase was observed from 19:50 UTC with a maximum peak on high values around 20:00 UTC.Strain signals from GNSS and Stromboli clinometric networks show no significant variation associated with the explosive event.All parameters returned to normal at 21:30 UTC.

Equilibrium/ Sustainability — Tree alive 'when Jesus was on Earth' threatened by rising seas | TheHill -- Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup. Rising seas are pushing inland toward the ancient trees of coastal North Carolina’s Three Sisters swamp, where one bald cypress has stood above the Black River since at least 605 B.C., according to The Guardian. “They were here when Jesus was on Earth,” one resident told The Guardian.Trees like this stand just 6 feet above the Atlantic, and creeping salt has left dead-white “ghost forests” as gloomy monuments, The Guardian reported. Data drawn from the cores of more ancient deceased cypresses reveal a grim truth: “Even very long-lived cypress trees in the ancient past can be killed very fast,” environmental archeologist Katharine Napora said.Today we’ll look at the complications of slowing that rise. First, we’ll explore how fossil fuel companies are fighting to avoid disclosing how much carbon dioxide is released when customers burn their products. And then we’ll examine how Asian investment banks are struggling with the complications of quitting coal.

Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket face dire climate change impact (AP) — The famous islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusettsare facing serious impacts from rising sea levels and more powerful coastal storms driven by climate change, a new environmental report released Wednesday warns.The “State of the Coast” report by the Trustees, a prominent Massachusetts conservation group, says the popular tourist destinations off Cape Cod risk losing hundreds of acres of marshlands to flooding and billions of dollars in coastal homes, buildings and infrastructure to erosion.What’s more, roughly 900 structures on the two islands may experience daily tidal flooding by 2050 as sea levels are predicted to rise more than 2.5 feet, the organization said.“The impacts of flooding and erosion on these beloved Islands will affect thousands who live and work there, and the thousands more who visit each summer,” said Tom O’Shea, a managing director at the Trustees.The island communities, which also include the small and sparsely populated Elizabeth islands, also known as Gosnold, are taking climate change seriously, the organization says in its report.Island communities have hired staff focused on climate change and begun resiliency work, from redesigning harbors, to replenishing sandy beaches, raising roads, and creating living shorelines to protect against coastal erosion.“This is encouraging, but many climate-related projects are in the planning phase, and more needs to be done,” the Trustees said. “We may have only 10 to 20 years before climate change forces our hand.”U.S. Senator Edward Markey said in a statement the report “magnifies the importance of taking bold steps now” to “protect these irreplaceable and invaluable wild treasures.” One challenge for the islands is limited options for retreat inland.Less than 10% of Martha’s Vineyard’s remaining land is considered available for development, and less than 9% is available on Nantucket, according to the report. And since the late 1800s, the two islands have lost nearly 3,300 acres of beaches, dunes, and other coastal areas combined — an area equivalent to about 2,500 football fields, the organization said.

Climate Scientists Detect Warning Signs of Gulf Stream Collapse --Climate change has "almost complete[ly]" destabilized the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a critical aquatic "conveyor belt" that plays a major role in global temperature and weather systems, a new analysis published Thursday in Nature Climate Change reveals.Increasing ocean temperatures and, especially, the influx of freshwater from melting ice sheets and glaciers is slowing the AMOC, which includes the Gulf Stream. If circulation shuts off, North America and Europe could be plunged into extreme cold, U.S. East Coast sea levels could rise, and seasonal monsoons critical to much of the world's water supply could be disrupted.The AMOC has stopped circulating before — at the end of the last ice age, setting off a Northern Hemisphere cold spell that transformed ecosystems and threw human societies into upheaval for 1,000 years.As reported by The Washington Post: After all, there are plenty of other indications that Earth's climate is in unprecedented territory.This summer, the Pacific Northwest was blasted by a heat wave scientists say was "virtually impossible" without human-caused warming. China, Germany, Belgium, Uganda and India have all experienced massive, deadly floods. Wildfires are raging from California to Turkey to the frozen forests of Siberia.The world is more than 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was before humans started burning fossil fuels, and it's getting hotter all the time.And the apparent consequences of the AMOC slowing are already being felt. A persistent "cold blob" in the ocean south of Greenland is thought to result from less warm water reaching that region. The lagging Gulf Stream has caused exceptionally high sea level rise along the U.S. East Coast. Key fisheries have been upended by the rapid temperature swings, and beloved species are struggling to cope with the changes.If the AMOC does completely shut down, the change would be irreversible in human lifetimes, Boers said. The "bi-stable" nature of the phenomenon means it will find new equilibrium in its "off" state. Turning it back on would require a shift in the climate far greater than the changes that triggered the shutdown."It's one of those events that should not happen, and we should try all that we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible," [study author Niklas] Boers said. "This is a system we don't want to mess with."

‘The Economist’ Notices the Climate - Even The Economist has noticed that the ravages of climate change are coming to this generation, not the next one: Three degrees of global warming is quite plausible and truly disastrousBY THE STANDARDS of the 21st century as a whole, 2021 will almost certainly go down as a comparatively cool year. By the standards of the rest of human history its weather looks disconcertingly like hell.On July 20th, as Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland were still coming to terms with the fact that a stationary system of storms had turned entire towns into rivers and shredded the surrounding countryside, hundreds of thousands of people in the Chinese province of Henan were evacuated in the face of floods of their own; the city of Zhengzhou saw a year’s worth of rain in three days.Also on July 20th Cizre, in Turkey, saw a temperature of 49.1°C (120°F), the highest ever recorded in the country. There has been barely any respite from searingly hot conditions along the northern Pacific coast of North America since the region was hit by an unprecedented heatwave two weeks ago, and already the region is bracing for another. Other places at high latitudes have been seeing similar—if less destructive—anomalies. In the first half of the month Finland experienced its longest heatwave for at least 60 years, with temperatures rising to the low 30°Cs in Lapland. On July 14th the country tossed and turned through its hottest night ever: two weather stations recorded temperatures no lower than 24.2°COn July 11th, a National Weather Service thermometer at Furnace Creek in Death Valley recorded a temperature of 54°C [that’s 129°F]. If confirmed by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), that would tie a reading taken at the same location last year for the hottest formally recognised daytime temperature ever. On July 19th more than 40% of the Greenland ice cap had meltwater on it. The amount of sea-ice cover in the Arctic was as low as it was at the same point in 2012, which saw the lowest summer sea ice ever recorded.This is what Earth looks like when, according to the latest data from the WMO, it is 1.1-1.3°C warmer than it was before the steam engine was invented. It’s fair to say that what we’ve seen this year will happen almost every year going forward — plus it will get worse. Note that Death Valley reached its all-time record — 54°C or 129°F — in both of the last two years.Almost everyone alive today will see summers with no Arctic ice. That day is not far off. Almost everyone born today will see winters with no Arctic ice. Destruction of the white expanse of Arctic ice, which reflects solar energy back into space before it’s converted to heat — consider the difference between a white surface and a black surface on a bright day — is one of many accelerants our species is pouring with abandon onto the fire of our own demise.It’s clear the editors of The Economists (this was an unsigned, editor-written piece) fully understand that the planet will soon be largely uninhabitable by our species, and in this century. They understand, for example, that while “‘tropical’ nights where temperatures remain above 20°C from dusk till dawn are … mostly the preserve of the Mediterranean shoreline” today, in a 3°C-warming world “they became a regular occurrence in the Baltics,” adding that it’s “the lack of enough cooling at night which, by and large, drives deaths during heatwaves.”

The infrastructure deal could create pipelines for captured CO2 - A new generation of pipelines could be born out of the bipartisan infrastructure deal making its way through Congress. But instead of hauling oil and gas, the pipelines would carry planet-heating carbon dioxide. The massive bill would allocate funding for new infrastructure devoted to capturing carbon dioxide, and transporting it to places where it can be buried underground or used in products like carbonated soda. Carbon capture technology aims to scrub CO2 directly at the source of emissions — but it’s remained controversial among climate activists, with many seeing it as a false solution that distracts from emission reduction goals. But Congress’ new bipartisan infrastructure plan would invest billions of dollars into the idea, committing the US to ambitious carbon capture and removal schemes that have never been attempted at this large scale.“The infrastructure bill has opened the floodgates for carbon capture piping. Watch out,” tweeted Alan Ramo, professor emeritus at Golden Gate University School of Law.The new provisions focus mostly on using carbon capture and removal to tackle industrial emissions, rather than emissions from the power sector. The Biden Administration has particularly encouraged carbon capture for industries like cement and steel, which are difficult to electrify and decarbonize. (Cement alone is responsible for 8 percent of global CO2 emissions.) Focusing on those industries might keep carbon capture from being used as a way to extend the life of coal plants or other heavy-emitting power sources, a problem that’s come up with carbon capture technologies used in the power sector. The new infrastructure bill would fund a sort of network for industrial carbon capture and storage. There’s already been significant work on scrubber technology that removes carbon dioxide at the source, so the new bill directs much of its funding at building a pipeline network that would can carry that CO2 away from the initial emissions point. The bill also funds projects that could serve as a destination for that CO2, either using it in commercial products or injecting into the ground for storage.

Industry accounts for well over half Louisiana's carbon emissions, research shows --Louisiana’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent study by the LSU Center for Energy Studies, are “dominated by the industrial sector,” which accounts for 61% of the state’s total carbon dioxide emissions. That’s nearly three times the national average share, according to the study. Emissions from all other sectors of Louisiana’s economy measured well below national average shares. Just 20 petrochemical facilities in Louisiana are responsible for more than half the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the LSU Center for Energy Studies. The carbon footprints of residential and commercial consumers each account for a minuscule 1% of the state’s total, according to the LSU study. When David Dismukes, the executive director of LSU’s Center for Energy Studies, presented those findings to the Louisiana Climate Initiatives Task Force on Thursday, some members called for the task force to shift its focus from exploring ideas such as carbon capture to actually reducing the state’s industrial footprint. In addition to entertaining the idea of exploring carbon capture and storage (CCS), a largely untested technology that involves capturing carbon dioxide and injecting it underground to be stored for centuries, the task force has also discussed reducing emissions from vehicles — even though, according to LSU’s findings, eliminating half the state’s cars would only reduce Louisiana’s emissions by 10%. Task force member Flozell Daniels, CEO of the Foundation for Louisiana, asked his colleagues if they really believe capturing carbon and reducing traffic would be enough to reach Gov. John Bel Edwards’ ambitious goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions statewide by 2050. “We have three times the industrial impact, so there just has to be something extraordinary for us to consider when we’re looking at this,” Daniels said. “I don’t believe decarbonization alone will get us there. There’s going to have to be a reduction in footprint as a means of reducing emissions. I don’t see where the data has said anything else to us.” Task force member Collette Battle concurred. “We can’t just produce our way out of this thing,” Battle said. “We can’t just invest our way out of this thing. Some of what we have to do is actually reduce what we’re doing.”

What’s the true cost of shipping all your junk across the ocean? Grist --Take a look around your home and you’ll likely find plenty of goods that traveled by cargo ship to your doorstep. A set of IKEA plates made in China. A dresser full of pandemic-era loungewear, ordered on Target and made in Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Tracing the impact on the environment from shipping any of these goods is incredibly tricky to do. The data — if you can find it — involves many companies, countries, and cargo carriers. Such obscurity makes it hard to count the full cost of our consumption. But a recent report helps unravel some of the mystery.Two environmental groups, Pacific Environment andStand.earth, worked with prominent maritime researchers to track goods imported by the 15 largest retail giants in the United States. They then quantified the greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants associated with those imports, usually ferried across the oceans on cargo ships running on dirty bunker fuel. In 2019, importing some 3.8 million shipping containers’ worth of cargo generated as much carbon dioxide emissions as three coal-fired power plants. These shipments also produced as much smog-forming nitrous oxide as 27.4 million cars and trucks do in a year, according to the report. “Our report affirms that these retail giants’ dirty ocean shipping is fueling the climate crisis,” said Madeline Rose, climate campaign director for Pacific Environment and the study’s lead author. The study is the first to trace retailers’ shipping-related emissions, and it used data from a separate, larger project to track the industry’s emissions that’s set to launch in October. The findings are likely just a snapshot of the true environmental toll: Researchers said they could only verify emissions for one-fifth of shipments by the 15 retailers, owing to a lack of data and the companies’ use of shell companies and franchises. The largest retail company in the United States, Walmart, was also the biggest polluter of the bunch. In 2019, Walmart imported enough goods to equal 893,000 shipping containers, resulting in some 3.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Bill Gates - How the Useful Eaters Live and Travel - Back in April 2021, I posted this missive on Bill Gates and his carbon footprint, an issue that is of some interest given Gates' repeated narrative that the world cannot survive in its current form without his valuable input on climate change. In that posting, we learned that, among a sample of the world's elite/high value individuals, Gates has a very large carbon footprint thanks to his extensive global travels in his private jet. In early 2021, Gates was making the talk show circuit, shamelessly promoting his book on climate change and how we can avoid a climate catastrophe. While lecturing us on reducing our carbon-laden impact on the global climate, it became quite clear that it was a clear-cut example of "rules for thee but not for me". Recent news from Turkey shows that Gates is quite happy to throw his wealth in the faces of the useless eaters who need to wean themselves from their red meat diet and gas guzzling automobiles to save the world. Here is the news item of interest as reported by the Daily Sabah, a Turkish daily news source dated July 28, 2021: (screenshot) Of course, there must be a good reason for Bill Gates to travel to Turkey. Again, according to the Daily Sabah on April 28, 2021, this report appeared: (screenshot) So there you have it. Bill Gates really does have a very, very good reason to travel by private jet and yacht to check out his land holdings in Turkey and treat himself and a few friends/other useful eaters with a $10,000 dinner while the rest of the useless eaters and unwashed masses consume weeds and insects. But then again, it is entirely possible that his yacht and private jet are fuelled with unicorn farts and exhaust fairy dust into the atmosphere, making the world a whole lot better for all of us.

Billionaires 'kvetching' about population collapse -Some billionaires are “kvetching” — or griping — again. It’s not about high taxes, government regulations or a shortage of workers. Nor is it about climate change, environmental degradation or pollution. No, this time some billionaires are kvetching about an imagined world population collapse.Instead of focusing on critical issues such as climate change, they have the chutzpah to claim that the greatest risk — potentially — to the future of civilization is population collapse. Moreover, they predict that in the next 20 years the biggest problem the world faces is population collapse. A major reason for an increasing world population centers on their desire for colonizing Mars and for millions of people to permanently live and work in space.Their claim and prediction are pure “bupkis.” To be clear, world population is not likely to collapse soon and the biggest problem the world faces in the coming two decades is certainly not population collapse.The likely demographic future for the world is just the opposite of those claims. The world population, currently 7.9 billion, is increasing, and current projections expect it to reach 9.3 billion in 20 years. During the 20th century, the world experienced extraordinary demographic changes. The world population nearly quadrupled, growing from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 6.1 billion in 2000. Approximately 80 percent of that unprecedented growth occurred during the second half of the 20th century. The world’s most rapid rate of demographic growth and largest population increase also occurred during the second half of the 20th century. The annual growth rate of the world’s population peaked at 2.1 percent in the late 1960s, and by the century’s close declined to 1.3 percent. The peak annual increase in world population occurred in the late 1980s with the addition of 93 million. Today world population is growing at an annual rate of 1 percent, or about 80 million. However, the coronavirus pandemic, which increased deaths and reduced births in 2020, is believed to have affected world population growth at least in the short term. The pandemic’s long-term demographic consequences on fertility, mortality and migration rates remain uncertain. Prior to the pandemic, the world population was projected to reach 8 billion by 2023, 9 billion by 2037, 10 billion by 2056, and close to 11 billion by the close of the century. Although the world population is increasing, that demographic growth is unevenly distributed globally.

New report blasts Facebook for allowing fossil-fuel giants to spread climate misinformation - Amid the millions of advertisements running on Facebook, a new report singles out ads paid for by leading oil and gas companies as being misleading regarding their sustainability initiatives and policies, and faults the social media giant for continuing to host their ads. Compiled by the think tank InfluenceMap, which studies corporate climate policies, the report analyzes the messaging of ads issued by oil and gas companies on Facebook to gauge how accurately they reflect the companies’ actual policies surrounding climate change mitigation Looking at over 25,000 separate ads from 25 leading oil and gas organizations, researchers say that bulk of the marketing content contained misleading information related to the companies’ efforts to switch to clean energy, job creation, and the benefits of using oil and gas as fuel. Researchers at InfluenceMap argue that most of the narratives put forth within the ads aren’t accurate, primarily with the suggestion that oil and gas companies can continue operations while reducing emissions. They also point out that the company was paid $9,597,376 from oil and gas giants, and claims that it hasn’t been consistently applying its fact-checking advertising policies to ads focused on climate change. “Despite Facebook's public support for climate action, it continues to allow its platform to be used to spread fossil fuel propaganda,” said Bill Weihl, founder of ClimateVoice and the former Director of Sustainability at Facebook. “Not only is Facebook inadequately enforcing its existing advertising policies, it's clear that these policies are not keeping pace with the critical need for urgent climate action.” The results from the research also retraced when advertisements from oil and gas companies were deployed at larger volumes on Facebook. Several upticks in ads circulating on the platform were observed, some coinciding with critical political moments, such as the days leading up to the U.S. 2020 election and when then-candidate Joe Biden released his $2 trillion climate plan. These ads were also marketed to users in select states. Oil-rich regions, such as Texas, Alaska, and California where drilling for oil and natural gas stands to be contested, received the bulk of the advertising campaigns and had the most impressions, or interactions. Users in politically crucial states also saw large quantities of oil company ads, with Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio recording millions of impressions with these ads. These states are often battleground states, and are liable to swing between Democrat and Republican during an election cycle. The major companies funding these ads include ExxonMobil, who spent over $5 million on advertisements in 2020, the American Petroleum Institute, and OneAlaska.

Hydrogen Plan Isn’t Very Green Under U.S. Infrastructure Deal -- Building a hydrogen-based energy system in the U.S., which some analysts call key to fighting climate change, would be based largely on fossil fuels under the bipartisan infrastructure bill heading for a Senate vote. The legislation provides for $8 billion in spending to establish at least four “regional clean hydrogen hubs” producing and using the fuel for manufacturing, heating and transportation. At least two would be in U.S. regions “with the greatest natural gas resources,” according to the bill. One hub would demonstrate production from fossil fuels, one would use renewable power, and one would use nuclear power.

Congress proposes "clean hydrogen" production hubs—with coal as a potential source - The bipartisan infrastructure bill headed for a Senate vote includes provisions for "clean hydrogen" hubs that would use fossil fuels, Bloomberg reported Monday. The bill earmarks $8 billion to build at least four "regional clean hydrogen hubs" that would produce hydrogen for uses such as heating, manufacturing and transportation. At least two of these hubs would be located in regions "with the greatest natural gas resources," according to the bill, and renewable energy, nuclear energy, and biomass are discussed as potential energy sources. However, so is coal. As Bloomberg points out, hydrogen can be stripped from water using electrolyzer devices, which seems to be the plan here, as the bill also includes $1 billion for grants to improve the efficiency of these devices. But that requires a lot of electricity, and the source of that electricity can affect the overall environmental impact of hydrogen production.If the electricity comes from renewable sources, the hydrogen-production process does not generate greenhouse-gas emissions, Bloomberg noted. This so-called "green hydrogen" is currently more expensive than hydrogen produced using natural gas, but costs are expected to fall within a decade, to the point where green sources cost less than fossil fuels, according to Bloomberg. That in turn could make coal-powered hydrogen hubs uncompetitive.A 2020 IHS Markit study predicted that green hydrogen produced using renewable energy could be cost-competitive with hydrogen made from natural gas by 2030. The California Energy Commission came to a similar conclusion, saying in its own 2020 report that hydrogen fuel-cell cars could reach price parity with gasoline by 2025.

'This Looks Like the Exxon Infrastructure Bill': Bipartisan Deal Omits Key Climate Protections - The bipartisan legislation currently under Senate consideration falls far short of President Biden's commitment to transforming the fossil-fueled underpinnings of the U.S. economy, the AP reports.The deal includes hundreds of billions in total to support climate resilience, electric grid updates, and harden infrastructure against cyberattacks and climate change — as well as more than half a trillion for new public works projects. It does not, however, establish a Clean Electricity Standard nor a Civilian Climate Corps and includes just $7.5 billion for EV charging stations.Environmental advocates slammed the bill. "It is clear that the deal does not meet the moment on climate or justice," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, a senior vice president of the League of Conservation Voters. Others, like Janet Redman of Greenpeace USA, were pithier. "This looks like the Exxon Infrastructure Bill," she said. "An infrastructure bill that doesn't prevent a full-blown climate catastrophe by funding a swift transition to renewable energy would kill millions of Americans."Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey said the bill was "a good start," adding Democrats would pass a separate $3.5 trillion package without GOP support to "deal with the climate crisis in the magnitude, scope and scale that's required."As reported by The Associated Press: The Senate voted, 66-28, Friday to advance the bill, but it's unclear if enough Republicans will eventually join Democrats to support final passage. Senate rules require 60 votes in the evenly split 50-50 chamber to advance the bill but a simple majority to pass it. The measure also faces turbulence in the closely divided House, where progressives are pushing for increased spending on climate change and other issues and centrist lawmakers are wary of adding to the federal debt. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called the Senate bill inadequate and pledged to push for changes in the House, which passed a separate, $715 billion transportation and water bill in early July. Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. DeFazio, the House bill's lead sponsor, said his bill "charts our path forward,″ adding that he is "fighting to make sure we enact a transformative bill that supports our recovery and combats the existential threat of climate change.

Biden's Agenda Is Tainted by Oil Interests, Say Climate Advocates – Bloomberg - While the new bill includes big wins on some priorities, it also contains provisions to prop up fossil fuels. When negotiators released the more-than-2,700-page text of the infrastructure bill now inching its way forward in the Senate this week, they discussed it as a glass half full — the first, imperfect step toward greening U.S. energy and industry. To many looking at it from outside the government, however, what’s in that glass has been polluted.

Breaking down the infrastructure bill’s impact on climate change | PBS NewsHour - The current infrastructure bill includes $150 billion for clean energy and climate change protections. Tens of billions would also be utilized to fight extreme weather like drought, wildfire, flooding and erosion, with a host of smaller programs like low-emission busses, cleaner ports and even more trees. Rebecca Leber, who covers climate change for Vox, joins Lisa Desjardins to discuss.

Infrastructure bill includes wins for Bakken energy, agriculture in MonDak Much has been written about the $550 billion in new federal spending aimed at revitalizing America’s transportation system, but the bipartisan infrastructure bill that has advanced to the floor of the U.S. Senate also contains billions of dollars for energy and agriculture as well. For agriculture, there’s $65 billion for rural broadband, $2 billion of which is headed to the USDA. There’s also billions for carbon removal, firefighting and forest management resources, tree planting and more. Where the MonDak really wins big, however, are in the energy provisions the bill offers, largely originating from West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, Energy Chair’s, Energy Infrastructure Act. A number of amendments to the bipartisan infrastructure bill — nearly 50 in all — came straight from Manchin’s bill. Manchin, of course, hails from a state where coal and other fossil fuels are still important sources of low-cost, affordable energy as well as jobs. Among the key provisions for the region is one directing $12.5 billion to carbon capture projects and their commercialization. Of that, $2.1 billion is dedicated to carbon dioxide pipelines. That could benefit major carbon capture and utilization projects in North Dakota, including the $1 billion Project Tundra, which will need significant assistance to prove out its commercial viability. Rainbow Energy Center is another high-profile project that could potentially benefit from this federal funding. The 1.151 MW generating plant in Underwood was recently been sold, and its new owners have said their plans include a focus on carbon capture utilization and storage. Successes there would point the way for other coal plants in both North Dakota and Montana. The bipartisan infrastructure bill also defines “clean” hydrogen as emitting no more than 2 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of hydrogen. The “blue” hydrogen that North Dakota is working to advance will qualify under that definition.

Environmental justice designation coming under scrutiny - Environmental justice communities, marginalized areas of the state overburdened with pollution from power plants, industrial facilities, and highways, are turning out to be more commonplace in Massachusetts than you might think.Earlier this year, when the Legislature passed a sweeping climate change bill containing language defining an environmental justice, or EJ community, advocates said the measure was needed to protect areas of the state with high populations of people of color, low-income residents, and other marginalized groups that face disproportionate environmental burdens. But as the definition is being applied, the number of EJ communities is turning out to be larger than expected. According to a state analysis of Census data, close to 200 of the state’s 351 cities and towns contain some EJ neighborhoods.There were municipalities containing EJ neighborhoods you would expect, including Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence, and Randolph, where the entire city was an EJ community. Others high on the list included Brockton, Fall River, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Lowell, Malden, New Bedford, North Adams, Quincy, Springfield, and Worcester. But there were also cities and towns containing fairly high concentrations of EJ neighborhoods that one would hardly describe as environmentally overburdened, including Acton, Amherst, Arlington, Avon, Brookline, Lexington, Waltham, Watertown, and Westborough.The state’s EJ designation is based on income, minority, and language metrics in a particular neighborhood, or Census block. According to the state’s definition, a neighborhood is considered an EJ community if its annual median household income is less than 65 percent of the statewide annual median, if minorities comprise at least 40 percent of the population, if at least 25 percent of households lack English language proficiency, or if minorities represent at least 25 percent of the population and the annual median household income of the entire municipality does not exceed 150 percent of the statewide annual median income.Last week, state environmental officials showed just how powerful the EJ designation could be. In setting regulations for the construction of wood-burning power plants, the officials said the facilities would not qualify for essential ratepayer subsidies if they were located in an EJ community or within five miles of one. That ruling meant that 89 percent of the state was essentially off-limits to biomass plants and someone looking to build such a facility in Massachusetts could only locate it in 35 of the state’s 351 cities and towns.Needham, Dover, Weston, Wayland, Lincoln, Concord, and Carlisle have no EJ neighborhoods, but they were largely off-limits to biomass plants because they are near EJ neighborhoods in adjacent municipalities.

