week ending Nov 13

Fed's Clarida says inflation on track to fade despite overshoot - Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida on Monday said that the primary force behind higher inflation is on track to fade despite price growth rising “much more” than the Fed’s long-run goal. In a Monday speech, Clarida expressed confidence that inflation would fall in line with the bank’s forecast next year and allow the Fed to hold off on interest rate hikes until the end of 2022. The Fed’s No. 2, however, warned that another year of inflation far above the bank’s ideal range was still a risk amid growing strain on supply lines. “These imbalances are likely to dissipate over time as the labor market and global supply chains eventually adjust and, importantly, do so without putting persistent upward pressure on price inflation and wage gains adjusted for productivity. But let me be clear on two points,” Clarida said at a Brookings Institution symposium. “Inflation so far this year represents, to me, much more than a ‘moderate’ overshoot of our 2 percent longer-run inflation objective, and I would not consider a repeat performance next year a policy success,” he continued. “Second, as always, there are risks to any outlook, and I and 12 of my colleagues believe that the risks to the outlook for inflation are to the upside.” The Fed’s ideal level of annual inflation is 2 percent as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, one of several gauges of price growth calculated by the federal government. The bank last year adopted a strategy to allow inflation to run above that 2-percent target long enough to make up for more than decade of low price and wage growth. Inflation, however, has remained higher than the Fed’s target — and for longer than bank officials anticipated earlier this year — as the global economy struggles to shake off pandemic-related constraints. The PCE index grew 4.4 percent in the year leading into last September, according to data released last month by the Commerce Department, and 0.3 percent since August. While monthly price increases have begun to stabilize, some economists expect inflation to accelerate again as holiday shopping picks up and winter weather threatens smooth transportation. “Most of the inflation overshoot relative to the longer-run goal of 2 percent will, in the end, prove to be transitory. But as I have noted before, there is no doubt that it is taking much longer to fully reopen a $20 trillion economy than it did to shut it down,” Clarida said. Inflation began to rise at the start of 2021 as prices continued to recover from steep drops at the onset of the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccines, along with steady fiscal and monetary stimulus also, helped power a much quicker rebound than many economists had expected in 2020. Consumer demand has recovered far quicker than many factories, ports, trucking companies and suppliers have been able to handle and the emergence of the delta variant in July caused a series of rippling shutdowns and delays that have kept up pressure on consumer prices. The Fed announced last week that it would begin paring back its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds given the progress of the recovery and the persistence of high inflation. While inflation has boosted pressure on the Fed to hike rates as well, most Fed officials say higher borrowing costs would do little to counter pressures driven by the pandemic and hinder the labor market from a full recovery.

Jerome Powell and Jamie Dimon Met Privately on September 30. Weird Stuff Followed. -By Pam Martens - According to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s daily appointment calendar, he met privately with Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 30.JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States. It is supervised – badly – by the Federal Reserve. Just how bad is that supervision? JPMorgan Chase is the only U.S. bank to have been charged by the Justice Department with five felony counts since 2014 – admitting to all of them. But despite that unfathomable number of felony counts under the same Chairman and CEO, the Board of JPMorgan Chase didn’t sack Dimon. The Federal Reserve didn’t order JPMorgan Chase’s Board to sack Dimon either – not even after the bank was charged with rigging the U.S. Treasury market last year – the market that allows the U.S. government to pay its bills. Instead, what the Fed has done throughout this unprecedented era of felony charges against the nation’s largest bank is to give JPMorgan Chase a no-bid contract to be the custodian of all of the agency Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) that the Fed has been buying up since 2009. (See our previous report.) The meeting occurred on the same day that Powell gave testimony, in person, before the House Financial Services Committee. So, it is likely, although not a given, that Dimon traveled to Washington, D.C. from New York to meet with Powell. Exactly what was so important about this meeting that it had to be in person, instead of a phone call?The date of the meeting, September 30, 2021, just happens to be the exact date that the Fed was mandated, under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, to release the names of the banks and the billions of dollars each had borrowed in the third quarter of 2019 from the Fed’s emergency repo loan bailouts that began on September 17, 2019. The Fed’s emergency repo loans were made via Open Market operations at the New York Fed. Under Dodd-Frank, the names of the banks, dollar amounts borrowed, interest rate and collateral posted must be made public “on the last day of the eighth calendar quarter following the calendar quarter in which the covered transaction was conducted.” That was the date Dimon met with Powell, September 30, 2021.Wall Street On Parade was the first news outlet to report on the fact that the Fed had released the data for the repo loans it made in September 2019. (The Fed will be announcing the data for the fourth quarter of 2019 on December 31, 2021, and each subsequent quarter thereafter.)The data released by the Fed showed that on the first day of the emergency repo loan operations on September 17, 2019 the New York Fed provided a total of $53.15 billion in one-day repo loans. JPMorgan Securities, the trading unit of JPMorgan Chase, was the largest borrower at $7.6 billion or 14 percent of the total. At that point in time, JPMorgan Chase held $1.6 trillion in deposits. Why would it need to borrow $7.6 billion from the New York Fed on the very first day the emergency repo loan operations opened? By September 27, JPMorgan Securities had a total of $20 billion in 14-day term repo loans outstanding. On September 30, JPMorgan Securities took an additional $8 billion one day repo loan. The Fed’s repo loans grew exponentially after September 17, 2019. By January 27, 2020, the Fed had pumped $6.6 trillion cumulatively in cheap repo loans to the trading units of Wall Street banks. There was no COVID-19 pandemic crisis in the U.S. at the time to account for this emergency bailout. The Federal Reserve acknowledged to Wall Street On Parade on March 11, 2020 that it had 233 documents that might shed some light on why JPMorgan Chase was allowed by the Fed to draw down $158 billion of its reserves, creating a liquidity crisis in the overnight loan market according to sources on Wall Street. After taking four months to respond to what should have been a 20-business day turnaround on our Freedom of Information Act request, the Federal Reserve denied our FOIA in its entirety. (Our earlier request to the New York Fed resulted in the same kind of stonewalling. See The New York Fed Is Keeping JPMorgan’s Secrets Close to Its Chest.) This story got decidedly weirder after October 13, 2021 when we exposed the names of the banks and the huge amounts they had borrowed between September 17 and September 30, 2019. No major business media outlet picked up the story. No major media outlet appeared to care that the same banks that were bailed out in 2008 with trillions of dollars in cumulative secret loans from the Fed were being bailed out again, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell was telling both Congress and the media that these banks were well capitalized.

Latest Fed Financial Stability Report Underplays Supply Chain Risk by Yves Smith - The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal all gave enough different spins on the latest Fed Financial Stability report, which the central bank issues twice a year, that it seemed useful to give it a look. We’ve embedded it at the end of the post for your convenience. The entire document is worth a look, since it has sections that may appeal to various interests, such as a post-mortem of the March 2020 Treasury market upheaval, a discussion of the risk of non-cash collateral at central counterparties, and meme stocks. But the part the press focused on was “Near-Term Risks to the Financial System,” which starts on page 59. Regular readers would hopefully have internalized the Fed’s framework:

1. Elevated valuation pressures are signaled by asset prices that are high relative to economic fundamentals or historical norms and are often driven by an increased willingness of investors to take on risk. As such, elevated valuation pressures imply a greater possibility of outsized drops in asset prices.
2. Excessive borrowing by businesses and households leaves them vulnerable to distress if their incomes decline or the assets they own fall in value..
3. Excessive leverage within the financial sector increases the risk that financial institutions will not have the ability to absorb even modest losses…
4. Funding risks expose the financial system to the possibility that investors will “run” by withdrawing their funds…

I suspect experts like Steve Keen and Richard Vague would be more than a tad frustrated by this. Normally, in academic work and even financial reports, the ordering of items signals which is to be taken as most important. It’s distressing to see the central bank depict itself as concerned with asset price levels, and even worse, broadly stated.Investors are supposed to be grown-ups and know that they are taking risk, as in the possibility of loss. Financial economics posits the existence of a risk-return tradeoff, that investors take more risk in the hope of getting better results. So what a central bank ought to be concerned about is leverage of assets, and not asset prices per se. Recall that we had an enormous dot-com bubble, but in public stocks, and the regulators have strict limits on margin loans. When it imploded, there was no damage to the financial system (amusingly, there was to players that had managed to leverage themselves to the mania by taking Internet stocks in lieu of cash….like McKinsey, which had to write off $200 million. It also had to shrink its headcount by nearly 50% in two years in North America due to having greatly increased staffing to service dot-com panicked clients and serve clients who had eyeballs rather than cash). But instead, the Fed sees itself as the guardian of asset prices generally, irrespective of the degree of blowback to financial institutions, because confidence fairy. The continuation of the Greenspan-Bernanke-Yellen put is what created these greatly attenuated valuations, but you never hear a hit of agency in how the Fed characterizes its “Gee, asset prices are pretty high” observation. Most experts who have taken a hard look at crises have found that high levels of private sector borrowings, particularly by households, is what sets the stage for a financial crisis. Another financial crisis risk factor, oddly absent from the Fed’s list, is high levels of international capital flows. An 800 year study of financial crises by Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart found that high levels of international capital movements were strongly correlated with rising and increasingly severe financial crises. When their study came out, it received all sorts of approving noises. But no one was willing to act on its obvious implications and start imposing capital controls, or at least increase frictions through transactions taxes. Can’t wind the clock back on the supposed progress of ever more globalization and financialization.

Fed Governor Quarles to step down, opening seat for Biden pick | TheHill- Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles will resign from the central bank at the end of December, he announced Monday, clearing the way for an eventual nominee from President Biden. Quarles, who had served as the Fed’s vice chair of supervision from 2017 through October, told Biden in a Monday letter that he would step down from the bank “during or around the last week of December.” Quarles, a Republican, was appointed by former President Trump to join the Fed in 2017. He was confirmed that year to a four-year term as the Fed board’s regulatory chief and again in 2018 to a 14-year term as one of the Fed board’s seven governors. While his term as the Fed’s regulatory chief ended last month, Quarles could have stayed at the Fed as a governor through 2032. The president can only fire members of the Fed board “for cause,” which courts have generally held to mean severe misconduct or incompetence. Quarles’s resignation gives Biden a smoother path to reshaping the Fed, with several other key positions either open or soon to be vacant as well. Biden is expected to announce whether he will renominate Fed Chair Jerome Powell as soon as this week. Powell’s four-year term as Fed chief ends in February and Biden is expected to either nominate him for another stint or announce a more liberal replacement, which would likely be Fed Governor Lael Brainard. The president may also announce his choices to replace Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, whose term as the Fed’s No. 2 lapses in January, and to fill a vacant Fed governorship left by Trump. Brainard, the only Democrat on the Fed board, is considered a front-runner for one of the Fed board’s two vice chairmanships if Biden decides to renominate Powell.

The big decisions awaiting Biden's Fed — With President Joe Biden still contemplating key leadership decisions for the Federal Reserve, much of the central bank’s regulatory and supervisory agenda remains somewhat in limbo.Biden is expected shortly to make a decision on whether to renominate Fed Chair Jerome Powell or name a more progressive pick to lead the central bank such as Fed Gov. Lael Brainard. Brainard is also mentioned as a possible successor to Fed Gov. Randal Quarles as vice chair of supervision. The White also has two open seats to fill on the Fed board of governors, plus another one when Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida’s term expires in January.But without indication from the administration whether Powell will remain in place or a leadership shakeup is in store, the Fed has stayed quiet on key issues that have previously dominated the docket, including potential changes to the supplementary leverage ratio, bank merger approvals and updates to the anti-redlining Community Reinvestment Act.If Biden opts against renominating Powell, it is widely expected that he will elevate Brainard, an Obama appointee, to the chairmanship. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Brainard visited the White House last week to interview for the Fed chair role. Powell, whose term ends in February, also paid a visit to the White House last week.Many have theorized that the Fed is laying low while it awaits an announcement from the White House. Even after Biden names his nominees, it may be challenging for the Fed to enact certain policies until they are confirmed by the Senate.Here are key issues on the Fed's bank regulatory agenda that will come into sharper focus once its leadership questions are resolved.

• Status of capital measure for the largest banks - The Fed still has yet to decide whether or not to make permanent adjustments to a key capital measure in order to account for an influx of reserves in the system that banks say has become challenging for them to manage.
• Basel IV - The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has pushed back the deadline for implementing the Basel IV rules — also called Basel III endgame — to January 2023 in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Still, many countries, including the United States, have significant work to do to finalize rules in order to align with the last components of the global post-crisis framework. International regulators finalized the Basel IV framework in 2017 in an effort to complement the existing Basel III guidelines, which were formulated after the 2008 financial crisis.
• Pending bank mergers - The Fed’s bank merger approval process could also be put on hold for a period of time as the central bank awaits new leadership. The Fed is responsible for reviewing applications to acquire banks, holding companies and certain nonbanks, and is supposed to examine antitrust implications, as well as Community Reinvestment Act obligations, anti-money laundering compliance and financial stability implications.
• Further changes to bank supervision program - The Fed has long indicated that it is looking to modernize its supervisory regime, an effort in particular that was a focus for Fed Gov. Randal Quarles, who is stepping down at the end of the year.
• Community Reinvestment Act reform - The Fed is expected to have a key role in interagency deliberations over modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act. CRA talks between the regulators stalled during the Trump administration after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency went out on its own last year with a final rule reforming the anti-redlining law without support from either the Fed or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
• Climate risk 'scenario analysis' - The Fed has stopped short of adding climate risk assessments to its traditional stress tests, but both Brainard and Powell have sounded support for “scenario analysis” exercises to measure the impact of climate change on the industry. Brainard said in a speech last month that the central bank is moving ahead with such analyses, but they will not have direct implications on capital requirements. Scenario analysis helps firms account for physical risk from extreme weather events as well as the transition risk resulting from changing consumer behaviors and government policies, she said.

Brainard interviewed by Biden for Fed chair as search heats up - Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard was interviewed for the top job at the U.S. central bank when she visited the White House last week, according to people familiar with the discussions, signaling that Chair Jerome Powell has a serious rival as President Biden considers who will lead the Fed for the next four years.Powell and Brainard are the only people who have publicly surfaced as being in the running for chair. Powell’s current term in that post expires in February and Biden said on Nov. 2 that he’d make a decision “fairly quickly.” Bloomberg News has previously reported that Brainard was also under consideration for the position of Fed vice chair for supervision. The White House and Fed both declined to comment. Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, Lael Brainard is currently the only Democrat serving on the Federal Reserve's board. Biden’s scope to reshape the leadership of the Fed widened further on Monday when Governor Randal Quarles announced he would step down before the end of the year. Quarles’s tenure as vice chair for supervision expired in October, but he could have stayed on as a governor until 2032 and his exit hands Biden another slot to fill.

Yield-Curve Collapses As Inflation/Biden Spark Policy-Error Anxiety -- The market's rate-hike expectations are surging higher this morning following the way hotter than expected CPI print. Additionally, perpelxing double-speak from Biden is not helping as he reflects on The Fed's "independence" while implying the need to 'do something about inflation!!!!': "And I want to reemphasize my commitment to the independence of the federal reserve to monitor inflation, and take steps necessary to combat it." Having desperately jaw-boned down the market's hawkish expectations in the week since the FOMC statement, today's data has sent rate-hike expectations to cycle highs.. That has sparked serious weakness in the belly of the yield curve (5Y +10bps) relative to the long-end... Real yields continue to hit record (negative) lows... And that has pushed the yield curve (5s30s) to its flattest since pre-COVID... As traders position for a more aggressive-than-they'd-like Fed coming to the rescue sooner than expected and then having to back-pedal rapidly as the Oz-ian world in which we live falls apart.

October inflation spike is not driven by economic overheating - EPI Blog - Below, EPI director of research Josh Bivens offers his insights on today’s release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October, which showed a 6.2% rise compared with a year ago. As Bivens explains, the inflation spike we’ve seen in 2021 is not driven by macroeconomic overheating. Instead, this spike is largely driven by COVID-related factors: a reallocation of spending away from face-to-face services and toward goods combined with supply-chain bottlenecks. Read the full Twitter thread.

• Core inflation up less, at 4.6% y-o-y, but, still a large number. And yet the main determinants of this rise still look to me to not include macroeconomic overheating. 2
• The first bit – rising demand for goods – relented in q3, with demand for goods contracting. But supply-chain dysfunctions actually got a bit worse, with real domestic production of motor vehicles somehow falling in the face of huge demand. 4
• The ARP relief to individuals boosted personal incomes in 2021 (thru q3) by more than 4%. Even if it was solely responsible for the 2% acceleration in core inflation over that time period (and it obviously wasn’t), this still means families came out ahead. 6
• Even if ARP contained “too much” relief in early/mid-2021 (it didn’t), it wouldn’t follow that this means macro policy should become contractionary going forward. Too much or too little, the fiscal impulse from ARP is mostly behind us. 8
• All in all, the inflation spike we’ve seen in 2021 was not driven by macro overheating. This spike was largely driven by Covid-related factors: reallocation of spending away from face-to-face services and port shutdowns and other supply-chain snarls. 10
• In a perfect world, I’d have hoped 100% had gone to output/employment gains. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Given the constraints in the real world, fiscal relief was the right move in early 2021, and passing the BBBA is the right move today. 12
• And, it remains too-early to call for further hard-braking on macro policy. Fiscal policy (again, even with BBB) becomes less expansionary in 2022 and the Fed has already announced the start of tapering. Today’s inflation numbers certainly don’t argue for more than this. 13/13 — Josh Bivens (@joshbivens_DC) November 10, 2021

Seven High Frequency Indicators for the Economy --These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment. The TSA is providing daily travel numbers.This data is as of November 7th. 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 dashed line is the percent of 2019 for the seven day average. The 7-day average is down 20.2% from the same day in 2019 (79.8% of 2019). (Dashed line) Overall, air travel has been off about 20% relative to 2019 for the last four months (with some ups and downs). 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 November 6, 2021. Dining picked up for the Labor Day weekend, but declined after the holiday - and appears to be declining again. The 7-day average for the US is down 14% compared to 2019. This data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue). Blue is 2020 and Red is 2021. The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through November 4th. Movie ticket sales were at $88 million last week, down about 50% from the median for the week. This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. This data is through October 30th. The occupancy rate was down 5.7% compared to the same week in 2019. This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019. As of October 29th, gasoline supplied was up 3.9% compared to the same week in 2019. This was the eighth week so far this year when gasoline supplied was up compared to the same week in 2019 - and consumption is running close to 2019 levels now.   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 data is through November 6th 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 111% of the January 2020 level. New York City is doing well by this metric, but New York subway usage is down sharply (next graph). This graph is from Todd W Schneider. This graph shows how much MTA traffic has recovered in each borough (Graph starts at first week in January 2020 and 100 = 2019 average). This data is through Friday, November 5th.