Social cost of methane changes the equation for Colorado utility policy | Energy News Network - As a growing list of states pass laws aimed at curbing carbon emissions, Colorado has widened its scope, taking the groundbreaking step of requiring state officials to consider the social cost of methane in regulatory decisions. Methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, has powerful heat-trapping properties before it breaks down into water vapor and carbon dioxide after 12 years. It is 84 to 87 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year span, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “By focusing on methane reduction now, it has the greatest potential to bend the curve on fighting climate change,” said state Rep. Tracey Bernett, a Democrat from Boulder County and a prime sponsor or co-sponsor of several bills passed this year that instruct state utility regulators to use the social of cost of methane when evaluating proposals. Other successful bills seek to reduce natural gas in buildings and other applications, and to stanch leaks in the supply chain of natural gas. Most natural gas is extracted from geological deposits by drilling.Legislative and environmental advocates say the new laws have made Colorado the national leader in tackling emissions from buildings.The social cost of methane emissions was set most recently at $1,756 per short ton by the U.S. Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, compared to $68 for carbon dioxide. Both metrics estimate the economic damages of releasing emissions into the atmosphere.A Bernett bill, HB 21-1238, tilts the regulatory table in favor of demand-side management programs offered by private utilities that sell natural gas for use in buildings. State regulators must now take a longer-term view of the cost savings of reducing energy use. With that longer view, more programs that reduce demand through improved insulation and other devices will be justified as cost-effective.

An Oklahoma wind farm was deemed a threat to public safety. Now there are plans to fix it --The owner of a dilapidated and dangerous wind farm in northwest Oklahoma plans to remove broken blades from seven towers and to fell two others that are topped with burnt-out nacelles that used to house generators. Those steps will be taken by a contractor hired by Olympia Renewable Platform LLC later this year as the owner works to address public safety threats identified earlier this year posed by the KODE Novus I and II wind facility, southeast of Guymon in Oklahoma’s Panhandle. The Texas company submitted the plans and proof it could pay for the needed work after regulators launched an enforcement action for allowing the development to lapse into disrepair. The company filed a plan to secure the site and a plan to remove associated safety concerns earlier this month. Company officials notified regulators they expected needed repairs could be started sometime next month and take between 20 and 30 days to complete, depending upon relatively calm conditions that would be needed for the work. But as for the facility's long-term future, that remains unclear. The remediation plan submitted by Olympia addresses nine towers. Seven of those are missing portions of, or entire blades, while two are topped by burnt-up nacelles where blades are no longer attached. .

The solar industry has a supply problem - In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the solar industry girded for disaster. Experts predicted 2020 installations would drop below 2019 levels. Analysts forecast that home solar installations specifically could drop by as much as 40 percent. Months later, though, the industry emerged relatively unscathed. Solar developers even logged record growth in 2020. This spring, however, a supply crunch hit like a delayed hangover.Solar materials including aluminum and polysilicon became harder to obtain, whileshipping costs rocketed to unprecedented heights. And the spreading delta variant of Covid-19 has underscored for many that the pandemic is sticking around and could continue to disrupt systems. For solar companies, the pressure doesn’t appear to be letting up.Taken together, the conditions could push up prices for solar contracts and even delay projects, just as the Biden administration is hoping to dramatically boost solar deployment..

Behind the Rise of U.S. Solar Power, a Mountain of Chinese Coal - Solar panel installations are surging in the U.S. and Europe as Western countries seek to cut their reliance on fossil fuels. But the West faces a conundrum as it installs panels on small rooftops and in sprawling desert arrays: Most of them are produced with energy from carbon-dioxide-belching, coal-burning plants in China. Concerns are mounting in the U.S. and Europe that the solar industry’s reliance on Chinese coal will create a big increase in emissions in the coming years as manufacturers rapidly scale up production of solar panels to meet demand. That would make the solar industry one of the world’s most prolific polluters, analysts say, undermining some of the emissions reductions achieved from widespread adoption.For years, China’s low-cost, coal-fired electricity has given the country’s solar-panel manufacturers a competitive advantage, allowing them to dominate global markets.Chinese factories supply more than three-quarters of the world’s polysilicon, an essential component in most solar panels, according to industry analyst Johannes Bernreuter. Polysilicon factories refine silicon metal using a process that consumes large amounts of electricity, making access to cheap power a cost advantage. Chinese authorities have built an array of coal-burning power plants in sparsely populated areas such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia to support polysilicon manufacturers and other energy-hungry industries. “If China didn’t have access to coal, then solar power wouldn’t be cheap now.” Producing a solar panel in China creates around twice as much carbon dioxide as making it in Europe, said Fengqi You, professor of energy systems engineering at Cornell University. In some countries or regions that don’t rely heavily on fossil fuels for electricity generation, such as Norway and France, installing a high-carbon, Chinese-made solar panel might not reduce emissions at all, Mr. You said.

China Doubles Down On Coal Despite Global Push To Go Green -Despite global expectations to move away from coal, demand in China is still strong, as rising global temperatures causing heat waves are driving up electricity demand and coal prices. Thermal coal futures reached record highs in July as a heatwave in China sent electricity use soaring. In industrial areas of the country such as Zhejiang near Shanghai, electricity use exceeded 100 million kilowatts per hour as temperatures rose to 37 degrees Celsius. In response to the high energy usage across the country, coal prices exceeded 900 yuan (almost $140) a tonne in mid-July. This follows record prices for Asian coal in May, after an initially pessimistic outlook following the IEA report encouraging countries to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable alternatives. In spite of growing international pressure, coal continues to boom across much of Asia, with China at the helm. Although China is attempting to move away from coal, rationing electricity use to battle the rising demand of the major polluter, hot temperatures are forcing the government to keep on producing as well as importing to meet this demand. “Southern China has been very hot, and the daily power load is consistently breaking new highs,” Huatai Futures Co. analyst Wang Haitao stated. In the Zhejiang region, only 30 percent of its energy comes from renewable sources, meaning that industrial regions across China such as these will still rely heavily on coal for years to come.

Report Predicts 3 Coal Plants Could Close Within 5 Years | WVPB A report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the John Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants will no longer be economical to operate in five years.The West Virginia Public Service Commission must decide in the coming weeks whether to approve an environmental compliance surcharge on electricity customers.That fee would pay for wastewater treatment projects that are required to keep the plants in operation through 2040. But one of the report’s authors predicts they won’t last to the end of this decade.“Inside and outside our model, 2040 is hard to imagine,” said Scott Holladay, an associate professor of economics at the University of Tennessee. “And even 2030 is feeling optimistic at this point, for sure.”Holladay says his model is mostly accurate, though he noted that the model can’t know every specific circumstance surrounding each plant.Still, Holladay’s model says one of the three units at the Amos plant should already be taken offline because it no longer operates economically. The other two would close in five years.The model predicts one of Mitchell’s two units would close in two years, and the other in three. It predicts Mountaineer’s single unit would shut down in three years.The plants are aging. Mitchell and Amos began operating in 1971, and Mountaineer in 1980. “They're not very efficient at turning coal into power,” Holladay said, “and new, more efficient technologies coming down the grid and kind of eating their lunch.”

Group Buys Pennsylvania Coal Refuse Plants to Power Bitcoin Mining --A digital mining company has an agreement to purchase a second power plant in Pennsylvania, as the group increases its coal refuse reclamation operations in the state to provide energy for its bitcoin mining operations.Stronghold Digital Mining, a bitcoin (BTC) miner headquartered in Kennerdell, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 3 said its purchase of the Panther Creek Plant, located on 33 acres in Nesquehoning, in Carbon County, adds 80 MW of generation capacity to its portfolio, which also includes the 85-MW Scrubgrass plant. Scrubgrass is located on 650 acres in Scrubgrass Township, in Venango County.Stronghold, founded earlier this year, uses the power plants to convert coal refuse into power that is used to mine bitcoin, an energy-intensive process. Coal refuse is classified by Pennsylvania as a Tier II alternative energy resource, akin to large-scale hydropower. Coal refuse over the years has been left in piles near coal operations; today, circulating fluidized bed technology allows for emissions-controlled conversion of coal refuse into energy.A coal refuse energy operation is featured in POWER’s August issue as a Top Plant award winner.

Somerset power plant owner plans data mining -The company that owns the defunct coal-fired power plant in Somerset plans a data mining project there, but the town supervisor said Tuesday it will not be powered by a restart of the power plant or by a proposed new solar energy project. Beowulf Energy, the parent of plant owner Somerset Operating Co., has created a new subsidiary, Lake Mariner Data LLC, which applied to the town June 24 for permission to erect four large buildings to be filled with computers, just east of the mothballed power plant on Lake Road. The computers are needed for the energy-intensive calculations required for investments in cryptocurrency. The company said in a statement it intends to produce "bitcoin at an industrial scale." “We are proud and excited to be on the doorstep of new jobs, investment and economic vitality at Somerset, barely a year after going through the painful process of closing the coal plant and laying off so many long-standing, highly qualified and dedicated employees,” Supervisor Jeffrey M. Dewart said the Town Board amended the zoning of the site last week to make way for the data mining project on the grounds of the coal-fired power plant, which Beowulf said in May is being dismantled under supervision from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Lake Mariner Data's plan calls for four buildings, each measuring 60 by 400 feet. Dewart said they are to be built in two phases: two buildings to open by November and two others in the ensuing year. Dewart said the project is the first in Beowulf's proposed Empire State Data Hub, a planned reuse of the power plant property that was announced in 2019. Dewart said the first phase of the cryptocurrency project would create 18 to 20 full-time jobs, paying $40,000 to $60,000 each, plus about 100 construction jobs. In 2019, the New York Power Authority granted Beowulf 10 megawatts of electricity for data centers at the site, but Dewart said as much as 250 additional megawatts might be needed. A NYPA spokesman said the authority will not provide power for the cryptocurrency operation, but the company said it will buy power from the state grid, which "includes significant hydropower from nearby Niagara Falls and is over 90% zero-carbon."

Bitcoin mining facilities popping up at power plants near the Lehigh Valley - Think about it like mining for gold — no pickax required. Only these miners are racing to unearth Bitcoin, the leading digital currency. To do so, they load up on super powerful computers capable of solving complex puzzles to verify digital Bitcoin transactions and add them to a ledger. For essentially acting as auditors to secure the payment network, miners earn bitcoin — the process by which new bitcoins are put into circulation.Welcome to the world of Bitcoin mining, a growing industry across the globe, and in Pennsylvania, that requires a substantial amount of energy. For that reason, many mining facilities have popped up near power plants.The latest example: Talen Energy Corp. on Tuesday announced a partnership with Maryland-based TeraWulf Inc. to develop up to 300 megawatts of Bitcoin mining capacity adjacent to its Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County. The joint venture, dubbed Nautilus Cryptomine, will be built in two phases — the first could be in operation by mid-2022 — and will be powered by the nuclear plant, providing low-cost electricity.“Bitcoin mining, and cryptocurrency mining, takes a substantial amount of electricity, so miners who can find the lowest cost of electricity supply are going to be better off than other miners who have higher costs for electricity,” said Travis Miller, an energy and utilities strategist for Morningstar who tracks the industry.The need for cheap energy is a significant reason why most power-thirsty Bitcoin mining had been concentrated in China, though that is starting to change. Even before China announced a crackdown on Bitcoin mining this year, its share of global hashrate, the total combined computational power that is being used to mine and process transactions, dropped from 75% in September 2019 to 46% in April. During that period, the share in the United States grew from 4% to nearly 17%, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.For Talen, a power producer that was spun off from PPL Corp. in 2015 and maintains an office in downtown Allentown, the Bitcoin mining announcement fits into a strategy unveiled last year geared toward repositioning its power fleet away from coal and toward renewable energy. In addition, the move can provide a stable source of revenue for its nuclear plant, pressured in recent years by competition from cheaper natural gas and subsidized renewables such as wind and solar power.

North Carolina DEQ approves expansion of Duke Energy landfill for coal ash - The North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ’s) Division of Waste Management has approved a permit to allow Duke Energy to expand its existing onsite landfill at the Roxboro Steam Electric Plant for the disposal of excavated coal ash. According to the DEQ, the issuance of the permit for the expanded CCR Industrial Landfill aligns with the Roxboro Steam Electric Plant Impoundment closure plan, which the department approved for the facility’s ash basin in August 2020. The closure by excavation of the coal ash impoundment is consistent with the 2020 Settlement Agreement and signed Consent Order between DEQ, Duke Energy, and community and environmental groups. The Roxboro Steam Electric Plant is located at 1700 Dunnaway Rd. in Semora in Person County. The onsite, lined landfill will be expanded to dispose of excavated coal ash residuals. The expanded CCR Industrial Landfill will be located partially within the former footprint of the East Ash Basin. At approximately 80 acres, it will be designed to hold nearly 18.9 million cubic yards of coal ash and will stand 210 feet tall, rising approximately 180 feet above Dunnaway Road.

Hearing on Hammond coal ash pond set for Tuesday; Ga. Power wants to cap the unlined pond -Georgia Power is seeking a permit to leave one of its coal ash ponds at Plant Hammond in place for perpetuity.The state Environmental Protection Division has scheduled a public hearing on the issue for Tuesday. It will be conducted virtually, via Zoom, starting at 6 p.m.The draft coal ash permit for Plant Hammond Ash Pond 3 is the first one that proposes a cap-in-place plan for an unlined pond.Four ash ponds are located at Plant Hammond in Floyd County’s Coosa community but the concern has mainly rested with AP-3. An environmental group study states it lies in a floodplain and, if left unlined, it will leak toxins into the Coosa River.Georgia Power is also seeking to have cap-in-place permits at Plant McDonough near Smyrna, Plant Wansley near Carrollton, Plant Scherer at Juliette and Plant Yates near Newnan. Plant Hammond, which was shut down over a year ago, is on the northern banks of the Coosa River. The ash pond that the utility is seeking to cap in place is just to the east of the plant, coming back toward Rome.

In Three Predominantly Black North Birmingham Neighborhoods, Residents Live Inside an Environmental ‘Nightmare’ - 00 After years of visits to doctors’ offices, Gerica Cammack finally decided to move. “I have to pack up and move for the sake of my health and my kids’ health because we’ve been sounding the alarm,” she said. Two of her kids, ages 2 and 8, have skin problems she thinks are related to pollution from steel, cement and coke manufacturing plants that have dominated parts of north Birmingham for decades. Cammack was fleeing Collegeville, one of the three predominantly Black north Birmingham neighborhoods in the 35th Avenue Superfund site. Collegeville, Harriman Park and Fairmont are archetypal “environmental justice” communities under a Biden administration executive order designed to deliver enhanced benefits in such areas disproportionately harmed by pollution or the adverse effects of climate change. While many communities of color suffer because of their close proximity to hazardous waste Superfund sites, these three north Birmingham neighborhoods are the Superfund site, their homes built decades ago on lots graded with fill from the plants, which is laced with arsenic, lead and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a hydrocarbon. BaP and arsenic are both known carcinogens. Michael Hansen, executive director for the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution, described the neighborhoods as being at the intersection of “environmental degradation and systemic racism” and said of this part of north Birmingham “right now it looks like a war zone.” He and other activists, along with many residents, want the 35th Avenue Superfund site added to the National Priorities List, a registry of the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites that brings additional, long-term cleanup funds. With the Biden administration now targeting enhanced benefits for environmental justice communities under the Superfund program, the residents hope NPL status could include more money for remediation and possible relocation. Neither the Environmental Protection Agency, which began considering the site for inclusion on the NPL in 2014, nor the residents, who saw NPL status as clearly warranted by federal law, had any idea what the proposal would trigger. In 2018, an executive with the Drummond Company, owner of ABC Coke, was convicted in federal court, along with an attorney from a major Birmingham law firm, for bribing a state representative to oppose any move to add the site to the NPL. ABC Coke was one of five local companies notified by the EPA that they could be held responsible for polluting the site. The state representative was also convicted and sent to prison for taking the bribe in the form of a $375,000 contract to his foundation. Although the EPA first proposed that the site be added to the National Priorities List seven years ago, it still has not happened. To be added to the NPL, sites need to score at least 28.5 in the EPA’s Hazard Ranking System, which assesses the relative potential of sites to pose a threat to human health or the environment. The 35th Avenue Superfund site has a score of 50.

ComEd Tells Ill. Judge Customers Can't Sue Over Bribery – Law360 -- Commonwealth Edison Co. told a Cook County judge Tuesday that she lacks the jurisdiction to hear a case brought by customers claiming they paid higher electrical bills after the utility bribed public officials to ensure passage of legislation benefiting it, saying the court can't reject rates established by a state regulator. A proposed class of Illinois ComEd customers suing the Exelon subsidiary can't get tort damages from paying rates that are authorized by state law, and the plaintiffs aren't challenging the validity of that law in their complaint, Matthew Price of Jenner & Block LLP said during remote arguments Tuesday morning.

 Utilities Eye Mini Nuclear Reactors as Climate Concerns Grow – WSJ - U.S. utilities are looking to miniature nuclear reactors, as they seek a steady energy source that can help reduce the carbon emissions linked to climate change. While power companies have stopped building big nuclear reactors because of cost overruns and construction delays, not all utilities are giving up on nuclear power. Several U.S. utilities and power consortia—including Energy Northwest, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, and PacifiCorp, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK.B 0.51% —have entered into partnerships with manufacturers to build small modular reactors, or SMRs, attracted to their potential to produce carbon-free, 24-hour-a-day power. Dozens of SMR developers world-wide—ranging from 22-person startup Oklo to Bill Gates-founded TerraPower—are testing designs for the reactors, which have less than a third of the generating capacity of traditional nukes and have components that can be mass-produced in factories. Their development is backed by the U.S. Energy Department, which said last fall that it would invest $3.2 billion over seven years to support such projects to boost cleaner technologies and decarbonize the power sector. However, SMR makers are still years away from proving that the technology can live up to its promise. None of the designs being tested across the country have fully made it past the U.S. regulatory review process, and the first miniature reactors likely won’t start delivering power to customers until the end of the decade, at the earliest. Opponents question whether the shrunken nuclear reactors can shed the issues that have plagued the now aging fleet of full-size plants, such as costly development times, nuclear waste management and safety concerns. Some power companies, including Ameren Missouri, say they see promise in the technology but have stopped short of committing to any agreements until it is proven cost-effective. Many SMR makers are keeping the exact price tag on their projects confidential, citing competitive reasons, but analysts think costs could range from tens of millions for the smallest microreactors to low billions for larger projects.

We’ve been here before: Wyoming nuclear project echoes of past --When state officials unveiled in June that a nuclear demonstration project is slated for Wyoming, they touted it as an advanced technology. But critics of the Natrium project say we’ve been here before — with the same technology and the same assurances made — only to see hopes dashed and massive public investments go to waste. The multi-billion dollar Natrium project is a joint effort of PacifiCorp, TerraPower and the U.S. Department of Energy that is expected to place a 345-megawatt power plant in Wyoming. Behind TerraPower is none other than Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates has injected vast sums from his enormous wealth into finding a solution to the world’s climate crisis that can be implemented in the near future. The investment in Natrium, Gates said during a recorded statement in June, would allow Wyoming to continue being a leader in U.S. energy. The unexpected announcement in early June brought rosy projections and big grins from Gov. Mark Gordon and U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), along with representatives from TerraPower and Rocky Mountain Power. (Rocky Mountain Power is a unit of PacifiCorp.) Gordon declared it “game-changing and monumental for Wyoming,” a state suffering massive budget shortfalls and economic ennui from a long-term downturn in fossil-fuel markets. Critics familiar with the technology and its history, however, doubt whether a commercially operating nuclear power plant will manifest in the next seven years — or ever — in Wyoming. “It would be quite a feat to pull off,” Allison Macfarlane, Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair from 2012-2014, told WyoFile. The history and current state of nuclear energy in the U.S. is long and complicated, but Edwin Lyman, Union of Concerned Scientists’ nuclear power safety director, said one thing is abundantly clear: No U.S. nuclear power project has been successfully completed on time and on budget in recent decades. “To attempt to build and operate a commercial unit without first taking the time to do all the necessary safety testing is a recipe for disaster,” Lyman said of the Natrium project.

Nuclear Plants to Get $6 Billion Lifeline in Infrastructure Deal - Struggling nuclear power reactors would get a $6 billion lifeline under the bipartisan infrastructure bill heading for a vote in the U.S. Senate -- a move supported by the Biden administration, but opposed by some environmentalists.A program to evaluate nuclear reactors that are at risk of being shut down and provide them with aid would be created within the Energy Department under terms of the $550 billion, bipartisan infrastructure package.The senators negotiating the package completed the text Sunday, moving the chamber a crucial step closer to likely passage this week. Final congressional action won’t come until after the House returns from a recess in September. The proposed aid for nuclear power, which provides about 19% of the nation’s electricity, comes as the industry has undergone a wave of closures. Reactors have high operating costs and are increasingly struggling to compete with cheaper electricity produced using natural gas and renewables.The assistance could be a boon for operators such asSouthern Co. and Exelon Corp., as well as for uranium miners like Lakewood, Colorado-based Energy Fuels, Inc. Nuclear reactors that use domestically mined and enriched uranium would be given priority under the proposed program.Plant operators would need to show they’re losing money, even after receiving any state subsidies, so only a small number of plant owners would qualify. That could include some Exelon reactors in Illinois, or Energy Harbor Corp. plants in Ohio or Pennsylvania, said Katie Bays, an analyst at FiscalNote Markets.“It’s definitely enough money to support the merchant reactors that are on the cusp of closure,” Bays said.However, the slow and uncertain pace of legislation means the bill may not be much help for some Exelon plants. The operator of the biggest U.S nuclear fleet plans to shutter two sites in Illinois in September and November, and isn’t willing to change those plans without more certainty from Washington, though a proposed state bailout may come in time to save the Byron and Dresden power plants.

DeWine got campaign cash from AEP after SEC subpoena --Ohio Governor Mike DeWine received $25,500 in campaign contributions from American Electric Power’s PAC and some of the electric utility’s top executives one month after AEP revealed it received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) connected to a growing corruption scandal. In a statement released on June 8, AEP revealed it recently received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. The subpoena seeks documents related to the financial benefits AEP received from House Bill 6, the same Ohio law at the center of the federal criminal investigation that forced FirstEnergy to admit to paying millions of dollars in bribes to state officials. While state lawmakers repealed some of the provisions of H.B. 6 that most benefited FirstEnergy earlier this year, AEP continues to benefit from increased coal subsidies under other parts of the 2019 law that remain in place. DeWine has been silent on the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation coal plant subsidies that have forced Ohio ratepayers to pay nearly $135 million to AEP, Dayton Power & Light, and Duke Energy since January of 2020 according to a tracker found on the website of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. On July 26, DeWine received a $10,000 contribution from AEP’s political action committee (PAC) for his re-election campaign, according to state campaign finance records. The contribution was for a fundraising event on July 22, the same day the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced charges against FirstEnergy and made public the deferred prosecution agreement that FirstEnergy reached with federal prosecutors.

FirstEnergy promised huge windfall to former utilities lawyer after company says it got him to change sides on key regulatory issue - - New documents show Sam Randazzo, a former longtime utilities lawyer who years later became Ohio’s top utilities regulator, in 2015 received a huge personal windfall from FirstEnergy Corp. in exchange for what the company has said was his agreement to change sides on a key state regulatory move sought by the company.At the time, Randazzo was in private practice, representing a trade group of large industrial electricity customers, but also had a 2012 consulting agreement with FirstEnergy. In 2015, FirstEnergy more than quadrupled Randazzo’s contract, going from owing him $2.5 million to owing him $11.2 million, according to the documents, obtained Monday through a public records request.In exchange, FirstEnergy has said, Randazzo agreed to stop opposing the company’s bid for state approval for a controversial “power purchasing agreement” that effectively would have bailed out some of its aging power plants, including the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo and the W.H. Sammis coal plant near Steubenville. The move, which was eventually blocked by federal regulators, was an early iteration of what became House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law that now is the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe.Randazzo had opposed a similar request from American Electric Power the previous year, arguing it would cause customers’ electricity bills to go up,according to a 2014 report from Energy News Network. In an interview with the outlet, he initially signaled he might oppose FirstEnergy’s request, too.“If it turns out that the proposal FirstEnergy is presenting is not superior to the market and would cost money instead of save money, then not only will it be opposed on factual grounds, but it will be challenged legally,” Randazzo said in 2014.But Randazzo ended up supporting the measure, reads a court filing FirstEnergy made last month as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, with the 2015 changes coinciding with and “in exchange for” Randazzo’s group withdrawing its opposition.

Feds subpoena records from Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as part of ongoing criminal probe - cleveland.com -- Federal investigators have requested records related to former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo and other topics, according to subpoenas the agency provided on Tuesday in response to a public records request.The subpoenas, dated April 13 and May 19, seek Randazzo’s appointment calendars and communications Randazzo had with other government officials regarding House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law that’s at the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe.They also seek a slew of other law changes and state regulatory moves that helped FirstEnergy Corp. and Energy Harbor, the former FirstEnergy subsidiary that owns the two nuclear plants that HB6 was to have subsidized, as well as records relating to the companies themselves. State legislators largely have repealed the law after the federal corruption probe became public.One topic the subpoenas seek records on is a PUCO case through which Randazzo in November 2019 voted to cancel a planned 2024 review of FirstEnergy’s electricity rates. The vote and its underlying cause were referenced in a deferred prosecution agreement FirstEnergy signed last month that allowed the company to escape being convicted of a crime. In the agreement, FirstEnergy said that its former senior executives worried the 2024 review -- which they called the “Ohio hole” -- would hurt the company’s bottom line by reducing electricity prices. After Randazzo and other PUCO commissioners canceled the rate case, former CEO Chuck Jones texted Randazzo to thank him, including an image of the company’s increased stock price, the company said in a court filing.The subpoenas were signed by Blane Wetzel, an FBI special agent in the agency’s Cincinnati field office who is a lead investigator on the HB6 probe. Wetzel wrote on the subpoena the records were needed as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. The PUCO sent the requested records to federal investigators, agency spokesman Matt Schilling said.“The PUCO has and is continuing to provide information as requested, and is fully cooperating with the Department of Justice. The PUCO cannot otherwise comment on a pending criminal investigation,” Schilling said.Randazzo has not been charged with a crime, and has denied wrongdoing. But the subpoena is the latest sign that the ongoing federal corruption probe into state government is, in part, targeting him. His lawyer and a spokesperson for the Southern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is leading the federal investigation, both declined to comment for this story.The FBI raided Randazzo’s Columbus home last November. Days later, FirstEnergy disclosed paying $4.3 million to someone matching Randazzo’s description in January 2019, shortly before that person took a state job regulating the company. The two developments prompted Randazzo to resign. Gov. Mike DeWine had hired Randazzo, a longtime utilities lawyer, to run the PUCO shortly after DeWine took office in January 2019. FirstEnergy since has said the $4.3 million payment to Randazzo was a bribe, according to the deferred prosecution agreement. The company said that in exchange, Randazzo helped push for changes in state government worth hundreds of millions of dollars to FirstEnergy, including lobbying for HB6 and canceling the 2024 rate review.