Macro Implications of BBB and IIJA Passage by Menzie Chinn - We are still in the process of determining what’s in the Build Back Better (BBB) bill, but it approximates what is currently discussed, it in conjunction with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will not likely lead to much pressure in credit markets and upward pressure in prices, given it is largely paid for. Here (while we wait for the CBO) are Moody’s Analytics projections (as of 11/4). First, net impact on the budget deficit from BBB alone. Source: Zandi (Nov. 2021). Next, impact on nonfarm payroll employment in baseline, and with certain combinations (where American Rescue Plan (ARP) has already been passed, so that can be viewed as the baseline against which to compare the ARP+IIJA, ARP+BBB, and ARP+IIJA+BBB. Source: Zandi (Nov. 2021). Employment at end-2023 will only be slightly higher (relative to ARP) if IIJA alone is implemented. Obviously, with passage of both BBB and IIJA, employment would be noticeably higher. What about GDP and components? Table 3 in Zandi (Nov. 2021) outlines the impacts. I excerpt the GDP impacts for up to 2023Q4. Source: Zandi (Nov. 2021). As of 2023Q4, with IIJA and BBB implemented, real GDP will be about 1.8% higher than projected with only ARP implemented. Zandi does not provide estimates of the impact on interest rates or inflation. I can use my estimates of the slope of the Phillips curve to guess the impact on the price level (so I ignore implications for expected inflation). If the sensitivity of the price level to the (Delong-Summers version of the) output gap is 0.20, then the price level would be about a third of a percentage point higher than otherwise. My 0.20 estimate is much larger than what I obtained using a conventional output gap. Using that (not statistically significant) estimate, the price level would about 5 bps higher. Obviously, one has to believe in the assumptions built in to condition the model (the rest of the world, monetary policy, evolution of Covid-19, etc.), as well as the model itself. The Moody’s Analytics Global Macroeconomic Model appears to be a large scale multi-equation (thousands) macroeconometric model, where the functional equations have been estimated (rather than calibrated). An abstract of the model description is here. A schematic from the description is here:

Biden, Democrats retreat on social spending as Congress passes pro-corporate infrastructure bill -- What is being hailed as a triumph for President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda—the House passage Friday night of the bipartisan infrastructure bill—in fact marks a further shift to the right by the Democratic Party, which is effectively ending any serious push for increased spending on domestic social programs. The bill—a stripped-down version of Biden’s initial $2.6 trillion infrastructure proposal, which allots only $550 billion in new money over 10 years—was passed near midnight by a vote of 228 to 209. It marked the final capitulation of the House Progressive Caucus and Senator Bernie Sanders to the demands of right-wing Democrats such as senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, now openly backed by Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to pass the corporate-backed infrastructure bill and effectively ditch most or all of the broader social welfare and climate “Build Back Better” legislation. Last spring, Biden bowed to Republican demands to separate his proposals for addressing America’s crumbling physical infrastructure from proposals to address the dire social crisis caused by decades of cuts in social programs and windfalls for the rich, which has been immensely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But Biden pledged that he would not sign an infrastructure bill, which he insisted had to be bipartisan, unless Congress also passed his social welfare and climate bill. That would require the votes of all 50 Democrats in the Senate in order to avoid a filibuster and secure passage by majority vote under the budget reconciliation procedure. From the start, it was clear there would be no Republican support in the Senate for even modest increases in social programs or tax increases on corporations and the rich. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time aligned herself with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sanders. They accepted Biden’s maneuver, based on the promise that the House would not act on an infrastructure bill until the Senate had passed the broader social spending measure. Biden then appointed Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, among the most right-wing Democrats, to head up a bipartisan group of senators to fashion the infrastructure measure. The compromise bill—with less that 20 percent of the funding set out in Biden’s initial proposal—passed the Senate in August with 19 Republican votes, including that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The bill—said to be worth $1.2 trillion, but including only $550 billion in newly allocated funding, the rest coming from unspent pandemic relief money—was enthusiastically backed by big business. The US Chamber of Commerce published a list of corporate organizations that supported the bill, including itself, the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation and lobbying groups for the airlines, ports, trucking, rail and other sectors. Also on the list was the AFL-CIO and the building trades unions. The corporate elite backed the bill because corporations stood to make a bundle from government contracts, subsidies and tax incentives, and because it was deemed essential to begin to address the infrastructure crisis in order to conduct economic and possibly military warfare against US capitalism’s major rivals, first and foremost China. At the same time, the oligarchy launched a massive lobbying campaign against the social welfare/climate bill, and mobilized its most open and reactionary stooges in the Democratic Party, such as Sinema and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, to either block its passage in the Senate or strip the bill of any measures, such as increased tax rates for corporations and the wealthy and expanded social entitlements, that impinged on its profits and wealth.

GOP lawmakers blast 'RINOS' after House passes $1.2T infrastructure bill: 'Time to name names' -- House Republicans opposing the Democrats' $1 trillion infrastructure package reacted swiftly late Friday after their colleagues across the aisle – aided by 13 members of the GOP – passed the legislation. The bipartisan bill’s passage was viewed a win for the Biden administration and ended weeks of deadlock between moderate and progressive Democrats. Some Republicans who voted "no" called the bill "communist" or "socialist" and decried their GOP colleagues who voted with Democrats. "Republicans who voted for the Democrats’ socialist spending bill are the very reason why Americans don’t trust Congress," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., called the bill "garbage," and argued that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn't get it passed without help from the 13 Republicans. The vote was 228-206, with six Democrats, all progressives, voting against it. "RINOS just passed this wasteful $1.2 trillion dollar ‘infrastructure’ bill," Boebert wrote on Twitter. "Time to name names and hold these fake republicans accountable." "I can’t believe Republicans just gave the Democrats their socialism bill," Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., agreed. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., listed the names of the 13 Republicans who in her words "handed over their voting cards to Nancy Pelosi to pass Joe Biden’s Communist takeover of America via so-called infrastructure."

Trump SLAMS 13 ‘RINOs’ who voted for Biden’s infrastructure bill – -President Donald Trump slammed the 13 U.S. House and Senate Republicans who joined the Democrats in voting to pass Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Trump criticized the 13 “RINOs” (Republicans In Name Only), noting that they should be ashamed of themselves. “Very sad that the RINOs in the House and Senate gave Biden and Democrats a victory on the “Non-Infrastructure” Bill, where only 11 percent of the money being wasted goes to real infrastructure,” said Trump. “How about all of those Republican Senators that voted thinking that helping the Democrats is such a wonderful thing to do, so politically correct. They just don’t get it! Now they’ll go for the big kill—getting their second $1.9 Trillion Bill (really $5 Trillion) approved, again with RINO support,” he added. “All Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell, for granting a two month stay which allowed the Democrats time to work things out at our Country’s, and the Republican Party’s, expense!” Trump continued. The U.S. House passed the infrastructure bill by a 228 to 206 margin on Friday evening.

House Passes $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill. Will Build Back Better Act Follow? --The House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill with $550 billion in new spending on Friday, and President Biden is expected to sign the Senate-approved legislation shortly.The bill includes few measures to cut the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, but includes substantial funding for adapting and building resilience to its impacts. The legislation includes $15 billion for flood control, mitigation and assistance and $100 million to help Indigenous communities relocate as their homes are inundated by sea-level rise.It also includes $65 billion for grid upgrades, $39 billion for public transit, $5 billion for EV chargers, and $2.5 billion for electric school buses — as well as $110 billion for roads, bridges, and other projects, and $18 billion in loan guarantees for for a methane gas export terminal in Alaska, as well as $4.7 billion to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells which spew heat-trapping methane into the atmosphere.The House did not pass the $1.75 Build Back Better Act, which includes more climate and social spending measures, but Democratic Senators were touting the House passage in Glasgow on Saturday as evidence that progress on that legislation would come soon.As reported by Grist:It's worth remembering that the green spending in this bill was much higher before a bipartisan group of senators negotiated it from its original, $2 trillion size to a punier $1 trillion version. Total funding for electric vehicles was slashed 90 percent, funding for clean energy tax credits cut out entirely, the list goes on.Patrick Gaspard, the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, praised the passage of the infrastructure bill while calling on Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act. "While today we take a significant step forward, no thriving 21st-century economy can sustain the social and economic injustices and inefficiencies of centuries past, nor can they look the other way in the face of fundamental threats like climate change," Gaspard said in a statement. "The only way for Congress to redress these wrongs is to send both of these bills to the president's desk."

Climate advocates skeptical of bipartisan infrastructure bill amid Biden victory lap - The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill is getting a lukewarm reception from climate advocates, some of whom say passage of the measure has cost Democrats some leverage when it comes to further advancing a social spending package expected to deliver major climate benefits.Despite the Biden administration’s victory lap following the House vote on Friday to pass the infrastructure bill after weeks of wrangling, advocates said they plan to put pressure on lawmakers to pass the $1.75 trillion social spending package quickly. “To tout this bill as a climate victory is ... just a lie,” said John Paul Mejia, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, referring to the bipartisan bill. “Not only does this bill include in it some harmful provisions, it also doesn’t meet the full scope and scale of the climate crisis as much as the reconciliation bill would.” Mejia said he believes that progressive Democrats are now in a worse spot leverage-wise than they were before when they vowed during negotiations to not support the infrastructure bill, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure framework (BIF), without voting on the spending package first. “Voting on the BIF first has put us in a more vulnerable position to have our biggest priorities skewed and gutted by corporate Democrats and the cronies of the fossil fuel industry,” he said. Despite the criticism from green groups, the bipartisan legislation does have key climate provisions that include efforts to clean up transportation such as building out an electric vehicle charging network, investments in public transportation, and funds for electric buses and ferries.It also has funding for electric grid modernization, something proponents say will promote renewable energy and serve as a foundation as the country moves toward electric vehicles and appliances. The bill also invests in clean water through removal and replacement of lead pipes and cleaning up toxic substances — the “forever chemicals” known by their acronym PFAS. Lead exposure has been linked to brain damage — particularly in children — while PFAS have been tied to health impacts including cancer and immune system problems.It also provides funding for resilience to climate impacts like wildfires and flooding as well as provisions to clean up contaminated sites and abandoned mines and oil wells.

Spending bill faces Senate scramble - President Biden’s climate and social spending bill is facing the threat of changes in the Senate as Democrats navigate a slim majority and tricky budget rules. Even as House Democrats have spent days agonizing over trying to work out an agreement that could win over nearly all of their members — ultimately punting until at least mid-November as moderates push for an analysis of the bill — Senate Democrats are warning that it is likely to change once it reaches their chamber. The bill faces multipronged challenges in the Senate: An even narrower majority, complex rules governing what can be in the legislation and a chaotic process that lets Republicans try to peel off enough Democrats to inject changes into the legislation or sink it altogether. “There’s going to have to be a lot of work done,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), asked about the path on the spending bill in the Senate. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — who was spotted this week questioning his colleagues on the Senate floor about dropping popular provisions — vowed to go down to the wire fighting for Medicare expansion and tax policies. “I'm going to fight to the last moment here to make sure that those elements are in the bill,” Sanders said, while acknowledging the spending negotiations were a “difficult process.” House and Democratic leadership have been trying to iron out the details of the bill before it passes the House, and gets sent across the Capitol, to smooth its path to Biden and assuage nervous moderates. Any changes made by the Senate will force the bill to be passed again by the House, even as Congress faces a December legislative pile up. But key Senate Democrats are making it clear that they aren’t married to the House proposal. Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he has “concerns” about the framework. “I have a lot of concerns, let's put it that way,” Manchin said during an interview with Fox News, adding that the House bill is “not going to be the bill I work off of.” He added to reporters at the Capitol that he had “no clue” what was in the House legislation that has been the subject of days of high-profile debate as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tried to work out last-minute sticking points between moderates and progressives on issues like immigration and prescription drug negotiations. “They’re on their own,” he added when asked if the House had asked for his sign off on parts of their bill. Tester, asked if he wanted specific changes, acknowledged that “I don’t know what's in the House proposal,” and said while he would “study it thoroughly” he has a “notion it’s going to change.”

The hidden costs of life without paid family medical leave - With the Senate the next to consider paid leave, opponents are still saying it’s too expensive. Yet as our data shows, nearly every country — 186 — provides paid leave to new mothers, the majority provide paid leave to fathers, and 181 countries guarantee paid sick leave nationally. If paid leave is so unaffordable, how are all the other countries paying for it? The first part of the answer is it costs far less than other social programs. Given that paid leave covers just a few months at a time over the life course, its affordability should come as little surprise. The U.S. has long shown it’s feasible to fund decades of retirement, and these investments have been both highly impactful and remarkably popular. Paid leave, which is supported by over 80 percent of Americans, would be no different. The second part of the answer is the returns on investment in paid leave are enormous. This is because paid family medical leave supports women — who disproportionately shoulder caregiving responsibilities — to stay economically active, and women are a powerful engine of economic growth. The OECD reported in 2015 that equalizing women’s and men’s labor force participation rates by 2030 would result in a 12 percent boost to GDP across high-income countries. In the U.S., this would be the equivalent of $2.64 trillion per year. Other estimates are even higher. Leading business consultants at McKinsey estimated that by 2025 the U.S. could add another $4.3 trillion to annual GDP by closing the gender gaps in the workforce — an increase that could far more than fund all spending bills under consideration. Paid family medical leave could help close the gender gaps that are so costly to the economy in important ways. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that providing paid parental leave boosts women’s employment: In countries worldwide, mothers who have access to paid leave are more likely to remain in the labor force, work more hours and return to the same job. The benefits for employers are substantial: Reducing turnover costs and retaining employees with experience and expertise can easily save companies billions each year. It should come as no surprise, then, that over 300 companies and 160 executives signed an open letter to Congress urging them to adopt paid leave. Against this backdrop, any reasonable estimate would find that enacting paid family medical leave would quickly pay for itself. The Biden administration estimated that its original paid leave proposal would cost $225 billion over 10 years. In response, critics questioned whether this was the full cost, as well as whether the U.S. could afford it. Yet even if we evaluate a markedly expanded and more generous policy, covering all Americans from the beginning — with a significantly higher price tag — we find that the benefits would quickly exceed the costs.

 Manchin objects to tax credit for union-made EVs in spending package -Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) expressed opposition to a provision in Democrats’ climate and social spending bill that would give additional tax credits for union-built electric vehicles. A version of the legislation released by the House would provide customers a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles, with an additional $4,500 credit if the vehicle is made in the U.S. by union workers.Manchin objected to the $4,500 credit for union-built vehicles. “When I heard about this, what they were putting in the bill, I went right to the sponsor [Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.] and I said, ‘This is wrong. This can’t happen. It’s not who we are as a country. It’s not how we built this country, and the product should speak for itself,' ” Manchin told Automotive News during a Toyota event in his home state. “We shouldn’t use everyone’s tax dollars to pick winners and losers. If you’re a capitalist economy that we are in society then you let the product speak for itself, and hopefully, we’ll get that, that’ll be corrected,” he added. Democrats can’t afford to lose a single vote on their legislation because of the 50-50 split in the Senate, so they need to win Manchin’s support. Automakers with nonunion workforces like Honda, Toyota and Tesla have criticized the additional credit as unfair. Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers union has praised it as supportive of good working conditions.

What Is Congress Doing on Infrastructure and Reconciliation? - As you are likely aware, the big challenge for Democrats in Congress this year has been an attempt to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a massive reconciliation bill containing much of President Biden’s agenda, while simultaneously avoiding a debt-ceiling crisis and a government shutdown. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill (which cleared the Senateback on August 10) finally passed the House in the wee hours of November 5 as 13 Republicans joined all but six Democrats (all members of the Progressive Caucus) in approving the legislation following a rough agreement on the Build Back Better reconciliation bill. But negotiationson that legislation and other related must-do items continues, with their due dates repeatedly being pushed back. , Both the Senate and the House have passed on strict party-line votes a budget resolution for FY 2022 that authorizes a budget reconciliation bill of up to $3.5 trillion. But because any one Senate Democrat or any three House Democrats could sink the legislation by withholding their votes, negotiations over the size and shape of the package have been complex and at times fractious.After many, many starts and stops, and considerable negotiation between different House Democratic factions and Senate “centrist” holdouts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the White House announced a scaled-back $1.85 trillion version of BBB that could win the requisite number of House Democratic votes for passage. The draft bill includes $555 billion to combat climate change; $400 billion for universal pre-kindergarten; $200 billion for a one-year extension of the expanded child tax credit provided earlier this year in the stimulus legislation; $315 billion for health care, including a Medicare hearing benefit, new Obamacare subsidies and in-home care for seniors and the disabled; $150 billion to build a million affordable housing units. Left on the chopping room floor were paid family leave, a Medicaid expansion for states that rejected the Affordable Care Act’s earlier expansion, and free community college.The new spending would be paid for by a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations; a one percent tax on corporate stock by-backs; measures to reduce income shifting to overseas subsidiaries of multinational corporations; new surtaxes on millionaires and multi-millionaires; and stepped up IRS enforcement. Left out of the revenue package were powers to negotiate lower prescription drug prices; and a repeal of Trump’s corporate and individual income tax rate cuts. The good news for Democrats is that passage of the infrastructure bill finally “de-linked” it from BBB. The bad news is that six House Democratic centrists objected to the $1.85 trillion plan until such time as its spending and revenue estimates are confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office, with additional negotiations needed should CBO find it is not fully “paid for.” In a statement that convinced progressives to vote for the infrastructure bill, five of the dissenting House moderates pledged to vote for the BBB “no later than the week of November 15” assuming the CBO score was done and didn’t create new problems. No one is making promises about when the Senate will get done with their version of the reconciliation bill, much less when the House will (or won’t) approve the final version, Since negotiations may be slowed down or complicated by the appropriations and debt limit issues expected to reach crisis point in early December, we’ll probably soon hear congressional leaders talk about getting everything done by Christmas, or worst case, the end of the year.Technically, the budget resolution that authorized the reconciliation bill remains in effect until the end of FY 2022 on September 30, 2022. Democrats could also choose to roll over certain provisions contemplated for the Build Back Better legislation into a new FY 2023 budget resolution and reconciliation bill. But either stratagem runs into the conventional wisdom that Congress never enacts controversial legislation in an election year, and the reality that House moderates vulnerable to defeat in 2022 may get even warier of an expensive bill.

Build Back Better would cut taxes for nearly all households next year, new report finds - Nearly all income groups would see their tax bill drop in 2022, on average, if President Joe Biden signs the House Democrats' latest version of the Build Back Better plan into law, a new analysis finds. The report, from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC), finds that when taking individual income tax and payroll tax changes into account, the bottom 80% of households would save between $700 to $830 on their tax bills next year, on average. Meanwhile, those earning around $885,000 or more, the top 1% of households, would pay around $55,000 more in taxes in 2022. And those in the top 0.1% — those making $4 million or more — would pay an additional $585,000, per the report. That said, when all major tax provisions are taken into account, it estimates around 20% to 30% of middle-income households would pay $100 or less, on average, in taxes in 2022. There are other caveats to TPC's analysis. The authors note that the effective dates of the tax provisions "vary widely" in the legislation. "While TPC usually tries to show the effects of tax bills for a year when all tax changes are fully effective, there is no year when all of the BBB provisions would apply," the report reads. And things get complicated after 2022. For example, the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) is included only for next year in the current bill. That means the overall tax cuts for low-income households would shrink in 2023 relative to 2022, and moderate-income households would pay "slightly" higher taxes, according to the report. The bill also increases the state and local tax deduction cap from $10,000 to $80,000, which benefits high-income households the most. Overall, though, TPC finds that the current BBB framework "would raise taxes on high income households and corporations while reducing, or at least not raising, taxes for the vast majority of low- and moderate-income households."

There's No Cow Tax in the Build Back Better Bill - The House Agriculture Committee leadership should hold a hearing after one of its members posted claims on Facebook that the Build Back Better Act would tax cows and cause meat prices to soar.House Ag leaders from both parties have mentioned the need to vet what is in the bill related to agriculture, and what isn't in the bill. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and some of it is coming from committee members.Over the weekend, multiple livestock producers emailed DTN staff asking questions about claims made by freshman Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., a member of the House Agriculture and listed at age 33 as the youngest serving member of Congress. Cammack isn't a congressional novice, though, having been chief of staff to Rep. Ted Yoho before running for his seat when Yoho chose not to run last year.Cammack took to Facebook on the evening of Nov. 4 to talk about "some pretty egregious things" in the "Build Back Broke agenda," as she put it. Cammack then falsely claims the bill would cause meat prices to spike by declaring there are fees on livestock not in the bill."If you are a meat eater, if you enjoy a hamburger, a hot dog, a pork chop, a steak -- anything -- if you are a consumer of protein, and not plant-based protein, this is going to do something insane. In this bill, they want to put a fee -- and by they, I mean Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrats and Biden, AOC and the squad -- they want a per-head fee -- $4,500 per beef cow, $6,500 per dairy cow, about $2,500 per hog."Cammack said the ranchers won't absorb that costs, but it will filter down to consumers. Ground beef would go up to $10 a pound, Cammack said. Then there would be higher costs for milk and cheese, etc.None of those claims are true. Cammack's Facebook post from Nov. 4 had 148,000 shares, 81,000 separate reactions from people and 32,000 comments posted on it. Cammack effectively got the reaction she was looking to achieve.

Manchin Says Inflation 'Not Transitory', Cannot Ignore 'Pain' Felt By Americans - Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said on Wednesday that the inflation we're seeing right now isnot transitory, and "is instead getting worse.""By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not “transitory” and is instead getting worse," he tweeted, adding:"From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day."Manchin's comment comes after US consumer prices soaring 6.2% in October - outpacing the 5.9% expected YoY, which is a sharp acceleration from September's 5.4% YoY and the highest print since June 1982.And most importantly, wage increases are NOT keeping pace with the soaring cost of living (real waged growth is negative)...Of particular note, no matter how much the establishment, the media, and the academics declare this burst of inflation is "transitory", the real-world impact of unprecedented monetary and fiscal intervention has very real impacts on the 'average joe':As Mohamed El-Erian exclaimed in a tweet this morning..."'Transitory'-downplaying of inflation is ending up being a real issue, economic and socio-political..."

Inflation puts White House on defensive as Manchin raises concerns about new spending — The White House was thrown on the defensive Wednesday by an inflation report that showed the largest annual increase in prices in three decades, triggering fresh criticisms of President Joe Biden’s legislative plans on Capitol Hill and raising questions about what the administration can do to stem the politically perilous tide of rising prices. High inflation risks undercutting one of Biden’s central messages — that he has made life better for average Americans by creating millions of jobs, overseeing a jump in wages, creating new social programs and delivering millions of vaccines. That may be a harder case to make if many Americans see the prices of their groceries and other goods continue to climb. In an appearance at the Port of Baltimore to promote his freshly passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, Biden took a distinctly sympathetic tone, noting the pain that consumers feel when they see rising costs for a gallon of gas or a loaf of bread. He suggested his agenda is the best way to lower costs for American families. “We still face challenges, and we have to tackle them. We have to tackle them head on,” Biden said. “Many people remain unsettled about the economy, and we know why. They see higher prices. They go to the store or go online and can’t find what they want.” But in the meantime, inflation presents a growing political problem. Polling suggests voters are anxious over growing costs. Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va. — whose vote, like that of 49 other Senate Democrats, is key to enacting Biden’s social spending bill — cited rising inflation as a reason to pause on some parts of the White House’s agenda. “By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not ‘transitory’ and is instead getting worse,” Manchin said in a statement Wednesday. “From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and D.C. can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.” Manchin was making a cutting reference to earlier claims by the White House that rising prices were a transitory side effect of the economy’s emergence from the pandemic.  His comments signaled a concern that more government spending could exacerbate inflation, alarming some Democrats that he would pull back from supporting the $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate package that is currently pending in Congress. The new flurry of reactions was prompted by a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Wednesday that prices in October rose 0.9% from September — and more than 6% over the past year, the largest annual rise in 30 years. In a written statement released soon after that report, Biden said “inflation hurts Americans’ pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me.” Senior White House officials were greatly disappointed by Wednesday’s report and surprised at how serious the inflationary problems are throughout the economy, according to people familiar with the matter. The report also fueled mounting concerns about supply chain bottlenecks. For weeks, administration officials have been scrambling to try to alleviate the economic problems, frequently convening meetings across agencies and searching for solutions. But many administration officials have conceded they have few policy options to bring immediate relief to Americans, and the White House is concerned about ongoing political fallout, especially around the holiday season.

Biden Starts To Freak Out About Soaring Inflation, Orders Economic Council To "Reduce Energy Costs" -When discussing today's "shock" CPI report we said that it was just a matter of time before there is a wave of political blowback that will make the recent anti-democrat revulsion in Virginia and NJ seem like amateur hour. Specifically, we said that "the explosive inflation surge threatens to exacerbate political challenges for President Brandon as he seeks to pass a nearly $2 trillion tax-and-spending package and defend razor-thin congressional majorities in next year’s midterm elections." And most importantly, wage increases are NOT keeping pace with the soaring cost of living (real waged growth is negative)... It took just a few minutes for this prediction to materialize because just around the time the market opened, Biden addressed the public and confirmed that unlike the Fed, he is finally starting to freak out about soaring prices, to wit: ... on inflation, today’s report shows an increase over last month. Inflation hurts Americans pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me. The largest share of the increase in prices in this report is due to rising energy costs—and in the few days since the data for this report were collected, the price of natural gas has fallen. I have directed my National Economic Council to pursue means to try to further reduce these costs, and have asked the Federal Trade Commission to strike back at any market manipulation or price gouging in this sector. And just how does Biden plan on pulling this directive straight out of communist China? Will he restart the Keystone XL pipeline; or will the US fund shale producers - that could be awkward in light of Joe's faux environment concerns. Then again, it's just optics confirming that in a time of near-record inflation, at least Biden's talk remains extremely cheap. And speaking of cheap talk, the president also claimed that "other price increases reflect the ongoing struggle to restore smooth operations in the economy in the restart." Which, we assumes is what uncontrolled inflation is called by the White House today... Hilariously, all this is happening just as Biden is still trying to shove trillions in additional, and quite inflationary fiscal stimulus down the country's throat which, make no mistake, will lead to even higher prices but not to the White House, which continues to claim that a plan that will require trillions in funding is actually, don't laugh, deflationary!

Psaki insists reconciliation bill will help, not hurt, inflation, which is 'of concern' to Biden -White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday insisted that the "Build Back Better" agenda will help, not hurt, inflation, which she maintained is "of concern" to President Biden. Psaki warned "the real risk" is "inaction." During a White House press briefing Friday, Psaki discussed inflation, which she said "has become a political cudgel, and it shouldn’t be." U.S. consumer prices accelerated at the fastest annual pace in more than 30 years as supply chain bottlenecks and materials shortages persist and gasoline prices continue to increase. "It is impacting … millions of Americans, no matter their political party, and that is certainly of concern to the president," Psaki said. She added that there are those at the Federal Reserve, and even on Wall Street, who "agree with our assessment that inflation is expected to substantially decelerate" next year. But in a push for the president’s "Build Back Better" agenda, which is pending in Congress, Psaki vowed it "will not add to inflationary pressure," and instead, "will ease inflationary pressure moving forward." "We’re really talking about costs for people," she said. "Cost of child care, cost of housing, cost of gas, cost of household goods — that is how people are experiencing this on a day-to-day basis — and that is, of course, of concern to the president." But Psaki said the White House’s "view" is that "the real risk here is inaction." "If we don’t act on Build Back Better, what we’re doing is, we won’t be able to cut child care costs in 2021. We won’t be able to make preschool free for many families in 2022. We won’t be able to get ahead of skyrocketing housing costs," Psaki said, noting the bill includes an investment in "building affordable housing units" that would "address the pending housing crisis." "And we won’t be able to save Americans thousands of dollars by negotiating prescription drug prices," Psaki added.

Manchin may delay Biden social legislation until 2022 on inflation worries – Axios (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin may delay President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" legislation until next year over inflation worries, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.The $1.75 trillion proposal aims to expand the social safety net in the United States and boost climate change policy.The House of Representatives passed a separate $1 trillion package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvements last week. It was passed by the Senate in August.Biden has spent the last few months promoting the merits of both pieces of legislation.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House intends to pass the "Build Back Better" legislation the week of Nov. 15.Manchin's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report, which coincides with government data that showed prices rose 6.2 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest annual increase in about 30 years.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown: expect Democratic ‘Build Back Better’ social spending plan to pass by Thanksgiving - — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said Friday he anticipates that Congress will pass a Democratic $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” social spending bill before Thanksgiving that includes, among other things, funding for universal free preschool and an extended child tax credit. “There’s entire agreement, including (U.S. Sens. Joe) Manchin and (Kyrsten) Sinema, on universal pre-K,” said Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, referring to two moderate Democrats whose votes are key to passing the legislation in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Democrats (and allied independents) and Republicans. Brown added that Manchin is “now on board with the child tax credit” extension for 35 million households making up to $150,000 per year.

Here’s How the Build Back Better Act Will Get Enacted - Throughout several months of intense negotiations, progressive Democrats have insisted on bringing the Build Back Better Act, or BBB, to a vote before the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Their strategy has rested on the not-implausible belief that conservative Democrats might withhold support for President Biden’s social provision bill if infrastructure got enacted first. Much like the parents of squalling children, progressives implored everyone to finish their dinner before moving on to dessert. But last week, a sufficient number of Build Back Better’s guardians relented and allowed the infrastructure bill to pass in the House, thus relinquishing their leverage. So what’s in store now for the BBB, the $1.75 trillion social spending package that includes critical provisions for childcare, health, and saving our planet? I was initially skeptical that it had a future, but perhaps this is unnecessarily cynical. After all, the BBB has stuck it out this long and is still slouching toward the Oval Office. If we’re throwing in the towel, we should at least base it on a realistic analysis of what external forces may determine its future. So let’s examine if any such forces exist. Soon after passing the infrastructure bill, the House Democrats who’d previously opposed Biden’s social spending plan agreed to back a procedural vote to queue up a House vote on the BBB and pledged to vote on it no later than November 15. Securing this pledge was apparently vital to ensuring that progressives approved the infrastructure bill. Sure, there’s no real enforcement mechanism to keep that pledge in place, and some of the obstructionists, like Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Kurt Schrader, have already made other promises to corporate interestsseeking to undermine the BBB. But people can change, right? Of course, in keeping with the Spirit of Infrastructure, these once (and perhaps future) Democratic holdouts have built themselves an off-ramp. These lawmakers made it clear that they’ll want the Congressional Budget Office to ensure “that this bill is paid for and does the responsible thing fiscally,” as Gottheimer put it. It’s hard to know what this means in practice, but the House holdouts have agreed to “resolve any discrepancies” should they arise from the CBO’s analysis. But even if the House’s BBB skeptics decide to vote for the bill, there is another force at work: the relentless march of time. As CNN reported this week, the CBO initially stated that it couldn’t predict when it would be able to release its conclusions on the bill. Since then, though, it’s given lawmakers something to work with, releasing some preliminary estimates. But a complete take from Washington’s budget metaphysicians remains elusive, jeopardizing the hoped-for November 15 vote. There could be other delays, too. […] Still, Democrats have been facing these deadline challenges all along and are resolved to get the BBB out of the House and send it back to the Senate, where—oh, snap!—Joe Manchin awaits. The West Virginia senator, who is icy toward a bill that stands to help his constituents,hasn’t made any pledge to pass the BBB. Now that he’s got the version of the infrastructure bill he wanted (and which he stands to profit from personally) enacted, Democrats no longer have any meaningful leverage over him. And Manchin, who had taken the view that there ought to be a “pause” on further spending, has new concerns about inflation. There is also, of course, another senator to consider: Kyrsten Sinema, who is not so much a “lawmaker” as an agent of chaos with inscrutable motivations.

Mitch McConnell says the final version of the Democrats' 'Build Back Better' bill will be 'written by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema' - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the final version of the Democrats' $1.75 trillion "Build Back Better" social spending bill will be "written by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema," the two moderate Democrats that have frustrated progressives with various objections to the legislation central to President Joe Biden's agenda. "The House bill will come over, [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer will offer a substitute, and the substitute will be written by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema," he said. "If there is no substitute, it would mean that neither of them got on board." McConnell sought to defend his vote in favor of a bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the House last week, which garnered 19 Republican votes in the Senate in August but just 13 Republican votes in the other chamber last Friday. Those 13 Republicans now face calls to lose their committee assignments and threatening calls from constituents. "Infrastructure is something we needed, unlike all the rest of what they're trying to do," said McConnell. "This infrastructure bill was simply written by a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. A completely separate measure, a separate bill about infrastructure." McConnell made the case that Republicans had achieved their policy goals by unlinking the infrastructure bill from the social spending bill, separating the "sugar from the spinach" in order to make it harder for Democrats to pass Build Back Better bill once the infrastructure bill had been signed. "I thought it was good for the country, and good for us politically, and the right thing to do," he said. "And just the way I predicted, that's the way it turned out. The good parts now passed, and gone to the President for signature, and they're stuck with the rest." After months of infighting, the House of Representatives will again seek to hold a vote on the Build Back Better bill next week as several House Democratic moderates have asked to see further information about the bill's fiscal impact before voting. But McConnell said the fight in the House is "irrelevant" compared to what happens in the Senate. It's not the first time McConnell has referred to Mancin and Sinema approvingly. In September, he said he prayed for the pair of Democrats "every night" and hopes they "can withstand the pressure" from the other 48 members of the Democratic caucus, all of whom supported a $3.5 trillion bill until Manchin's objections caused it to shrink by half. McConnell also praised Manchin for calling attention to inflation in a statement earlier this week. "Manchin, to his credit, is talking about inflation and questioning, I think, whether this needs to be done at all," said McConnell. "The single biggest favor he could do for the country would be to defeat the whole thing." "That would take a lot of courage, and we'll see whether he's willing to go that far," he added.

‘Gimmicks’ in reconciliation bill cover up over $1T in spending, US Chamber of Commerce says -The U.S. Chamber of Commerce accused the authors of the Democrat-backed reconciliation bill of using "gimmicks to cover up well over $1 trillion in spending," and called on Congress to identify the bill’s actual "real-world impact." The business group published a letter it sent to politicians in D.C. on Wednesday demanding that they consider the cost of the legislation, its inflationary impact and how the policies will impact future workforce participation. President Biden is expected to sign the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill on Monday during a ceremony at the White House. The bill provides funding for physical infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, water pipes and broadband internet. Democrats are now zeroing in on the president's even bigger $1.75 trillion package aimed at expanding health, child, elder care and climate change programs. Congress hasn’t been this narrowly split in 20 years, with a Democratic margin of just a few seats in the House and the current 50-50 split Senate. According to the chamber, the reconciliation bill has sunset provisions that "disguise the true cost of the bill." These provisions essentially expire after a certain amount of time, but then could be extended. So the amount looks smaller than the actual total cost. The New York Times reported that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVa., called these provisions "shell games" and the actual cost of the reconciliation bill could be double the amount being discussed. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced Tuesday that there is currently no set timeline for when they will have a score for the Build Back Better Act, the social spending bill Democrats are trying to pass. The CBO provides "scores" for legislation that estimate how bills would impact the budget by looking at factors such as spending, revenue and deficits. Given the sheer length of the social spending bill, the agency said they are working on a score, but it will take time.

‘Dark Money’ Groups Battle Online Over Reconciliation Bill - In the past several weeks, as Congress has debated the Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill that in its latest form would appropriate $1.75 trillion over ten years to enact Democratic policies, advocacy groups have been spending millions of dollars on ads, targeting the constituents of members of Congress who are considered key votes. By forming new entities and by being careful not to step over the line into what the Federal Election Commission considers independent expenditures, it’s likely that the public will never know who financed many of these campaigns to shape public opinion on the budget reconciliation bill.Because most of the advertising around the bill does not expressly advocate the election or defeat of candidates and thus is not reported to the government, it’s impossible to track every entity that is buying ads around the reconciliation battle and how much they are spending. But by reviewing data from transparency portals that digital ad network companies Facebook and Google have voluntarily made public, a partial picture of the online spending can be put together.The top purchaser of pro-Build Back Better Act spots on Facebook since the beginning of October has been an entity called Climate Power, which was founded last year by the League of Conservation Voters, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and the Sierra Club. The group describes itself as “an independent strategic communications and paid media operation focused on building the political will and public support for bold climate action.”From Oct. 1 through Nov. 8, Climate Power spent up to $234,136 on Facebook, according to data from Code for Democracy. Most of the ads promote the Build Back Better Act climate programs, highlighting the bill’s positive public polling results and calling on Congress to pass it in order to prevent climate catastrophe. Some of the group’s ads, though, target specific members of Congress with negative messages. A slate of ads that Climate Power ran on Facebook and television beginning in September go after six Republican House members from California and Florida for voting against the Build Back Better plan—presumably referring to committee votes—despite the impacts that climate change has had on their constituents. The spots look like political ads, but because they don’t expressly oppose the incumbent candidates’ re-elections, and are not being aired close to an election, Climate Power will not be required to report information to the Federal Election Commission like how much they spent, who was paid, and who provided funding. Climate Power said in a press release that it planned to spend seven figures on the ads calling out the House Republicans. The League of Conservation Voters is a nonprofit organization and is not required to disclose its funders. It was named in 2019 as a recipient of a $3.5 million grant from Majority Forward, a “dark money” operation aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats. LCV also receives funding from Center for American Progress Action Fund, which is almost entirely funded by the c(3) Center for American Progress, whose donors include a wide range of corporations, unions, and foundations affiliated with wealthy Democratic donors. The Sierra Club is a c(4) nonprofit that is funded by a mix of left-leaning foundations and wealthy individuals.

 Amnesty provisions in Democratic reconciliation bill shrug off crimes by illegal immigrants | Washington Examiner - Many Democrats say that entering the country illegally should not be a crime. Increasingly, they think committing crimes while here illegally should also be shrugged off.According to GOP Senate offices and former immigration officials, the immigration provisions in the Democratic budget reconciliation bill would make illegal immigrants who commit manslaughter and domestic violence eligible for amnesty and protect them from deportation. An analysis of the provision was shared with the Washington Free Beacon, which cites the legal language and observes that cases of assaulting a police officer and lewd and lascivious conduct would also be among the crimes that may not lead to deportation. None of this is much of a surprise. The reconciliation bill is a liberal passion project, and refusing to deport illegal immigrants has become one of the foremost liberal passions over the last few years.President Joe Biden has done everything he can to try and eliminate former President Donald Trump's “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required asylum-seekers who entered the country illegally through the southern border to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims were processed. Biden has tossed the policy aside and reembraced the catch-and-release policies that allow those migrants who have no legitimate asylum claims (the vast majority) to stay in the country.If that isn’t enough to incentivize people to cross the border, the administration is consideringpaying up to $450,000 to migrants who were separated from family members after crossing the border. While Biden and the White House are playing coy about how much the administration is actually considering paying these migrants, the American Civil Liberties Union has made it clear that they are expecting that amount.On top of that, several sanctuary cities and counties will reject detainer requests unless the person has a prior criminal history, while others will reject all detainer requests. Biden himself has said that drunk driving should not be a deportable offense.

Most in new poll say Biden isn't paying attention to most important issues -A poll released Monday showed a majority of Americans believe President Biden has not devoted enough attention to what they view as the nation's most important issues.A CNN poll, which was conducted before the passage of a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, found 58 percent of those surveyed do not think Biden has paid enough attention to the most important problems facing the country. The same poll found 48 percent of adults approve of Biden's job performance, while 52 percent disapprove.The poll found 36 percent of those surveyed said the state of the economy is the most critical problem for the country, the most of any issue. Of those respondents, 72 percent said Biden hasn't paid enough attention to the right issues.However, among the 20 percent who pegged the coronavirus pandemic as the biggest issue, 79 percent said Biden is prioritizing the right topics.The poll found 14 percent say immigration is the biggest issue facing the country, a topic the GOP has relentlessly hammered Biden over amid high border-crossing numbers. And 11 percent say climate change is the most pressing issue.The CNN poll was conducted from Nov. 1-4 and surveyed 1,004 adults. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.The poll was taken prior to Friday's passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the House, which Biden has yet to sign into law. The White House is still hoping for passage in the coming weeks of a larger spending plan that focuses on climate change, health care, family care and education priorities.The CNN survey shows concerns among many Americans have shifted away from the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 750,000 people in the U.S., and toward the economic recovery. While the recovery slowed at times over the summer, the Biden administration was buoyed by a strong October jobs report and is hopeful passage of the president's "Build Back Better" agenda will further boost growth and rein in inflation.

Biden’s diplomacy push meets its match as Ethiopia unravels - -Visa bans. Trade restrictions. Threats of economic sanctions. And visit after visit from top emissaries, including a U.S. senator bearing a message from President Joe Biden.For a year, U.S. officials have used these and other instruments in their diplomacy toolbox to persuade, push and pressure Ethiopia’s government and rebel forces to end a vicious civil war believed to have killed thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands starving and displaced millions.But nothing is working. And things are getting worse. In recent days, several rebel groups are reported to have formed an alliance while heading toward Addis Ababa, the bustling capital of Ethiopia and the headquarters of the African Union. They threaten to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate whose troops now stand suspected of war crimes. State Department officials, fresh off dealing with the chaos in Afghanistan, are now urging Americans in Ethiopia to leave while also scaling back embassy staffing there. The fighting in the once relatively stable country of 115 million people, one of Africa’s most populous, is testing Biden’s “diplomacy first” approach to foreign affairs. The results so far underscore just how limited America’s non-military tools can be when it comes to ending overseas conflicts, especially when a U.S. military role is not a realistic option and wouldn’t necessarily help anyway. The Biden administration’s policy, in the words of a senior State Department official, is running smack into the reality that the parties to the conflict, including Abiy, appear “rigid” and “unmovable.” And, in all fairness, the ultimate responsibility for ending the civil war and the humanitarian disaster it has spawned falls on the Ethiopians fighting it, not on the United States.