Amid corruption scandal, energy money continues to flow to state lawmakers - It’s going to take more than a bribery scandal on a historic scale to get energy money out of Ohio politics.Campaign finance reports, submitted late last week, show the campaign contribution pipeline from the natural gas and utility industries to Ohio lawmakers’ campaign accounts is alive and well. The vast majority went to Republicans, who firmly control the statehouse.Even among companies who benefitted from or are facing scrutiny related to House Bill 6 — whose passage yielded the ouster, indictment and looming trial of the former speaker of the Ohio House; threerelated pleas of guilt from lobbyists and a dark money nonprofit for racketeering; and an arrangement with prosecutors akin to a guilty plea from FirstEnergy Corp. — the donations continue to flow.For instance, HB 6 provided a ratepayer funded bailout for two coal plants in Ohio and Indiana, owned by a cooperative called the Ohio Valley Electric Corp.Equity of those plants is split between utilities American Electric Power (43%), Buckeye Power (18%), Duke Energy (9%), Dayton Power & Light Company (4.9%) and others. The legislation tacked a monthly fee on all residential and industrial ratepayers to prop up the failing coal plants — a bailout worth $114 million in 2020 alone and an estimated $700 million to their owners through 2030.Between Jan. 1 and July 31, AEP contributed $60,500 to GOP state lawmakers and Gov. Mike DeWine. Its CEO Nick Akins gave $5,000 to DeWine. Four other AEP executives gave DeWine a combined $5,500 as well.The company has not been charged with any crime related to HB 6. However, it announced earlier this year it received a related subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. AEP was the sole funder of a nonprofit which donated $700,000 to Generation Now, according to tax records and statements from the company. Generation Now pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy and agreed to forfeit $1.5 million to the government.Among the other OVEC shareholders: Buckeye Power contributed $41,200 to lawmakers, mostly Republicans; Duke Energy gave $21,000, mostly to Republicans; DP&L, now known as AES Ohio, gave $10,000 to Republicans.FirstEnergy — which admitted to federal prosecutors last week that it gave $61 million to Generation Now, which was secretly controlled by Householder, and $4.3 million to former PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo for favorable legal and regulatory treatment — did not report any donations thus far in 2021. Randazzo has not been charged with a crime and maintained his innocence in a statement last week.

Radioactive, for 1600 years -— It might be that it's just not something people want to think about. But the fact is radioactive waste from fracking getting shipped to loosely regulated landfills in Ohio has the potential to poison the environment for 1,600 years. Despite efforts from environmental organizations to educate the public about the radioactive risks created by the boom in shale gas fracking since the early 2000s, some Ohioans remain unaware that it is piling up, in many cases, in their own backyards. Sil Caggiano, senior battalion chief for the Youngstown Fire Department, blames the lack of awareness on the state’s protection of the industry. “It's the third rail of politics here in Ohio,” Caggiano said. “You don't screw with the fracking.” Caggiano contends his fellow first responders and civilians are not being given the knowledge owed to them by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, also known as SARA Title III. The act requires that states “organize, analyze and disseminate information on hazardous chemicals to local governments and the public.” The lack of transparency, according to Caggiano, puts him and fellow first responders in danger. They have no way to navigate industry-related incidents, like spills and explosions, when they don’t know what to test for or what they might be getting exposed to during emergency calls. Cagginao is wary of the industry’s money and power to buy "experts" and politicians. When it comes to influencing public opinion, he thinks the industry is nearly impossible to compete with in a fair or responsible manner. “If you bring in some guy who tries to tell you that the radium in the brine tanks is no worse than the radioactive potassium of bananas, people believe it because some guy who got paid and has got a Ph.D. said it,” Caggiano said. Previous reporting from Public Herald has shown that health risks related to fracking waste exposure do in fact exist — it’s not bananas. The industry, though, with help from the state, has chosen to downplay or ignore risks to both workers in the fracking industry and locals who live near oil and gas sites, treatment plants and sewage systems. Radioactive elements, such as radium-226, emit alpha particles that can become airborne as dust, drift through the air or be blown about by the wind to be inhaled or ingested. Once inside the human body, an alpha particle’s explosive charge can shred DNA to pieces, causing mutations in genetic material that can potentially affect future generations and obliterate cellular structures, creating the possibility for the development of tumors that can lead to fatal cancers. Radium-226 is commonly found in oil and gas waste and equipment, especially in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and is known to cause cancer in humans. Research has found exposure to high levels of radium can cause malignant bone tumors, such as childhood bone cancer. .“Putting this radioactive material into municipal waste sites is a giant concern. That could be life-altering for a lot of people, people in the vicinity, people downwater of streams, all those things,” “This is a permanent reactor near your house, and it will always be a reactor because the waste got pooled together. And it will make as much radon and radium today as it will tomorrow and the next day and the next day and 30 years from now and 100 years from now and 500 years from now because the half life of this stuff is like, forever … So while it’s a naturally occurring material, when you concentrate it, you create a reactor.”

 OSU study looks into impact pipeline installation has on crop yields -Preliminary results of an Ohio State University study show that pipeline installation on farmland negatively impacts crop yields. Researchers with the Ohio State University Extension Agronomics Crops Team collected soil and yield samples from 24 farms in seven counties that were impacted by natural gas pipeline installation in the last few years. They sampled the right-of-way over the pipeline and an adjacent, undisturbed area of the same field. Pipeline easements are typically 50 feet wide.They found corn grain yields decreased by an average of 23.8% in the pipeline installation area when compared with yields in the undisturbed area. Silage corn decreased an average of 28.8%; and soybean yield decreased an average of 7.4%. Soils within the right-of-way also had more rock fragments, lower soil moisture and a higher resistance to penetration, which indicates some amount of soil compaction. The results were similar to previous studies done on pipeline installation and crop yields.The farms were in Tuscarawas, Stark, Wayne, Medina, Lorain, Ashland and Wood counties. The Rover, Utopia and Nexus pipelines were targeted because they were each installed within the last three to four years.The team is collecting data again in the fall and looking for yield maps from other fields in Ohio where the Rover, Utopia or Nexus pipelines were installed.

Ohio Utica Shale Production 1Q21 – Northern Utica Oil Roars Back - Each quarter the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) issues an update on Utica (and Marcellus) oil and natural gas production. ODNR no longer issues a summary press release as they once did, which means we don’t automatically notice when quarterly updates appear on their website. ODNR publishes a detailed spreadsheet of all active wells showing oil and gas production by well. We make a copy of that spreadsheet, enhance it to make it more usable, and link to it. We also do our own sorting to show you the top 25 shale gas wells and top 25 shale oil wells. An astute MDN reader inquired about the report for 1Q21, which is now available. We’ve created our own version of their report and have some exciting news to share about 1Q21 results. Oil is back, in a big way, in the northern Utica! First up is Ohio’s top producing gas wells. Note: 3,221,989 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) is roughly equivalent to 3.22 billion cubic feet (Bcf). table: Ohio’s Top 25 Producing Utica Shale Gas Wells for 1Q21 As promised, the good news about the northern Utica being back–at least for oil production. Seemingly out of nowhere, in 1Q21 wells drilled by PennEnergy Resources appeared and dominated the top 25 oil wells. And all of those wells are in Carroll County, OH–the northern Utica. When Aubrey McClendon (former CEO of Chesapeake Energy) “discovered” the Utica, he bought up leases in the northern part of the play, places like Carroll County. Ultimately the southern part of the Utica proved to have more prolific production. However, somehow PennEnergy has reopened the door to the northern part of the play. PennEnergy scored 14 of the top 25 wells in oil production for 1Q21–by far the most of any company. Kudos! We run the numbers and calculated each well’s production by a daily average so we can rank all of the wells that way. Bear in mind a well online for just a few days will have higher daily production than a well online for a full 90 days. Finally, below is a link to view the spreadsheet online for 1Q21 Ohio Utica Production. You can sort the data any which way you want, or download it as a CSV file and keep your own copy. Enjoy!

Equitrans Mulling Requests by ‘Several’ Shippers to Boost Appalachia Natural Gas Takeaway Equitrans Midstream Corp. is making headway to increase natural gas connectivity in the Appalachian Basin, with management evaluating shipper interest received during a recent open season. The binding open season was related to Equitrans’ transmission system. It would increase shipper access to downstream markets in the Midwest and Gulf Coast, primarily through existing delivery interconnects with interstate pipelines in Clarington, OH. Management is evaluating the shipper requests, “and there were several,” according to Equitrans COO Diana Charletta. Also under evaluation are the costs to complete the expansion and the project economics. “There is still some back and forth with those shippers as far as where they want to come from and where they want to go,” Charletta said Tuesday during the second quarter earnings call with investors. “So, we’re working through all of that right now with shippers, and we should have final results in the next couple of months.” Meanwhile, construction continues on the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Charletta said crews have been working since the spring on all approved upland areas for MVP and are on track to complete work in the fall. Once the upland work is done, the remaining work would include about 10 miles related to water crossings and eight miles in areas in and around the Jefferson National Forest. A recent notice of schedule published by FERC indicates that the environmental assessment for MVP would be published by the middle of August. Charletta said the permitting timelines for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U,S. Army Corps of Engineers remain consistent with summer 2022 service. The total project cost estimate also remains around $6.2 billion.

Pipeline's plan to offset greenhouse gas emissions questioned by environmentalists - If natural gas begins to flow through the Mountain Valley Pipeline a year from now, as its developers expect, the operation will produce about 730,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year.Airborne emissions of carbon dioxide from three compressor stations along the 303-mile pipeline, along with methane expected to leak from the buried steel pipe, have long been a concern of opponents who say that delivering huge amounts of fossil fuel to markets will only worsen a climate change problem that is rapidly overheating the earth.On July 12, Mountain Valley announced a plan: The company will spend at least $150 million over the next 10 years on carbon offsets, which will be used to construct a massive methane abatement system at a coal mine in far Southwest Virginia.The mine is currently authorized by the federal government to release methane, generated by digging through rock formations, to prevent underground concentrations of the volatile gas from exploding and killing miners. A massive machine to be installed at the mine would convert the methane into water vapor and carbon dioxide before it is released into the air.Mountain Valley says the reduction of greenhouse gases will be roughly equivalent to what its pipeline will produce.The company will thus fight pollution from coal while meeting its goal of operating a carbon-neutral pipeline, said Diana Charletta, president and chief operations officer of Equitrans Midstream Corp., the lead partner in a joint venture building the controversial pipeline.The Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, two organizations that have participated in legal challenges of the pipeline, called the $150 million plan a “green-washing” campaign to put a clean face on what is really a “pay-to-pollute” scheme.“Decision makers and the public should not be fooled: this offset scheme does nothing to change the fact that MVP is a dirty fossil fuel project that would pollute our communities and exacerbate the climate crisis,” Patrick Grenter, associate director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign, said in a statement released shortly after the July 12 announcement.

Chesapeake Energy’s future muddied by executive departures, strategy shifts (Reuters) - When U.S. oil and gas producer Chesapeake Energy emerged from bankruptcy in February, it touted to investors a clean balance sheet, a new board of directors and a promise to restrain spending.Since then, the company has endured a senior management shakeup and, according to two sources familiar with the matter, its interim CEO has told employees that the company is eyeing acquisitions that could help double its size.The mixed signals, say some investors, shed light on why Chesapeake's stock rise has lagged that of rivals. One problem is that no one is exactly sure of the company's real post-bankruptcy strategy.Chesapeake's stock has gained about 21% since the company emerged from bankruptcy. But shares of rivals Antero Resources Corp AR.N and Range Resources Corp RRC.N have climbed about 67% and 53%, respectively, in the same period. Natural gas prices, meanwhile, have soared about 43% to $4.06 per million British thermal units.Investor confidence in Chesapeake’s reboot began to flag in April after then-director Michael Wichterich unexpectedly fired CEO Doug Lawler, who had headed Chesapeake for eight years, and took over his position on an interim basis.Lawler had been widely credited with whittling away the company’s $13 billion debt load with a conservative approach to spending and had shepherded the company through bankruptcy. In a town hall meeting shortly after the firing, Wichterich told employees that he had a knack for deal-making and recited a litany of deals he had closed on over the course of his career, according to two sources who attended the meeting. He then told them Chesapeake needed to grow or it would become an acquisition target, according to the sources, who added he has mentioned doubling the size of the company. "That freaked a lot of people out,"

Brooklyn Judge Freezes Plan to Truck Frigid Liquid Natural Gas to Brooklyn -Environmental activists protesting changes to National Grid’s Greenpoint hub for more than a year are claiming a legal victory — but the utility is pushing back.Following a court order, National Grid last week stopped construction work at the Brooklyn site that could be used to load and unload trucks containing liquefied natural gas, or LNG.LNG is predominantly methane gas cooled to liquid state and kept at minus-260 degrees — nearly as frigid as Saturn. The process reduces the gas’ volume, making for easier transportation. But trucking the combustible gas within the city has raised concerns around environmental and safety risks.A state Supreme Court judge on July 27 ordered National Grid to temporarily halt construction that would support possible LNG trucking to its North Brooklyn site, which is also at the center of a controversial pipeline plan.The move came after the Sane Energy Project and Cooper Park Resident Council sued the city, the Fire Department and National Grid to stop the work. The suit alleges required approvals haven’t been obtained and that an environmental review of the impact of trucking-related activities hasn’t been completed.“Any moment they’re not moving forward with this is more of a chance we can stop it for good,” said Lee Ziesche, community engagement coordinator for the Sane Energy Project.But in a legal filing submitted Thursday, National Grid argued against the restraining order and suggested environmental groups are misunderstanding its plan for the Greenpoint site.The work, National Grid spokesperson Karen Young said, has been “undertaken in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.”National Grid proposed bringing LNG to its Greenpoint facility by truck from outside the city through The Bronx and Queens.In November 2016, following up on a previous application, the company asked the FDNY for a “transport variance” to do so, since trucking LNG is illegal within city limits, but the request has not yet been granted or denied.Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Karen Rothenberg found that construction related to National Grid’s variance petition must stop until the case is decided.In a legal filing, the company indicated the variance petition was old and related to a project that never came to fruition. National Grid sent a letter to the city Law Department and Fire Department on Tuesday saying it wanted to formally withdraw its application.If in an emergency the company would want to truck in LNG, it would have to apply to the city for an “event-specific” variance, rather than a general one.The company was building the “fully and lawfully permitted” truck unloading station, according to the filing, in order to be prepared for such an emergency event. The construction was about half complete.

Henderson gas pipeline opponents want environmental study of project— Environmental advocates are asking federal regulators to slow down and take time to assess the environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions of a proposed natural gas pipeline expansion in Henderson County, Kentucky.The interstate pipeline would serve two proposed natural gas combustion turbines CenterPoint Energy wants to build across the Ohio River in Posey County, Indiana.CenterPoint Energy is seeking to speed development of the pipeline as it approaches the October 2023 retirement of its coal-burning A.B. Brown power plant near Evansville.Texas Gas Transmission, LLC, is the Houston-based company that will build and operate the pipeline by expanding its existing pipeline infrastructure. However, Texas Gas needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before it can go ahead with the 24-mile pipeline extension through western Henderson County. The project also includes upgrades to Texas Gas facilities near Slaughters, Ky., in Webster County, and in Johnson County, Indiana.Texas Gas has asked federal regulators to say the project won't need an environmental impact statement because it "will cause a substantial net reduction" in greenhouse gas emissions.Those reductions would come both from Texas Gas' own upgrades as well as from CenterPoint's move to more renewable energy sources, including closing A.B. Brown.The expansion will be from near the Henderson-Webster county line northwest and then north across the Ohio River to Posey County to the A.B. Brown power plant near Evansville.Both the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a consumer advocacy organization, and the environmental group Sierra Club have filed written protests. Citizens Action Coalition also is seeking a public hearing.CenterPoint has stated the natural gas turbines are important to help it transition from mostly coal-fueled power generation to a mix dominated by renewable energy sources while making sure it can reliably supply power at times renewable energy lags.In a 10-page filing to support the pipeline, Jason Stephenson, a CenterPoint vice president and general counsel, wrote that transitioning to renewable energy will be cheaper for customers than continuing to upgrade and operate the coal-burning power plant if the utility can make the transition quickly.

Letter: New pipelines? No thank you - The temperature in Portland, Oregon, a city that is further north than Toronto, Canada, recently hit 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice sheets are melting in line with the worst-case scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Now is not the time to build new gas pipelines and plants. Texas Gas filed with FERC to build a new gas pipeline under the Ohio River to the CenterPoint A.B. Brown Plant. They are asking to build without doing the usual Environmental Impact Study. CenterPoint is asking the IURC to build two gas plants that are projected to run only 4-7% of the time. They claim these plants are needed to support renewable energy sources as needed. This is misleading. Battery storage can smooth the intermittency of renewables. Energy efficiency can reduce peak load much more cheaply than new gas plants. CenterPoint’s anemic distributed energy resource and demand managements programs show they haven’t really applied much effort at meeting demand except by building new plants on our dime. Neither the new pipeline under our drinking source nor the gas plants are needed or wanted. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects to see huge increases in battery storage deployments – from 1,600 MW installed in 2020 to 10,700 MW by 2023. That’s the technology we deserve. CenterPoint would have us pay for gas plants and pipelines then almost immediately turn around and say – oops – NOW we need to replace these with battery storage like everyone else. Let’s not be stupid. Get it right the first time.

Hoosiers Concerned About ‘Pipeline to Nowhere’ That Could Be Built Under Ohio River -A Kentucky-based company is seeking approval from federal authorities to build a natural gas pipeline under the Ohio River to bring out-of-state fuel to non-existent power plants.Hoosiers and advocacy groups are concerned about the pipeline’s environmental effects and whether its approval could set back a transition to clean energy.Texas Gas Transmission LLC is project asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to build a 24-mile pipeline extension to connect two centerpointpetition proposed natural gas-fired power plants at CenterPoint Energy Inc.’s A.B. Brown Generating Station in Posey County to a network of interstate natural gas pipelines. The company is asking FERC to approve the project, which would extend from Robards, Kentucky to Evansville, Indiana via an underwater crossing under the Ohio River, without performing an environmental impact statement.Texas Gas said the project would facilitate a substantial net reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions, the heat-trapping gases responsible for man-made climate change.“FERC should determine that an environmental impact statement is not necessary to evaluate whether the Project will result in adverse climate change impacts because the Project will cause a substantial net reduction in methane, NOx, and carbon monoxide emissions resulting from the retirement and transitioning to standby of existing reciprocating compressor units on Texas Gas’ system and a reduction of indirect, downstream GHG emissions from the replacement of coal-fired generating facilities at CenterPoint’s AB Brown Plant with new-gas fired turbines and renewable resources,” Texas Gas wrote in its application to FERC.The company’s assertion is based on the assumption that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission will approve CenterPoint Energy’s petition to build the two natural gas combustion turbines the pipeline would eventually fuel.

Nelson County Activists Say Atlantic Coast Pipeline Should Rescind "Zombie Easements" | WVTF - It’s been just over a year since Dominion and its utility partners announced they were scrapping plans for a pipeline to carry natural gas from the fracking fields of West Virginia through Virginia to North Carolina. Opponents were thrilled, but some say their fight isn’t over yet. In 2012, David and Nancy Schwiesow retired from jobs in Washington D.C. to a small community in the Blue Ridge. They built their dream house near Wintergreen – 5,000 square feet with a spectacular view of three mountain ridges. But one year after moving in, David got a call from a real estate agent. “The realtor said, ‘Dominion has just rerouted the pipeline past the entrance to Wintergreen, up through your neighborhood.’ And I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’” As a corporate lawyer, he knew something about government, power and politics. “In Nelson County, Wintergreen is by far the most valuable set of properties," he explains. "The people here tend to be more politically connected than other people, so we thought there was no chance they’ll do that.” But it was soon apparent that backers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline or ACP intended to clear a 600-mile path 125 feet wide. David Schwiesow stands on his front porch, shaking his head at the memory. Armed with approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – FERC – the pipeline was able to take land from owners, even before agreeing on a price. Megan Gibson is a senior staff attorney with the Niskanen Center – a Washington-based think tank that has helped landowners across the country to fight pipelines. “They say to the court, ‘This is an emergency. We need to begin construction or tree felling or trench digging or whatever excuse that they’re giving to the court immediately, or we are going to lose thousands of dollars, and all of these terrible things are going to happen," she says. "The court more often than not grants immediate possession to the pipeline company without having to pay the land owner a dime!” Owners could no longer build on that part of their property nor could they plant trees, although Schwiesow’s neighbors were assured they would have some control. “After we build the pipeline, you can select the grass seed to go across the easement,” Schwiesow says they were told. So with the help of the Southern Environmental Law Center and a half dozen other groups, residents of Nelson County filed several lawsuits and challenged federal construction permits.

Pembroke Black Farming Community Fighting Gas Pipeline - At one time Pembroke Township in Kankakee County, Illinois was the largest Black farming community in the northern United States. Over environmental concerns and opposition by local Black farmers, a natural gas pipeline with large political backing is moving closer to reality. Farmers and political supporters claim the pipeline “threatens to replace [Pembroke] the last community of African American farmers in Illinois.” Reset talk with a farmer married couple leading protests of Black farmers.

Looming Northeast supply shortage drives steady advance in winter gas prices | S&P Global Platts - Natural gas prices in the US Northeast market area could hit their highest in four years or more this winter as lagging storage volumes and flat production are stretched thin by strong seasonal demand. Forwards markets are already bracing for the increasingly likely scenario. Since the start of April, peak-winter-season prices have surged at downstream hubs across the Northeast Atlantic Seaboard. At Transco Zone 6 New York, the December-January-February calendar-month average has climbed to more than $7/MMBtu recently, up from levels around $5.50 in early April. At Boston-area Algonquin city-gates, the peak-winter calendar-month average has climbed to the mid-$12s/MMBtu recently, gaining about $5.50 or almost 80% since the start of April, S&P Global Platts data shows. At both locations, the winter forward contracts are priced at their highest for January and February which recently settled in the upper-$7 range at Transco Zone 6 and the $13 to $14 range at Algonquin. The runup in Northeast winter gas prices over the past several months comes as regional storage inventories appear increasingly ill prepared to handle the upcoming spike in seasonal heating demand. As of early August, gas storage in the Northeast is estimated at 690 Bcf – about 54 Bcf, or 7%, below the prior five-year average and 128 Bcf, or almost 16%, behind the region's year-ago inventory level, data from S&P Global Platts Analytics shows. Since the start of May, storage injections in the Northeast have averaged about 3.2 Bcf/d – almost 300 MMcf/d below the prior five-year average. While a recent uptick in the pace of injections has narrowed the region's inventory deficit from over 60 Bcf, the speed of this summer's build will need to accelerate to about 3.4 Bcf/d through early November to reach typical pre-winter inventory levels at over 1 Tcf.

Natural gas prices soar as demand for cooling boosts - Natural gas prices peaked this Monday, as cooling demand is forecast to boost in coming weeks; forecasts have predicted that weather will get hotter around the U.S. Consequently, more natural gas is going to be needed in order to cool off departments and buildings. Front-month gas futures rose 2.1 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $3.935 per million British thermal units; Reuters reported. “The market is looking ahead to what could be a very hot end to the summer; with the cooling degree days likely to go up a little bit.” “Today’s price advance, although contained below Friday’s highs; reinforced our bullish view as we still see achievement of the $4.18 level as a high probability before this week is out.” Moreover, data provider Refinitv also projected that U.S. demand, including exports, will rise from an average of 91.2 bcfd this week to 95.2 bcfd next week. “We believe that early gains were shaved by the plunge in petroleum values; and also, that today’s highs will see violation by mid-week at the latest.” Added Ritterbusch. In addition, as we reported previously, liquified natural gas prices also peaked. Flynn also said to Reuters that U.S. LNG will stay very strong; while U.S. supply will weaken; leading to a tight market this year, which should support prices. In fact, last week natural gas prices jumped to their highest since December 2018 at $4.187. On the other hand, U.S. LNG exports reached 10.8 bcfd in July, up from 10.1 bcfd in June but still below April’s record 11.5 bcfd. On the other hand, U.S. production will remain unchanged, according to Refinitiv, in 92.2 billion cubic feet per day next week. That number will still be below November’s all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd. Finally, according to experts, U.S. LNG exports will remain strong for the whole year; supported by European natural gas prices ar tecord levels; and also Asian gas trading nearly at $15 per mmBtu.