China triggers growing fears for US military - China’s military buildup and its push to develop nuclear-capable missiles is unnerving Congress and U.S. defense officials alike. America’s defense establishment has watched threats from Beijing rapidly grow in multiple areas, including recent hypersonic missile tests, an expanding nuclear arsenal, strides in space and cyber and seemingly daily threats to Taiwan. “We’re witnessing one of the largest shifts in global geo-strategic power the world has witnessed,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday when speaking about China’s recent military advances. “They are clearly challenging us regionally and their aspiration is to challenge the United States globally.” A potential shift in the global balance of power is worrisome to U.S. officials and lawmakers. For decades, America has held the stance of the world's foremost economic and military power. A shift to China, while not a direct threat, could upend alliances in the Indo-Pacific region at a time when U.S. and Chinese militaries increasingly butt heads in the South China Sea. Outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten last week said that the pace at which China is developing military capabilities is “stunning,” and on track to surpass the United States “if we don't do something to change it.” A major example of the speed at which Beijing is moving was a test in August of a hypersonic weapon that partially orbited Earth, reentered the atmosphere and rocketed toward its target, which it missed by less than 30 miles.

Nikki Haley calls for cognitive test for older politicians --Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley suggested in an interview on Thursday that leaders in the government who are of an advanced age should undergo a "cognitive test."The Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody questioned Haley about her thoughts on the mental health of 78-year-old President Biden, the oldest man to hold the office, asking if she had any concerns."Well what I'll tell you is, rather than making this about a person, we seriously need to have a conversation that if you're gonna have anyone above a certain age in a position of power - whether it's the House, whether it's the Senate, whether it's vice president, whether it's president - you should have some sort of cognitive test," Haley said, comparing it to how lawmakers disclose their tax returns. "And right now, let's face it, we've got a lot of people in leadership positions that are old. And that's not being disrespectful. That's a fact," Haley, 49, added. "And when it comes to that, this shouldn't be partisan. We should seriously be looking at the ages of the people that are running our country and understand if that's what we want." The former South Carolina governor pointed to instances that seemed to suggest Biden was not completely aware of everything going on in his administration, such as the fallout with France as a result of the U.S.'s trilateral nuclear submarine agreement with the United Kingdom and Australia.Biden climate envoy John Kerry said in interview in France last month that the president "literally had not been aware of what had transpired."

 Biden speaks to CEOs about efforts to ease supply chain problems -President Biden on Tuesday spoke with the chief executives of four major retailers and shipping companies about efforts by the administration and private sector to ease supply chain disruptions. Biden spoke with Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon, UPS CEO Carol Tomé, FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick Smith, and Target board Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, according to a White House official. “During the conversations, President Biden received updates from these private sector leaders on the efforts they’re taking to speed up throughput in our entire goods movement supply chain and discussed how shelves will be well-stocked this holiday season thanks to the tireless efforts of their companies, as well as the ports and workers stretching from longshoremen to truck drivers, rail and warehouse workers, store clerks, and everyone in between,” the White House official said. Biden also discussed the administration’s newly announced “action plan” to ease bottlenecks at U.S. ports and funding included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last week to improve transportation components of the domestic supply chain. In a statement, Target said that Cornell "shared that we are ready to deliver a great shopping experience for guests this holiday season." "Target’s inventory remains well above last year’s levels, supported by around-the-clock supply chain operations, and our dedicated team, including 30,000 new supply chain team members," the company said. Walmart, Target, UPS and FedEx were among the companies that committed last month to expanding their operations in order to move goods faster as part of a broader effort by the White House to address global supply chain problems, which are a symptom of the coronavirus pandemic and have threatened holiday shopping season. Biden welcomed executives from the companies and other stakeholders to the White House in October to discuss the supply chain.  President Biden on Tuesday spoke with the chief executives of four major retailers and shipping companies about efforts by the administration and private sector to ease supply chain disruptions. Biden spoke with Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon, UPS CEO Carol Tomé, FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick Smith, and Target board Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, according to a White House official. “During the conversations, President Biden received updates from these private sector leaders on the efforts they’re taking to speed up throughput in our entire goods movement supply chain and discussed how shelves will be well-stocked this holiday season thanks to the tireless efforts of their companies, as well as the ports and workers stretching from longshoremen to truck drivers, rail and warehouse workers, store clerks, and everyone in between,” the White House official said. Biden also discussed the administration’s newly announced “action plan” to ease bottlenecks at U.S. ports and funding included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last week to improve transportation components of the domestic supply chain. In a statement, Target said that Cornell "shared that we are ready to deliver a great shopping experience for guests this holiday season." "Target’s inventory remains well above last year’s levels, supported by around-the-clock supply chain operations, and our dedicated team, including 30,000 new supply chain team members," the company said. Walmart, Target, UPS and FedEx were among the companies that committed last month to expanding their operations in order to move goods faster as part of a broader effort by the White House to address global supply chain problems, which are a symptom of the coronavirus pandemic and have threatened holiday shopping season.

 Biden admin allowing ports to redirect unused funds on supply chain problems -- The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it will allow port authorities to redirect cost savings from existing federal projects to help address supply chain bottlenecks as part of a broader effort to speed up the movement of goods. Administration officials said that the new policy change will allow the Georgia Port Authority to redirect more than $8 million to fund new pop-up container yards in Georgia and North Carolina. The container project, once completed, will allow the port of Savannah to transfer containers a couple hundred miles inland to clear dock space and accelerate the outward flow of goods. “It’s a great way to get capacity and efficiency at the port,” a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday. “We expect that that kind of flexibility will help other projects as well.” The official estimated that the container yards would be operational within 30 to 45 days and would represent the first project funded by the new policy change. The announcement is the latest effort by the Biden administration to address global supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Officials also laid out an action plan to accelerate the implementation of port-related provisions of the recently passed $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill by identifying projects that can be funded by the legislation, which President Biden is expected to sign into law in the coming days. For instance, officials said the Transportation Department would award over $240 million in grant funding in the next 45 days through the Infrastructure Development Grant program, which gets additional funding under the infrastructure bill, which cleared Congress on Friday. The department also aims to identify prospects for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction projects at ports and inland waterways within 60 days to help steer $4 billion in funding. The administration will identify $3.4 billion in investments to upgrade ports of entry within the next 90 days. And officials are setting a goal of opening competition for the first round of port infrastructure grants funded through the bipartisan infrastructure bill within the next 90 days, grants that will total $475 million in funding for port and marine highway infrastructure.

Power shutoffs deepened pandemic toll while utilities collected millions in relief - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Black, Brown and Indigenous communities have been disproportionately at risk of hospitalization and death. Recent research suggests high utility bills and utility shutoffs played a role in that impact — while companies were receiving federal funds and boosting executive compensation.Pandemic-related job loss has increased household crowding and left many individuals and families unable to keep up with their utility bills. Lack of air conditioning can exacerbate breathing problems from chronic conditions such as asthma, and the absence of hot, clean running water makes it difficult to maintain handwashing and sanitation to reduce the risk of infection. By contrast, utility shutoff moratoriums made it easier for households to remain in their own homes and adhere to stay-at-home orders during the beginning of the pandemic, thereby reducing rates of infection, hospitalization, and death. As restrictions have eased, families whose utility services are not disrupted are less likely to double up with relatives and friends or go to homeless shelters, also reducing the likelihood of COVID-19 community spread.Had a nationwide ban on disconnections been in effect from March to November 2020, COVID-19 infections would have been reduced by 8.7% and COVID-related deaths reduced by 14.7%, according to a January 2021 working paper published by the National Bureau for Economic Research.A September report from the Center for Biological Diversity and Bailout Watch highlights utility companies that refused to pause shutoffs for delinquent customers while collecting millions of dollars in federal support.The report, titled Powerless in the Pandemic, found six utility companies accounted for 94% of all documented shutoffs. Four of these companies: NextEra Energy (parent of Florida Power & Light, among others), Duke Energy, Southern Company, and Dominion Energy are largely concentrated in the South. “These utilities are functioning essentially in the Black Belt states,” said Jean Su, energy justice program director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and a co-author of the report. “So, we know that … these are companies that very much are in the Southeast where the populations are disproportionately Black, and that suffer the highest energy burdens in the country. I think that’s another important data point to insert here in terms of the racial injustice and locations of the utility shutoffs.” The other two utilities included in the report’s “Hall of Shame” — DTE Energy and Exelon — serve areas that include Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

At least 18 billionaires got federal stimulus checks, report says --At least 18 billionaires — and hundreds of other ultra-wealthy individuals — received federal stimulus checks even though the payments were aimed at helping poor and middle-income households weather the pandemic's economic crisis, according to a new reportfrom ProPublica. About 270 wealthy people received payments in the first round of stimulus checks directed by lawmakers in 2020, despite having a total of $5.7 billion in income, according to the the report, which cited a trove of IRS data on thousands of the nation's wealthiest individuals ProPublica said it had obtained. These rich taxpayers received stimulus checks after tapping complex tax deductions to reduce their net incomes to less than zero, qualifying them for the checks, the report noted. Under the law, the full payments of $1,200 per single taxpayer and $2,400 for married couples were only available to single people earning less than $75,000 or couples with incomes below $150,000.Included among the billionaires who received stimulus checks are philanthropist George Soros, worth $7.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and financier Ira Rennert, worth $3.7 billion, the report noted. Rennert didn't respond to questions, ProPublica said. A representative for Soros said he received a check from the U.S. government as part of the CARES Act. "He did not request the funds or take any other action to obtain them. He promptly returned the check," the representative said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.

Most US States Suing to Stop Biden COVID-19 Vaxx Mandate - More than half of US states on Friday filed or joined lawsuits opposing President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for employees of large companies. Twenty-six states cosigned four petitions, amounting to perhaps the most sweeping legal challenge to pandemic-era safety requirements since Biden took office. Three Democrat-led states are among the 26. The lawsuits, filed in four federal appeals courts, take aim at Biden's requirement that all companies with more than 100 employees mandate COVID-19 vaccines for their staff, or implement weekly testing. "This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise," said a lawsuit filed by Missouri and 10 other states in the US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. The states said in the filing that Biden's mandate "will cause injuries and hardship to working families, inflict economic disruption and staffing shortages on the states and private employers, and impose even greater strains on struggling labor markets and supply chains." Biden's mandate, which would affect about two of every three private-sector workers, was officially rolled out on Thursday. It is set to take effect January 4. The lawsuits argue that the federal government doesn't have the constitutional authority to put a vaccine mandate in place. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also lacks the statutory authority to enforce it, they say. The issue should be left to states to decide, they argue. "States have been leading the fight against COVID-19 from the start of the pandemic," said Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, one of several Democratic leaders to join the suits. "It is too late to impose a federal standard now that we have already developed systems and strategies that are tailored for our specific needs."

The U.S. defends its vaccine rules for large companies.- The Biden administration on Monday argued that the federal government had all the power it needed to require large employers to mandate vaccination of their workers against the Covid-19 virus — or to require those who refuse the shots to wear masks and submit to weekly testing. In a 28-page filing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which temporarily blocked the mandate with a nationwide stay last week, the Justice Department argued that the rule was necessarily to protect workers from the pandemic and was well grounded in law. Keeping the mandate from coming into effect “would likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day, in addition to large numbers of hospitalizations, other serious health effects, and tremendous costs,” the Justice Department said in its filing. “That is a confluence of harms of the highest order.” One coalition of businesses, religious groups, advocacy organizations and several states filed a petition on Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Louisiana, arguing that the administration overstepped its authority. On Saturday, a panel of the court temporarily blocked the new mandate, writing that “the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate.” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House’s principal deputy press secretary, said at a news conference on Monday that the administration was recommending that businesses move forward with vaccination and testing plans, regardless of any possible delays in federal enforcement stemming from the court’s action. “Do not wait to take actions that will keep your workplace safe,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. The stay does not have any immediate impact, because the first major deadline for complying with the mandate does not arrive until Dec. 5, when companies with at least 100 employees would have to require unvaccinated employees to wear masks indoors. Asked why the broad requirements of the mandate were necessary now, Ms. Jean-Pierre cited the number of people who have been dying from the coronavirus recently — an average of 1,217 deaths a day as of Sunday, according to a New York Times database. “That should not be the number that we’re looking at,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “We believe that in order to get this pandemic behind us, we need to get more people vaccinated.”

White House: Move forward with mandate despite court freeze -The White House on Monday urged businesses to move forward with implementing rules for coronavirus vaccines after a federal court stayed President Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for private companies. “We think people should not wait,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “We say, do not wait to take actions that will keep your workplace safe. It is important and critical to do and waiting to get more people vaccinated will lead to more outbreaks and sickness.” “We’re trying to get past this pandemic, and we know the way to do that is to get people vaccinated,” Jean-Pierre added. The Biden administration maintains that it is on firm legal footing after a federal appeals court in New Orleans temporarily blocked the rule, which was developed by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), on Saturday. “The administration clearly has the authority to protect workers, and actions announced by the president are designed to save lives and stop the spread of COVID-19,” Jean-Pierre said Monday, noting that the Justice Department would be defending the rule in court. The three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited "grave statutory and constitutional issues" with Biden's rule in issuing the stay on Saturday. All three judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents. It’s unclear how long it will take for legal disputes around the vaccine rule to be resolved. More than two dozen state attorneys general as well as other organizations are challenging the rule in court.

Republican says GOP should block government funding over vaccine mandates - Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called on Republicans in Congress to attempt to block government funding legislation next month in response to the Biden administration’s vaccinate-or-test requirements that he labeled as “unconstitutional.” The Texan requested his fellow Republicans to “stand up” and prevent the government from passing a continuing resolution to extend funding beyond Dec. 3 as long as the federal vaccine mandates are in effect. “We need Republicans to stand up and say we’re not gonna fund the government on Dec. 3 with a continuing resolution if these mandates stay in place,” he told “The Faulkner Focus” on Fox News. “So I’m calling on my colleagues to stand strong and not fund the government that’s going to go do propaganda on our kids and put these unconstitutional mandates in place,” he added. The debate over the administration’s vaccine mandates has ramped up in recent days after the Labor Department released a rule requested by Biden requiring all businesses with at least 100 employees to mandate vaccinations or regular COVID-19 testing by Jan. 4. In response, several Republican attorneys general, business groups and religious organizations filed lawsuits against the administration, asserting the vaccinate-or-test requirement violates Americans’ civil liberties. Although a federal court stayed the administration’s policy for businesses over the weekend, the White House encouraged businesses to move forward with the mandate with deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying, “We think people should not wait.” But Roy’s comments indicate the federal mandate could pose additional obstacles for the administration beyond the lawsuits, as the deadline to prevent a government shutdown approaches in about a month.

Publishing company sues Warren for criticizing COVID-19 book -A publishing company is suing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), accusing her of violating the First Amendment after she criticized Amazon's algorithm for allegedly promoting a book that contains COVID-19 misinformation.Chelsea Green Publishing, Inc., which is behind the book “The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal,” filed the lawsuit against Warren in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Tuesday, according to a statement from the group.The book’s co-authors, Joseph Mercola and Ronald Cummins, in addition to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who authored the foreward, are also listed as plaintiffs.The lawsuit is arguing that a letter Warren sent to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Sept. 7, included false statements and unsubstantiated accusations about the book. They also contend that even if Warren’s comments are correct, they would not change free speech protections.The Hill reached out to Warren for comment.The book, which was published in April, encourages unproven and potentially dangerous COVID-19 treatments, in addition to baselessly claiming that the coronavirus vaccines authorized by the government have not been adequately tested, according to The Associated Press.In her letter to Jassy in September, Warren said that when her staff searched the terms “COVID-19” and “vaccine,” the first result listed was the book by Mercola and Cummins.She noted that Mercola has been described as “the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation,” writing that the book “perpetuates dangerous conspiracies about COVID-19 and false and misleading information about vaccines.”

Vaccinated international travelers enter the U.S. as restrictions lift. --The United States reopened its borders for vaccinated foreign travelers on Monday, ending more than 18 months of restrictions on international travel that separated families and cost the global travel industry hundreds of billions of dollars. Before dawn on Monday, thousands of passengers flocked into Heathrow Airport for the first flights to the United States out of London. They were welcomed by dozens of airline staff who beamed and waved American flags. The policy shift has come in time for the holiday season, when the beleaguered tourism industry is eagerly awaiting an influx of international visitors, especially in popular big-city destinations. Eager to make up for lost time, tourists traveling on Monday had packed itineraries, from Broadway shows in New York and family days at Disney World in Florida to bingo nights in Arizona. In New York alone, the absence of tourists in 2020 resulted in a loss of $60 billion in revenue and wiped out 89,000 jobs across retail, arts, culture, hotels and transportation, the state comptroller found. Though travelers from abroad account for just one-fifth of the city’s visitors, they generate 50 percent of the city’s tourism spending, according to NYC & Company, the city’s tourism promotion agency. Towns along the borders with Mexico and Canada also suffered under the restrictions, which shut down land crossings to “nonessential” traffic and cost businesses millions of dollars. Under the new rules, fully vaccinated travelers are allowed to enter the United States if they can show proof of vaccination and a negative coronavirus test taken within three days before departure. Unvaccinated Americans and children under 18 are exempt from the requirement, but must take a coronavirus test within 24 hours of travel. While the new entry requirements ease travel for vaccinated travelers, they restrict people who were previously permitted to visit the United States, including unvaccinated travelers from Japan, Singapore, Mexico and other countries. Those who have received vaccines that have not been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, like the Russian Sputnik V, will also not be permitted to enter.

Tourists enter from Mexico as the U.S. border reopens to vaccinated visitors. — After months in which the lines at the crossing were hours long, travelers moved swiftly northward into California from Tijuana, Mexico, in the predawn hours on Monday, as tourists with proof of coronavirus vaccination joined the mix of students, essential workers and returning Americans entering the United States.At the San Ysidro Port of Entry, every available booth was staffed with Customs and Border Protection agents, who checked some people for proof of vaccination before waving most of them through. Only a few booths had been open during the previous 18 months, when a pandemic travel ban kept out most travelers other than American citizens and permanent residents or people with “essential needs.” Yadira Perdomo, who is Colombian, had received experimental medical treatment in Los Angeles but had not been able to see her doctor there for a follow-up. She crossed the border early on Monday in a wheelchair pushed by her sister Hannah Perdomo.Some noncitizens were able to receive medical exemptions to enter the United States during the travel ban, but the sisters wanted to cross together. They moved to Baja California two months ago to await the day when the border would open to fully vaccinated visitors. They got in line at the crossing at 3 a.m. Monday.“I feel very happy to be able to move forward with my life,” Yadira Perdomo said.In the days before the reopening, there was some confusion among Mexicans over which vaccines would be accepted and what proof would be required. Maria, who was on her way to see her granddaughter in Los Angeles and declined to give her last name, said she had received the Sinovac vaccine from China. Though the United States hasn’t authorized its use, the World Health Organization has, so it is being accepted at the border.

Biden administration proposes rescinding Trump rule expanding religious exemptions - The Biden administration on Monday announced a proposal that seeks to rescind a Trump-era rule that expanded religious exemptions for federal contractors related to anti-discrimination laws. The rule, which has been in effect since Jan. 8, exempted federal contractors from abiding by anti-discrimination law if they “hold themselves out to the public as carrying out a religious purpose.” Before the expansion was put in place, the exemption was only available for a smaller subset of religious groups, according to Reuters. The rule, released by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) during the Trump administration, said it was meant to “correct any misperception that religious organizations are disfavored in government contracting by setting forth appropriate protections for their autonomy to hire employees who will further their religious missions," according to NBC News. Now, however, the Labor Department is taking steps to rescind the policy, which will revert practices back to the department policy that was in place during former President George W. Bush's and former President Obama's administrations. The Federal Register is set to publish the proposal on Nov. 9, according to a statement from the Labor Department. Jenny Yang, the director of OFCCP, wrote in a Monday blog post that the department’s proposal will “protect workers from discrimination and safeguard religious freedom by rescinding the unnecessary and problematic” expansion issued under the Trump administration. The Trump administration enacted the expansion in its waning days in office as a way to ensure that religious organizations were fully taking part in the federal contractor system, Reuters reported. Opponents of the expansion, however, said it could create an opportunity for more discrimination. LGBT groups, among others, were opposed to the initiative.

Torn from Her Arms: The US government immigration policy that “rises to the level of torture” - Torn from Her Arms, recently aired on the Lifetime television cable channel, is based on the true story of a mother and daughter fleeing gang violence in El Salvador brutally separated at the US border by immigration officials in 2018. , took time out from its concentration on stalkers, deadly cheerleaders, baby stealers and other middle-class terrors, to expose one of the American government’s most egregious crimes.Directed by Mexican-born filmmaker Alan Jonsson Gavica, scripted by Tawnya Bhattacharya and Ali Laventhol, the creators should be commended for producing one of the shamefully few works to depict this truly inhuman policy. Other films treating the plight of children at the border or refugees from Central America include Nona (Michael Polish, 2017), Icebox (Daniel Sawka, 2018), Frontline’s Separated: Children at the Border (produced by Marcela Gaviria and Martine Smith, 2018) and the earlier The Infinite Border (Juan Manuel Sepúlveda, 2007).In Torn from Her Arms, Cindy Madrid (Fátima Molina) and her six-year-old daughter, Ximena (Camila Nuñez), having fled life-threatening conditions in their native country, El Salvador, seek asylum in the US, only to be separated at the border as a part of the Trump administration’s notorious “Zero Tolerance Policy.”At a detention center in Brownsville, Texas, armed guards pull traumatized children from their parents and march them off to an undisclosed location. Unbeknownst to their frantic parents, the children—many younger than Ximena—are transported to the Children’s Detention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. There, the youngsters are each given thin “space” blankets, two meals a day and allowed only one hour outdoors. A child-inmate complains that “the food is not good and the guards rough us up.” With a few honorable exceptions, the guards treat their young charges like subhuman offenders.For Cindy and other parents, as well as their terrified offspring, the emotional toll is extreme. Your children have been “adopted by nice American families,” Cindy is cruelly taunted by one of the guards. She now finds herself at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas. The privately run prison, in fact, has been the scene of numerous hunger strikes—what the government describes as “voluntary fasting”—to protest alleged abuse, lack of medical care and virtually no access to legal resources. The incarcerated are forced to wear orange jumpsuit prison garb.

Hackers compromise FBI email system, send thousands of messages - (Reuters) - Hackers compromised a Federal Bureau of Investigation email system on Saturday and sent tens of thousands of messages warning of a possible cyberattack, according to the agency and security specialists.Fake emails appeared to come from a legitimate FBI email address ending in @ic.fbi.gov, the FBI said in a statement.Although the hardware impacted by the incident "was taken offline quickly upon discovery of the issue," the FBI said, "This is an ongoing situation."The hackers sent tens of thousands of emails warning of a possible cyberattack, threat-tracking organization Spamhaus Project said on its Twitter account. A copy of an email posted by Spamhaus on Twitter showed a subject line of "Urgent: Threat actor in systems" and appeared to end with a sign-off from the Department of Homeland Security.

Appeals court temporarily blocks Archives from handing Trump records to Jan. 6 committee A federal appeals court on Thursday intervened to temporarily block the National Archives from handing over Trump administration records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol ahead of a Friday deadline.A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction keeping the records from being turned over to allow former President Trump to continue his legal challenge. "The purpose of this administrative injunction is to protect the court’s jurisdiction to address [Trump's] claims of executive privilege and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits," the panel said in a brief order. The panel also set a rapid pace for Trump's appeal, scheduling oral arguments for Nov. 30.The injunction comes after a frantic week of court filings, with Trump's legal team scrambling to head offthe Friday deadline despite a federal judge ruling Tuesday the documents must be released.U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said in her decision that Trump had little authority as a former president to interfere with the exchange between the executive and legislative branches. Trump quickly appealed and asked Chutkan to stay her own decision while the legal challenge continued in the D.C. Circuit. On Wednesday the judge declined, forcing Trump to file an emergency motion with the appeals court. The Justice Department and the select committee chose not to oppose the emergency motion.

Ted Cruz wants Texas to secede if 'things become hopeless' in the US - Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that Texas should secede if Democrats "fundamentally" destroy the U.S. but added that "he is not ready to give up on America yet.""If the Democrats end the filibuster, if they fundamentally destroy the country, if they pack the Supreme Court, if they make D.C. a state, if they federalize elections, if they massively expand voter fraud, there may come a point where it's hopeless," Cruz said while speaking at an event at Texas A&M last month. The Republican senator was responding to a question posed by a student in the crowd who asked him how he felt about the Texas secessionist movement."I think Texas has a responsibility to the country, and I'm not ready to give up on America. I love this country," he said.He also added that Texas has an added responsibility to the U.S. as it is currently "an amazing force keeping America from going off the cliff" and "keeping America grounded in the values that built this country."However, he emphasized that the country isn't at that point where Texas would secede and while he doesn't support the movement, he "understands the sentiment behind it." "We're not there yet, and if there comes a point where it's hopeless, then I think we take NASA, we take the military, we take the oil," Cruz said.

Marjorie Taylor Greene points to 'common ground' between GOP, Nation of Islam - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) suggested Monday that there is "common ground" to be found between the modern Republican Party and the Nation of Islam, a conclusion she formed after reviewing reading materials provided to inmates at a Washington, D.C., jail. "On my recent visit to the DC Jail one of the things I picked up was some religious material. They had options. Christain and Islam," the first-term lawmaker and vocal Trump supporter said in the first of 17 tweets posted to to her account, adding that one of the reading materials offered was "Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam newspaper." "I don’t know any people with white hate, white fear, or white rage. We, Republicans, see and believe that all people have equal rights under the law and constitution and those rights extend to the unborn. But I do know a lot of people who don’t trust the government," she added. "But I also found out that the Nation of Islam sees the use and benefit of Ivermectin and is very angry that our media, Democrats, and Dr [Anthony] Fauci have attacked the drug and refuse to save people’s lives by not promoting it and shunning the use of it. We have common ground there," she wrote. Greene, a firebrand lawmaker from the Republican Party's conservative wing, pointed to the Nation of Islam's stated opposition to coronavirus vaccinations, including in children, as something on which Republicans and Nation of Islam leaders agree. "Children should NOT be taking covid vaccines, as all data shows they are hardly at risk," she said in one tweet, attaching photos of some of the reading material. Greene took a swipe at national media and public health officials in a subsequent tweet, praising the Nation of Islam for calling out what they describe as the media's "false narrative" on coronavirus vaccines. "More common ground," she said, adding "They read this in jail."

Rep. Gosar posts anime video showing him striking Biden, Ocasio-Cortez -Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) tweeted a photo-manipulated, animated video Sunday that shows a likeness of him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and running at President Biden while armed with two swords, sparking outrage from Twitter users who said keeping the post up violates the social media platform's rules. The Arizona Republican tweeted out the video with the caption "Any anime fans out there?" The 90 second video, with special anime-like effects and music, opens to scenes of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border with text captioned drugs, crime, poverty, money, gangs, violence and trafficking. The video also mashes together footage of former President Trump and videos of immigration officials and migrants at the border. Armed with swords, an animated version of Gosar then appears with the title "attack of immigrants," as he, along with anime versions of fellow conservative Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Lauren Bobert (Colo.), seemingly attack a giant in the back with Ocasio-Cortez's face edited onto it. The video then ends with Gosar's anime likeness, once again armed with swords, running toward a large photo of President Biden's face. The video is inspired by Japanese manga "Attack on Titan" created by Hajime Isayama.

Former aide: Trump would 'absolutely' impose some form of autocracy in second term --Alyssa Farah, an ex-aide to former President Trump, says she's deeply concerned about him potentially running in 2024, believing that, given a second term, he would undermine democracy and "weaponize" the government against his political opponents. CNN's Jake Tapper said in a recent interview with Farah, who served as a White House communications director and assistant to the president, that Trump "challenged our institutions near to the breaking point," asking if she believed that he would try to impose "some sort of autocracy" if he returned to the Oval Office. "I think he absolutely would," she replied. "There were things he wanted to do while in power the first time that were well beyond the scope of what the U.S. president should be able to do, but oftentimes it was simply the motivation of simply hoping to win reelection that kept him from doing things. It's very different in a second term, and I think that's what scares me the most." Trump, she said, would "weaponize the Justice Department against political opponents, going after the free press; he would certainly be open to using the military for political reasons as well."

Howard Stern floats 2024 bid against Trump: 'There's no way I'd lose' - Howard Stern says he could launch a White House bid in 2024 against former President Trump, quipping that he knows he'll "beat his ass."The SiriusXM host said Tuesday that running for president could be his "civic duty" if Trump, who has repeatedly floated but not confirmed a 2024 bid, sought a second term. "I would just sit there and play that f---ing clip of him trying to fix the election over and over again," Stern said, referring to Trump's phone call in January with Brad Raffensperger in which the then-president sought to persuade the Georgia secretary of state of evidence of election fraud in the Peach State."There’s no way I’d lose," Stern, 67, said.

Boards should drive banks' climate risk efforts: OCC chief — Bank boards should turn up the heat on senior managers to gauge their institutions’ vulnerability to climate change, said the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. In a speech Monday, acting Comptroller Michael Hsu made one of the most direct appeals yet by a prudential regulator on the need for bank leaders to assess climate-related risks. He said board directors can accelerate the process by asking senior managers five questions to assess an institution's progress.

NCUA places California credit union into conservatorship - The National Credit Union Administration has placed Pomona Postal Federal Credit Union into conservatorship. The NCUA announced Friday that its board was appointed to take possession and control of the $4.2 million-asset credit union in Pomona, California. The agency did not detail the issues leading to this decision, nor did it provide a timeline for ending conservatorship. Pomona Postal, according to its most recent call report, provides financial services to approximately 717 members that work for the Pomona Post Office.

‘Shoddy’ screening methods by credit reporting firms are illegal: CFPB -Consumer reporting companies that use only an applicant's name to screen potential tenants and employees run the risk of using inaccurate information, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday. The CFPB issued an advisory opinion warning the large credit bureaus as well as specialty screening companies that using "shoddy" name-only matching procedures to check the credit histories of rental and job applicants violates federal law. The bureau is concerned that consumers are being denied loans, housing and even jobs when their names are mixed up by subsidiaries of the giant credit reporting companies and newer entrants to the background screening industry.

Fed Survey: Banks reported Eased Standards, Weaker Demand for Residential Real Estate Loans -- From the Federal Reserve: The October 2021 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices The October 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 third quarter of 2021. Regarding loans to businesses, respondents to the October survey, on balance, reported easier standards and stronger demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to large and middle-market firms over the third quarter. Banks also reported easier standards for C&I loans to small firms, while demand from small firms remained basically unchanged.2 For commercial real estate (CRE), banks reported easier standards for all loan categories. Banks also reported stronger demand for multifamily loans and for loans secured by nonfarm nonresidential properties, while demand for construction and land development loans remained basically unchanged. For loans to households, banks eased standards across most categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans, on net, and reported weaker demand for most types of RRE loans over the third quarter. Banks also eased standards across all three consumer loan categories—credit card loans, auto loans, and other consumer loans—while reports on demand for consumer loans were mixed. This graph on Residential 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 decreased demand for RRE loans.

 MBA: "Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease in the Third Quarter of 2021" --From the MBA: Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease in the Third Quarter of 2021: The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.88 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the third quarter of 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey.For the purposes of the survey, MBA asks servicers to report loans in forbearance as delinquent if the payment was not made based on the original terms of the mortgage. The delinquency rate was down 59 basis points from the second quarter of 2021 and down 277 basis points from one year ago.“For the fifth consecutive quarter, the mortgage delinquency rate declined, commensurate with a decline in the U.S. unemployment rate over the same time period,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis. “The improvement was driven entirely by a decline in later-stage delinquent loans – those loans that are 90 days or past due, but not in foreclosure. By the end of the third quarter, many borrowers were approaching the 18-month expiration point of their forbearance terms and were being placed in permanent home retention solutions, such as modifications and loan deferrals.”Walsh added, “Once these borrowers entered permanent post-forbearance workouts and resumed payments, they moved from delinquent to current status.”This graph shows the percent of loans delinquent by days past due. Overall delinquencies decreased in Q3.From the MBA: Compared to last quarter, the seasonally adjusted mortgage delinquency rate decreased for all loans outstanding. By stage, the 30-day delinquency rate increased 10 basis points to 1.51 percent, the 60-day delinquency rate remained unchanged at 0.52 percent, and the 90-day delinquency bucket decreased 68 basis points to 2.85 percent....The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter was 0.46 percent, down 5 basis points from the second quarter of 2021 and 13 basis points lower than one year ago.This is the lowest foreclosure inventory rate since the fourth quarter of 1981. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started in the third quarter fell by 1 basis point to 0.03 percent, which is the lowest starts rate reported in the survey and consistent with the last three quarters of 2020.This sharp increase last year in the 90-day bucket was due to loans in forbearance (included as delinquent, but not reported to the credit bureaus). The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined further, and was at the lowest level since 1981.

What’s Happening with the Massive Delinquencies of FHA High Risk & Subprime Mortgages Now that Foreclosure Bans Ended?- -by Wolf Richter -The FHA – a government agency that insures 7.5 million high-risk, low-down-payment mortgages, including subprime mortgages – has been at the core of the pile-up of delinquent mortgages during the period of the foreclosure moratorium and forbearance, when borrowers didn’t have to make mortgage payments. Among FHA-insured mortgages, serious delinquencies (90+ days behind) have been dropping since the 12% peak in February. By the end of September, 8.5% of FHA mortgages, or 632,000 mortgages, were seriously delinquent, according to a report by the AEI Housing Center. This is still far higher than the rate before the pandemic of just over 4%, and accounted for over half of all seriously delinquent mortgages, though FHA mortgages account for only 17% of all mortgages. The foreclosure moratorium ended on July 31. When the forbearance period ends for each mortgage depends on the borrower and when the mortgage was entered into a forbearance agreement. For more and more of these mortgages, forbearance is terminating, and this is when the borrower needs to deal with reality, of sorts. Given the surge in home prices, many borrowers can sell the home for more than the balance of the mortgage; and they would then pay off the mortgage in full, thereby fix the arrearage, cover the selling expenses, and may even have some cash left over. This might be a great time to sell a home, after that kind of run-up in prices. And it solves the problem. If borrowers can resume making normal payments on the existing mortgage, the missed payments will be added to the end of the mortgage, which moves the mortgage into “current” status. If borrowers cannot resume making normal payments, they can work out a deal to have the mortgage modified to stretch out the term of the mortgage and lower the payments. If that doesn’t work, they can sell the home and pay off the mortgage. Borrowers face foreclosure if they cannot meet the requirements of even a modified mortgage, and cannot sell the home for enough to pay off the mortgage. The rampant price spikes of homes in most markets not only support the sale of the home to cure the delinquency, but also make mortgage modifications easier because many borrowers now have equity in their homes as a result of the home price gains. Given the surge in home prices, a huge wave of foreclosures – as during the financial crisis – cannot happen. Home prices would have to fall broadly below mortgage balances before foreclosures become a mega-issue, which is what had happened in the run-up to the mortgage crisis.

 MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 2.06%" -- Note: This is s of October 31st. From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 2.06%: The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 9 basis points from 2.15% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 2.06% as of October 31, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 1 million homeowners are in forbearance plans. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 5 basis points to 0.92%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 13 basis points to 2.52%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) declined 13 basis points to 5.00%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 15 basis points relative to the prior week to 2.28%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 5 basis points to 2.02%. “One million homeowners remained in forbearance as we reached the end of October, but the forbearance share continued to decline, with larger declines for portfolio and PLS loans,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “More borrowers who exited forbearance the last week of October went into modifications, a sign that they have not yet regained their pre-pandemic level of income.” “The strong job market report from October, with another drop in the unemployment rate and a pickup in wage growth, is a positive sign for homeowners still struggling to get back on their feet.” This graph shows the percent of portfolio in forbearance by investor type over time. The number of forbearance plans is decreasing rapidly recently since many homeowners have reached the end of the 18-month term.

Black Knight: Number of Mortgages in Forbearance Declines - This data is as of November 9th. From Andy Walden at Black Knight: Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Drop Below 2% Entering November: Forbearance plan exit volumes increased week-over-week heading into November as the share of mortgage loans in forbearance fell below 2% for the first time since the early stages of the pandemic.According to our McDash Flash daily mortgage performance dataset, the number of loans in active forbearance fell 123,000 (-10.8%). The week’s strongest declines were among loans held in bank portfolios and private label securities, which recorded a reduction of 59,000 (-15.9%). FHA/VA plans also showed significant improvement, declining by 48,000 (-11.3), while GSE loans in forbearance plans decreased by 16,000 (-4.8%). As of November 9, 1.01 million mortgage holders remain in COVID-19 related forbearance plans, representing 1.9% of all active mortgages, including 1.2% of GSE, 3.1% of FHA/VA and 2.4% of portfolio/PLS loans. Nearly 300,000 borrowers have left their plans over the past two weeks down from 455,000 over the same two-week period last month as we hit the downslope of exit activity. That said, more than 250,000 plans are still listed with October/November reviews for extension/removal. Half of those are expected to reach final expiration, which could lead to continued improvement, albeit at a slower pace, in the weeks ahead.Plan entries were down 9% from a week ago, logging one of the lowest weeks in terms of new entries since the onset of the pandemic.

 MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest Weekly Survey --From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey: Mortgage applications increased 5.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 5, 2021.... The Refinance Index increased 7 percent from the previous week and was 28 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 0.1 percent compared with the previous week and was 4 percent lower than the same week one year ago.“Mortgage rates moved lower for the second week in a row for all loan types. The 30-year fixed rate decreased to 3.16 percent and has declined 14 basis points over the past two weeks. Although overall activity remains close to January 2020 lows, homeowners acted on the decrease in rates. Refinance activity was up 7 percent overall, with gains in both conventional and government refinances. Additionally, the average loan balance for a refinance application was the highest in a month,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Purchase applications were also strong last week, increasing just under 3 percent and down only 4 percent from last year’s pace. The dip in rates might have helped to bring some buyers back into the market, but housing inventory is still extremely low and price growth remains elevated.”... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($548,250 or less) decreased to 3.16 percent from 3.24 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 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 relatively low rates, the index remains somewhat elevated, and the recent decline in rates has given the index a slight boost.The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase indexAccording to the MBA, purchase activity is down 4% year-over-year unadjusted.This is the smallest year-over-year decline in some time (purchase activity was strong in the 2nd half of 2020). However, this week last year was weak - so it is likely the year-over-year decline will be larger in coming weeks.

Homebuilder Comments in October: “Builders are lifting sales caps" Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: Homebuilder Comments in October: “Builders are lifting sales caps"
Excerpt (much more in newsletter): Some homebuilder comments courtesy of Rick Palacios Jr., Director of Research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting (a must follow for housing on twitter!):
#Dallas builder: “Due to a large number of sales in 2021, we’ll have declines in 2022. This is due to land availability. Huge number of communities coming online in 2023. Supply chain issues are getting worse & have spread to land development.”.
#Seattle builder: “Sales & closings in 2022 will be negatively impacted by limited supply of lots being delivered to the market in early 2022 with recovery in late 2022. No demand impacts are forecasted to impact sales or closings in 2022.”
#Atlanta builder: “We pulled so many extra sales & starts into 2021 that we're going to beseverely short on vacant developed lots in the first half of 2022, hence the huge projected slowdowns in sales & starts in 2022.”

Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 13% Compared to Same Week in 2019 - Note: Since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic, CoStar is comparing to 2019. From CoStar: STR: Weekly US Hotel Occupancy Drops Below 60%: U.S. hotel performance increased slightly from the previous week, according to STR‘s latest data through November 6.
October 31 through November 6, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):
• Occupancy: 59.8% (-13.0%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): $128.14 (-3.2%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): $76.61 (-15.8%)
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average.The red line is for 2021, black is 2020, blue is the median, dashed purple is 2019, and dashed light blue is for 2009 (the worst year on record for hotels prior to 2020). The occupancy rate will now decline seasonally into the new year.

NY Fed Q3 Report: Total Household Debt Climbs to Over $15 trillion --From the NY Fed: Total Household Debt Climbs to Over $15 trillion in Q3 2021, Driven by New Extensions of CreditThe 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 $286 billion (1.9%) to $15.24 trillion in the third quarter of 2021. The total debt balance is now $1.1 trillion higher than at the end of 2019. It is also $890 billion higher than in Q3 2020, and $2.57 trillion higher, in nominal terms, than the $12.68 trillion peak seen in 2008. 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 $230 billion and stood at $10.67 trillion at the end of September. Credit card balances increased by $17 billion, the same size increase as in the second quarter. Despite the increase, credit card balances remain $123 billion lower than they had been at the end of 2019. Auto loan balances increased by $28 billion in the third quarter. Student loan balances grew by $14 billion, coinciding with the academic borrowing year. In total, non-housing balances grew by $61 billion, with gains across all debt types. Here are three graphs from the report:The first graph shows aggregate consumer debt increased in Q3. 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.Aggregate household debt balances increased by $286 billion in the third quarter of 2021, a 1.9% rise from 2021Q2, and now stand at $15.24 trillion. Balances are $1.1 trillion higher than at the end of 2019 and $890 billion higher than in 2020Q3, and $2.57 trillion higher, in nominal terms, than the $12.68 trillion peak seen in 2008. The second graph shows the percent of debt in delinquency. The overall delinquency rate decreased in Q3. From the NY Fed:Aggregate delinquency rates have remained low and declining since the beginning of the pandemic, 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 September, 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-19 pandemic hit the United States. Of the $412 billion of debt that is delinquent, $302 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: The credit scores of newly originated mortgages had increased in the early part of the pandemic, and although they edged down slightly, they still remain very high and reflect a continuing high quality of newly opened mortgages as well as a higher share of refinances. ... There was $1.11 trillion in newly originated mortgage debt in 2021Q3, with 69% of it originated to borrowers with credit scores over 760. 2% of newly originated mortgages were originated to subprime borrowers, a sharp contrast to the 12% average seen between 2003-2007.There is much more in the report.

Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think the Economy Is Awful. Workers have seized the upper hand in the labor market, attaining the largest raises in decades and quitting their jobs at record rates. The unemployment rate is 4.6 percent and has been falling rapidly. Cumulatively, Americans are sitting on piles of cash; they have accumulated $2.3 trillion more in savings in the last 19 months than would have been expected in the prepandemic path. …Yet workers’ assessment of the economy is scathing.In a Gallup poll in October, 68 percent of respondents said they thought economic conditions were getting worse. The share who thought things were getting better was lower than in April 2009, when the global financial crisis was still underway. And it is not merely a partisan response to the Biden presidency. In the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey, Republicans rate current economic conditions worse than Democrats do — but both groups give ratings about as low as they did in the early 2010s, when unemployment was much higher and Americans’ finances were a wreck. … The reasons seem to be tied to the psychology of inflation and the ways people assess their economic well-being — as well as the uneven effects that rising prices and shortages have on different families. It may well be shaped by the psychological scars of the pandemic, one manifestation of this being an era of exhaustion.Regardless of the exact causes, after decades in which the availability of jobs (or lack thereof) drove economic sentiment, inflation now appears to have become the more powerful force. …There is no doubt that prices are rising rapidly — the Consumer Price Index is up 5.4 percent over the past year, and there are shortages and other inconveniences that do not show up in inflation data but reflect the same underlying phenomenon. …

Consumer inflation expectations reach new high: New York Fed survey -- Consumers’ short-term inflation expectations reached a record high in October, according to survey results released Monday by the Federal Reserve of New York. Heads of households surveyed by the New York Fed expected consumer prices to rise by a median of 5.7 percent over the next year, according to the bank’s October Survey of Consumer Expectations. The one-year inflation rate projected by consumers rose 0.4 percentage points since September and reached the highest level since the survey began in 2013. The median expectation for the inflation rate for the next three years stayed even at 4.2 percent, a record set last month. Annual inflation as measured by personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred gauge of price increases, came in at 4.4 percent last month. The Fed’s ideal annual inflation rate is 2 percent, though the bank’s newly adopted policy to allow price increases to run above that level to make up for years of below-target inflation. The Fed and economists pay close attention to inflation expectations among consumers, particularly long-term expectations, when assessing the future of price increases. Steady increases in consumer inflation expectations could lead to what economists call a wage-price spiral: higher prices prompting workers to hold out for higher wages, which exacerbates the need to raise prices. Inflation has risen further above the Fed’s target range than many officials expected, and has remained elevated through most of 2021. “Inflation so far this year represents, to me, much more than a ‘moderate’ overshoot of our 2 percent longer-run inflation objective, and I would not consider a repeat performance next year a policy success,” said Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida in a Monday speech. On The Money — White House digs in on vaccine mandate Fed's Clarida says inflation on track to fade despite overshoot “As always, there are risks to any outlook, and I and 12 of my colleagues believe that the risks to the outlook for inflation are to the upside,” he added. Even so, Clarida expressed confidence that the supply chain snarls, shortages and ongoing limits related to the pandemic that have driven high inflation will begin to ease next year. “Most of the inflation overshoot relative to the longer-run goal of 2 percent will, in the end, prove to be transitory. But as I have noted before, there is no doubt that it is taking much longer to fully reopen a $20 trillion economy than it did to shut it down,” Clarida said. Share to Facebook Share to Twitter

Americans Blow Off Fed Propaganda Inflation is “Temporary” - Americans, as they struggle with the meaning of the Fed’s terms “transitory” and “temporary,” expect that inflation one year from now will rise to 5.7%, the 12th month in a row of relentless increases, the highest in the data going back to 2013, creating a beautiful record spike (red line), according to the New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations released today. And consumers expect inflation in three years to be at 4.2% (green line). The Fed keeps saying in its FOMC statements that it wants “longer‑term inflation expectations” to remain “well anchored” at 2%. And they’re now totally unanchored and spiking to high heaven.“Inflation expectations” is a key metric for the Fed, based on the theory that consumer price inflation is in part a psychological phenomenon – the inflationary mindset, as I call it.It’s the theory that rising inflation expectations alter consumer behavior, such as by moving purchases forward before things cost even more, and accept higher prices, rather than balking, as they would have done before. And this altered consumer behavior contributes to higher inflation in the future.These inflation expectations are an outgrowth of reality on the ground for consumers. For the Fed, they’re adding to a war chest of reasons for hiking rates. Inflation expectations are much higher where people spend most of their money.Despite a median inflation expectation of 5.7%, for the line-items where consumers spend much of their money – rent, food, gas, healthcare – inflation expectations for one year from now are at or near 10%:

• Rent: +10.0% (new record)
• Food prices: +9.1% (new record)
• Gasoline prices: +9.4%
• Health care: +9.4%
• College education: +7.4%.

Expectations of rent increases one year out have been surging all year and eked out a new record in October: Consumers expect home prices – which are not included in the Consumer Price Index, as two rent factors determine the housing component of CPI – to rise by 5.5%. This is below the peak of 6.2% in May.Inflation expectations are an indicator of how long consumers believe the rhetoric coming from the Fed and the media about inflation being 2% or being anchored at 2% or temporarily going above 2% but going back to 2% soon.

BLS: CPI increased 0.9% in October, Core CPI increased 0.6% - From the BLS: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.9 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.4 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 6.2 percent before seasonal adjustment.The monthly all items seasonally adjusted increase was broad-based, with increases in the indexes for energy, shelter, food, used cars and trucks, and new vehicles among the larger contributors. The energy index rose 4.8 percent over the month, as the gasoline index increased 6.1 percent and the other major energy component indexes also rose. The food index increased 0.9 percent as the index for food at home rose 1.0 percent.The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in October after increasing 0.2 percent in September. Most component indexes increased over the month. Along with shelter, used cars and trucks, and new vehicles, the indexes for medical care, for household furnishing and operations, and for recreation all increased in October. The indexes for airline fares and for alcoholic beverages were among the few to decline over the month.The all items index rose 6.2 percent for the 12 months ending October, the large st 12-month increase since the period ending November 1990. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.6 percent over the last 12 months, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending August 1991. The energy index rose 30.0 percent over the last 12 months, and the food index increased 5.3 percent. Both CPI and core CPI were well above expectations. I'll post a graph later today after the Cleveland Fed releases the median and trimmed-mean CPI.

Consumer price index October: Biggest inflation surge in more than 30 years - Inflation across a broad swath of products that consumers buy every day was even worse than expected in October, hitting its highest point in more than 30 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The consumer price index, which is a basket of products ranging from gasoline and health care to groceries and rents, rose 6.2% from a year ago, the most since December 1990. That compared with the 5.9% Dow Jones estimate. On a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.9% against the 0.6% estimate. Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core CPI was up 0.6% against the estimate of 0.4%. Annual core inflation ran at a 4.6% pace, compared with the 4% expectation and the highest since August 1991. Fuel oil prices soared 12.3% for the month, part of a 59.1% increase over the past year. Energy prices overall rose 4.8% in October and are up 30% for the 12-month period. Used vehicle prices again were a big contributor, rising 2.5% on the month and 26.4% for the year. New vehicle prices were up 1.4% and 9.8%, respectively. Food prices also showed a sizeable bounce, up 0.9% and 5.3% respectively. Within the food category, meat, poultry, fish and eggs collectively rose 1.7% for the month and 11.9% year over year. The price increases meant that workers fell further behind. In a separate report, the Labor Department said real wages after inflation fell 0.5% from September to October, the product of a 0.4% increase in average hourly earnings that was more than offset by the CPI surge. Shelter costs, which make up one-third of the CPI computation, increased 0.5% for the month and are now up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis, pointing to more reasons for concern that inflation could be more persistent than policymakers anticipate. The annual pace is the highest since September 2019. "Inflation is clearly getting worse before it gets better, while the significant rise in shelter prices is adding to concerning evidence of a broadening in inflation pressures," said Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors. The data comes as policymakers such as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen maintain that the current price pressures are temporary and related to Covid pandemic-specific issues. While they have conceded that inflation has been more persistent than they expected, they see conditions returning to normal over the next year or so.

U.S. Inflation Hit 31-Year High in October as Consumer Prices Jump 6.2% – WSJ --U.S. inflation hit a three-decade high in October, delivering widespread and sizable price increases to households for everything from groceries to cars due to persistent supply shortages and strong consumer demand. The Labor Department said the consumer-price index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—increased in October by 6.2% from a year ago. That was the fastest 12-month pace since 1990 and the fifth straight month of inflation above 5%.The core price index, which excludes the often-volatile categories of food and energy, climbed 4.6% in October from a year earlier, higher than September’s 4% rise and the largest increase since 1991.On a monthly basis, the CPI increased a seasonally adjusted 0.9% in October from the prior month, a sharp acceleration from September’s 0.4% rise and the same as June’s 0.9% pace.Price increases were broad-based, with higher costs for new and used autos, gasoline and other energy costs, furniture, rent and medical care, the Labor Department said. Food prices for both groceries and dining out rose by the most in decades. Prices fell for airline fares and alcohol.Persistently higher inflation—triggered by a faster-than-anticipated but uneven economic recovery, trillions of dollars in pandemic-related government stimulus and other factors—is hitting consumers’ wallets. At the same time, a rebounding economy and healthy household balance sheets are both stoking demand and cushioning price increases.The inflation surge is complicating the Federal Reserve’s strategy for unwinding easy-money policies the central bank imposed early in the pandemic. It has also emerged as a political factor affecting the Biden administration’s economic agenda.The reading renewed GOP criticism of Democrats’ roughly $2 trillion social spending and climate plan as wasteful and likely to fuel inflation. The plan includes funding for expanded child care, free prekindergarten, an enhanced child tax credit and other items, along with provisions to bring down prescription drug prices.Prices climbed the fastest in the South, a part of the country that reopened earlier in the pandemic but was hit relatively harder by the Delta variant of Covid-19. Prices were also up more in the Midwest than in the Northeast and West..“I do think we’re moving into a new phase where inflation is broader and where things are going to get a little more intense,” she said. “Part of that reflects that [supply-chain] bottlenecks aren’t resolved going into the holiday season, when a lot of purchases get made, and that the economy is doing really well, so you have strong demand.” Ms. Rosner-Warburton sees a shift under way in which a wider range of factors will spur inflation, as opposed to previous months’ increases that were driven disproportionately by skyrocketing vehicle prices and the reopening of services after Covid-19 vaccines became available. Fed officials are watching inflation measures closely to gauge whether the recent jump in prices will be temporary or longer lasting. One such factor is consumer expectations of future inflation, which can prove self-fulfilling as households are more likely to demand higher wages and accept higher prices in anticipation of further price hikes.

US Consumer Prices Are Soaring At Their Fastest Rate In 40 Years - Following yesterday's US PPI print at record highs, overnight we saw Chinese producer prices rising at their fastest pace in 26 years, and this morning's US consumer price data was expected to show yet another non-transitory surge in inflation... but the actual surge was far bigger than expected. US Consumer prices soared 6.2% YoY in October, far higher than the +5.9% YoY expected and accelerating from September's 5.4% YoY; that was the highest print since June 1982... Core CPI spiked to its highest since August 1991...Source: Bloomberg On a sequential basis, the 0.9% surge in CPI was driven in equal parts by reopening and non-reopening components, suggesting that the post-Covid shift to persistent inflation is picking up pace. Higher prices for energy, shelter, food and vehicles fueled the supercharged reading and indicated inflation is broadening out beyond categories associated with reopening. After a brief reversal, Energy and Used Car costs resumed their vertical move higher ... And used car CPI is nowhere near done rising yet... The shelter index increased 0.5 percent over the month, as the indexes for rent and owners’ equivalent rent both rose 0.4 percent and the index for lodging away from home increased 1.4 percent. And the surge in owners equivalent rent inflation is anything but over... Here is the BLS' commentary on inflation excl. soaring food and energy:The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in October as most major component indexes increased. The shelter index increased 0.5 percent over the month, as the indexes for rent and owners’ equivalent rent both rose 0.4 percent and the index for lodging away from home increased 1.4 percent. Major vehicle indexes also rose in October. The index for used cars and trucks rose 2.5 percent after declining in August and September. The index for new vehicles rose 1.4 percent in October, its seventh consecutive monthly increase. The medical care index increased in October, rising 0.5 percent, its largest monthly increase since May 2020. The index for hospital services rose 0.5 percent, and the index for prescription drugs advanced 0.6 percent; the index for physicians’ services was unchanged. The household furnishings and operations index rose 0.8 percent, and the recreation index increased 0.7 percent. Also rising in October were the indexes for personal care (0.6 percent), tobacco (1.9 percent), education (0.2 percent), and communication (0.1 percent). The motor vehicle insurance index and the apparel index were both unchanged in October. The index for airline fares was one of the few to decline, falling 0.7 percent; the index for alcoholic beverages decreased 0.2 percent. Of course, food and energy prices are just vertical at this point:

• The food at home index rose 5.4 percent over the past 12 months as all of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the period. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 11.9 percent, with the index for beef rising 20.1 percent and the index for pork rising 14.1 percent, its largest 12-month increase since the period ending December 1990. The other major grocery store food group indexes also increased over the last 12 months with increases ranging from 1.8 percent (dairy and related products) to 4.5 percent (nonalcoholic beverages).
• The index for food away from home rose 5.3 percent over the last year. The index for limited service meals rose 7.1 percent over the last 12 months, and the index for full service meals rose 5.9 percent, both the largest 12-month increases in the history of the respective series. The index for food at employee sites and schools declined sharply over the past year, falling 45.4 percent.
• The energy index rose 30.0 percent over the past 12 months, its largest 12-month increase since the period ending September 2005. All the major energy component indexes increased sharply over the last 12 months. The gasoline index rose 49.6 percent over the last year, and is now at its highest level since September 2014. The fuel oil index increased sharply over the year, rising 59.1 percent. The ndex for natural gas rose 28.1 percent over the last 12 months, and the electricity index rose 6.5 percent

Dollar Purchasing Power Plunges. Inflation +6.2%. For Urban Wage Earners +6.9%, Highest in 40 years, Most Monstrously Overstimulated Economy Ever.- Wolf Richter -- The broadest Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) spiked 0.9% in October from September, and by 6.2% from a year ago, the highest since November 1990 (6.3%) and since 1982, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today.The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) spiked by 6.9% in October year-over-year, the highest since June 1982, nearly 40 years ago:This CPI-W is the index upon which the Social Security COLAs are based, which are determined by the average during the third quarter. The Q3 average of 5.9% set the COLA for 2022 at 5.9%, the highest COLA since 1982, and there was some jubilation among beneficiaries a month ago. But now inflation is blowing right past that COLA.As Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic pointed out, “transitory has become a dirty word.” This massive inflation occurred while the Fed still had its foot fully on the accelerator – $120 billion a month in money printing and near-0% short-term interest rates, meaning “real” short-term rates are at negative6.0%.The Fed has been saying over and over again ad nauseam for seven months that inflation will slow down somehow on its own, even as the Fed had the foot fully on the accelerator, and every step along the way, the Fed has grossly underestimated the surge of inflation, and continues to do so. The Powell Fed has unleashed a monster.Despite the ongoing monetary stimulus, the negative 6% real short-term rates, and the repression of long-term yield via the Fed’s gargantuan balance sheet, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday on the radio that she still thinks that inflation will somehow on its own go back to about 2% in 2022. And if it doesn’t? Well, she said, inflation would be “watched carefully,” and the Fed “wouldn’t permit” a return to the double-digit inflation of the 1970s. But 6% and 7% and 8% inflation is still OK?San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly, a relentless dove on the FOMC, yesterday called the inflation data before today’s release “eye-popping,” but she too expected that inflation will subside on its own despite the gigantic monetary stimulus.For them, and for a few others, the enormous demand that $4.2 trillion in money-printing in 20 month has created has nothing to do with this inflation, and that it’s just the supply chains that are temporarily at fault, though they got overloaded by this Fed-generated demand, and the Fed still hasn’t backed off, still hasn’t raised short-term interest rates, and still hasn’t begun unloading its balance sheet to let long-term rates drift higher.But consumers’ inflation expectations are blowing off the Fed’s propaganda about this inflation being temporary, and today’s truly “eye-popping” data is going to fire up those expectations further, and they’re getting built into the economy, with inflation further up the pipeline spiking at even more eye-popping rates. Rent is nearly one-third of CPI, and it’s now rising.Two measures or rent account for 32% of CPI. Last year and early this year, these rent factors had plunged, and had kept CPI from spiking further over the spring and summer. But they made a U-turn in June and are now moving higher but are still holding down CPI, even as a market rents in the 100 largest cities started spiking months ago and in October were up 11% year-over-year. CPI is now following with a long lag. “Rent of primary residence,” which accounts for 7.6% in the overall CPI, rose by 0.4% in October from September, and by 2.7% year-over-year. In the years before the pandemic, the rent CPI ran between 3.5% and 4% year-over-year. Note the U-turn as surging market rents are gradually filtering into the CPI (red line in the chart below).“Owner’s equivalent rent of residences,” which accounts for 23.6% in the overall CPI and is a substitute to track the costs of homeownership, is based on surveys that ask what homeowners think their home might rent for. It rose 0.4% for the month, and was up 3.1% year-over-year.

October CPI Inflation - Headline CPI exceeded expectations substantially, with m/m 0.9% vs. 0.6% expected. Core was 0.6% vs. 0.4% expected (Bloomberg consensus). The persistence in the gap will depend in large part on oil price’s evolution. Year-on-year core matches levels last seen in 1991; but still far below the 1970’s. Figure 1: Month-on-month inflation of CPI (blue), chained CPI (brown), core CPI (green), personal consumption expenditure deflator (red). Chained CPI seasonally adjusted using X-12/ARIMA X-11. PCE deflator October observation is nowcast as of 11/10. NBER defined recession dates (peak-to-trough) shaded gray. Source: BLS, BEA, Cleveland Fed, NBER, and author’s calculations.The big gap is between CPI and core CPI, highlighting the role of energy prices. This shows up in levels. Figure 2: CPI (blue), chained CPI (brown), core CPI (green), personal consumption expenditure deflator (red). Chained CPI seasonally adjusted using X-12/ARIMA X-11. PCE deflator October observation is nowcast as of 11/10. NBER defined recession dates (peak-to-trough) shaded gray. Source: BLS, BEA, Cleveland Fed, NBER, and author’s calculations. Core CPI has lagged CPI by a cumulative 1.3 percentage points (log terms) since 2020M02. The source of the differential is clear: Figure 3: Headline-core CPI year-on-year inflation differential (blue, left scale), oil price (WTI) year-on-year growth rate (tan, right scale). NBER defined recession dates (peak-to-trough). Source: BLS, NBER, author’s calculations. So much hinges on what happens to oil prices, and energy prices generally. As of now, oil prices are in backwardation, with nearby futures (December) at 81.44, March futures at 77.67. Last point: It’s useful to have a longer perspective, before making comparisons to the 1970’s. Figure 4: Year-on-year inflation of CPI (blue), chained CPI (brown), core CPI (green), personal consumption expenditure deflator (red). Chained CPI seasonally adjusted using X-12/ARIMA X-11. PCE deflator October observation is nowcast as of 11/10. Source: BLS, BEA, Cleveland Fed, and author’s calculations. However, actual home prices have spiked by 20% year-over-year, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks price changes of the same house over time and is therefore a measure of house price inflation (purple line below). The index for “Owner’s equivalent of rent” just started easing higher (red line). Both indexes are set to 100 for January 2000: Food costs, accounting for 14% in the overall CPI, jumped 0.9% for the month and 5.3% year-over-year. The CPI for meats, poultry, and fish spiked by 11.9% year-over year, with beef spiking by 20%, which defies the actual price spikes at the grocery store. Energy costs, accounting for 7.3% in the overall CPI, spiked by 4.8% for the month and by a whopping 30% year-over-year: The CPI for used cars and trucks rose 2.5% for the month, after two months of declines, and jumped 26.4% year-over-year.