Production Drop, Hotter Forecast Propel Natural Gas Futures Prices a Second Day - A step down in production drove natural gas futures prices higher for a second day, with gains accelerating after the latest weather models turned even hotter for next week. The September Nymex gas futures contract settled Tuesday at $4.027, up 9.2 cents on the day. October climbed 9.4 cents to $4.032. Spot gas prices were mostly higher, but there were small decreases in the Midwest and part of the western United States. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 8.5 cents to $4.000. With summer heat nearing what traditionally is the peak period this month, weather forecasts have once again become a driving force for gas markets. Weather models early Tuesday changed only slightly, according to NatGasWeather. The American and European data each saw a difference of less than 2 cooling degree days (CDD) for the coming 15 days compared to Monday’s data. As important, the models remained “quite hot” with the U.S. pattern for Saturday through Aug. 15. The midday Global Forecast System model, however, trended even hotter for next week into the following week, gaining more than 5 CDDs, NatGasWeather said. The forecast showed widespread heat building across most of the United States beginning late this weekend, aided by highs of lower to mid-90s over the East Coast and mid-90s to 102 over Texas and the South. “This should increase power burns to 45 to 47-plus Bcf/d, an impressive amount, thereby resulting in a couple smaller-than-normal builds to finally push current deficits of 168 Bcf to near or over 200 Bcf,” NatGasWeather said. The forecaster expects the “very warm to hot pattern” from Sunday to Aug. 15 and possibly carrying over to Aug. 16-18. However, early indications showed conditions not quite as impressively hot by then, “as weather systems find flaws in the ridge to weaken it moderately.” Bespoke Weather Services said another factor to consider is that wind early next week is expected to be stronger than recently, but it then may back off by the end of the period. Wind penetration has been a key driver of natural gas demand for power generation, even in the current higher price environment. Energy Aspects noted that wind generation in July averaged around 30 GW, short of its pre-month expectations by 9 GW. The firm attributed most of the miss to low wind generation earlier in the month in the Midcontinent.

September Natural Gas Prices Hit $4.20 Ahead of Potentially Lowest Injection of Season - After two solid days in the black, natural gas futures prices reached new heights on Wednesday as production continued to decline, and hot weather remained firmly in next week’s forecast. The September Nymex gas futures contract hit a $4.205 intraday high before settling at $4.158, up 13.1 cents from Tuesday’s close. Spot gas prices also strengthened as the cool conditions experienced in much of the country this week started to fade. With warmer temperatures on the way, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. ticked up 12.0 cents to $4.120. The potential for intense heat next week already has cut short an emerging period of consolidation in the gas market, according to EBW Analytics Group LLC. A growing cooling demand outlook for the coming 15-day period could lift weekly cooling degree day (CDD) forecasts for the week ending Aug. 12 to 93, which is 25 CDDs hotter than this week. “Bullish momentum has reemerged faster than appeared likely just last week,” said EBW analysts. The supportive outlook comes as long-range weather forecasts remained stable again Wednesday morning. The outlook showed next week as the “hottest week of the summer,” said Bespoke Weather Services. Forecasters pointed to widespread temperatures in the 90s across the Midwest and East underneath a strong upper level ridge in the six- to 10-day period. A couple of days next week are forecast to reach near records in terms of national gas-weighted degree days.

US working natural gas volumes in underground storage increase 13 Bcf: EIA | S&P Global Platts - US natural gas storage volumes increased by 13 Bcf in the week ended July 30, which was 4 Bcf less than a S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, but exactly in line with the Platts Analytics' storage model.Working gas in storage increased to 2.727 Tcf, the US Energy Information Administration, or EIA, reported Aug. 5. The weekly injection was less than the 17 Bcf addition expected by a Platts' survey of analysts. It also trailed the five-year average build of 30 Bcf and last year's 32 Bcf injection in the corresponding week. The injection was less than half of the 36 Bcf build in the week ended July 23, with the decline being driven primarily by the South Central region. It posted a massive draw of 23 Bcf and measured as one of the largest withdrawals from storage in the region on record to take place during an injection season. The region has reported an average draw of 7 Bcf for the week over the past five years. Last year, it added 2 Bcf. Total US demand increased by more than 3 Bcf/d compared to the week before, while total US supplies were flat, according to Platts Analytics data. US storage volumes now stand at 542 Bcf, or 16.6% less than the year-ago level of 3.269 Tcf, and 185 Bcf, or 6.4% less than the five-year average of 2.912 Tcf. The NYMEX Henry Hub September contract remained at $4.16/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report. The winter strip, November through March, averaged $4.23/MMBtu. An early end to a pipeline maintenance restricting flows from the US Northeast to the Southeast should boost supplies to the South Central region. Southeast inflows from the Northeast increased on Aug. 4 from 6.6 Bcf/d to over 7 Bcf/d as the capacity reductions along Texas Eastern Transmission were lifted. The outage, which began on June 2, cut southbound flows through the Danville compressor station by roughly 600 MMcf/d, lowering total Northeast to Southeast flows by 400 MMcf/d as other pipelines were able to make up some of the losses. The work was completed nearly two months earlier than expected, as the original end date was targeting the end of the third quarter. The increased supply reaching the Southeast will likely help to keep some pressure on regional prices. However, overall tighter balances throughout the region will likely outweigh any increases to inflows, according to Platts Analytics. Despite the elevated inflows to the Southeast, spot Henry Hub prices jumped 14 cents during trading on Aug. 4 to settle at $4.12/MMBtu. Platts Analytics' supply and demand model currently forecasts a 47 Bcf injection for the week ending Aug. 6, which would measure 5 Bcf more than the five-year average.

September Natural Gas Prices Retreat in Face of Dangerously Low Storage The latest round of government storage data was about as bullish as it could be, but sellers came into the fold once weather models showed the upcoming heat being a little less intense. The September Nymex gas futures contract settled Thursday at $4.140, off 1.8 cents day/day. October slipped 1.5 cents to $4.148. Spot gas prices remained mostly in positive territory. However, there were a handful of locations, mostly in the West, that fell into the red. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. tacked on 2.5 cents to $4.145. [Mexico Natural Gas Market Spotlight: Gathering insight from active buyers and sellers, NGI breaks down what fundamentals are driving Mexico’s natural gas pricing in this weekly market analysis – READ NOW.] As it is every week, the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) storage report was the primary focus of trading early in the session. Estimates ahead of the report were wide-ranging, from an injection as small as 14 Bcf to one as large as 34 Bcf. For comparison, the EIA recorded a 32 Bcf injection in the same week last year, and the five-year average stands at 30 Bcf. The Nymex September futures contract initially popped when the EIA reported a smaller-than-expected 13 Bcf build. The prompt month hit around $4.20, but with the latest weather models backing off from some of the heat forecast for next week, sellers swept in to drag prices back down. “The market appeared to already be pricing in risk of a bullish miss, and some cooler shift in the midday weather models brought some sellers into the fold,” said Bespoke Weather Services. “Dips likely will be bought, still, until production shows.” Given rampant export demand, and near triple-digit temperatures across the South Central region, inventories declined at both salt and nonsalt facilities. The EIA said salt stocks fell by 19 Bcf, and nonsalt dropped by 3 Bcf. A participant on The Desk’s online chat Enelyst noted that the 19 Bcf withdrawal in the South Central salt inventories was the largest third quarter salt draw of all time. The nonsalt draw also surprised. “I didn’t see that draw from nonsalt coming,” said Enelyst managing director Het Shah. Elsewhere across the country, Pacific stocks also slipped by 2 Bcf amid ongoing heat and low hydroelectric power in the region. East inventories climbed 21 Bcf, and the Midwest added 17 Bcf.

Bacteria Cleanup: Should we let nature clean up oil spills? – Natural populations of oil-degrading bacteria could help to clean up freshwater rivers and lakes after spills from pipelines and trains, researchers have found after experiments that simulated spills in a Canadian lake.Vince Palace, who led the work at the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Experimental Lakes Area in western Ontario, said that the methods currently in use for cleaning up spills in rivers and lakes – mostly digging up and dumping contaminated soil – are not particularly effective. They only recover around 20 to 40% of the oil, and the physical damage done to shorelines and streambeds can be worse than the effects of the spill itself, taking as long as a decade to recover.Palace and his colleagues wanted to see if leaving the oil in place to be cleaned up by natural processes like bacteria might be a practical alternative.“We know that in the marine environment there are bacteria that can degrade oil,” said Palace. “We wanted to know if naïve freshwater systems have that same capacity.”The researchers created enclosures along the shore of one of the experimental lakes and dumped either conventional crude oil or the diluted bitumen that comes from Canada’s oil sands to simulate a spill. After 72 hours they cleaned it up as best they could, then examined what happened to the residual oil over the course of the summer and into the winter.The team found that after the spill, the composition of the bacterial community in the soil and water shifted dramatically. Rare types of bacteria, which had barely been present before, suddenly became the most common – and most of them had the capacity to degrade oil by using it as a source of food, suggesting a natural recovery could be a potential solution to spills in places like the Great Lakes, which are criss-crossed by pipelines and home to several refineries.

Council holds city-county pipeline ordinance, passes on second reading proposed permitting process law – MLK50 - Nearly six months since the first pipeline-regulating ordinance was placed before the Memphis City Council and one month since developers canceled the Byhalia Connection Pipeline, local governments have yet to pass any measures that would make similar pipeline projects tougher, if not impossible, to build.The council will consider Tuesday afternoon the third and final reading of a joint city-county ordinance that would require 1,500 feet between an oil pipeline and residential areas. Also on the council agenda is the second of three readings for a city-only ordinance that would create a new permitting process for such projects.Even though the project was halted, passing the two ordinances have been a priority of Justin J. Pearson, a co-founder of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, which led the charge to stop the pipeline.“We are as vulnerable today against crude oil pipelines as we were in (before the project was announced),” Pearson said. “Without legislation and just regulation, our aquifer and our people will remain vulnerable.” The now-canceled project was a joint venture of Plains All American Pipeline and Valero Energy Corporation to expand their crude oil capacity with a pipeline through largely poor and Black neighborhoods in Southwest Memphis and atop the vulnerable Memphis Sand Aquifer, from which the city draws its drinking water.Plains voluntarily abandoned the project last month after facing opposition from Southwest Memphis residents, MCAP, elected officials, and national celebrities. However many pipeline opponents worry that without legal barriers to block it, the project could be revived later. In their cancellation announcement, Plains did not commit to abandoning the project permanently, nor did it signal that it wouldn’t pursue another pipeline in Memphis.The city’s ordinance would create a new permitting process for oil pipelines, establish an advisory board of experts and community members to evaluate proposals, require public notice and comment, and give the city council final approval. The council stalled the ordinance for months out of an abundance of caution after Plains threatened to sue. Some council members also wanted to address Memphis business leaders’ concerns that the ordinance would disrupt maintenance on existing pipelines. “It is being explained to us that delays are happening because of a ‘corporate constituency’ that is against the legislation without any mention of the community constituency that is for just legislation and regulation being passed,” Pearson said.

Oil leak from Golden Ray wreck could impact local beaches - — A pollution response team was been sent to the St. Simons Sound after oil leaked from the Golden Ray wreck.According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, there was a “significant” oil leak from the wreck.The department says it happened during “weight shedding” operations.Responders are trying to clean up the oil with current busters and oil skimmers. They ask anyone going to St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island who sees residual oil on the shoreline or in the water to call the National Response Center hotline at (800) 424-8802.

Days of cleanup after shipwreck oil leak fouls Georgia beach (AP) - Officials say cleanup efforts will take several days after oil leaking from the remains of an overturned cargo ship off the Georgia coast washed up on a beach popular with tourists.Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Himes said Monday that bands of oil released into the water during demolition of the shipwreck are being cleaned up along 2.5 miles of beaches on St. Simons Island.The first spill happened Saturday as crews manning a giant crane tried to lift a newly severed section of the ship from the water. Himes said more oil gushed out during a second lift attempt Monday. About 70 workers have been working to remove the oiled sand since Sunday.

Louisiana needs sand to rebuild its coast. Old oil and gas pipelines are blocking the way. - A Houston-based energy company is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to walk away from its aging infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. Fieldwood Energy is attempting to shift responsibility for removing 1,715 wells, 276 platforms and 281 pipelines to oil and gas companies that previously held leases for the same area, according to court documents. Under existing federal regulations, companies remain liable for decommissioning infrastructure on areas of federally owned seafloor where they previously produced oil and gas. But the former holders of the Fieldwood leases — including Chevron, BP and Shell — are attempting to get out of that obligation because of the cost, estimated at $9 billion. It’s a familiar story. A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that oil and gas companies have been allowed to abandon 97 percent of offshore pipelines in place without penalty. The abandoned infrastructure poses environmental concerns, but it has also created another problem: The pipelines are blocking access to the sand that Louisiana and other gulf states desperately need to rebuild their coastlines in the face of rising seas. The Gulf of Mexico swallows a football field of Louisiana coastline every 100 minutes on average. Barrier islands that have historically acted as speed bumps to hurricanes headed toward coastal communities are among the areas losing ground. Without them, the state is more vulnerable to climate change and severe weather. Geologists estimate that up to 11,000 million cubic meters of sediment are needed to restore the state’s coastline, but about 58 percent of the offshore sediment in the gulf that could be used to rebuild Louisiana’s coast is blocked by pipelines, said Syed Khalil, a geologist with the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. While there is enough sand for the coastal restoration projects that Louisiana has planned in the short term, the state’s fight to fend off rising seas will require more. “We need every grain of sand for the restoration of coastal Louisiana,” Khalil said. Other Gulf Coast states are facing the same problem. But the issue has come to a head in Louisiana, where coastal land is disappearing faster than anywhere else in the nation. Flood control levees built along the Mississippi River are partly to blame for the Bayou State’s land loss. Levees block off the supply of sediment once carried by the river into coastal wetlands. Canals dug through the wetlands to build and service pipelines — which create pathways for saltwater to flow into the marsh — are also partly to blame for Louisiana’s coastal erosion. Now, those pipelines are hindering the solution. Federal regulations require the removal of offshore pipelines once they are decommissioned, but the rules are rarely enforced. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the Interior Department agency that regulates offshore energy, has been mostly unsuccessful at getting companies to pay for the removal of pipelines decommissioned in place when they are later determined to be in the way.

Lawsuits over Louisiana oil drilling damage subject to new round of federal court hearings - Lawsuits filed in state court by Plaquemines and Cameron parishes to force oil and gas companies to clean up millions of dollars of environmental damage caused by their drilling activities were ordered Thursday to undergo a new set of hearings in federal court.The petitions are among 42 suits in state courts in six Louisiana parishes against oil and gas companies, some filed as early as 2013, over damage dating from decades ago. They allege the companies violated Louisiana's coastal resources management act by failing to obtain permits or by violating the terms of the permits they did obtain. They do not allege violations of federal laws.Take a close look at this abandoned Plaquemines oil field, why it's source of major legal battle The companies have repeatedly tried to transfer the suits to federal courts in search of a judicial audience that might be more friendly to their arguments against paying for the cleanups. Federal courts have often returned the suits to state courts.But a document filed in support of Plaquemines Parish's arguments triggered the latest challenge. The companies contend the document for the first time showed that some of their drilling operations were conducted during World War II at the request of the federal Petroleum Administration for War. That could put the drilling under federal regulatory law, making the suits eligible for federal courts.The companies also argued that their actions were conducted under the direct jurisdiction of federal agents, another reason they should be heard in federal courts.Thursday's ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was written by Judge James Ho of Dallas and joined by judges Kurt Engelhardt of Metairie and Andrew Oldham of Austin, Texas. President Donald Trump nominated all three to that court.They agreed with earlier decisions, by district judges in New Orleans and Lake Charles, that the oil companies are incorrect in saying regulatory questions involving the environmental damage fall under federal legal jurisdiction. But they also ruled that the lower courts must determine whether the companies' work was overseen by federal agents, so-called "federal officer jurisdiction," which would allow the cases to stay in federal court.

Proposed oil terminal in Plaquemines Parish could disrupt Louisiana's $2B wetlands project wA massive oil export terminal proposed in Plaquemines Parish would likely undermine Louisiana's $2 billion bid to restore the degraded wetlands of Barataria Bay, according to a draft study commissioned by the Midwestern company leading the project. Modeling completed in February 2020 suggested the construction of the $2.5 billion terminal's dock could reduce the amount of sand entering the mouth of the state's planned Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion by up to 15%. Add a ship parked in front of the terminal, and nearly half of the sediment that could be used to rebuild land off the parish's west bank might be blocked. Consisting of a 2-mile long gated, concrete channel, the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion would transport silt- and clay-laden water from a sand bar in the Mississippi River to the Barataria Basin. It's the one of the cornerstones of the state's 50-year, $50 billion plan to sustain a portion of Louisiana's lower third amid severe coastal erosion, subsidence and rising seas. Located on the former St. Rosalie Plantation site, the crude oil terminal would store up to 20 million barrels on site and load them onto huge ocean-going "Panamax" ships and barges for export. It’s a joint project of Tallgrass Energy LP, headquartered in Leawood, Kansas; Drexel Hamilton Infrastructure Partners, LP, a New York-based investment firm; and the Plaquemines Port, Harbor and Terminal District, which is governed by the Parish Council. Interfering with the state's restoration project is just one of the terminal's challenges. Developers are also facing opposition from residents of nearby Ironton, who fear increased air pollution and oppose plans to excavate and build on top of gravesites of people formerly enslaved on the plantation. The study became public after the environmental group Healthy Gulf filed a public records request for it in May. Now, the nonprofit, joined by the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense Fund and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, have renewed calls for the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to kill the proposed terminal by finding it inconsistent with the Coastal Master Plan.

Tellurian and Shell Finalize 10-Year LNG Deal -- Tellurian Inc. has announced that it has finalized liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) with Shell NA LNG. The company outlined that the SPAs are on a free on board basis at Driftwood LNG for a combination of three million tons per annum (Mtpa) for a ten year period, indexed to a combination of two indices - the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) and the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), each netted back for transportation charges. The agreements mark the third deal Tellurian has finalized in ten weeks, totaling nine Mtpa and nearly all of the capacity of Driftwood LNG’s first two plants, Tellurian noted. In June, Tellurian announced that it had finalized LNG SPAs with Vitol Inc. for three Mtpa over a ten year period. In May, Tellurian and Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd announced an LNG SPA for three Mtpa for a ten year period. “Tellurian welcomes Shell to the Driftwood project,” Tellurian President and Chief Executive Officer, Octávio Simões, said in a company statement. “Shell manages one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of LNG in the world and is leading the industry in delivering CO2e neutral LNG cargoes. Owing to Driftwood’s integrated project, our ability to accurately measure well to loading arm emissions and reduce emissions where operationally possible, further enables Shell’s CO2e neutral LNG offering,” the Tellurian head added. “With these SPAs, we have now completed the sales to support the launching of the first two plants. Tellurian will now focus on financing Driftwood, in order to give Bechtel notice to proceed with construction in early 2022,” he went on to say. Steve Hill, the executive vice president of Shell Energy, said, “this deal secures additional competitive volumes for our portfolio by the mid-2020s, enabling us to continue providing diverse and flexible LNG supply to our customers”. Driftwood LNG, which is Tellurian’s first project, is a 27.6 Mtpa LNG facility near Lake Charles, Louisiana. The project has all the required permitting to begin construction and has achieved “significant commercial momentum”, Tellurian notes on its website. The management team at Tellurian has collectively delivered over 79 million tons of LNG through over the past 50 years, Tellurian’s website notes.

Buyer for Port Arthur LNG switches to other Sempra projects - Sempra’s proposed Port Arthur LNG export facility has lost an investor. Citing delays on the project, Poland’s state-run energy firm, PGNiG, decided to end its proposed 20-year contract for liquid natural gas. Instead, PGNiG has opted to sign a contract with Sempra to receive the 2 million tons per year of LNG from the company’s other North American projects, it announced on Tuesday. “We highly value our relationship with Sempra LNG, and we are keen to continue it,” Paweł Majewski, CEO of PGNiG SA, said in a statement. “The (memorandum of understanding) allows for shifting the volumes originally contracted at Port Arthur LNG to other facilities from Sempra LNG’s projects portfolio.” Sempra LNG owns a 50.2% interest in Cameron LNG, a 12-Mtpa export facility operating in Hackberry, Louisiana, and already is working on an expansion at that facility. The company also is working with IEnova and TotalEnergies on a project in Baja California, Mexico. The first phase of that project is expected to start production by the end of 2024. There are plans for an expansion at that facility as well, which are in the early phases of development. Meanwhile, Sempra in May, for the second time delayed its final investment decision on moving forward with the Port Arthur LNG, shifting the timeline sometime into 2022. In a statement from the company, Sempra LNG’s top executive was positive about the changes, marking it as a reflection of growing demand from energy buyers for reduced carbon emissions attached to the products they purchase. Sempra executives told investors and analysts in a May investor’s call that impacts to the natural gas industry during the pandemic and demand for more environmentally-friendly projects from global customers would require it to delay for another year while it continued to refine plans. Although work on an actual LNG facility for Sempra in Sabine Pass may be tentative, the company’s ongoing work on Texas 87 is nearing the finish line.

FERC Ordered to Revisit South Texas LNG Authorizations as Court Finds Environmental Analyses Lacking --A federal court on Tuesday ordered FERC to review its approvals of two planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects in South Texas, saying the agency had not adequately explained its approach in evaluating the potential impacts on climate change and environmental justice (EJ) communities. The decision handed down from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit remands the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authorizations, clearing the facilities for construction and operation, but it does not vacate them. That leaves the authorizations in place, allowing the developers to continue work on the facilities while the review proceeds.“We find it reasonably likely that on remand, the Commission can redress its failure of explanation with regard to its analyses of the projects’ impacts on climate change and environmental justice communities, and its determinations of public interest and convenience” under the Natural Gas Act (NGA) “while reaching the same result,” Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins wrote in an opinion on behalf of the court.The facilities in question, NextDecade Corp.’s Rio Grande LNG and an associated pipeline, and the privately owned Texas LNG development, received FERC authorization in 2019. Neither has reached a final investment decision. A coalition of environmentalists and local activists has long opposed the projects and challenged FERC’s authorizations in court.In the Tuesday decision, the court agreed with project opponents that the FERC assessment of the projects’ impacts on climate change were deficient. The opponents, which include environmental groups and local activists, argued that FERC should have used a “social cost of carbon” protocol to calculate impacts.While commissioners had said the projects would contribute “incrementally” to climate change, FERC also said it could not calculate the actual impacts because the means of making those calculations were unknown. The court determined that the law required FERC to evaluate climate change impacts based on “theoretical approaches or research methods generally accepted in the scientific community.

Gas projects reveal FERC’s environmental justice conundrum - Two liquefied natural gas terminals under development at the tip of Texas’ Gulf Coast could either lift low-income residents out of poverty or destroy local fishing and tourism economies, depending on whom you ask.The disparate views on the planned LNG projects — Rio Grande LNG from Houston-based NextDecade and the independently owned Texas LNG — underscore a tension for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Chair Richard Glick’s recent pivot to address environmental justice: How should FERC determine whether the costs of a proposed project outweigh its benefits? Under what circumstances should projects in disadvantaged communities be approved or denied? And will FERC’s decisions survive legal scrutiny?FERC greenlighted the two LNG projects, which are slated to be built in the majority Latino region of Cameron County, Texas, in the fall of 2019. At the time, then-Chair Neil Chatterjee, a Republican, touted the projects as a win for the climate and U.S. foreign policy.“The Commission has now completed its work on applications for 11 LNG export projects in the past nine months, helping the United States expand the availability of natural gas for our global allies who need access to an efficient, affordable and environmentally friendly fuel for power generation,” he said in a statement at the time.To some legal experts and environmental activists, however, FERC’s analysis of the potential health and economic impacts of the projects on nearby communities was a textbook example of the agency’s inadequate consideration of environmental justice issues. Currently, the agency considers environmental justice within broader environmental impact statements, but there have been complaints that those analyses are insufficient and don’t fully assess impacts to low-income areas and communities of color.Glick, a Democrat who became chairman in January, vowed to make environmental justice a greater priority for the commission throughout its decisionmaking processes. At the same time, industry has questioned whether the agency has the legal authority to do so.The developers of Texas LNG and Rio Grande LNG each estimates that the terminals could bring thousands of new jobs to the region. Many elected officials — from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to the Cameron County Commissioners Court — have also touted the projects’ economic benefits, including the tax revenue they could bring in.The facility will also be powered by “electric drives” rather than gas turbines to lower its carbon emissions, Texas LNG added. Rio Grande LNG, meanwhile, is incorporating carbon capture and storage into its design to cut “permitted emissions” at its facility by over 90% (Energywire, March 19). Developer NextDecade did not respond to requests for comment.

Tribes, enviros sue Corps over Texas oil terminal expansion permit -(Reuters) – Indigenous tribes and environmental groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers in Corpus Christi, Texas, in federal court for issuing a permit to Moda Midstream, alleging it issued the permit for the expansion of the marine oil export terminal without studying the effects of the project on seagrass and wetlands. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Indigenous Peoples of the Coast Bend and others accused the Corps of violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) with a CWA permit that would allow Moda to dredge about 3.9 million cubic meters. of material out of Corpus Christi Bay. “One of my main concerns as a fisherman and bird watcher is that MODA’s expansion will destroy many acres of vital seagrass,” said Patrick Nye, chairman of the plaintiff group Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association in a statement. if green comment then The Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Steven Davidson, a spokesperson for Moda, said: “We are satisfied that the nearly one-and-a-half-year application review process has been complete and that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit has been properly delivered. “ The Houston-based company had planned to expand its Ingleside oil terminal, which connects Permian and Eagle Ford’s crude oil production to international markets, as early as 2017. Construction on the project has not started, Davidson said. The complaint says the expansion of the “largest export terminal in the United States by volume” would add five berths for tankers and barges, effectively doubling the capacity of its vessels. The plaintiffs, represented by Lauren Ice of Perales, Allmon & Ice, argue that the Corps violated NEPA because, although its environmental review of the project notes that seagrass and wetlands will be affected, it does not study this impact with the type of detailed reporting on NEPA’s mandates for major federal actions, known as environmental impact statements.