Cleveland Fed: Median CPI increased 0.6% and Trimmed-mean CPI increased 0.7% in October - The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI and the trimmed-mean CPI this morning: According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the median Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in October. The 16% trimmed-mean Consumer Price Index increased 0.7% in October. "The median CPI and 16% trimmed-mean CPI are measures of core inflation calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland based on data released in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly CPI report". Note: The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI details for September here. "Fuel oil and other fuels" were up 193% annualized. Note that Owners' Equivalent Rent and Rent of Primary Residence account for almost 1/3 of median CPI, and these measures were up over 5% annualized in October. This graph shows the year-over-year change for these four key measures of inflation. On a year-over-year basis, the median CPI rose 3.1%, the trimmed-mean CPI rose 4.1%, and the CPI less food and energy rose 4.6%. Core PCE is for September and increased 3.6% year-over-year.

Wholesale prices rose 8.6% year over year in October, tied for highest ever - Wholesale prices rose 8.6% from a year ago in October, their highest annual pace in records going back nearly 11 years, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The government's producer price index, which serves as a gauge of final demand prices from goods producers, rose 0.6% for the month, in line with Dow Jones estimates and an indicator that inflation pressures are continuing to burden the U.S. economy. The monthly pace was faster than the 0.5% increase in September. Stripping out food, trade and energy prices, the index increased 0.4% month over month, slightly below the 0.5% estimate but an elevated pace from September's 0.1% gain. On a year-over-year basis, core producer prices increased 6.2%. The year-over-year records go back to November 2010. Elevated demand for goods over services again led the inflation story, with the price rises for final demand goods accounting for more than 60% of the index's increase. Goods prices rose 1.2% compared with just a 0.2% increase for services, while construction prices jumped 6.6%. One-third of the increase in goods prices came from soaring gasoline, with prices rising 6.7%. Beef and veal prices represented the other side of the ledger, posting a collective decline of 10.3%. The index for light motor trucks, a key driver of inflation this year, moved lower as did residential electric power. On the services side, more than 80% of the increase in final demand services price increases came from autos and auto parts, which increased 8.9%. Final demand prices are a gauge of what goods producers receive in sales for personal consumption, capital investment and to government, as well as for exporting. The PPI report is one of two key inflation readings this week. The Labor Department on Wednesday will release the October consumer price index, which is expected to show a 0.6% monthly increase for all goods, translating into a 5.9% annual gain. Federal Reserve officials are watching the inflation data closely. Policymakers generally believe price increases are driven primarily by factors such as supply chain shocks tied to the coronavirus pandemic, and will ease some next year and eventually drift back toward the central bank's 2% annual target. However, the Fed has conceded that inflation pressures are lasting longer than thought, and last week voted to begin reducing the pace of its monthly bond purchases. Goldman Sachs economists over the weekend noted the "inflation overshoot will likely get worse before it gets better." Markets have been pricing in more aggressive interest rate hikes than the Fed is currently indicating. Citigroup economists project that the central bank will have to step up its planned $15 billion a month pace of bond purchase reductions, with an acceleration to $22.5 billion a month, meaning the quantitative easing program would wind down completely by April 2022. That would then allow the Fed to start increasing rates should inflation continue to be a problem.

Further up the Producer Price Pipeline, Inflation Rages at over 20%, Heading for Consumers by Wolf Richter - A lot of price increases at various stages of production are coming down the pipeline that haven’t flown into consumer prices yet. These are input costs for industries that will try to pass them on to the next company in line, which will try to pass them on until the consumer gets to eat them. We’ll go up that pipeline in a moment. The PPI Final Demand covers the input prices for consumer-facing industries whose prices then enter into the Consumer Price Index. The PPI Final Demand jumped by 0.6% in October from September and pushed the year-over-year increase to 8.6%, same as in September, the biggest such jumps in the data going back to 2010 (red line).The Core PPI Final Demand, without food and energy rose by 0.5% for the month and by 6.8% from a year ago, same as in September, the highest readings in the data, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics today (green line). The price index of new vehicles fell in October from September because the new 2022 models were entered into the index with “hedonic quality adjustments” as they always are at this time of year. The wholesale value of the hedonic quality adjustments for the PPI amounted to $86.84 per car and to $186.22 per light truck, according to the BLS. These hedonic quality adjustments are going to reduce CPI for new vehicles.These quality improvements include changes in the infotainment systems, power trains, and standard and optional equipment packages.In other words, the once-a-year price increases of the new model-year vehicles were reduced by those amounts, which is why we have the amazing WOLF STREET F-150 and Camry price index, which shows actual prices versus the CPI for new vehicles going back 30 years.In terms of the PPI, tor year-over-year comparisons, there is always the “base effect,” meaning that the level of the index last year impacts that year-over-year percent readings. And there is always the cumulative nature of inflation. The chart below shows the PPI and Core PPI as index values, which avoids the base effects and shows the cumulative nature of inflation. Note how the curve has steepened over the past 12 months: Some prices that had previously spiked ticked down in October, while other prices that had risen more moderately in prior months, or had declined, jumped. The inflation game of Whac-A-Mole. The overall indices average out.Intermediate Demand is categorized in four stages by production flow: From Stage 1 industries that are some distance up the production flow and create inputs for State 2 industries, to Stage 3 industries and to Stage 4 industries, which primarily create the inputs for Final Demand industries (see PPI Final Demand above), which create the inputs for consumer-facing industries (tracked by the CPI). Going backwards up the pricing pipeline of the production flow.

• Intermediate Demand, Stage 4, the input cost for final demand: +0.7% in October from September, with goods +1.2% and services +0.1% month-over-month. Year-over-year +11.8%. These industries create inputs for consumer-facing industries (black line in the chart below).
• Intermediate Demand, Stage 3: +0.9% in October from September, with goods +1.1% and services +0.6%. Year-over-year +20.2% (gray line).
• Intermediate Demand, Stage 2: exploded by 4.7% in October from September, with goods spiking by 9.8% month-over-month and services ticking up 0.1%. Year-over-year +27.8%, the highest in the data (red line).
• Intermediate Demand, Stage 1, furthest up the pipeline: +1.0% for the month, with goods +2.1% and services -0.2%. Year-over-year: +20.4% (green line).

Used Vehicle Wholesale Prices Spiked by the Most Ever in October. Retail Prices to Follow By Wolf Richter -Used vehicle wholesale prices spiked by 9.2% in October from September, the biggest month-to-month spike in the data going back to 1997, after having spiked by 5.3% in September, according to Manheim, the largest auto auction operator in the US.Year-over-year prices spiked by 38% from the already sky-high levels last October. Compared to October 2019, prices shot up by 59%. A couple of months ago, used vehicles were cited as indication why inflation would be temporary because there had been a slight dip in used vehicle prices, but that has now been tossed out the window.Wholesale prices, established when vehicles sell at auctions, lead the Consumer Price Index for used vehicles by about two months.The Used Vehicle Value Index is adjusted for the mix and mileage of vehicles that are sold at auction, and for seasonal factors. So Manheim said:“October typically sees above average vehicle depreciation and therefore used price declines. This October was the first October in the history of the Manheim Index data, which dates to 1997, to see a non-seasonally adjusted price increase in October. The non-adjusted price increase in October was 5.4%,” Manheim said.Auto dealers that buy at these auctions are “much more aggressive in buying than is typically the case in the fall,” Manheim said, based on the sales conversion rate that rose to 67% in October, far higher than is typical for that month, and up from a sales conversion rate of 49% in October 2019.These buyers are much more aggressive because they’re confident that they can pass the higher prices on to consumers because consumers pay whatever, at this point.At some point, there will be a miscalculation, and dealers will have trouble passing those kinds of price increases on to consumers, but apparently not yet. Consumers are still in the glorious and intoxicating inflationary mindset that price doesn’t matter, and they’re paying whatever. This eagerness by consumers to pay whatever is astonishing because a vehicle is for most people the ultimate discretionary purchase: Most people can just keep driving the vehicle they already have for a few more months, or a few more years, and they don’t have to buy today. Americans have shown that they can go on buyer’s strike, for example during the Great Recession when vehicle sales collapsed and people just kept driving what they already had. But the opposite is happening now: people buy no matter what the price. That’s the inflationary mindset. Despite this being October, when used vehicle wholesale prices normally dip, no category saw price declines, and the much-maligned mid-sized sedans – GM, Ford, and FCA have completely gotten out of the business of making sedans – jumped by the most.On a year-over-year basis, prices of midsize sedans spiked by 40%, behind only vans, which spiked by nearly 50%. Most of the vans are delivery-type vans, and the delivery business is red hot and new equipment is hard to get. Note that pick-up prices surged 27%, down from totally insane spikes of 70%-plus in April in May:

Winter Heating Bills Loom as the Next Inflation Threat - The New York Times - With consumers already dealing with the fastest price increases in decades, another unwelcome uptick is on the horizon: a widely expected increase in winter heating bills. After plunging during the pandemic as the global economy slowed, energy prices have roared upward. Natural gas, used to heat almost half of U.S. households, has almost doubled in price since this time last year. The price of crude oil — which deeply affects the 10 percent of households that rely on heating oil and propane during the winter — has soared by similarly eye-popping levels. And those costs are being quickly passed through to consumers, who have become accustomed to cheaper energy prices in recent years and now find themselves with growing concerns about inflation this year. In the United States, the winter months account for about 50 to 80 percent of residential fuel consumption. And there is “a significant chance” consumers could face a “marked increase” in prices for heating, said Nina Fahy, an analyst for Energy Aspects, a research consultancy. Last winter was warmer than average, which led to residential energy bills that were comparatively low. This season, heating costs could rise to levels not seen for a decade, even if there isn’t a severe winter. Several factors — lower global fuel inventories, incentives for producers to let prices rise and a mismatch between supply and demand as economies emerge from the pandemic — may combine to push bills higher regardless. Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, a group of state officials administering aid to low-income households, says those living paycheck to paycheck, or just trying to save, aren’t going to be soothed by complex explanations about inventory levels, supply chains or global demand. When the bills start coming in December or January, he said, “the public’s going to get angry.” Expert forecasts suggest that the southern half of the country, which has milder winters and relies on relatively cheap electricity for home heating, may enter spring largely unscathed. But the Northeast and the northern Plains, as well as rural areas nationwide, are far more dependent on heating oil and propane, which are highly exposed to price spikes in commodity markets. Reflecting the particular concern in their region, a bipartisan group of senators from New England — led by Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island — sent a letter to the White House last week urging “targeted actions” to provide relief “given the current state of energy markets.” Last week, the Biden administration released 90 percent of the $3.75 billion in funds dedicated to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provided an average of $439 to more than five million families the year before the pandemic. It received $4.5 billion in additional emergency grants this year. Usually, funding for the program isn’t released until all budget items for the fiscal year are approved, but Congress recently made an exception as cold months approached and sparring over spending bills continued.

Arkansas’ largest gas provider says average customer’s heat bill will increase by 42% this winter -CenterPoint Energy, the state's largest provider of natural gas, said Thursday that it expects the average residential customer's bill will increase this winter by 42%, from $92 a month to $131, mainly because of rising natural-gas prices. CenterPoint has 400,000 residential and business customers in Arkansas. The 42% increase is the largest in several years, Ross Corson, a CenterPoint spokesman, said. "These increases are not just in Arkansas but across the U.S. and globally." The average increase is based on an assumption that a consumer whose average bill was $92 a month last winter will use the same amount of natural gas this winter season, generally from November through March, CenterPoint said. The estimate also is based on normal winter weather. "The actual bill impact will vary by customer depending on the size and age of the home, number of gas appliances, number of people in the household, thermostat settings, levels of insulation and other factors," the company said. The utility announced its expectations for the price increase in a news release that also sought to alert customers who believe they might have trouble with their bills to begin working with CenterPoint now on payment plans and other possible aid. There is no estimate on the increase facing businesses, Corson said, because a 'business' can range from a small storefront property to a vast manufacturing plant. In its Winter Fuels Outlook released Oct. 25, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. households will spend an average of $746 on heating this winter. That's $172, or 30%, than last winter. "Higher retail natural gas prices are the primary driver for the expected increase in natural gas heating expenditures this winter," the agency said. "On average, retail natural gas prices in the United States are expected to rise from $10.17 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) last winter to $12.93/Mcf this winter, the highest price since the 2005-06 winter average." The agency said the largest increases are likely to be in the Midwest, with the average winter residential cost increasing from about $550 to $800. The smallest increases are expected to be in the South, with the average residential bill for the winter months rising from a total of about $500 to $600. The agency, citing U.S. Census Bureau figures, said 48% of U.S. households primarily rely on natural gas for heating. "The increase in retail prices reflects rising natural gas spot prices over the past year," the agency said. "Changes in natural gas spot prices typically get passed along to retail rates over a period of months because of regulatory rate structures. Utilities generally cannot profit or lose money from natural gas commodity sales, whose costs are passed along directly to the consumer."

Power shutoffs deepened pandemic toll while utilities collected millions in relief - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Black, Brown and Indigenous communities have been disproportionately at risk of hospitalization and death. Recent research suggests high utility bills and utility shutoffs played a role in that impact — while companies were receiving federal funds and boosting executive compensation.Pandemic-related job loss has increased household crowding and left many individuals and families unable to keep up with their utility bills. Lack of air conditioning can exacerbate breathing problems from chronic conditions such as asthma, and the absence of hot, clean running water makes it difficult to maintain handwashing and sanitation to reduce the risk of infection. By contrast, utility shutoff moratoriums made it easier for households to remain in their own homes and adhere to stay-at-home orders during the beginning of the pandemic, thereby reducing rates of infection, hospitalization, and death. As restrictions have eased, families whose utility services are not disrupted are less likely to double up with relatives and friends or go to homeless shelters, also reducing the likelihood of COVID-19 community spread.Had a nationwide ban on disconnections been in effect from March to November 2020, COVID-19 infections would have been reduced by 8.7% and COVID-related deaths reduced by 14.7%, according to a January 2021 working paper published by the National Bureau for Economic Research.A September report from the Center for Biological Diversity and Bailout Watch highlights utility companies that refused to pause shutoffs for delinquent customers while collecting millions of dollars in federal support.The report, titled Powerless in the Pandemic, found six utility companies accounted for 94% of all documented shutoffs. Four of these companies: NextEra Energy (parent of Florida Power & Light, among others), Duke Energy, Southern Company, and Dominion Energy are largely concentrated in the South. “These utilities are functioning essentially in the Black Belt states,” said Jean Su, energy justice program director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and a co-author of the report. “So, we know that … these are companies that very much are in the Southeast where the populations are disproportionately Black, and that suffer the highest energy burdens in the country. I think that’s another important data point to insert here in terms of the racial injustice and locations of the utility shutoffs.”The other two utilities included in the report’s “Hall of Shame” — DTE Energy and Exelon — serve areas that include Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia. And while COVID-19 rates are presently on the decline, utility shutoffs remain a continuing threat.

NFIB Small Business Survey: Decrease in October -- The latest issue of the NFIB Small Business Economic Trends came out this morning. The headline number for October came in at 98.2, down 0.9 from the previous month. The index is at the 37th percentile in this series. Here is an excerpt from the opening summary of the news release.“Small business owners are attempting to take advantage of current economic growth but remain pessimistic about business conditions in the near future,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “One of the biggest problems for small businesses is the lack of workers for unfilled positions and inventory shortages, which will continue to be a problem during the holiday season.”The first chart below highlights the 1986 baseline level of 100 and includes some labels to help us visualize that dramatic change in small-business sentiment that accompanied the Great Financial Crisis and now the COVID-19 pandemic. Compare, for example, the relative resilience of the index during the 2000-2003 collapse of the Tech Bubble with the far weaker readings following the Great Recession that ended in June 2009 and today's figures. Here is a closer look at the indicator since the turn of the century.

Americans saying return to normal life poses risk lowest since beginning of delta surge: survey -- The risk Americans see in returning to normal life is at its lowest level since the delta variant wave began in August, the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index shows. The survey found that 55 percent of Americans think resuming pre-pandemic activities poses little to no risk. That number is up 15 percent points since late August, when the delta variant was spreading across the U.S. Around 60 percent of the individuals surveyed reported feeling that there is little to no risk in going out to eat, going to shopping malls, and hanging out with friends and family. This rise in confidence in going back to normal activities comes shortly before the holiday season and even more shortly after the U.S. opened its borders to international travel on Monday. Some skepticism remains, as 45 percent of survey respondents reported that they are still wearing their masks at all times outside their homes. Coronavirus restrictions have loosened since the height of the delta wave in August, when 43 percent of respondents reported that their states or local areas were requiring people to wear a mask in all public spaces. Currently, that number is down to 38 percent. The loosening of restrictions come as AAA is expecting Thanksgiving travel to return to near pre-pandemic levels, with air travel almost fully recovering from the hit it took during the height of the pandemic.

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims Decrease to 267,000 -- The DOL reported: In the week ending November 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 267,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 269,000 to 271,000. The 4-week moving average was 278,000, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 284,750 to 285,250. 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 278,000.The previous week was revised up.Regular state continued claims increased to 2,160,000 (SA) from 2,101,000 (SA) the previous week.Weekly claims were above consensus forecast.

BLS: Job Openings "Little Changed" at 10.4 Million in September - From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary: The number of job openings was little changed at 10.4 million on the last business day of September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires and total separations were little changed at 6.5 million and 6.2 million, respectively. Within separations, the quits level and rate increased to a series high of 4.4 million and 3.0 percent, respectively. The layoffs and discharges rate was unchanged at 0.9 percent.The following graph shows job openings (yellow line), hires (dark blue), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS. This series started in December 2000.Note: The difference between JOLTS hires and separations is similar to the CES (payroll survey) net jobs headline numbers. This report is for September, the most recent employment report was for October. Note that hires (dark blue) and total separations (red and light blue columns stacked) are usually pretty close each month. This is a measure of labor market turnover. When the blue line is above the two stacked columns, the economy is adding net jobs - when it is below the columns, the economy is losing jobs.The huge spike in layoffs and discharges in March 2020 are labeled, but off the chart to better show the usual data.Jobs openings decreased in September to 10.438 million from 10.629 million in August. The number of job openings (yellow) were up 58% year-over-year. Quits were up 34% year-over-year to a new record high. These are voluntary separations. (see light blue columns at bottom of graph for trend for "quits").

CEO says FedEx can meet holiday demand 'assuming that we can get the employees' - The CEO of FedEx said on Sunday the transport company will be able to meet holiday demand “assuming that we can get the employees,” as a number of industries continue to grapple with decreased workforces because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Asked by host Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” if Christmas presents will arrive on time this holiday season, FedEx CEO Fred Smith said “I think we’re ready for this,” as long as he has enough workers. He said FedEx and other companies have seen a shortage in workers in part because of the highly infectious delta variant, and to a degree because of COVID-19 stimulus funds that supported businesses and workers amid the pandemic. “We're ready, assuming that we can get the employees. The lack of employees, particularly since last spring and into the summer, partially because of the delta variant and partially because of the stimulus which hit right before the delta variant took hold of a lot of the country, created a lot of employment issues,” Smith said. Smith noted that FedEx is currently processing an elevated number of applications to prepare for the holiday surge. The week of May 8, the company was processing roughly 50,000 a day, but in the week beginning Nov. 1, he said officials received 90,000 employment applications. He said the company is hiring “many, many thousands of people to operate in our 60-plus global hubs that allow us to pick up and transport deliver between any two points on the globe.” FedEx is expecting a surge in deliveries this holiday season, Smith said. The company is forecasting that it will deliver 100 million more shipments this season compared to the same time period in 2019 because it has been doing more work in the e-commerce sector, and made investments in modernizing its airplane fleet. Smith’s interview aired days after the Labor Department released a strong October jobs report, which showed the U.S. added 531,000 jobs that month and saw the unemployment rate drop by 0.2 percentage points. Some companies, however, are still experiencing worker shortages, according to CNBC, compounding bottlenecks in the supply chain and driving up prices nationwide.