John Kerry questions long-term future of natural gas - Climate envoy John Kerry says natural gas is not “anything near a long-term solution” to help address climate change even while it can help replace coal in certain countries in the near-term.Kerry’s stance, declared in an interview with the New Yorker published last night, is notable because the Biden administration has struggled to articulate a consistent position on the role of natural gas.Here is the entire quote: “Russia has an option of quickly closing coal plants that are more than forty years old, not working that effectively, and not needed, in favor of transitioning to gas for the moment. I emphasize ‘for the moment’ because gas is still a fossil fuel, and gas is mostly methane, so it leaks and also produces CO2. It’s not, in our judgment, anything near a long-term solution, unless somebody discovers one-hundred-percent abatement.” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has repeatedly said that shipping U.S. liquified natural gas abroad can play an important role in replacing dirtier coal, especially in Asia. She has also pressed the oil and gas industry to do a better job of reducing methane emissions associated with LNG in order to make that case credible. But she has not definitively said how long gas can continue playing a useful role in the clean energy transition.Still, liberal climate activists who have been pushing the administration to reject natural gas, even as a replacement for dirtier coal abroad, are interpreting Kerry’s comments as being closer to their position."Special Envoy Kerry’s comments were definitely encouraging,” Collin Rees, senior campaigner with Oil Change U.S., told me. “It’s good to see a recognition from Kerry that ‘slightly less dirty’ won’t cut it — and that zero emissions means no gas or other fossil fuels."

Exxon Lobbyist Caught on Tape Is an Advisor to Congressional Black Caucus Foundation – ExxonMobil senior lobbyist Keith McCoy was caught on video more than a month ago saying that he and his employer fight congressional climate action by using “shadow groups” and centrist think tanks. But the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation has so far decided to keep McCoy on as an advisor. McCoy is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) corporate advisory council, which “[advises] the CBCF’s Board of Directors on policy, special initiatives, and leadership development.” The CBCF’s Board of Directors currently includes six members of the House of Representatives, some of whom hold positions on the House committee with jurisdiction over legislation related to environmental protections and climate change. The CBCF is a nonprofit affiliate of the Congressional Black Caucus that researches how policies affect Black communities, publishes legislative reports, and hosts an annual legislative conference that it describes as “the leading policy conference on issues impacting African Americans and the global Black community.” On June 30, a Greenpeace-affiliated outlet released video of McCoy, a senior director of federal relations for Exxon, telling an undercover reporter that his company works behind the scenes to stall action on climate change even as it claims publicly to support the Paris Agreement and policies like a carbon tax. McCoy, who believed he was giving advice to someone who was looking to hire a lobbyist, said that the company backs a carbon tax because it believes it will never happen but gives it a good talking point.Sludge asked the CBCF if it would keep McCoy on its advisory board and if it would continue to take donations from Exxon, but did not receive a response.The Congressional Black Caucus has 57 members, all Democrats, including both representatives and senators.

CenterPoint customers will pay price for pipeline company profits during Texas freeze - Texans are on the hook for $3.6 billion in natural gas costs incurred by utilities during one freezing week in February — a burden consumers will bear for a decade or longer.During that same winter week, several natural gas pipeline companies and traders made billions of dollars as they transported and sold natural gas at sky-high prices when supplies were short. Pipeline companies Energy Transfer of Dallas and Kinder Morgan of Houston made $2.4 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively, while British oil major BP made more than $1 billion from its natural-gas trading business during the deadly, historic storm, according to company filings and analyst estimates. Houston pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners said it made $250 million for transporting and selling natural gas at high prices to utilities, industrial customers and power generators during the storm.Ultimately, Texans will fund these companies’ profits, “It’s pretty clear this is a wealth transfer from the public to investors and traders who could capitalize on the high prices,” Krane said. “The frustrating thing is, even though people were shivering in their homes, their (natural gas) bills are going up anyway. They’re still going to have to pay for this. It’s really a slap in the face.”More than 1.8 million CenterPoint Energy customers in the Houston area are responsible for the $1.14 billion natural gas bill incurred by the Houston utility when it had to quickly buy natural gas at sky-high prices after demand soared and supplies plunged during the storm.Natural gas wells and pipelines, many of which weren’t weatherized to handle prolonged freezing temperatures, froze and lost pressure during the storm. Weather-related problems and power outages at distant oil wells, caused natural gas production to plunge by almost half just as Texans were trying to stay warm during days of below-freezing temperatures.

Phillips 66 sees wider crude quality differentials going forward | S&P Global Platts Phillips 66's record second-quarter chemical results were countered by poor refining segment results, due in part to high RINs costs, weak market capture and narrow light-heavy crude differentials, company executives said Aug. 3. Phillips 66 ran its refineries at 88% of capacity in the second quarter, up from first quarter's 74%, but posted lower margin capture quarter on quarter on its distillate-focused refinery configuration, CFO Kevin Mitchell said during a call to discuss Q2 results.. "Realized margin was $2.92/b and resulted in an overall market capture of 22%," Mitchell said. During the third quarter, the company will run at rates dictated by market conditions, he added. First quarter refinery margin capture was 33%, Mitchell said. "Market capture is driven by the configuration of our refineries," he said. "Our refineries are more heavily weighted to distillate production than the [3:2:1 crack] market indicator." During the quarter, the gasoline crack improved $5.68/b, while the distillate crack increased only improved by $2.20/b. Also, Phillips 66 had "quite a bit of planned FCC downtime this year," CEO Greg Garland said, putting downtime at about 2% of the company's gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking capacity, further reducing gasoline output and lowering margin capture However, Garland said that the RIN-adjusted crack – which does not include the cost of compliance credits for the Environmental Protection Agency's Renewable Fuel Standard – needs to get back to the $12/b to increase market capture to take advantage of rising demand as the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns ease. The increase in heavier crude supply, due in part to higher production quotas agreed by OPEC+ members, will benefit distillate-heavy Phillips 66. The company, which runs a lot of heavy crude, will benefit from the widening of light-heavy crude differentials. "For the second quarter, it was a gasoline-driven market without much differential on heavy crude," said Robert Herman, Phillips 66's head of refining. "We've seen those widen out here now in July to a much more respectable level." So far in the third quarter, US light sweet Gulf of Mexico benchmark Light Louisiana Sweet is holding a $2.59/b premium to US Gulf of Mexico medium-sour Mars, according to S&P Global Platts assessments. This compares with the $2.04/b and $1.58/b premium held in the second and first quarters, respectively.

Devon and Conoco Study $10B Shell Permian Assets-- Devon Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips are among potential suitors studying Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s portfolio of Permian Basin oil fields, which could be worth as much as $10 billion in a sale, people familiar with the matter said. Chevron Corp. is also among companies considering bids for the assets, which are largely located in West Texas, the people said. Suitors have been invited to Shell’s data room to examine information on the business, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. The Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is the world’s busiest shale patch and accounts for roughly half the activity in U.S. oil fields today. Deliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty any of the suitors will decide to proceed with formal proposals, according to the people. Representatives for Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon and Shell declined to comment. The sale comes amid shifting strategies at oil and gas majors looking to less carbon intensive operations. BP Plc last year completed the sale of its business in Alaska to Hilcorp Energy Co., while in early 2021 Equinor ASA agreed to sell its interests in the Bakken field in Montana and North Dakota to Grayson Mill Energy for $900 million. In May, Shell was ordered by a Dutch court to slash its emissions harder and faster than planned after losing a court case against Milieudefensie, an arm of Friends of the Earth. Shell said it will appeal the verdict, while asserting a willingness to accelerate its transition to a net-zero emissions business. Meanwhile, investors in the U.S. have been pushing for more company tie-ups within each of the shale basins as a way to cut costs and get more bang for their drilling buck. Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. bought its Colorado rival Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. for about $1 billion, while Midland, Texas-based Diamondback Energy Inc. announced a pair of deals late last year to bulk up in the Permian.

US oil, gas drilling rig count up four at 603 on stronger Permian activity - The US oil and gas rig count climbed four to 603 in the week ended Aug. 4 amid an uptick in Permian basin drilling activity, rig data provider Enverus said Aug. 5. The number of oil-focused rigs was up six at 463, while the number primarily chasing gas fell two to 140. The rig count climb was centered in the Permian Basin, where operators added five rigs for a total 258, leaving the plays rig count just one shy of the 15-month high of 259 seen during the week ended July 21. But rig counts in the other major named oil-focused basins were flat to lower. The SCOOP-STACK and Denver-Julesburg play rig counts were steady at 29 and 15, respectively. The South Texas Eagle Ford Basin shed two rigs, putting the total active there down to 40, a six-week low. Meanwhile, the Bakken rig count fell one to 22. Among the major named gas plays, the Utica shale saw an increase in drilling rig count, which climbed one to 13. The nearby Marcellus basin shed one rig for a total 32, while in the Haynesville, operators idled one rig, leaving a total 55 active. The lower overall gas rig count snapped three consecutive weekly builds that had seen gas-focused drilling activity reach the highest level since March 2020. Even after pullback in the week ended Aug. 4, the gas rig count is just 5% below pre-pandemic levels. Oil-focused rigs, in contrast, despite holding near April 2020 levels are still down around 33% from pre-pandemic levels. Permian growth eyed Notably, Permian Basin rig count is down nearly 40% from pre-pandemic levels, significantly lagging the broader oil and gas rig count, which is down just 28% over the same period. But despite laggard drilling activity, improved efficiencies have pushed Permian production to near pre-COVID levels. The basin’s crude output exceeded 4.8 million b/d before the pandemic, falling to a low of about 4.15 million b/d last August, before rebounding back up to about 4.7 million b/d this August, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

New Mexico’s Oil Output Rises Signaling a Modest Shale Recovery -- New Mexico’s oil production surged to a record in May highlighting the Permian Basin’s role as the shale industry sees some recovery from the pandemic.The southwestern state produced about 4% more crude in the month to reach a record 1.22 million barrels a day, according to U.S. government data released Friday. It also topped North Dakota, to become America’s second-biggest onshore oil supplier. New Mexico has churned out more than North Dakota for three straight months, the longest stretch since 2008.New Mexico’s rising status as a key supplier reflects its cost advantage. U.S. oil and gas companies have been judicious in raising output after many producers pledged to cap spending and focus on returning more capital to shareholders. To that end, the Permian’s New Mexico is being favored over North Dakota, where higher production costs have historically curbed profits.The promises on capital restraint are likely to hold further production gains in check, even with higher oil prices providing an incentive to expand. In its latest earnings report, Chevron Corp. which has sizable acreage in the New Mexico, expects its Permian output in 2021 to be comparable to 2020 despite announcing that it would be adding more rigs and completion crews through the rest of this year. U.S. oil production stood at 11.2 million barrels a day in May, nearly a million barrels a day less than the same month in 2019.

Comment period extended for listing lesser prairie chicken as endangered --The public will have a month longer to weigh in on the proposed listing of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is extending the deadline for public comment to Sept. 1 for the grouse, which has seen its populations dwindle from 2 million in the 1800s to about 38,000 across five states because of climate change, industrial development and agriculture. In late May, federal wildlife managers proposed relisting the bird — known for its colorful spring mating display — to comply with a court order spurred by conservation groups suing the agency. A 60-day comment period that began June 1 will increase to 90 days. The proposal calls for listing the bird’s southern population, including in Eastern New Mexico, as endangered and those occupying the northern rangelands as threatened. Its habitat can be found in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. An abrupt 50 percent drop in the bird’s numbers in 2014 prompted the agency to list the bird as threatened that year. But two years later, a brief 25 percent surge in population led to a federal judge removing protections in response to a lawsuit by a petroleum company. Environmentalists have pushed for renewed federal protections while the oil and gas industry has staunchly opposed relisting the grouse, saying the voluntary programs to protect and grow the birds’ habitat are working. Wildlife officials say the lesser prairie chicken faces a number of external threats, including from climate change prolonging droughts, especially in the southern region where the bird could become extinct.

 Shale Drillers Leave $12B on Table-- Shale explorers are facing almost $12 billion in losses this year from bad bets on oil after a global rally, according to BloombergNEF. Of the 50 U.S. drillers surveyed by BNEF, Devon Energy Corp., Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Diamondback Energy Inc. are on track to rack up the steepest losses, with more than $1 billion in underwater hedges apiece. The sector as a whole hedged almost one-third of estimated 2021 output and the practical impact is that they are locked in to reap about $5 less than the American benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate. “One of the negatives of this quarter has been some horrible hedging; guys locked in at $42 a barrel,” Paul Sankey, the veteran oil-industry analyst and founder of Sankey Research LLC, said during an interview on Bloomberg TV. Hedging helps producers of raw materials mitigate the risk of major price fluctuations and lock in relatively stable cash flows. But the practice carries the risk of leaving money on the table during bull markets. The losses haven’t been limited to crude drillers. EQT Corp., America’s biggest natural-gas producer, irritated investors last week by boosting hedges at a time when the commodity also is surging. The company already has booked a $1.3 billion non-cash second-quarter loss on swaps and options contracts.

Environmental Groups Want Agency To Review Climate Impacts Of Superior Gas Plant -Environmental and indigenous groups want a federal agency to take another look at the environmental and climate impacts of a proposed $700 million natural gas plant in Superior. Four organizations, including the Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin, are petitioning the Rural Utilities Service to conduct a supplemental environmental assessment of the project proposed by La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative and Duluth-based Minnesota Power. Dairyland Power plans to seek a loan from the agency for its share of the project.The agency previously found that construction and operation of the 625-megawatt plant would have no significant environmental impact. But the groups argue the agency didn't evaluate cumulative climate impacts of the plant in its environmental assessment"This facility would emit 3 million tons of carbon every year for at least 30 years if it's built, and there's just no way to get to zero carbon if we keep building things that emit carbon," said Katie Nekola, general counsel for Clean Wisconsin. Clean Wisconsin and the Sierra Club are also suing the Wisconsin Public Service Commissionover its approval of the project, noting regulators didn’t review the climate impacts of the proposal. They say the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service must respond to their petition before making a decision on financing for the project.Gov. Tony Evers has set a goal for Wisconsin to go carbon-neutral by 2050. At the federal level, President Joe Biden has set a goal for the power sector to go carbon-neutral by 2035 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.The two power providers are seeking to build the plant as part of plans to transition away from coal to renewable energy.

Minnesota regulators scold natural gas providers for cost run-up during February storm - Minnesota utility regulators Thursday approved a plan that would give consumers extra time to pay a colossal $660 million natural gas tab stemming from a historic February storm — while ripping the gas industry's role in the fiasco. In fact, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) indicated that some of that $660 million could eventually be recouped by consumers as an investigation continues into how the state's utilities might have mishandled the February gas-supply crisis. Several PUC commissioners Thursday questioned the functionality of a market that allowed Midwest wholesale prices to spike at least 4,500% — and saddle some Minnesota consumers with extra charges amounting to 50% of their annual gas bill. "This kind of behavior in the marketplace is inappropriate in a regulated industry," said Commissioner John Tuma, pointing out reports of price gouging by gas industry middlemen during the storm. "We need to figure out what happened and figure it out quickly." Then, talking specifically about Minnesota's utilities, Tuma said: "I don't think you realize how significant this was and how it will move us away from gas. ... It has changed my worldview as to how natural gas fits into our energy [system] in Minnesota." Commissioner Joe Sullivan concurred, saying the gas system "is extremely vulnerable."

Enbridge Sees Space for Fossil Fuel Infrastructure in Energy Transition, Expects Line 3 Gains by Year’s End - Enbridge Inc. has assured shareholders that it would stay strong by adapting to the energy transition even as the Canadian midstream giant faces ongoing opposition from fossil fuel foes over its projects. “We believe that in all practical scenarios our assets will remain critical to supporting long-term energy demand,” said Enbridge President Al Monaco as the firm’s Calgary head office released mid-year financial results.“Existing infrastructure is going to play a key role in the transportation and storage of future energy supplies, ensuring affordable and reliable access to conventional and low-carbon energy.”Enbridge reported that the biggest, most contested item on its project agenda – the $2.6-billion Minnesota leg in its Line 3 oil pipe replacement project – has stayed on track by defeating court challenges and surviving right-of-way protest rallies.“With the Canadian, North Dakota and Wisconsin segments complete, and Minnesota construction progressing well, we expect Line 3 to be fully in service during the fourth quarter,” Monaco said. “Line 3 is first and foremost a critical integrity project that will improve safety and further reduce environmental risks.”Financial gains from the project are expected by the end of this year as shippers pay tolls to use the new pipe that will add 370,000 barrels daily to Line 3capacity by enabling it to restore full operating pressure after a decade of safety restrictions on the old conduit.Monaco added that Enbridge continues to advance a C$17-billion array of pipeline, gas utility, hydrogen, and renewable power projects across Canada and the United States, and overseas in France.

Line 3 pipeline to be in service by end of year, despite legal challenges: Enbridge-- Enbridge Inc.'s Line 3 pipeline replacement is on track to be in service by the end of the year despite ongoing protests and recent court challenges, the Calgary-based company said Friday. The $9.3-billion project — which is expected to add about 370,000 barrel per day of crude oil export capacity from Western Canada into the U.S. — was handed a victory last month by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which affirmed the approvals granted by independent regulators that allowed construction on the Minnesota leg to begin last December. However, Indigenous and environmental groups opposed to the project have appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the lower court's ruling. The Minnesota Supreme Court has until mid-September to decide whether or not to hear the case. In a conference call with analysts Friday, Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco said in spite of the recent legal challenges, Line 3 remains on schedule and is now 80 per cent complete. "Construction-wise, we're tracking to schedule," Monaco said. "We're moving along well and continue to work on water crossings. All that to say, we're on track for a Q4 in service." The Line 3 replacement will carry oil from Alberta to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The Minnesota leg of the project — the last section remaining to be completed — has been met by protests along the route, with more than 500 demonstrators having been arrested or issued citations since December. Opponents of the project — including Indigenous groups the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, as well as environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Honor the Earth — say the Line 3 expansion will accelerate climate change and also poses a risk of oil spills in environmentally sensitive areas. The Line 3 expansion is a critical project for Canada's energy sector, which has been hamstrung by a lack of pipeline infrastructure in recent years. An IHS Markit report from December found that delays in the expansion of the export pipeline capacity have contributed to lower prices in Western Canada, representing a loss of $17 billion for the crude oil industry over the last five years.

 Public may not know Enbridge's progress on Line 3 jobs promises until construction ends - Enbridge pledged to hire thousands of local workers for its Line 3 pipeline project. But we may not know whether they fulfilled that promise until the pipeline is completed. The Canadian energy company’s pledge to create jobs in rural communities was a major selling point for the $4 billion project. But Enbridge only has to publicly report worker residency numbers annually, according to a Public Utilities Commission project permit, and an update isn’t due until after November 2021. The pipeline is more than 60% complete and scheduled to be operational by the fourth quarter of this year, Enbridge says. When asked Tuesday if Enbridge would share recent worker residency numbers or planned to provide an update before November, spokesperson Juli Kellner said the company is “on track with reporting per the PUC Line 3 Replacement permitting requirements.” Enbridge signed an agreement with four unions in December 2019 that guaranteed only union workers would be hired for Line 3 construction jobs. The company has repeatedly said it expected to fill about half the 4,200 jobs with local workers. Enbridge’s worker residency report filed in February covered hiring through Dec. 31, the first month of construction. About 33% of the 4,600 workers were from Minnesota, and they had put in roughly 28% of hours worked on the project. Kellner said Tuesday the labor agreement stipulates that contractors supply half the workforce, and local union halls provide the other half. The local union halls often include members in neighboring states, she said.

Indigenous TikTok Creators Banned Over Pipeline Protest --After live streaming police violently crashing a religious ceremony and Pipeline 3 protest at Red Lake Treaty Camp—where cops threw down a protestor and ripped their shirt—TikTok banned the account of the person who filmed it, @Quiiroi, a Two Spirit Indigenous educator.The ban lasted for over a week.“About halfway during the ceremony, I went to sit down and take a break, I hear screams [and] I come rushing with my camera, I immediately [turned] my live stream on. Police were there holding a line,” they told the Daily Dot.Pipeline 3 is a pipeline expansion by oil company Enbridge that cuts across native land in the Midwest.The livestream by Quiiroi showed police officers from local counties attacking and arresting protestors. That including five to six officers slamming Alex Golden Wolf, a Two Spirit Indigenous leader of the White Earth Nation, to the ground and tearing their shirt before arresting them. “They showed up with tear gas and rubber bullets and guns. We’re in camping gear. I was wearing this camisole and flip flops. And a bandana to keep the sun off the top of my head,” Quirroi said. “Why are [the police] in riot gear?”Over 20 protestors were arrested in the police raid and taken to Pennington County, Minnesota jail.

Pipeline protester convicted -- Brock Hefel, 25, of Dubuque, Iowa, was found guilty in Hubbard County District Court of charges related to his opposition to the Line 3 pipeline replacement project.According to a press release from the Hubbard County Attorney’s Office, Hefel was charged with one count each of unlawful assembly and obstructing a public right of way, based on incidents that occurred on June 15.Assistant County Attorney Anna Emmerling prosecuted the case. After a two-day trial, the jury found Hefel guilty of both charges and was taken into custody to await sentencing, the release states. According to the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office, Hefel was also arrested on July 27 in Hubbard County after he and another man locked themselves in a “sleeping dragon” device and crawled more than 1,500 feet inside a section of pipe at a Line 3 work site in Straight River Township.

Shot with Rubber Bullets, Hospitalized, Jailed: Line 3 Protester Tara Houska Decries Police Attack | Democracy Now! - (video & transcript) At least 20 water protectors were brutally arrested in Minnesota as resistance to the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline continues, and they say state and local police have escalated their use of excessive force, using tear gas, rubber and pepper bullets to repress opposition to Line 3, which, if completed, would carry Canadian tar sands oil across Indigenous land and fragile ecosystems. “The level of brutality that was unleashed on us was very extreme,” says Indigenous lawyer and activist Tara Houska, who suffered bloody welts after she was shot with rubber bullets, then arrested and held in Pennington County Jail over the weekend, where several water protectors say they were denied medical care for their injuries, denied proper food and some reportedly held in solitary confinement. AMY GOODMAN: We end today’s show in Minnesota, where at least 20 water protectors were brutally arrested over the weekend as resistance to the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline continues. Water protectors say state and local police have escalated their use of excessive force, using tear gas, rubber and pepper bullets to repress Line 3 protesters. On Sunday, Indigenous lawyer and activist Tara Houska published photos of herself on social media with bloodied welts on her arms after she was shot with rubber bullets during an action last week. Houska and 19 others were held in Pennington County Jail over the weekend, where several water protectors say they were denied medical care for their injuries, were denied proper food, and some were reportedly held in solitary confinement.Well, Tara Houska joins us now for more from the Namewag Camp in Minnesota, founder of the Giniw Collective and is Ojibwe from Couchiching First Nation.Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Tara. Can you describe what happened when you were arrested and the escalation of force that the police are using against you?

New front in Line 3 legal fight: Wild rice is plaintiff in lawsuit against DNR - Opponents of the new Line 3 oil pipeline being built across northern Minnesota have argued for years that it endangers dwindling stands of wild rice, a plant sacred to many Indigenous people.Now, the wild rice is speaking up for itself. The water-dwelling plant is the lead plaintiff in a novel lawsuit by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The legal action comes during a summer of intense protest and demonstration as the pipeline nears completion.The complaint, filed Wednesday in White Earth Nation Tribal Court, advances a paradigm-shifting legal theory that nature itself has rights to exist and flourish and is not simply human property.Some might call the argument extreme, others might call it ancient.It's the first "rights of nature" case brought in a tribal court in the U.S., according to Frank Bibeau, a lawyer for the White Earth tribe, and the second such case to be filed in any court in the U.S. In April, what is considered the first case of its kind was filed in Florida.Plaintiffs include manoomin (the Ojibwe word for wild rice that translates to "good berry"), several White Earth tribal members and Indian and non-Indian Water Protectors who have demonstrated along the 340-mile Line 3 construction route in Minnesota.They accuse the DNR of failing to protect the state's fresh water by allowing Calgary-based Enbridge to pump up to 5 billion gallons of groundwater from construction trenches during a devastating drought. Further, they assert the regulator has violated the rights of manoomin along with multiple treaty rights for tribal members to hunt, fish and gather wild rice outside reservations.They want the state to stop the extreme water pumping and for authorities to stop arresting people for trying to defend codified rights."We're not protesting, we're defending," Bibeau said. "It's 2021 now and a bunch of us have been to law school. We're not going to let this happen to us. We know what our rights are."To date, more than 700 people have been charged in demonstrations along the Line 3 construction route, according to Bibeau. Some have chained themselves to equipment or taken other actions to disrupt construction. There have been claims of police brutality.

Three wells on fire in Dakota Prairie Grassland -Three wells are on fire in the Little Missouri National Grassland a half mile south of Lake Sakakawea, according to reports heard Tuesday during the North Dakota Industrial Commission, and the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality has issued an air quality advisory for residents of the area.Air quality in the area may be monitored athttps://www.airnow.gov. DEQ officials say the state’s ambient air-quality network is well positioned to monitor the air quality in the area around the fire.“Many weather apps specify local Air Quality Index (AQI). Air quality conditions can change hourly and may be impacted by local weather patterns — such as western forest fire smoke — or localized incidents,” said Environmental Scientist Adam Rookey.People sensitive to particle pollution should consider reducing their outdoor exposure during periods of moderate to poor AQI. Always contact your healthcare provider immediately if you are experiencing trouble breathing.Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told NDIC Commissioners the fires can be seen all the way to Tioga, and that he has been told the wells should be out by the end of the week. The company, involved, Petro-Hunt, has brought in Wild Well Control to assist them in removing surrounding equipment to safely shut the wells down at the location.Petro-Hunt spokeswoman Beth Babb said the fire started about 1:35 p.m. Thursday, July 22 in McKenzie County.No injuries were caused by the fire, and no surface grassland or groundwater sources have been affected.“The company’s focus is to get the fire out as quickly and safely as possible,” Babb told the Williston Herald.The incident has been contained to the well pad so far, and a fire suppression plan is in place in case a wildland fire is triggered, according to a release from Dakota Prairie Grasslands. There is also a monitoring plan in place for when the incident is over. “Petro-Hunt, brought in resources and set up its incident command post as well as several med-evac and staging areas over the weekend,” Lucas Graf told the Williston Herald. “They expect the fire to continue for another week before conditions are safe enough to get their well specialist team in to reestablish control.”

Western North Dakota oil well fire burns into 12th consecutive day— An oil well fire bordering Lake Sakakawea in McKenzie County burned into its 12th day on Monday, Aug. 2, with emergency responders continuing to fight intense flames and temperatures in order to get three ruptured wells under control. Smoke has been visible from miles away since the fire began on Thursday, July 22, and state officials, local emergency responders and the company operating the wells said they have few updates to report on the status of the fire since the end of last week. The fire is burning in three of four oil wells on a well pad north of Keene and a half-mile south of the lake. The wells are operated by the Texas-based producer Petro-Hunt. Last week, North Dakota Oil and Gas Director Lynn Helms attributed the fires to the failure of a blowout preventer, a crucial mechanical valve used to stop the uncontrolled release of oil. Lucas Graf, a district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service in McKenzie County, said Petro-Hunt and responders are hoping to have the well pad under control and the fire extinguished “in the next couple of days” or by the end of this week, depending on weather conditions and other factors at the well site. Responders over the weekend made an unsuccessful attempt to plug the first blown-out well, Graf said, and are expecting to make a second attempt in the next couple of days. In an email, Petro-Hunt spokesperson Beth Babb said, “the situation is dynamic and completely dependent on well and weather conditions.” She added, “We are still focusing all of our attention on getting the fire extinguished, along with our well control contractor.” Last week Petro-Hunt brought in the oilfield emergency response company Wild Well Control, also based in Texas, for on-site assistance. Several local and state departments have also sent responders to the scene in the last week. As of Monday afternoon, Wild Well Control was still moving burnt equipment out of the way to establish a clear path to the wells, Department of Mineral Resources spokesperson Katie Haarsager said in an email. Graf said that responders have successfully killed the fourth well on the site to avert another blowout preventer failure, and have constructed a barrier blocking the three burning wells from the fourth. Graf added that Petro-Hunt has reported to the Forest Service that one of the three wells has blown-out more severely than the others, making that one the highest priority to plug. “It's still a highly technical and difficult process, of course, to regain control of the other two, but I think it's really the first one that will be the biggest challenge,” he said. Initial reports from Petro-Hunt to the state said 100 barrels of oil and 100 barrels of produced water spilled at the site. Dave Glatt, Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, said he’s taking those figures with a grain of salt for now, since it’s difficult to know the extent of the spill until the fire is extinguished.

That Petro-Hunt Pad Well Fire North Of Charlson -- It's Still Burning -- Update -- August 3, 2021 -- See this post for background to this story. See also this post. 12th consecutive day: the oil well fire continues to burn. This story was posted at 6:05 p.m., August 2, 2021, Monday night. Twelve days and they "hope" to have the fire out by the end of the week. Are we talking almost three weeks? Eighteen days? Responders have continued to battle intense flames and temperatures in an effort to extinguish fires in three oil wells near Lake Sakakawea in McKenzie County. Officials are aiming to regain control of the wells and douse the fires by the end of the week. ... in order to get three ruptured wells under control. ... fire began July 22, 2021, Thursday ... ... and the company operating the wells said they have few updates to report on the status of the fire since the end of last week ... ... one-half mile south of the lake .. ... NDIC Lynn Helms said the fires were due to the failure of a blowout preventer ...a valve used to stop the uncontrolled release of oil ... ... an unsuccessful attempt to plug the first blown-out well, Graf said, and are expecting to make a second attempt in the next couple of days. .... As of Monday afternoon, Wild Well Control was still moving burnt equipment out of the way to establish a clear path to the wells, Department of Mineral Resources spokesperson Katie Haarsager said in an email. Graf said that responders have successfully killed the fourth well on the site to avert another blowout preventer failure, and have constructed a barrier blocking the three burning wells from the fourth. ...one of the three wells has blown-out more severely than the others, making that one the highest priority to plug.

Dakota oil pipeline expansion completed: Update - An expansion of Energy Transfer's 570,000 b/d Dakota Access crude pipeline (DAPL) is complete, adding takeaway capacity out of the Bakken shale.The capacity on DAPL has been increased by 180,000 b/d to 750,000 b/d, Energy Transfer said today.There has been a "significant increase" for August nominations as minimum volume commitments on the expanded DAPL capacity kicked in at the start of the month, Energy Transfer said.The company has said previously that it plans to expand DAPL to as much as 1.1mn b/d by adding pump stations. Other partners in the Bakken system include Enbridge and Marathon Petroleum's midstream affiliate, MPLX.The expansion will include the entire Bakken system which includes DAPL from the Bakken shale to Patoka, Illinois, and the connecting Energy Transfer Crude Oil pipeline (ETCOP) to the US Gulf coast. The expansion does not require any construction on the mainline or building new pipeline segments.Earlier today, a partner in the Bakken system, Phillips 66 Partners said that the Bakken optimization project "continues to progress with the next phase of incremental capacity commencing service in August."The increased capacity is supported by minimum volume commitments from long-term contracts, Phillips 66 Partners said.A US judge in June closed out a long-running lawsuit that sought to halt operations of DAPL, two months after ruling the pipeline could remain in service while the government prepares a new environmental review.US district court judge James Boasberg dismissed the rest of a lawsuit filed by Native American tribes led by the Standing Rock Sioux who oppose the pipeline. The order brought an end to a high-profile case that attracted national attention because of its potential to shut a major conduit of Bakken crude to the US midcontinent and Gulf coast. Energy Transfer said today that it continues to cooperate with the Army Corps of Engineers on the new DAPL environmental review.

Company fined $35M in North Dakota drilling wastewater spill — An oil company that waited more than five months to investigate and report a 2014 pipeline spill in North Dakota that discharged more than 29 million gallons of drilling wastewater has agreed to pay more than $35 million in civil and criminal fines. the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. Federal officials said it's the largest inland drilling spill of produced water, a waste product of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The spill from the 96-mile (154.50-kilometer) underground pipeline contaminated more than 30 miles of Missouri River tributaries as well as land and groundwater, the complaint said. It was visible in photographs taken by satellites.The complaint against Summit Midstream Partners LLC says the data collected by the company in August 2014 showed a significant drop in the pipeline pressure, indicating a rupture in the newly built line. Despite concerns raised in October 2014 by Summit's construction manager and engineer, the company did not identify the leak until January 2015, after an employee walked the line.Court documents show that Summit’s construction manager sent an email to other employees in October 2014 about “extreme low pressure” on the system. The facilities engineer responded: “Not good. We may want to consider shutting it down.” Summit continued to operate the line.Summit eventually reported a 2.9 million gallon spill of produced water even though the leak was 10 times larger, according to the civil complaint filed against Summit and related companies, Meadowlark Midstream Company LLC and Summit Operating Services Company LLC.

Trump’s ANWR Drilling Leases Under Review: Biden Admin Looking at 'Legal Deficiencies,' Environmental Impacts - The Interior Department launched its official review of oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the agency announced Tuesday.The Biden administration found "multiple legal deficiencies" in a prior review of the program's implementation under the Trump administration, and suspended lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in June.A public process will be used to determine the scope of the review. The Trump administration pushed throughan ultimately lackluster sale of oil and gas leases in the immense, environmentally and culturally sensitive refuge in the final days before President Biden took office.As reported by Alaska Public Media:At the very least, the new process could delay drilling by years. To Mike Scott, senior representative for the Sierra Club's Our Wild Alaska campaign, it's not enough."This is really the time that Congress should take action, and restore the protections by dismantling the leasing program," he said.Among the new alternatives to be considered are "those that would: designate certain areas of the Coastal Plain as open or closed to leasing; permit less than 2,000 acres of surface development throughout the Coastal Plain; prohibit surface infrastructure in sensitive areas; and otherwise avoid or mitigate impacts from oil and gas activities," the notice in the Federal Register says.After decades of debate, Congress in 2017 required Interior to hold two auctions for drilling leases in the Arctic Refuge. The first, on Jan. 6, drew just three successful bidders and roughly $11.5 million dollars – far less than Congress was counting on. On Jan. 19, the Trump administration issued seven leases to AIDEA, a state-owned corporation, and one apiece to two small firms.

Biden administration kicks off second look at Arctic refuge drilling -The Biden administration is formally launching its review of the Trump administration’s opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling after a prior determination that its predecessor’s action had “legal deficiencies” The Interior Department announced the review in a notice of intent scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, which indicated that it would carry out a rigorous environmental review known as an environmental impact statement. The review will serve “to identify the significant issues, including any legal deficiencies in the Final EIS [Environmental Impact Statement],” Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in the notice. The supplemental EIS ordered by the department will analyze the potential effects of leasing on surface waters, wetlands and vegetation, as well as wildlife such as caribou, birds and polar bears and the greenhouse gas emissions caused by leasing activity. It will also consider possible alternatives such as declaring some areas of the Coastal Plain off-limits to leasing, banning surface infrastructure in “sensitive areas” and barring more than 2,000 acres of surface development across the Coastal Plain. The formal announcement in the Federal Register notice follows an announcement made in June that there will be a further environmental review after the Biden administration said that it found the legal deficiencies in the formal decision that opened up the refuge for drilling. This included what Interior Secretary Deb Haaland described as a “failure to adequately analyze a reasonable range of alternatives" in the prior environmental review. A 2017 law passed during the Trump years required at least two lease sales — one of which has already occurred — by the end of 2024, so an attempt to completely reverse could present legal difficulties. But the Biden administration could put new stipulations on drilling. It has also indicated that it may seek to make changes to existing leases, saying in June that after the review they would either be reaffirmed, voided or subject to additional measures to lessen their environmental impacts. In the meantime, the leases are suspended. The Federal Register notice formally starts the public scoping process for the review, during which the public is allowed to weigh in with comments. While many environmentalists oppose drilling in the refuge, some called on the Biden administration and Congress to go even further. “The Trump administration aggressively moved to get leases into the hands of oil companies prior to the end of its only term, and until those leases are canceled and the Arctic Refuge drilling mandate reversed, one of the wildest places left in America will remain under threat,” Kristen Miller, acting executive director for the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement. "We call on the Biden administration to work with Congress to repeal the oil leasing mandate and buy back those leases as part of the upcoming budget package, restoring protections to the Arctic Refuge coastal plain.”

Groups Welcome Biden Review But Demand Congress Permanently Protect Arctic Refuge From Drilling - Alaska Native News -Indigenous and environmental groups on Tuesday welcomed the U.S. Interior Department’s decision to review the Trump administration’s controversial move opening up previously protected land in Alaska to drilling despite threats to local communities and wildlife as well as the global climate. The department’s notice says the new environmental review of the leasing program for oil and gas drilling in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) will “identify the significant issues, including any legal deficiencies” in a Trump-era analysis. In a statement, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) expressed appreciation for “the Biden administration’s intention to address the insufficiencies and legal violations in the prior administration’s oil and gas leasing program.” The group also called for Congress to repeal the program entirely, noting the key role that federal lawmakers played in opening ANWR up to the fossil fuel industry. “We look to our representatives in Congress to now step up and do their share of the work in protecting this land that provides for Iñupiat and Gwich’in communities,” SILA said. “It is time to protect the refuge and rescind the leasing program from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.” “We remind members of Congress that traditional Iñupiat values include hunting traditions, respect for nature, and spirituality, all of which this law impacts in our communities,” SILA added. “Please, act now to move to change laws that will impact Iñupiat communities, Gwich’in communities, and the rest of the world.”

ConocoPhillips Posts Highest Profit Since 2018 -- ConocoPhillips beat estimates as rising commodity prices led America’s biggest independent oil producer to the highest profit in nearly three years. Conoco posted adjusted earnings of $1.27 a share in the second quarter, compared with the $1.13 estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The stock rose 1.9% in pre-market trading. U.S. energy companies are using buybacks and dividends to attract investors to the sector after years of poor performance left it making up just 2.6% of the S&P 500, down from more than 12% a decade ago. Conoco became one of the first large energy companies to increase shareholder returns in response to high commodity prices when it lifted its share buyback by two thirds to $2.5 billion a year in June. As such there was little expectation the company would further increase cash returns. CEO Ryan Lance has been lowering capital spending and slowing production growth as part of a pledge to reinvest only half of its cash flow in new drilling and return the rest to shareholders. The promise underscores how U.S. oil producers are maintaining production discipline and are unlikely to go back to high growth rates seen in the past. A key question is what Conoco executives plan to do with the company’s cash pile worth about $7 billion. The company is said to be among several suitors for Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Permian Basin assets, worth as much as $10 billion, people familiar with the matter said last month. The U.S. shale patch has become a hotbed of merger activity this year, and Conoco secured the biggest deal to date with the $13 billion stock purchase of Concho Resources Inc.

Oil giant BP ups dividend and confirms share buybacks as it posts better-than-expected profit— Oil and gas giant BP beat second-quarter earnings expectations on Tuesday, while expanding its dividend and share buyback program. The U.K.-based energy major said it will buy back $1.4 billion of its own shares in the third quarter on the back of a $2.4 billion cash surplus accrued in the first half of the year. It also increased its dividend by 4% to 5.46 cents per share, having halved it to 5.25 cents per share in the second quarter of 2020. It anticipates buybacks of around $1 billion per quarter and an annual dividend increase of 4% through 2025, based on an estimated average oil price of $60 per barrel. The energy major posted full-year underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.8 billion. That compared with a loss of $6.7 billion over the same period a year earlier and $2.6 billion net profit for the first quarter of 2021. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected second-quarter net profit of $2.06 billion. CEO Bernard Looney told CNBC on Tuesday that a combination of strong underlying performance, an improving balance sheet and higher commodity prices had enabled the company to up its returns to shareholders. "We have raised our own plan from $50 to $60 (average oil prices) for the next several years — that is on the back of strong demand. GDP is back to pre-pandemic levels and the vaccines are clearly working, OPEC+ is holding discipline and supply is tightening, particularly in U.S. shale," he said. The results reflect a broader trend across the oil and gas industry as energy majors seek to reassure investors they have gained a more stable footing amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The British-Dutch multinational Royal Dutch Shell, France's TotalEnergies and Norway's Equinor all announced share buyback schemes last week. Share prices of the world's largest oil and gas majors are not yet reflecting the improvement in earnings, however, and the industry still faces a host of uncertainties and challenges.

Subsidies really do prop up the oil and gas industry. Here's the most important one to get rid of -Fossil fuel subsidies are a vexed and peculiar topic. On one hand, everyone seems to agree they're bad and should be eliminated (Biden’s jobs bill takes aim at them, for instance). On the other hand, they never go away.In part, this is because we lack a clear understanding of what constitutes a subsidy and what impact subsidies have. Analysts are forever arguing over exactly what counts, trying to tally up the total subsidies fossil fuels receive, but there are very few bottom-up attempts to document the concrete effects of subsidies on the economics of oil and gas projects.That’s why I was interested in this new paper in Environmental Research Letters, by Ploy Achakulwisut and Peter Erickson of the Stockholm Environment Institute and Doug Koplow of Earth Track. It breaks down the effect of 16 specific, direct U.S. fossil fuel subsidies on the profitability and emissions of U.S. oil and gas production.As for those subsidies, there are three basic categories: “forgone government revenues through tax exemptions and preferences; transfer of financial liability to the public; and below-market provision of government goods or services.” (Note that this study does not get into unpriced environmental externalities like air pollution and greenhouse gases, which are themselves a kind of subsidy.)To take just a couple of examples, the effect a subsidy will have on the decision of whether to invest in a new oil and gas project will depend on oil and gas prices and the hurdle rate. (The hurdle rate is the rate of return investors require to fully cover risks; more aggressive decarbonization efforts will presumably mean more risk and thus a higher hurdle rate.) The study actually runs several different scenarios based on different values for those variables, producing a cost curve for each region of the U.S. It gets complicated.What’s interesting is that the benefits to oil and gas are not spread evenly over different subsidies. In fact, one in particular dwarfs the others: the expensing of intangible exploration and development costs (“intangible drilling costs,” or IDC), a policy that’s been around for over a century. The chart below shows the “average effect of each subsidy on the internal rate of return (IRR) of new, not-yet-producing oil and gas fields, at average 2019 prices of USD2019 64/barrel of oil and USD2019 2.6/mmbtu of gas.”

Democrats Seek $500 Billion in Climate Damages From Big Polluting Companies – NYTimes - Under a draft plan Democrats are circulating, the Treasury Department would tax a handful of the biggest emitters of planet-warming pollution to pay for climate change. — Democrats in Congress want to tax Exxon, Chevron and a handful of other major oil and gas companies, saying the biggest climate polluters should pay for the floods, wildfires and other disasters that scientists have linked to the burning of fossil fuels. The draft legislation from Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland directs the Treasury Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to identify the companies that released the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from 2000 to 2019 and assess a fee based on the amounts they emitted. That could generate an estimated $500 billion over the next decade, according to Mr. Van Hollen. The money would pay for clean energy research and development as well as help communities face the flooding, fires and other disasters that scientists say are growing more destructive and frequent because of a warming planet. The bill for the largest polluters could be as much as $6 billion annually spread over 10 years, according to a draft of the plan. “It’s based on a simple but powerful idea that polluters should pay to help clean up the mess they caused, and that those who polluted the most should pay the most,” Mr. Van Hollen said in an interview. “Those who have profited the most should help now pay the damages that they’ve already caused.” The proposal comes as the Senate prepares to vote on a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure package that includes billions of dollars to help communities prepare for and recover from extreme weather driven by climate change. Democrats hope to later pass a separate $3.5 trillion budget package that will include measures to cut carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that result from burning fossil fuels and that are helping to drive up global temperatures. A tax on polluting companies has the support of liberal lawmakers including Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, as well as Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, all Democrats. Mr. Van Hollen says he is optimistic that his legislation will find broad support within his party and be attached to the budget reconciliation package, which Democrats hope to pass without Republican votes. But that would require all Democrats in the narrowly divided Senate to back the measure, including Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, who has routinely argued against anti-fossil fuel legislation.

Big Oil spent $10 million on Facebook ads last year — to sell what, exactly? --Online advertisers are always trying to sell you something, and in the case of slip-on sneakers or leather handbags, that something is pretty clear. But other times, the motive behind a sponsored post is less transparent. Why, for instance, are oil companies buying prime space in your social media feed to prattle on about “innovative” climate solutions and visions of a “lower-carbon future”?A new report makes the case that the oil and gas industry is trying to sell you a story — one that casts these companies as paragons of sustainability and seeks to delay policies that would address climate change. Last year, the oil and gas industry spent at least $9.6 million on ads on Facebook’s U.S. platform, according to an analysis by the think tank InfluenceMap. Just over half of this spending came from one company, ExxonMobil.“The oil and gas industry is engaging in this really strategic campaign using social media and the tools available, particularly these targeting tools on Facebook, to reach a really broad audience pretty easily,” said Faye Holder, program manager at InfluenceMap.The report looked at roughly 25,000 of these ads, analyzing their messages and whom they were targeting. The decision to focus on Facebook ads, which represent only a fraction of the oil industry’s wider campaign to influence the discourse on climate change, was made for data reasons. “We just looked at Facebook,” Holder said. “That is because the other social media platforms don’t even offer this transparency.”Oil companies have long sought the help of public relations whizzes to burnish their reputations, painting themselves as environmental champions, plastering their logos all over science museums and jazz festivals, and even hiring Instagram influencers to tout the merits of gas stoves. In recent years, climate advocates have honed in on ways to counter these tactics — launching a campaign demanding that PR firms drop fossil fuel clients, for instance, or trolling oil companies on social media. Some climate groups have decided to fight fire with fire, recently funneling $1 million directly into anti-oil advertisements.The oil industry’s more recent ads use subtler messages than outright climate denial to undermine action on global warming, such as portraying natural gas as a green fuel source and arguing that decarbonization would make energy unaffordable. Last year, companies’ Facebook ad spending soared when it looked like the federal government might do something to address rising emissions. For example, spending jumped dramatically last summer when then-presidential candidate Joe Biden released his climate plan, and stayed high until after the November election.

Russian supply curbs exacerbate squeeze on European gas market -Russia has exacerbated a shortage of European natural gas supplies that has driven prices to a 13-year high by quietly limiting top-up sales to customers, according to executives and analysts.Pipeline exports of natural gas from Russia’s state-backed monopoly Gazprom to continental Europe have dropped roughly one-fifth in 2021 on pre-pandemic levels despite a sharp rebound in demand and low stockpiles of the important fuel. The imbalance has helped send prices in Europe to the highest levels since 2008, increasing energy costs for homes and businesses. The rise in prices comes during a period of volatile relations between Russia and the West. On Wednesday, Russia said its forces fired warning shots at a British destroyer off the coast of Crimea, claims the UK denied. At the same time, Germany and France sought this week to cool tensions with Russia, proposing a new EU plan for closer engagement with Moscow. Energy industry executives and analysts said that while Gazprom was meeting its long-term contractual obligations, its reluctance to boost supplies to Europe through more immediate measures such as spot market sales was putting pressure on the market. “Gazprom is just trying to maximise its profits at a time when spot prices are high, gas storage is empty and LNG demand in Asia is strong,” said one executive at a German energy company. “They’re just being opportunistic.”Gazprom said in a statement that it “supplies gas precisely in line with consumers’ requests”. “It is based on those very requests as well as the possibilities for portfolio capacity optimisation that the company books transportation capacity in particular directions,” it added.Several industry participants said Gazprom’s moves appeared designed to support prices and may be aimed at pressuring EU governments to approve the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe.“Gazprom is effectively saying to the EU: ‘give us the green light for Nord Stream 2 and we will send you all the gas you need’,” said Tom Marzec-Manser, lead European gas analyst at ICIS. “‘Don’t, and we won’t. We’re not going to send the extra gas via Ukraine and you’ve seen what that means for wholesale prices in a tight global [liquefied natural gas] market,’” he added.

Russia Oil and Condensate Output Rises-- Russia increased oil production in July for the first time in three months, after more generous quotas were extended to the entire OPEC+ alliance. Producers pumped 44.24 million tons of crude and condensate last month, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit. That’s about 10.46 million barrels a day, or 0.3% higher than in June, Bloomberg calculations show, based on a 7.33 barrels-per-ton conversion rate. It’s difficult to assess Russia’s compliance with the output-cut deal between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, as CDU-TEK’s data don’t provide a breakdown between crude and condensate, which is excluded from the deal. If Russia produced the same level of condensate as in June -- about 900,000 barrels a day -- then daily crude-only output would be some 9.56 million barrels, slightly above its July quota of 9.495 million barrels. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Friday that the nation’s adherence to the deal would be about 100% in July. Russia’s compliance increased to 96% in June from 94% in May and 91% in April, the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly report. Planned maintenance led to a drop in June’s crude-only volumes, according to the IEA. Under the deal with OPEC+, Russia was allowed to raise its crude-only production by a total of 116,000 barrels a day from May to July. Last month the alliance agreed to raise output by 400,000 barrels a day each month starting August, continuing until all of its halted output has been revived. That means that, starting August, Russia can increase its daily crude production by 100,000 barrels each month, according to Novak.

In four years, Nigeria loses 2.5trn oil barrels - Nigeria has lost 4.5 trillion barrels of oil to theft in the last four years, according to data from the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC).Another data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) showed that the country recorded 4,919 oil spills between the period of 2015 to March 2021.The Ministry of Environment said this issue is a huge detriment to the environment and leads to a significant loss of revenue.Global statistics show that Nigeria loses around 400,000 barrels of oil per day, more than any other country in the world. However, mitigation measures through the enforcement of laws, regulations and guidelines such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act, are being taken to lessen the oil losses. For both oil spills and oil theft, it is recommended that transparency and accountability should be adhered to in the relations among government, oil-producing communities and multinational corporations.

China-Australia tensions create LNG trade uncertainty Rising political tension is creating concern for the China-Australia liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, with other global LNG suppliers the potential beneficiaries of this tension. LNG is a vital resource supporting China’s push towards a cleaner energy mix. Over the past five years, reinforced by gas market reforms and infrastructure development, the country recorded double-digit gas demand growth across all sectors. Wood Mackenzie’s gas and LNG consultant, Xueke Wang, said, “The absence of Australian LNG could disrupt supply stability and increase the call on coal in the near term. “But in the longer term, it may also force China to turn to suppliers elsewhere, opening the door for rival exporters to increase their share of Asia’s largest LNG market.” Over the past decade, both Chinese National Oil Companies (NOCs) and private companies have acquired Australian upstream positions. Following the pandemic and oil price crash, Chinese overseas investment has slowed. And with rising trade tensions and new challenges in obtaining Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval, new investment by Chinese companies in Australia is slowing. Ms Wang said, “In May, China suspended the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue shortly after Australia cancelled its Belt and Road agreement. According to our sister company Verisk Maplecroft, this is one of a series of events that have inflamed diplomatic tensions and triggered a deep freeze in China-Australia trade relations. “China and Australia are now locked in a cycle of tit-for-tat policy action, and energy trade has been a key battlefield. If the situation deteriorates further, this could have a profound impact on China’s LNG market as Australian LNG makes up around half of China’s total LNG imports.” Chinese companies have a long history of participation in Australian upstream and LNG projects. China’s three NOCs – CNOOC, PetroChina and Sinopec – all have a large Australian LNG footprint.

Covid Batters Leading Asia Importer-- Indonesia’s Covid-19 crisis is hammering gasoline demand in Southeast Asia’s leading economy, echoing a slump in India earlier this year. Strict curbs on travel amid a surge in virus cases are taking a toll on consumption, with gasoline and diesel usage plummeting during the initial phase of restrictions from July 3-25. Shipments of gasoline into Asia’s biggest importer of the fuel have sunk almost a quarter, according to Vortexa Ltd. The drop-off in consumption highlights the threat to the energy market posed by the rapid spread of the delta coronavirus variant, including a flare-up in China. Indonesia has surpassed Brazil and India in daily cases and death counts to become a new global virus center, with confirmed cases jumping and fatality numbers hovering near a record. The hot spots in Asia have weighed on crude oil futures, which retreated for a second straight day on Tuesday. Indonesia’s gasoline demand from July 3-25 sank 14% from the previous month, according to PT Pertamina Patra Niaga, a unit of the nation’s state-owned energy company. Diesel usage fell about 9%, said Putut Andriatno, corporate secretary at Patra Niaga. With demand shrinking, imports of gasoline into the archipelago fell more than 23% from previous month to about 190,000 barrels a day in July, Vortexa’s Asia lead analyst Serena Huang said, citing provisional data. Imports last month were the lowest since May 2020, she added. Diesel imports increased. So far the slump hasn’t affected Asian margins for converting crude into gasoline, with plunging exports from China and better demand from other markets such a now-recovering India have more than compensated for the loss in Indonesian consumption. However, heavy rains in India and China may crimp regional gasoline demand near term, while tighter restrictions in Thailand will also weigh on the recovery, industry consultant FGE said in a note.

Fuel demand picks up in July, petrol at pre-Covid level - India's fuel demand picked up in July as easing of pandemic-related restrictions accelerated economic activity, helping petrol consumption reach pre-Covid levels, preliminary sales data showed on Sunday. State-owned fuel retailers sold 2.37 million tonnes of petrol in July, up 17 per cent from the year earlier period. It was 3.56 per cent higher than pre-Covidpetrol sales of 2.39 million tonnes in July 2019.Sales of diesel - the most used fuel in the country - rose 12.36 per cent to 5.45 million tonnes over the previous year, but was down 10.9 per cent from July 2019.This is the second straight month that showed a rise in consumption since March.Fuel demand had recovered to near-normal levels in March before the onset of the second wave of COVID-19 infections led to the re-imposition of lockdowns in different states, stalling mobility and muting economic activity.Consumption in May slumped to its lowest since August last year amid lockdowns and restrictions in several states. Fuel demand showed signs of resurgence in June after restrictions began to be eased and the economy gathered pace.On July 30, S M Vaidya, Chairman of India's largest oil firm IOC, had stated that petrol consumption has risen over pre-Covid levels as people prefer personal transport over public transport.Diesel sales, he said, were likely to return to pre-pandemic levels by Diwali in November if a third wave of Covid infections does not lead to reimposition of lockdown. ATF consumption, which had seen the most severe fall as air travel was restricted beginning March 2020, is likely to return to normal by the end of the current fiscal in March, he had said.

Mumbai: Juhu beach's sand turns black following oil spill  – India TV (video) The sand on over 5 kilometre stretch of Mumbai's Juhu Beach turned black due to an oil spill on Thursday. People, who came for a walk in the morning today, said that the oil in the seawater was flowing towards the shore that has turned sand in black. However, it is still not clear how the oil spilled into the sea water.Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said that the administration will inspect the situation at the beach."I will assign a ward officer to inspect the oil on the Juhu Beach. We don't know the reason yet but, whenever we have the information we will share it," she told reporters."Usually we put sand over it but first we will inspect the situation," she added.A Twitter user, Dr Rajesh Sarwadnya, who was at the beach, posted a video and wrote: "Waves of oil Spill today on entire 6 km Juhu Beach"Pramod Virkar, a local resident said: "We have never seen oil in the beach and in the seawater, it has happened probably due to breakdown of a steamer."Another resident, Hari said, "The sand is sticky and we cannot walk on it. It will also harm the marine life and the environment."

The Saudi Arabia-UAE rift that froze OPEC is a sign of things to come, experts say - — The unexpected rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates within OPEC in early July came as a shock to many in the Gulf region and those watching from abroad. The dispute over oil production levels temporarily froze the group's ability to lay out its plans for the markets, sending crude prices upward. But it wasn't the first appearance of tension between the Arab neighbors and longtime close allies, and likely will not be the last, experts who've long been watching the region say. "What is happening here is these are the two biggest economies in the region, in the Arab world," Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political science professor in the UAE, told CNBC. "And as Saudi Arabia wants to reform its economy, privatize, etc, there is bound to be competition between them." "Competition between the two biggest Arab economies is, I think, just starting," Abdulla said. "And it is bound to intensify in the days to come." The strategic alignment between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, both of which have become increasingly active on the world stage, is evident in many areas. And it's often associated with what is said to be a close relationship — some have even called it a "bromance" — between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his Emirati counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed. But conflicting interests have cropped up in recent months that preceded the OPEC rift. In February, Saudi Arabia announced that its government would cease doing business with any international companies whose regional headquarters were not based within the kingdom by 2024. The move waswidely seen as targeting Dubai, the Middle East's current headquarters hub. The UAE last year announced a normalization deal with Israel, becoming the first Gulf country to do so, while Saudi Arabia has so far publicly refused to do the same. Saudi Arabia meanwhile has been working on a tentative rapprochement with rival Sunni power Turkey, with which the UAE has significant tensions as Ankara supports an Islamist ideology that Emirati leaders see as a threat. And the two Gulf powers had some diverging interests in the war in Yemen, despite being on the same side, with the Saudis supporting an Islamist party distrusted by the UAE and Abu Dhabi supporting separatist tribes that did not align with Riyadh's goals. The UAE drew down its military activity in Yemen in 2019, while Riyadh remains embroiled in the conflict. "It has been a common assumption that the UAE and Saudi Arabia have effectively indistinguishable worldviews and interests — that the UAE is sort of an appendage or dependency of Saudi Arabia," Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote in a blog post in July. "That has never been the case." In early July, Saudi Arabia upped the ante by ending preferential tariffs for goods made in free zones or affiliated with Israeli manufacturers, also seen as a direct shot at the UAE, which is the free zone hub of the region. The move was followed by waves of patriotic Saudis launching a campaign via Twitter to boycott Emirati goods. This came despite the fact that the UAE is Saudi Arabia's second-largest trading partner after China by import value. "The idea once was to create a GCC market, but now there's the realization that the priorities of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are very different,"

 Rapid Iran Oil Comeback Now Looks Less Likely-- Iran’s oil comeback, already taking longer than many traders expected, will be further complicated by last week’s deadly drone attack on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which the U.S., U.K. and Israel all blamed on Tehran. With talks held up by a change of presidency in Tehran, the incident adds friction to a process that could return 1 million barrels of oil a day to the global market within months. Even if the allies decide against a military response, Washington may be less willing to ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s energy exports. “It looks inevitable that this will cast a black cloud over nuclear talks” between Iran and world powers including the U.S., said Bill Farren-Price, a director at energy-research firm Enverus. The negotiations -- to revive a 2015 pact that limited Iran’s atomic program in return for sanctions relief -- had already stalled. A sixth round in Vienna broke up last month. Diplomats are waiting for Iran to re-enter talks now that Ebrahim Raisi, an austere cleric who has long argued against a rapprochement with the U.S., has become president. Restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- which then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of in 2018 -- is key to Iran’s ability to increase oil production. Its crude exports have plummeted to almost nothing from more than 2 million barrels a day in mid-2018. Many oil investors had expected a new nuclear deal before Iran’s elections in mid-June. While Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could resume negotiations soon, there’s still much for the sides to overcome. Iran wants a guarantee that future U.S. administrations won’t withdraw from any deal, as Trump did. It also insists sanctions are removed across the board -- on its shipping and banking industries as well as on energy exports. Washington is wary of both demands. Another sticking point is the JCPOA’s so-called “break out” clause. It was designed to constrain Iran’s nuclear activities enough that it would need a full year to build a bomb if it chose to exit the accord. Some U.S. officials believe Iranian scientists have made enough progress in the past three years to construct an atomic weapon within a few months. Still, Iran and the U.S. have both said they’ll continue to negotiate. Washington sees a deal a way to help stabilize the Middle East -- even if it doesn’t address Tehran’s ballistic missiles or support for proxy forces in the likes of Yemen and Lebanon -- while sanctions have battered the Iranian economy.

Oil Prices Slide As China's Manufacturing Slows - Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Monday after a survey found that growth in factory activity slipped sharply in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer. Brent crude oil futures for October delivery fell 99 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $74.42 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for September settlement dropped 117 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $72.78 a barrel. Data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed China's official purchasing managers' index fell to 50.4 in July from 50.9 in June, adding to concerns about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. It was the slowest figure since the index slumped to 35.7 in February 2020. China's Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 50.3 last month from 51.3 in June, marking the lowest level in 15 months and prompting concerns about demand. Elsewhere, manufacturing activity rose in export powerhouses Japan and South Korea, though firms suffered from supply chain disruptions and raw material shortages that pushed up costs. The euro area manufacturing sector growth moderated in July but the pace of expansion remained elevated, final data from IHS Markit showed. The final factory Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 62.8 from 63.4 in June. This was the lowest reading since March.

Oil prices slip 4 percent as supply grows - Oil prices tumbled about 4 percent on Monday as weak economic data from China and the United States, the world’s top oil consumers, and higher crude output from OPEC producers stoked fears of weakness in oil demand and oversupply. Brent crude oil futures slid by $2.65, or 3.5 percent, to $72.76 a barrel by noon. US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped fell $2.91, or 3.9 percent, to $71.04. “The complex is reacting pretty strongly from the more bearish economic data from China and the US,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York. China’s factory activity growth slipped sharply in July as demand contracted for the first time in more than a year, a survey showed on Monday. The weaker results in the private survey, mostly covering export-oriented and small manufacturers, broadly aligned with those in an official survey released on Saturday. “China has been leading economic recovery in Asia and if the pullback deepens, concerns will grow that the global outlook will see a significant decline,” said Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA. US manufacturing activity also showed signs of slowing. The pace of growth slowed for the second straight month as spending rotates back to services from goods and shortages of raw materials persist, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The ISM’s index of national factory activity fell to 59.5 last month, the lowest reading since January, from 60.6 in June. Also weighing on prices, a Reuters survey found that oil output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose in July to its highest since April 2020. The United States will not lock down again to curb COVID-19, but “things are going to get worse” as the Delta variant fuels a surge in cases, mostly among the unvaccinated, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday.

Delta Variant Causes Oil Prices To Tumble -Oil tumbled by the most in two weeks as a fast-spreading delta variant posed a threat to demand and as economic data out of China signaled a slowdown. Futures in New York declined 3.6% on Monday. The virus is clouding the outlook for consumption as China faced a fresh outbreak and infections in Sydney matched a record. Amid the surge in cases, barrels from some key OPEC producers are hitting the market, also causing concern. Meanwhile, data indicated that China’s economic activity eased in July. The government in China has made steps to curb commodity inflation and those are having an impact, according to Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth, US. “The next round of data from China on crude import numbers will be critical in figuring out how China is handling the most recent uptick in infections,” she said. Crude prices are off to a shaky start in August after July’s small gain with the resurgence of Covid-19 offsetting the global demand recovery. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, three core OPEC oil exporters in the Middle East, boosted their crude shipments to multimonth highs in July, underscoring a return of the nations’ supply into an uncertain global market. Oil has “given back some of last week’s gains in response to weaker China data and continued worries about the spread of the delta variant,” Crude has settled into a range “with delta demand worries offsetting the current tight supply outlook.” : West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery dropped $2.69 to settle at $71.26 a barrel in New York. Brent for October settlement fell $2.52 to end the session at $72.89 a barrel. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel vowed to respond to a deadly drone attack on a tanker last week in a major waterway for global oil shipments that they blamed on Iran. Middle East foes Iran and Israel have traded multiple accusations of shipping attacks in recent months. But Thursday’s strike off the coast of Oman, which Tehran denied carrying out, was the first to kill crew members -- a Romanian and a Briton.

Oil Prices Extend Decline -- Oil declined for a second day as the spread of Covid-19’s delta variant in China threatens to disrupt the recovery in global crude consumption. West Texas Intermediate futures ended Tuesday’s session down 1% at the lowest closing price in almost two weeks. Nearly half of China’s 32 provinces have been gripped by the latest outbreak in Asia’s largest oil market, with 5% of worldwde short-term oil demand potentially at risk, according to calculations by China National Petroleum Corp. The price drop was tempered somewhat by a rally in equities trading and the “potential hijack” of a ship in the Gulf of Oman. “China demand concerns because of the renewed restrictions from the viral spread were what caused the earlier weakness,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. Crude rallied strongly in the first half of the year as the rollout of vaccines allowed major economies to reopen, boosting oil demand and draining the glut built up during initial waves of the pandemic. However, the fast-spreading delta variant has led to renewed restrictions in many countries. “Asia-Pacific is currently the focal point of lockdowns,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc. “There are 887 million people worldwide are currently in lockdown, which is more than at the beginning of 2021, and 85% of them are in Asia-Pacific.” Crude’s decline also put the U.S. benchmark under technical pressure. WTI fell below its 50-day moving average and is edging closer to its 100-day moving average. Such moves can often spark additional selling from trend-following funds. Prices: WTI for September delivery fell 70 cents to settle at $70.56 a barrel in New York. Brent for October settlement lost 48 cents to $72.41 a barrel. The U.S. benchmark’s nearest timespread weakened on Tuesday. While the spread is still in a bullish backwardation structure -- with near-dated prices above those further out-- it narrowed to the smallest in about a week.

Oil Settles Lower in Volatile Trade on Worries About Delta Variant - (Reuters) -Oil settled lower on Tuesday, as concern about rising cases of the Delta coronavirus variant outweighed expectations for another weekly draw in U.S. inventories that had boosted prices early. Brent crude oil futures settled down 48 cents, or 0.66% at $72.41 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled down 70 cents, or 0.98% at $70.56 a barrel. Prices held lower in post-settlement trade after market sources said preliminary data suggested crude stocks drew in the United States. [API/S] Concerns over the spread of Delta variant in the United States and China, the top oil consumers, weighed on prices, with both benchmarks falling more than 3% at one point. In China, the spread of the variant from the coast to inland cities has prompted authorities to impose strict measures to bring the outbreak under control. "The news flow out of China has been bearish since the weekend," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York. "There continues to be angst about the COVID-19 situation, which weighs on the petroleum complex the most." Earlier, Brent and U.S. crude had risen more than 60 cents. Brent has risen more than 40% this year, helping earnings of oil firms. "We're trying to price in how big the slowdown is going to be with the Delta variant," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. BP, ConocoPhillips , Diamondback Energy Inc and Continental Resources Inc all reported strong second-quarter earnings this week. Expectations of a return of Iranian crude to the markets also pressured prices. Iran and six powers have been in talks since April to revive a nuclear pact that could release its oil exports. But officials have said significant gaps remain. Iran's new president, Ebrahim Raisi, said on Tuesday his government would take steps to lift "tyrannical" sanctions imposed by the United States on its energy and banking sectors. The sixth round of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington adjourned on June 20, two days after Raisi was elected president. Parties involved in the negotiations have yet to announce when the talks will resume. A Reuters poll showed U.S. crude and product inventories likely declined last week, with both distillates and gasoline stockpiles predicted to have fallen for a third straight week. The American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, suggested U.S. crude stocks fell by 879,000 barrels in the week ended July 30, market sources said. The data showed that U.S. distillate inventories, including diesel, fell by 717,000 barrels for the week ended July 30, and U.S. gasoline stockpiles dropped by 5.8 million barrels.

Incident with multiple tankers in Gulf of Oman raises concerns in oil market -- U.S. officials say they are still trying to determine exactly what's happening, but numerous reports say there's potentially one hijacked ship in the Gulf of Oman and the status of several others is unclear. The situation occurred as tensions between the West and Iran have been rising, and as the U.S. and other world powers have been trying to reach a new deal with Iran over its nuclear program. At a briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said: "We are aware of the reports of a maritime incident in the Gulf of Oman. We are concerned. We are looking into it." Price said this was part of a disturbing pattern of belligerent behavior from Iran "including belligerents in the maritime domain."Price was referring to what military experts call a drone attack against a ship last week that killed a British crew member and a Romanian crew member aboard the ship Mercer Street.Other U.S. officials say the situation is moving quickly, but it appears armed Iranian gunmen had boarded the seized tanker.The incident has not moved oil prices, yet anyway. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September settled down nearly 1% at $70.50 per barrel but they were off the lows of the day after the reports.Lloyds List reported that the Panamanian flagged Asphalt Princess was the ship that was reportedly seized by armed men. The British Navy earlier Tuesday had warned of a "potential hijack" in the Gulf of Oman, and the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations warned ship operators that "an incident is currently underway" off of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, according to news reports.The Associated Press had reported that at least four ships off the coast of the UAE broadcast warnings Tuesday that they had lost the control of their steering. The four vessels were identified as Queen Ematha, the Golden Brilliant, Jag Poofa and Abyss, according to the AP, citing MarineTraffic.com.Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst who heads global commodities strategy for RBC, said the activity is alarming and it appears to have been some sort of action that involves the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The IRGC is a powerful military force that Iran wields separately from the standard Iranian armed forces and it reports directly to the ayatollah. "It is alarming given the fact we had two fatalities on Friday," she said. "You have to put it in the context of Iran continuing to make progress on the nuclear restart against the backdrop of a new hard-line government coming to power in Tehran. It raises the risk of unintended escalation, or one side not appreciating the other's red lines."

Harrowing Audio From Hijacked Tanker: "Iranians Are Onboard With Ammunition, We Are Drifting!" -Israel's national public broadcaster Kan News has obtained audio from Tuesday to Wednesday's harrowing events aboard the Panama-flagged tanker Asphalt Princess, believed to have briefly been under Iranian military control and headed for the Islamic Republic's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. In the short audio recording released Wednesday crew of the distressed Asphalt Princess vessel are heard communicating with the UAE Coast Guard, frantically saying that between five and six armed Iranians were on board during the ordeal. It also seems the captain communicates that the tanker is drifting and not under the crew's control, confirming the initial reports that signaled something was wrong yesterday. The ship's transponder showed it was "not under command". The audio communication seems to have been made Wednesday just after the gunmen disembarked the ship. "Iranian people are onboard with ammunition," the crew member communicates. "We are... now, drifting. We cannot tell you exact our ETA to (get to) Sohar." But by later in the day Wednesday the hijackers departed the vessel, as ABC News reports: The hijackers who captured a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman departed the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, as recorded radio traffic appeared to reveal a crew member onboard saying Iranian gunmen had stormed the asphalt tanker. The incident — described by the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations the night before as a "potential hijack" — revived fears of an escalation in Mideast waters and ended with as much mystery as it began.

WTI Dips After Disappointingly Small Crude Inventory Draw - Oil prices fell for the second straight day, with WTI dropping back below $70 as the spread of COVID's delta variant in China threatens to disrupt the recovery in global crude consumption.“China demand concerns because of the renewed restrictions from the viral spread were what caused the earlier weakness,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.However, the prices bounced somewhat by the “potential hijack” of a ship in the Gulf of Oman. API

• Crude -879k (-3mm exp)
• Cushing +659K
• Gasoline -5.751mm
• Distillates -717K

Analysts expected yet another sizable crude draw in the last week but were disappointed when API reported a surprisingly small 879k drop in stocks (vs 3mm exp).

WTI Extends Losses Below $70 After Unexpected Crude Inventory Build -Oil prices are down again this morning as demand anxiety grew amid 'Delta'-variant outbreaks in key consumer China,which countered improved sentiment in other risk assets. Additionally, for the second week in a row, the recovery in global air traffic has taken a step back, somewhat confirming the anxiety. After API reported a smaller than expected draw overnght "The risks to demand in China remain the number one topic. Some market observers are already reviewing their GDP forecasts for the third quarter. There is particular nervousness on the oil market because oil demand suffers considerably from mobility restrictions imposed in a bid to combat coronavirus.," On the 'bullish' side of oil, tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, supporting prices. Iran's newly elected hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, took power on Tuesday, while hijackers briefly took control of an asphalt tanker in the Persian Gulf. Will the official data override algos' worries? DOE

• Crude +3.627mm (-3mm exp) - biggest build since March
• Cushing -543k
• Gasoline -5.291mm (-1.6mm exp)
• Distillates +832k (-500k exp)

Analysts expected a 10th weekly draw in the last 11 last week (even after API's much smaller than expected inventory drop), but they were wrong... very wrong. DOE reported a 3.627mm barrel build in crude stocks - the biggest since March.Distillates inventories also rose unexpectedly.

 Oil Slumps As Covid Infections Dampen Demand Recovery-- Oil slumped in New York after a surprise increase in U.S. crude inventories added to renewed concerns about demand recovery as China battles the coronavirus resurgence. West Texas Intermediate futures tumbled 3.4% to close at the lowest in more than two weeks. The delta variant of Covid-19 has been detected in almost half of China’s 32 provinces in two weeks, and at least 46 cities have advised residents against non-essential travel. Meanwhile, American crude supplies increased by 3.63 million barrels, the biggest gain since March, government data showed. Key timespreads for futures contracts tumbled in response to weakening supply-demand fundamentals. “The resurgence in Covid infections in China is dampening perceptions of demand recovery,”said Peter McNally, global head of industrials, materials and energy at Third Bridge. After eking out a small advance in July, August is proving to be tough for crude. Tightened controls in some Asian nations to curb the spread of the virus risk eroding oil demand at a time when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are gradually increasing supply. The gloomy demand outlook continued to weaken timespreads in the U.S. oil market on Wednesday though the benchmark is still holding a bullish backwardation structure in which near-dated prices are trading at a premium to those further out. October futures traded at 44 cents a barrel above the November contract Wednesday, compared with more than $1 a month ago. Prices: WTI for September delivery slipped $2.41 to settle at $68.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for October settlement dropped $2.03 to end session at $70.38 a barrel. U.S. gasoline inventories fell 5.29 million barrels to the lowest volume since November, while a gauge of fuel demand, total products supplied, was steady, the Energy Information Administration said.

Oil drops for third day on concerns over spread of Covid-19 variant - Oil prices fell for a third day in a row to a two-week low on Wednesday on a surprise build in U.S. crude stockpiles and as the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant outweighed the impact of Mideast geopolitical tensions.The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles rose 3.6 million barrels during the week ended July 30.That compares with the 3.1-million barrel draw analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and the 0.9-million barrel decline the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday.Brent futures fell $2.03, or 2.8%, to settle at $70.38 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled $2.41, or 3.4%, lower at $68.15 per barrel.That puts both benchmarks on track for their lowest since July 20. For Brent, it puts the contract down for a third day in a row for the first time since late May."Worries continue to grow over the spread of the Delta variant in China, which has weighed heavily on oil prices in recent days," analysts at bank ING said.The United States and China, the world's two biggest oil consumers, are grappling with rapidly spreading outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant that analysts anticipate will limit fuel demand at a time when it traditionally rises in both countries.In China, the spread of the variant from the coast to inland cities has prompted authorities to impose strict measures to bring the outbreak under control.Tensions in the Mideast Gulf, meanwhile, supported prices.On Tuesday, three maritime security sources claimed Iranian-backed forces seized an oil product tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, though Iran denied the reports.This is the second attack on a tanker since Friday in the region, which includes the Strait of Hormuz. The United Kingdom and the United States are also blaming Iran for the earlier incident, in which drones crashed into the vessel and killed two sailors. Iran denies the reports.

Oil Up, but Surprise Build in U.S. Crude Supply Caps Gains - – Oil was up Thursday morning in Asia, with investors surprised by a build in U.S. crude oil supply, but still supported by ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Brent oil futures were up 0.24% to $70.565by 1:43 PM ET (5:43 AM GMT) and WTI futures gained 0.26% to $68.33. Both Brent and WTI futures fell by more than $2 a barrel on Wednesday. U.S. crude oil supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed a build of 3.636 million barrels in the week to Jul. 30. Forecasts prepared by Investing.com had predicted a 3.102-million-barrel draw, while a 4.089-million-barrel draw was recorded during the previous week. Crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute released the day before showed a draw of 879,000 barrels. Some investors, though, focused on the bigger-than-forecast draw of 5.292 million barrels in gasoline inventories. "The fall in U.S. gasoline stockpiles to the lowest level since November 2020 suggests that fuel demand conditions in the U.S. are still quite resilient,". Brent oil prices are now expected to rise to $85 a barrel by the fourth quarter as oil demand outpaces supply growth, the note added. The latest tensions in the Middle East gave the black liquid a boost, however. "With tensions brewing amongst Iran and world powers over last week's drone attack, it seems nuclear deal talks will be lengthy and unlikely to provide imminent sanction relief for Iran," OANDA senior analyst Edward Moya told Reuters. The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that it believed Iran was behind the hijack of the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess tanker in the Gulf of Oman that look place last week, but that this could not be confirmed. Iran, however, had denied responsibility. Elsewhere in the region, Israeli aircraft struck what the country's military described as rocket launch sites in south Lebanon earlier in the day, as a response to earlier projectile fire towards Israel. Investors are also focused on the weather, with the risks of potential supply disruptions amid a forecast for more storms in the Atlantic also supporting prices, said Moya. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday revised upward its outlook for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, with an estimated 65% chance of an above-normal season and between three to five major hurricanes.

Oil Up as Broad Market Rebound Offsets Delta Spread - Oil futures ended higher Thursday, snapping a three-day losing streak tied in part to worries that the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may impact energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery gained 94 cents, or 1.4%, to finish at $69.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. October Brent crude , the global benchmark, rose 91 cents, or 1.3%, to close at $71.29 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. WTI is nursing a week-to-date loss of more than 6%, while Brent is off 5.4%. The buy-the-dip approach remains a force in the oil market, analysts said. The bounce showed "crude oil bottom pickers stepping into the void today and pushing the barrel higher," said Robert Yawger, executive director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities. "That auto reaction to crude-oil pullbacks had largely been working since the vaccine announcement on Nov. 2." Recent weakness has been tied to concerns around surging cases of COVID-19 around the world tied to the delta variant, said Robbie Fraser, global research and analytics manager at Schneider Electric. "While demand levels have generally improved quicker than expected over the past year, record numbers of new cases in many countries threaten to halt or even unwind some of that progress in the weeks ahead," he said, in a note. Crude slumped on Wednesday after an unexpected uptick in U.S. crude stockpiles, although gasoline inventories showed a much larger-than-expected drop. A stronger dollar also weighed on crude. The dollar backed off Thursday, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index , a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, off 0.1%. The build in U.S. crude stocks was largely attributed to a fall in exports. Natural-gas futures ended lower after the Energy Information Administration said a net 13 billion cubic feet of the fuel was injected into storage last week. The September contract fell 0.4% to cloe at $4.14 per million British thermal units. It remains up nearly 6% for the week, boosted by hot weather and strong global demand. September gasoline rose 2% to close at $2.294 a gallon, while September heating oil was finished 1.5% higher at $2.106 a gallon.

U.S. oil set for biggest weekly loss since October - -Oil prices fell about 1% lower on Friday, posting to their steepest weekly losses in months, on worries that travel restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 will derail the global recovery in energy demand. Crude futures also came under pressure as the dollar strengthened after monthly U.S. job growth came in higher than expected. A stronger dollar makes greenback-denominated oil more expensive for buyers in other currencies. Brent crude oil futures settled down 59 cents, or 0.8%, at $70.70, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 81, or 1.2%, to settle at $68.28 a barrel. For the week, global benchmark Brent shed more than 6%, its largest week of losses in four months, and WTI tumbled nearly 7% in its biggest weekly decline in nine months. "The price action we see now is really a function of the macro picture," said Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore bank OCBC. "The Delta variant is now really starting to hit home and you see risk aversion in many markets, not just oil." U.S. President Joe Biden said that COVID-19 cases in the United States, which have climbed to a six-month high, will go up before they come down and that the new Delta variant is taking a needless toll on the country. Japan is poised to expand emergency restrictions to more regions of the country, while China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, has imposed curbs in some cities and canceled flights. "Increased travel restrictions in China have come under the microscope of traders and could become a key oil price mover as this month proceeds," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois. U.S. oil rigs rose two to 387 this week, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said. Growth in the rig count has slowed in recent months as drillers continue to focus on capital discipline.

Oil Has Worst Week in 9 Months as Dollar Hobbles Crude’s Rebound -Oil posted its worst weekly loss in nine months as a soaring dollar on Friday hobbled any attempt by crude prices to rebound on Mideast tensions, after a week of negative news on Covid. New York-traded U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark for U.S. oil, settled Friday’s trade down 81 cents, or 1.2%, at $68.28 per barrel. For the week, WTI lost 7.7%, its most since the 10% drop during the week to Oct. 23, 2020. London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, was down 85 cents, or 1.2%, at $70.44 per barrel by 2:55 PM ET (18:55 GMT). Brent lost almost 8% for the week, also its biggest weekly decline in nine months. Oil and most other commodities tumbled as the dollar sprung back from a recent spate of selling as a resilient U.S. jobs report for July raised questions about the continuance of the stimulus provided by the Federal Reserve to markets and the economy. Since the COVID outbreak of March 2020, the Fed has been buying Treasuries and other assets to the monthly tune of $120 billion to support the U.S. recovery from the pandemic. “A stronger dollar will likely prove to be a big drag over crude prices in the short-term,” said Ed Moya, who heads research for the Americas at New York-based broker OANDA. Crude prices were down for the first three days of the week amid a global surge in coronavirus cases from the Delta variant that cast a pall over the outlook for oil demand. In the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, Covid cases hit a six-month high with more than 100,000 infections reported earlier this week, according to a Reuters tally. Crude prices did manage to catch a break on Thursday on Mideast tensions as Israeli jets struck purported rocket launch sites in Lebanon in response to an earlier attack, allegedly by Tehran. That was before the dollar’s rebound on Friday, which put paid to any further rebound in oil.

Oil Caps Worst Week in 10 Months | Rigzone - Oil fell, capping the biggest weekly loss since October, as the spread of the delta coronavirus variant in China and elsewhere in the world is casting doubts on demand growth. West Texas Intermediate futures dropped 1.2% Friday and 7.7% for the week. The dollar rose following a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report, weakening the appeal of commodities priced in the currency. China has imposed increasingly strict restrictions on mobility to fight the spread of the deadly variant, while records in daily cases were set in Thailand and Sydney, Australia. “The market is reacting to the concern that the delta variant, particularly in Asia, may erode mobility significantly,” says Bart Melek, head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities. “That implies that we could see significantly less tightness in pricing than we saw prior to this big virus concern.” After crude soared in the first half of the year on surging demand, the latest chapter in the pandemic has capped prices of not just oil but some other commodities as well. The premium for the nearest WTI contract over second-month futures, known as the promt spread, narrowed to 18 cents after reaching 72 cents a week ago, pointing to ongoing concerns about demand. “On the one hand, markets worry about economic implications of the spreading of the delta variant, but on the other, policy accommodation gives a strong backdrop.” WTI for September delivery dipped 81 cents to settle at $68.28 a barrel in New York. Brent for October fell 59 cents to end the session at $70.70 a barrel in London. Despite the weak outlook for demand from Asia, there are some improved metrics in the U.S., where roads have remained busy. Vehicle miles traveled on highways in the week to Aug. 1 match the similar week in 2019, before the pandemic hit, according to the Department of Transportation. Gasoline deliveries to the Spanish market jumped above pre-pandemic levels last month.

China's July factory activity growth slips to 15-month low - Caixin PMI (Reuters) - China’s factory activity growth slipped sharply in July as demand contracted for the first time in over a year in part on high product prices, a business survey showed on Monday, underscoring challenges facing the world’s manufacturing hub. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 50.3 last month from 51.3 the month before, the lowest level since April 2020. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the index to ease to 51.1. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis. The Chinese economy has largely recovered from disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but it has faced new challenges in recent months such as higher raw material costs, which dragged on profit growth at industrial firms in June. Policymakers have stepped up efforts to curb surging commodity prices that have squeezed manufacturers’ margins.

China’s Industrial Slowdown Could Kill The Commodity Rally - One of the biggest drivers of the surge in metals prices this year, the world’s top commodity consumer China, is showing signs of a slowdown in demand, which could drag down copper and iron ore prices for the rest of the year after a blistering rally in the first half.Chinese factory activity growth slowed down to the smallest in 15 months, imports of copper and iron ore are also slowing down amid surging prices and curbs in China’s steel manufacturing, while authorities are releasing metals stocks from reserves to cool rallying prices which raise manufacturing costs.All these factors from the past few weeks are bearish for the Chinese demand—and as a result, imports—of metals such as iron ore, copper, zinc, and aluminum, Reuters columnist Clyde Russellnotes.Although analysts say that slower Chinese demand doesn’t necessarily mean lower commodity prices, because of tight global markets, China may not be a key driver of metals demand through the end of 2021. That’s because of slowing factory growth, authority-mandated caps on steel manufacturing, and the release of tons of metals from China’s reserves.The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showedthis week that Chinese factory growth was at its slowest in July in 15 months, also because of high raw material prices, especially for industrial metals.At the same time, China’s imports of iron ore, the key material for steel manufacturing, fell in June to the lowest in 13 months, slipping by 0.4 percent from May and by 12.1 percent from June 2020.China moved to cap steel production and steel exports this year as part of its pledge to reduce emissions. Chinese authorities have implemented a policy to keep steel output flat at 2020 levels.Following a 12-percent jump in steel production in the first half of the year, this policy means that Chinese steel manufacturing will likely drop in the second half of the year, dragging down demand for iron ore, too, analysts tell Global Times.“Cutting production is the main theme for the entire steel industry for the rest of the year not only because of environmental goals but also the unsustainability for firms to produce so much steel when the cost is so high,” a steel industry insider told the Global Times this week.“China steel mills’ restrictions could result in around 75 million tonnes less iron ore demand in the second half,” analysts at UBS said in a July note carried by Reuters. The curbs on steel production in China have already resulted in lower iron ore prices.China’s copper imports have also slowed down in recent months, customs data shows. But copper scrap imports have been surging, doubling in the first half of 2021, according to metals intelligence firm Roskill. As manufacturers replace the more expensive refined copper with scrap, “This would unquestionable result in a decline in Chinese refined consumption in 2021- a hugely negative factor for world copper prices to surmount, despite the evident recovery in demand in the Rest of World,” Roskill saidlast week.“Watch out copper. A great wall of scrap is still heading in China’s direction,” the intelligence firm said.Copper prices could also drop because of Chinese sales of tons of metals, including copper, from state reserves.

Beijing cancelling large exhibitions, events for rest of month as delta variant spreads -Beijing is canceling large exhibitions and events for the rest of August due to a rise in delta variant coronavirus cases.One such canceled event is the annual World 5G Conference that was set to be held this weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported.The World Robot Conference, which had been set for later this month, is waiting for orders from the government to get canceled. The event attracted 300,000 attendees in 2019.China’s National Health Commission announced Wednesday there were 62 new nationwide coronavirus cases, with three cases confirmed to be the delta variant.“Prevention and control of the epidemic is currently the most important priority for the entire city of Beijing, top to bottom,” the Chinese capital's COVID-19 response team said, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.The decision comes a day after a mass coronavirus testing order wasannounced in Wuhan due to an outbreak of the delta variant.The country canceled flights and baseball games after the outbreak was found to spread to 17 provinces and more than 35 cities. China only has 15 percent of its population fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.The delta variant is causing renewed coronavirus restrictions around the world as cases increase in many countries. Major events have not been canceled in the U.S. but many venues are implementing vaccine or mask requirements, or both.

Thailand will extend strict coronavirus measures to more regions of the country. Thailand will enforce stricter coronavirus measures in more areas of the country starting Tuesday, as the Delta variant is sharply driving up the numbers of cases and deaths.Rules were already in place in areas deemed virus hot spots — including Bangkok, the capital — and were set to expire on Monday. But officials said on Sunday after an emergency meeting that they would instead add 16 provinces to their designated “dark-red zones,” including provinces near Bangkok and in the country’s central and southern regions, to try to stem transmission of the virus.Residents in those zones, where rules are the tightest, must abide by a 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew and a five-person limit on gatherings. They also cannot use public transportation.Restaurants can be open for takeaway and delivery services, but salons and sports venues must be closed. The new measures are meant to “help to control and contain Covid,” Natapanu Nopakun, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said, adding that officials hoped the effort would “bear fruit” by the government’s next review in two weeks. But he said that the measures would most likely be in place until the end of August.

Nigerian Doctors Set to Strike Amid Rising Covid-19 Cases Amid the imminent third wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the recent outbreak of cholera in more than 13 states, Nigerian doctors have announced the commencement of a nationwide industrial action from August 2, 2021. The doctors, members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), blamed the government for the strike, calling on its members to resume an "indefinite and total strike" to press home its demand for better welfare packages - part of an agreement signed with the government in April, 2021. The doctors had demanded, amongst other things, the immediate payment of Covid-19 inducement allowance to some of their members in federal and state tertiary institutions. The doctors had downed tools several times over these same issues.The doctor's strike is coming at a time the country is preparing for a possible third wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Nigeria has continued to witness a consistent increase in the number of cases and deaths, including the presence of the Delta variant which is already present in many parts of the country. Reports of cholera outbreaks in various states including Bauchi, Enugu, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Plateau, Benue, Bayelsa, Delta, among others, have already added to the pressure on the nation's health facilities.The country has over one million people vaccinated. Nigeria has recorded at least 174,315 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 165,015 recoveries, and over 2,149 fatalities. Meanwhile, an outbreak of Cholera has killed 325 people in 15 states between January and June, 2021, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said.

 Shipping costs are still surging at breakneck speed -FT Alphaville -There’s a blame game going on in global shipping. Everything from games console sales to container locations to competition has been listed as a factor in the rising cost of sailing freight across the world’s oceans.But a year into the price surge, it’s still proving pretty difficult to assess how much of the disruption is down to demand-related factors, and how much reflects more fundamental supply-side issues.Despite the easing of lockdowns in the US and Europe, high demand for consumer goods remains a factor. Gene Seroka, head of the Port of LA, toldOdd Lots recently that they were still processing more cargoes than ever before.Shipping has always been a highly cyclical business too. Freight costs between East Asia and the West always tend to rise during the run-up to Christmas, for instance.However, the evidence that high prices reflect structural issues (and are therefore likely to linger for longer) is mounting. This hit our inboxes earlier today from Xeneta, a firm that provides data on shipping freight rates charged to some of the world’s big exporters:According to the latest Long-Term XSI® Public Indices, the global index [which measures shipping freight costs on some of the world’s main trade routes] recorded a staggering jump of 28.1% [between June and July], blowing the previous record (a 11.3% rise in May 2019) out the water. The benchmark now stands 78.2% higher than in July 2020, up 76.4% in 2021 alone.Yep, you read that right. Prices jumped by almost third over the course of a single month and the index is up by more than three quarters over the course of the year so far. For European imports, the picture’s bleaker still with prices jumping by almost 50 per cent on the month, and 120 per cent year-on-year.We’re talking meme stock territory here. Without the likelihood of a subsequent price crash. Short-term prices over the past year have risen by a mind-blowing 600 per cent. While comparing one route with changes in long-term shipping costs from all destinations to Europe isn’t perfect, it highlights that day-to-day rates are far more volatile.It’s a little like comparing headline inflation, which includes changes in the cost of more volatile items such as food and energy, with the core measure, which excludes those goods. Because the core measure is less likely to whipsaw, it is seen as more reflective of entrenched price trends.So the fact that longer-term prices are now rising at levels that Xeneta’s CEO Patrik Berglund describes as “truly breathtaking” suggests that increasingly what we’re seeing happening to the cost of shipping freight — the means by which 80 per cent of imports reach consumers — reflects supply-side constraints that are often more difficult to resolve than high demand.So what does this mean for price developments?We are sceptical that efforts by the likes of Joe Biden to challenge anti-competitive practices will have much of an impact on costs. The White House is also not targeting freight rates, but other charges. Clearly a lack of capacity can be addressed by building more ships. But, as Xeneta points out, while 300 new vessels are on order, they won’t be online for a while yet.

Delta cloud over world economic growth --The general outlook of capitalist governments and their economic agencies has been that after the 2020 recession, induced by the COVID-19 pandemic—the deepest since the Great Depression of the 1930s—the global economy would return to a path of growth. Despite the recent upturn in the major economic centres, this rosy scenario is now very much in question, because of the spread of the Delta variant of the virus. This is the result of two factors. The first is the refusal of capitalist governments to take the necessary health measures to deal with the pandemic, because of their impact on profits. The second is “vaccine nationalism,” which has meant that many of the hardest-hit areas of the world have been cut off from supplies, allowing the coronavirus to develop more dangerous variants. Last week, in its update on the state of the world economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed to a significant division these policies have created within the global economy. Over the past two decades and more, the so-called emerging and developing economies have been a key driver of global growth, outstripping the contribution made by the major economies. This has now turned around. The IMF maintained its April forecast of 6 percent for global growth this year, but changed its prediction of where it would come from. It cut the forecast for emerging and developing countries by 0.4 percentage points for this year, to 6.3 percent. The Financial Times called this the “gloomier outlook” that was “worst in south-east Asia and south Asia, particularly India.” At the same time, the IMF revised upward its forecast for growth in the advanced economies by 0.5 percentage points, to 5.6 percent. “Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line, along which the global recovery splits into two blocs,” the IMF said. Some countries could “look forward to further normalisation of activity this year,” but many others “still face resurgent infections and rising death tolls.” The IMF said recovery was not assured, even in countries where infections were currently very low, so long as the virus circulates elsewhere. That warning was confirmed within a week of being issued. The Delta variant continued to spread, including in countries with a relatively higher level of vaccinations. The pandemic has been accompanied by higher levels of debt, and emerging market economies could face major problems if monetary conditions in the US begin to tighten. The IMF warned of a “double hit” to these economies, as a result of “worsening pandemic dynamics and tighter external financial conditions.” This would drag down global growth below its forecast. In a blog comment on the latest update, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath wrote that risks were tilted to the downside. “The emergence of highly infectious virus variants could derail the recovery and wipe out $4.5 trillion cumulatively from global GDP by 2025,” she said. “Financial conditions could also tighten abruptly amid stretched asset valuations, if there is a sudden reassessment of the monetary policy outlook, especially in the United States. It is also possible that stimulus spending in the United States could prove weaker than expected.” Figures released last week showed the US economy is now larger than it was before the pandemic struck. The economy grew at an annualised rate of 6.5 percent in the second quarter of 2021, slightly more than the annualised rate of 6.3 percent in the first. But this was well below the 8.4 percent that economists had forecast, and much lower than earlier predictions of a bounce-back of 10 percent and more.

 COVID-19 and global capital flows -– OECD -- The COVID-19 outbreak, in addition to dramatic implications for the health of people around the world, has triggered major economic and financial consequences: GDP is now expected to contract by 6% globally in 20201; trade could fall by 12% to 32% this year2; FDI flows are expected to fall by around 40%3; equity markets initially suffered sharp sell-offs before recovering somewhat in recent weeks, and financial conditions have substantially tightened.4 These developments in turn are significantly impacting global capital flows and countries’ external positions.5 The COVID-19 crisis and steep oil price declines have led to sharp swings in foreign exchange markets. As the COVID-19 outbreak has escalated into an unprecedented global crisis, accompanied by plummeting oil prices, exchange rates of key emerging market economies (EMEs) dropped substantially, notably those of the Brazilian real (BRL), Mexican peso (MXN), Russian rouble (RUB), South African rand (ZAR), and later the Indonesian rupiah (IDR) and the Turkish lira (TRY) (Figure 1). The currency depreciation accelerated between end-February and mid/end-March 2020. The currencies of advanced economies (AEs) have generally strengthened over the period, particularly the USD, JPY, EUR, and CHF (Figure 2). After a notable drop in the first half of March, the Canadian and Australian dollar rebounded.6 Since April 2020, the hardest-hit currencies have started to recover. This is particularly the case of the IDR, and the RUB, while the ZAR and MXN have stabilised. This rebound, and the heterogeneity in reactions across different emerging market currencies, may reflect various developments, including initially the extension by the US Federal Reserve of swap lines, which was coordinated with other G7 central banks and the Swiss National Bank in March7, and the opening of a repo facility (see section below) as well as the agreement announced by OPEC+ countries at the beginning of April 2020. What appears exceptional about capital flow dynamics during the COVID-19 crisis are the scale and speed of the outflows. The Institute of International Finance (IIF) daily flows trackerestimates that around USD 103 billion were drawn from EMEs between mid-January and mid-May 2020, with equity inflows plummeting first, followed by debt flows. This sudden stop in capital flows has been faster and more incisive than observed during similar events in recent years, including during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the 2013 Taper Tantrum when the Fed announced a gradual exit to its quantitative easing programme, and the 2015 Chinese stock market sell-off (Figure 3).A more complete picture of portfolio flow dynamics is provided by preliminary balance-of-payments data for the first quarter of 2020, which show the substantial drop in non-resident portfolio flows to EMEs, both debt and equity, and most strikingly in Brazil (Figure 4, left axis). While inflows to AEs generally strengthened in February, Japan and the US also experienced large drops in portfolio debt inflows in March (Figure 4, right axis). Portfolio inflows to Italy declined by more than USD 60 billion in March, in contrast to France and Germany, both of which recorded important debt inflows (Figure 4, left axis). Resident investors in some cases exacerbated the drop in non-residents flows by investing more abroad (Turkey, Japan), while in other cases they cut foreign investment, repatriating funds back home (Canada, US).

Demonstrations against France’s vaccine pass surge for a third weekend, even as cases rise. --Protesters converged in Paris to oppose France’s new health pass policy, which bars people without proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid-19 test from indoor venues. Demonstrations also took place in other cities in France.CreditCredit...Alain Jocard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Pascale Collino, 64, is far more afraid of the Covid-19 vaccines than of the disease itself. So when the French government decided to implement a new health pass policy barring those without proof of vaccination or a recent negative test from many indoor venues, she took to the streets in protest.“We have to be on the front lines of this fight,” Ms. Collino said on Saturday near the French health ministry in Paris, where a large crowd had converged, banging pots and cowbells.For the third week in a row, thousands took to the streets around France to protest the government’s health pass law, which waspassed by Parliament recently but still needs a final greenlight from a top constitutional council, expected next week, before it can be fully enforced.The protests come as the authorities try to stem a new wave of infections that is starting to put pressure on France’s hospitals, where 85 percent of Covid-19 patients are unvaccinated, according to a government report published this week.

 Cyberattackers shut down vaccine bookings for Rome and its region. --The Lazio region of Italy, which includes Rome, has been unable to offer vaccination appointments online for three days because of a cyberattack on its website over the weekend, part of what the authorities said was probably Italy’s most serious ransomware case to date. Ransomware attacks, in which criminals break into a computer system, encrypt the data it contains and demand money to release it, have struck health care systems in many countries, paralyzing hospitals, clinics and testing centers from California to Ireland and New Zealand. The attack in Italy is one of the largest to affect a vaccination campaign, raising alarms about its potential impact.“It’s hitting one of the things that in 2021 are fundamental,” said Stefano Zanero, a professor of cybersecurity at the Polytechnic University of Milan.The attack against the regional information technology services began at midnight on Saturday. It came at a fraught time, as the Italian authorities are grappling with vaccine skepticism and the spread of the Delta variant, which is dominant in the country.Italy’s postal police, who have jurisdiction over cyberattacks, are still investigating the identity of the attackers, but the president of the Lazio region, Nicola Zingaretti, said on Monday that the police knew it had come from abroad. He called the attack “very powerful and very invasive.”A ransomware attack in May on the Colonial Pipeline, which transports fuel from Texas across the southeastern United States as far as New Jersey, caused a shutdown that lasted several days and prompted panic buying of gasoline in the United States. In Ireland, an attack paralyzed the health services’ digital systems for more than a week in June, delaying Covid-19 testing and medical appointments. Regional governments have extensive powers over vaccinations in Italy, and the Lazio region, home to nearly 6 million people, prided itself on an efficient campaign. About 70 percent of the region’s adult population is fully vaccinated, the highest figure in the country; for Italy as a whole, the figure as of Tuesday was 53 percent, according to a New York Times tracker.

Italy to require teachers to have proof of COVID-19 vaccination - The Italian government on Thursday enacted a requirement for teachers to have proof of vaccination against COVID-19 before entering a classroom.The so-called Green Pass is a digital or paper certificate that shows if a person has been vaccinated or has tested negative for COVID-19. It is already required of travelers using public transport.Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi expanded the requirement to include all teachers, university students and long-distance transport to begin on Sept. 1, Reuters reports.Teachers will not be permitted to work without the certificate and they will not be paid after five days of absence."The choice of the government is to invest as much as possible in the Green Pass to avoid closures and to safeguard freedom," Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza told reporters about the decision.The Italian government also ruled that beginning Friday, the Green Pass will be required to eat indoors as well as to take part in other service and leisure activities.Italy's crackdown comes the same day France's Constitutional Council ruled that COVID-19 health pass requirements for its citizens to enter public venues was legal. In France, the health pass is available to those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, have recently recovered from the virus or have recently tested negative.Protests have taken place across France over the past few weeks against the requirement, with demonstrators saying it impinges on their freedoms and is unconstitutional. More than 200,000 demonstrators took the streets in Paris this past weekend. Nearly 50 percent of France's population is fully vaccinated and 64 percent have received at least one dose, according to Our World in Data.Shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron announced the health pass, more than 1 million people signed up to get vaccinated. Reuters notes that this does not appear to be the case in Italy, with vaccination rates actually slowing down in the weeks since Draghi announced the restrictions around the Green Pass.Around 65 percent of Italy's population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Reuters reports.

Britain will extend vaccination to 16- and 17-year-olds. -The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization advised Britain to expand vaccination for 16- and 17-year-olds with no underlying health conditions. Shots were already open to ages 12 to 17 with increased health risks, or living with an immunosuppressed person.CreditCredit...Vickie Flores/EPA, via ShutterstockBritain is expanding its vaccination campaign to include 16- and 17-year-olds with no underlying health conditions on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, an independent body responsible for advising its health departments.At a news conference in London on Wednesday, Jonathan Van-Tam, Britain’s deputy chief medical officer, said the campaign would start in a “very short number of weeks” but he did not specify a date. He said officials would “proceed as fast as is practically possible.”Under previous advice from the joint committee, the vaccine was made available to children 12 to 17 with underlying health conditions and increased risk of severe infection, or those living with an immunosuppressed person.Across England, 244,223 people under 18 had received a first dose as of Aug. 4, according to National Health Service data.In July, the joint committee had advised against the routine vaccination of children without underlying conditions, citing evidence that suggested vaccination would offer “minimal health benefits” for young people who rarely experienced severe virus symptoms. The committee said it was also awaiting further safety data following extremely rare reports of inflammation of the heart muscle with the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in younger adults.The new guidance balanced “potential benefits and harms” to young people, according to a joint committee member, Wei Shen Lim, including the frequency and severity of adverse reactions, and the impact of so-called long Covid which affected just a “small proportion” of young people and children.

If the Food Supply Chain Collapses Will the Public Finally See Through Brexit? -. I have checked this story in Motor Transport, which appears reputable: UK supply chain faces collapse in “two to three weeks”, RHA warns government |So, what is happening? First, it would seem as if a D notice has been issued to prevent this story being discussed. That the supply chain might get worse is not being mentioned in the media. Second, if the Road Haulage Association is to be believed the government is doing nothing to prevent this crisis.Third, you might almost believe that the government wants a story that is very clearly related to Brexit to be related to Covid instead.What is actually happening? It would seem that three things are.First, there is denial in government of the scale of the issue that they have unleashed with Brexit.Second, there is willing to make excuses, rathe than take action.Third, I rather strongly suspect that they think that they can sacrifice Grant Shapps to this one, and Johnson will survive again.But if food supply moves from being an inconvenience, which it is now, to becoming a serious issue, which it seems that the Road Haulage Association thinks it might be, will the public be foolish enough to just think this the result of the pingdemic when simultaneously it is claimed that the number of cases is falling and the sensitivity of contacting has been reduced? I doubt it. I think they will smell a rat and decide that this is not a Covid issue.