 Yellen admits labor participation 'quite depressed' compared to pre-pandemic levels - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has admitted that labor force participation is "quite depressed" compared to pre-pandemic levels, blaming COVID-19 for the issue. The U.S. economy has sought to rebound as widespread access to vaccinations and adjustments to labor practices should allow for Americans to get back to work; however, a lack of labor supply has exacerbated the continuing supply chain crisis. There were 10.4 million job openings at the end of August and 11.1 million openings the month before, the highest on record since at least December 2000, when the government started recording that figure. At the same time, the Labor Department said that the number of people quitting their jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August from 4 million in July. Yellen admits that the labor force participation isn’t where U.S. officials thought it would be, but she has blamed COVID-19 rather than any Biden administration policies. "First of all, the programs that were put in place … really were intended to support households and families to get through this so they didn’t take a huge hit to their income," Yellen said in an interview with "Face the Nation" on Friday. "Americans feel good about their finances, and that’s not an accident." "The supply of workers is not back up to normally," Yellen admitted. "Unemployment is low, labor force participation is quite depressed compared to pre-pandemic levels." Yellen argued that the low participation reflects "concerns of COVID and exposure to COVID." She also cited issues with childcare roles, which would contribute to labor supply suppression. The widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson should have helped bolster employment: some states, such as New York, Florida, Minnesota and Virginia, have achieved over 60% full vaccination; states such as Texas, Kansas, Arizona and Nebraska have distributed at least one shot to over 60% of its population, according to the Mayo Clinic. But some states, such as Mississippi, Louisiana, Montana and Michigan, have yet to reach those same levels. Experts cannot agree on whether it is due to availability within those states or vaccine hesitancy, but recent develops may provide an alternative that will help those who are unwilling to get the vaccine. Biotech giant Regeneron has applied for two approvals from the FDA after receiving approval from the U.K., Australia and Japan, as well as a European commission, for use of its antibody cocktail for outpatient treatment and for individuals with an increased risk of developing severe symptoms.

State lawmaker will miss anti-vaccine mandate rally — because he has COVID-19 --A North Dakota lawmaker who is organizing a rally on Monday protesting vaccine mandates will miss the event after contracting COVID-19. “I’m feeling rough,” state Rep. Jeff Hoverson (R) said in a Facebook post on Monday, adding that "Covid is real and like a really bad flu." Hoverson helped plan the Monday rally along with four GOP district chairs. "Out of respect for others, I will not be there," Hoverson told local media. "I want to make sure I'm not contagious and there's very capable people running the rally." However, he said three of his teenage children will still attend the rally. In his Facebook post, Hoverson said “this ivermectin is keeping me out of the hospital,” adding he was “quarantining and is getting better each day.” Hoverson also thanked "a brave soul" for providing him with the controversial drug, which is suggested for use for treating parasitic worms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned the anti-parasitic drug can cause severe illness amid a spike in demand for treating COVID-19.

Alabama is making a costly mistake on COVID-19 recovery funds. Here’s a better path forward. - EPI Blog --When the Alabama legislature gathered for a special session in September, it made a short-sighted and costly mistake. Lawmakers chose to allocate $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money—about 20% of Alabama’s federal COVID-19 relief funds—to help finance a $1.3 billion prison construction plan.Alabama prisons are decrepit, dangerous, and massively overcrowded to such an extent that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued the state over the unconstitutional conditions. Raiding funds designed to help people and communities recover from pandemic-related economic distress will do nothing to make Alabama more humane and inclusive, particularly when Black Alabamians are three times more likely to be incarcerated than white Alabamians due to discriminatory practices in policing and incarceration.The state has a better path to build a more sensible criminal justice system and avert a potential federal takeover. New buildings to house the same old problems won’t get us there. Real change will requiremeaningful changes to sentencing and reentry policies. Alabama’s sentencing scheme still relies on outdated ideas about punishment and limits availability of services shown to improve reentry. One example is the state’s Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA), which increases sentences for even minor offenses. Like other mandatory minimum laws, it is a relic of earlier racially motivated “tough on crime” practices and leads to higher rates of incarceration throughout the South.

New investigations reveal major police departments across the US riddled with Oath Keeper fascists - Last week a joint investigation between National Public Radio and WNYC/Gothamist revealed that policemen in several departments in major US cities, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, are members of the fascist Oath Keeper militia group. Members of this far-right group, in addition to the fascist Proud Boys, spearheaded the storming of the Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to overthrow the election of Joe Biden and install the defeated Donald Trump as president-dictator. The joint investigation by NPR/WNYC is based on the hack of the far-right web hosting service Epik in September. The anonymous hackers leaked the purported membership rolls of the Oath Keepers, containing nearly 40,000 names and other personal identifying information, to the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), which has since shared the files with numerous news agencies. Reporters with NPR and WNYC discovered that at least 15 active-duty police officers were on the Oath Keeper membership rolls, including more than a dozen officers in the Chicago Police Department, along with cops in the New York Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. According to NPR/WNYC, of the thirteen active Chicago police so far identified, five were in “training and support,” roles which include training other cops on using firearms. The results of this “training” were borne out in a six-year investigation by the Chicago Tribune which concluded in 2016. The investigation found that over that time span Chicago police, “every five days, on average ... fired a gun at someone,” killing 92 people and injuring 170 others. Police kill more than 1,000 people each year, and the victims are overwhelmingly working class and poor. In Chicago this past year, this was tragically exemplified with the police murders of 28-year-old Turell Brown and 13-year-old Adam Toledo. The lethality and brutality of US police were further established in a recent Lancet study, which found that US police had killed nearly 31,000 people between 1980 and 2019. In a separate investigation last month, Rolling Stone, using the same data set from DDoS, “identified nearly 40 [Oath Keeper] membership[s] linked to public-sector work emails,” which included “a supervisor with the federal Department of Homeland Security, and a county-level homeland security director in Tennessee,” along with several police officers.

Two ex-Oklahoma officers convicted of murder for tasering man more than 50 times - Two former Oklahoma police officers have been convicted of second-degree murder after they used their Tasers more than 50 times on an unarmed man who died in 2019. A jury in Carter County, Okla., found 35-year-old Brandon Dingman and 27-year-old Joshua Taylor guilty Friday of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in addition to the second-degree murder charge, according to The New York Times. The former Wilson Police Department officers are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 2 and could face sentences of 10 years to life in prison, the Times added. Taylor and Dingman responded shortly before midnight on July 4, 2019, to a call involving Jared Lakey, 28, allegedly “acting in a disorderly way.” During a nine-minute-long incident after Lakey did not comply with verbal commands, Dingman is accused of having "deployed his taser 23 times," and Taylor was said to have "deployed his taser 30 times," court documents indicated. An affidavit regarding the incident said that body camera footage showed that the victim never struck, grabbed or made any aggressive move toward either Dingman or Taylor. Lakey became unresponsive shortly after he was taken into custody, dying two days later. Prosecutors called the use of Tasers "dangerous and unnecessary" and argued it was a “substantial factor" in Lakey's death, the Times reported.

Jill Biden and the surgeon general push for Covid shots in schools --Franklin Sherman Elementary School made medical history in 1954, when 114 of its students became the first healthy American children to be vaccinated against polio as part of a nationwide clinical trial. On Monday the school again earned a place in the spotlight, by running a coronavirus vaccine clinic for its students that the first lady, Jill Biden, visited with the surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy. Dozens of young children, accompanied by their parents, trooped through its brightly colored gymnasium to get their shots. The visit kicked off what White House officials said would be a national push, led by Dr. Biden, to persuade parents and guardians to vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds now that the shots are available to them. The administration has already shipped 15 million pediatric doses across the country to doctors’ offices, children’s hospitals, community health centers, pharmacies and schools, with the goal of vaccinating all 28 million children in the age group. Public health experts view vaccinating young children as a critical step toward bringing the pandemic under control. The Food and Drug Administration Administration authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 5 to 11 at the end of October, and last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed it. It is too soon to tell how the rollout is going. The C.D.C. will not release data on how many young children have been vaccinated until Wednesday, officials said. But at Franklin Sherman Elementary in the suburbs of Washington, demand was high. The school has 355 students and quickly filled all 260 appointments at Monday’s clinic, run by the Fairfax County Health Department. Dr. Biden and Dr. Murthy, who said he was eager to get his 5-year-old vaccinated, handed out stickers to students who had just gotten their shots.

N.Y.C. public schools open vaccination sites for 5- to 11-year-olds.--- Paul LaCorte, the parent of a 5- and a 7-year-old at P.S. 40 in Manhattan, stood in line with dozens of other frustrated and angry parents for more than four hours — more time than it took him to run the New York City Marathon on Sunday. He was still so stiff that he refused a plastic chair the school administrators offered him.P.S. 40, in the Gramercy neighborhood, was one of a dozen New York City schools swamped with demand Monday morning as the city rolled out its weeklong effort to bring a half-day vaccine clinic to each of its more than 1,000 schools that serve elementary aged students.City officials acknowledged that they were caught off-guard by the demand at those schools, which far exceeded the interest last spring at school-based vaccine clinics for teenagers. They pledged to return to any school where children were turned away for lack of supply.“We laid in supply and staffing for the amount of demand we expected,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a morning news briefing. “If we’re seeing more demand, well, that’s a good thing, but we got to catch up with it quickly.”Officials said that most of the clinics, which took place at over 200 schools on Monday, went smoothly. Mr. de Blasio noted that the clinics with overwhelming demand were in Districts 1 and 2 in Manhattan and District 15 in Brooklyn: among the city’s wealthiest districts, in areas that have high vaccination rates among adults.Four clinics also had delays in getting their supplies Monday morning, Mr. de Blasio said. The P.S. 40 clinic finally opened at 11:24 a.m. to a round of relieved cheers, instead of at 7 a.m. as scheduled. Most children had elected to wait in class, rather than stand outside with their parents.

Judge tosses Florida school districts' lawsuit over mask mandate ban- A Florida judge tossed a challenge from several of the state’s school districts over the Sunshine State’s ban on school mask mandates. In a 22-page decision Friday, an administrative law judge ruled that officials from six counties failed to prove that the ban was “an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority.” In a statement, the Florida Department of Health hailed the ruling as “yet another victory for parent’s rights.” "At this point, the courts have been entirely clear: All school districts must come into compliance with the law and honor parental rights to make decisions for their children," the statement said. The ruling is the latest in a months-long battle between school districts and the state which has resulted in some districts losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over their masking protocols. School officials from Alachua, Broward Miami-Dade, Leon and Duval counties filed the lawsuit in October over the masking rules that took effect in September after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed an executive order allowing parents to choose whether their children should wear masks to school. Two of the districts named as plaintiffs, Broward and Alachua, have had mask mandates in place for students and staff regardless of vaccination. Late last month, the Broward County Public Schools decided to relax its mandate. More than $525,000 has been withheld from Broward County Public Schools, and more than $190,000 has been withheld from Alachua County due to their mask mandates. The Biden administration has issued a “cease and desist” complaint to the Florida Department of Education for withholding federal grant money because of the mandates.

Pennsylvania governor allowing school districts to modify, end mask mandate -Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) intends to allow school districts to modify or end mask mandates for K-12 students starting on Jan. 17. Wolf’s administration imposed a statewide mask mandate in September, citing the surge of infections and hospitalizations from the highly contagious delta variant of the novel virus, according to The Associated Press. “Now, we are in a different place than we were in September, and it is time to prepare for a transition back to a more normal setting,” Wolf said in a statement on Monday. “Unfortunately, the COVID-19 virus is now a part of our daily lives, but with the knowledge we’ve gained over the past 20 months and critical tools like the vaccine at our disposal, we must take the next step forward in our recovery,” he added. The existing order from Health Secretary Alison Beam requires students, school personnel and visitors at K-12 schools and child care facilities to wear masks while indoors, regardless of vaccination status. The move to end the statewide mandate comes after federal officials approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 5. “While we continue to monitor data such as pediatric hospital capacity and case counts, we want to give local leaders plenty of time to prepare for the anticipated expiration of the order," Beam said in a statement.

Boston shuts down school for 10 days due to COVID-19 outbreak - A public school in Boston is being shuttered for 10 days due to a COVID-19 outbreak among dozens of staff and students, officials said.Parents of students at the Mary Curley K-8 School in the city’s Jamaica Plain section learned of the shutdown for in-person learning in a letter Tuesday.The move was made on the recommendation of the Boston Public Health Commission following a recent uptick in coronavirus cases across multiple grades and classrooms in the past week, Principal Katie Grassa said.“This is an active effort to immediately stop the spread and provide time to add staffing capacity to fully implement the test and stay and contact tracing programs,” Grassa wrote in the letter.The number of active cases wasn’t disclosed in Grassa’s letter, but the outbreak at the 900-student school has swelled to 46 — including staff members and students in 21 classrooms, some of whom had been vaccinated, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said during a media briefing Tuesday. “This was of course not an easy decision for us,” Cassellius said Tuesday. “Temporarily closing the school is an active effort to stop the spread within the school community and beyond.”The school is closed for in-person learning Wednesday and is set to reopen on Monday, Nov. 22. The district was finalizing a plan Tuesday for remote learning during the shutdown, Grassa said.“BPHC advises those who have been on campus to self-isolate and avoid groups or gatherings,” Grassa’s letter continued.

Anti-Racism and Democracy in Our Schools - It’s generally conceded that Terry McAuliffe’s statement “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach” was a big blunder that contributed to his defeat last week. The context was a debate with his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, who had used his party’s playbook on Critical Race Theory and the “leftist” takeover of education. Not surprisingly, Youngkin hammered McAuliffe with this quote in TV and web ads.So what should McAuliffe have said instead? Imagine a response like this:“My opponent wants our schools to take wide detours around any mention of racism in history, politics or economics. He says this is how parents can take back control of their kids’ education. I say exactly the opposite. Everything we’ve seen—opinion polls, demonstrations, and local school board conversations—tells us that Virginia’s parents want to improve education on all fronts, including better informed treatment of racial inequality and ways we can end it. They don’t want any particular ideology, but they do want schools that address racism honestly and reflect our shared desire to rise above it.”You can change the words to your own liking, but the key point is that it is possible to be for both anti-racism and democracy in education.So why wasn’t this the message in Virginia or in the United States overall? One reason might be the technocratic biases of the administrative class that has predominant power within the Democratic Party. They are for a properly managed education system insulated from the whims of the common folk who can only gum it up. Their knee jerk reaction to a Republican call for parents to rebel against progressive directions in education is to reject parental involvement in general.Another reason, with historical roots in the first, is that the current dogma in anti-racism is that white supremacy is in America’s “DNA” (a biologically dubious metaphor), and that all whites, knowingly or not, are implicit racists whose biggest contribution to the cause would be to step aside and keep their mouths shut. If that’s what you think, the idea that a democratic upswell of parents, many or most white, could be a force for progress against racism is a dangerous illusion. Is it no longer possible to even imagine a conjoining of popular power and opposition to bigotry? If not, we’re doomed.

Central Indiana teachers conduct sickout for higher pay, lower insurance premiums - Central Indiana teachers in the Anderson School District, located near Indianapolis, conducted a sickout last week to demand higher pay and lower insurance premiums. At least 100 teachers, or 25 percent of the teachers, called in sick for half a week, forcing the district to switch to remote learning. The sickout ended Thursday with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) intervening to prevent a wider revolt. A mediation session between the AFT and the district began last Thursday and is expected to continue through Monday. Many Anderson teachers are also expected to rally Monday outside school buildings to garner support for their fight. The sickout by Anderson teachers is one of many such revolts by workers over the last several weeks in opposition to unsafe workplaces and poverty pay. Last week, over 800 Scranton, Pennsylvania teachers walked out after four years without a contract to oppose low pay, unsafe workplace conditions during the pandemic and cuts to public education imposed by the political establishment with the help of the teachers unions. More than 10,000 John Deere workers are also on strike, having voted against two concessionary agreements brought by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the company. Parents who found out about the Anderson teachers sickout that began on Friday, October 5th learned that the district had to scramble to find caretakers for the students. What they found were “glorified babysitters,” according to a parent who spoke to WTHR . By Wednesday last week, the district had to shut down completely. Despite the difficulty confronting parents, many voiced their support for the teachers on strike. One parent told WTHR, “I am backing them 100 percent. They deserve what they need to be paid for, and if they’re not going to get it from here, guess what? They're going to move to a different district. I don’t want that to happen, I don’t.” The school district attempted to save face by offering $2000 more in pay and $10,000 in stipends over the next few years. With widespread stagnant pay for Indiana teachers for more than two decades, this insulting offer was rejected by both teachers and parents. “It should be more. It really should be more, like at least 8 to 10 percent more,” a parent told WTHR.

Howard University students denounce deplorable living conditions --As the student occupation of Howard University’s Blackburn Center has entered its fifth week, protesters have garnered significant support for their demands that administration at the historically black university immediately address deplorable living conditions. In early October, students occupied the Blackburn Center to protest vermin infestations, mold, asbestos and other conditions overseen by the for-profit building management company Corvias. Students have camped outside the building in tents demanding that Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick convene a school-wide town hall meeting to discuss student and alumni representation on the Howard board of trustees, improved living conditions and freedom from legal and academic repercussions for student protesters. A group of protesters spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about their protest and distributed copies of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality’s statement Reject Howard University’s attempts to blame students for cafeteria layoffs! “They’re in it for the money,” said Aniyah. “They have been doing everything to get us out” of the encampment. “They brought up celebrities like Phylicia Rashad that oppose our takeover. And the president of the university makes over a million dollars!” Janelle said she has asthma and that the air filter in her dorm room hasn’t been changed since 2014. She said a maintenance person associated with the contracting firm Corvias came to her dorm but made an excuse and did not fix it. Autumn, a Howard senior, explained that the Howard administration is threatening academic discipline against students and justifying its harsh position by claiming that amnesty would result in students “using the protest as an excuse to skip class.”

 Democrats call on Education secretary to address 'stealthing' at federal level -- Congressional leaders penned a letter on Monday to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, urging him to take actions to better identify and combat sexual violence on college campuses. Specifically, the lawmakers wanted a practice known as "stealthing," or the nonconsensual removal of a condom during sex, to be included "in all definitions of unwanted sexual contact."The letter was led by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and signed by 77 members of Congress.It urged Cardona to "reverse the damage done by the previous administration to Title IX regulations" and make a series of changes to campus climate surveys, which collect information from students about safety on their campuses. "Congress has an obligation to address ‘stealthing’ at the federal level, which includes fact finding and data gathering through Campus Climate surveys," Maloney said in a statement about the letter.

Status of Social Security and the Trust Fund, Fiscal 2021: Beware of Vicious Dog by Wolf Richter - The Social Security Trust Fund – the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund – closed the fiscal year 2021 at the end of September with a balance of $2.76 trillion, down by 2.0% from a year earlier ($2.81 trillion), according to figures released by the Social Security Administration. After large increases in the prior decade, this was the second annual decline of the Trust Fund since 1990; the first occurred in 2018 (-0.8%).The Disability Insurance Trust Fund is by law a separate entity from the OASI Trust Fund, and is not part of this discussion here.The OASI Trust Fund invests exclusively in Treasury securities. At the end of the fiscal year, it held $2.73 trillion in interest-bearing long-term special issue Treasury securities and $22 billion in a short-term cash management security, called “certificates of indebtedness.” These securities are not traded, and so their value doesn’t change from hour to hour, and they don’t need to be marked to market because the Trust Fund purchases them at face value, and the US Treasury redeems them at face value.By investing on autopilot in Treasury securities that are not exposed to the market, the Trust Fund follows an ultra-low-risk strategy and operates with ultra-low administrative expenses, amounting to just 0.14% of the assets in the fund.This strategy keeps Wall Street and its shenanigans away. For decades, Wall Street has been lobbying to “privatize” the Trust Fund in order to suck juicy fees out of those trillions of dollars.According to the 2021 Trustee Report, 55 million people drew Social Security retirement benefits at the end of 2020: 49 million retired workers and dependents of retired workers, and 6 million survivors of deceased workers.During 2020, the pandemic year, 175 million people paid into Social Security via payroll taxes – down by 3 million from 2019. There are some real problems.The Fed’s interest rate repression. The weighted average interest rate earned on the securities in the Trust Fund dropped to 2.40% in September. Before the Financial Crisis, the Fund was earning over 5%.The effective interest rate earned from the Treasury securities in the Trust Fund has been declining for three decades: At first, the rate of inflation was coming down from the early 1980s, and yields were dropping across the board; and then, with the Financial Crisis, the Fed used QE to force down long-term interest rates.The Trust Fund invests in long-term securities. There is a lag of many years before the replacement of higher-yielding securities by lower-yielding securities pushes down the average interest rate.The Fed’s interest rate repression since March 2020 is just starting to be reflected in the Trust Fund’s average interest rate and will hound it for years to come, even if long-term interest rates rise. As a result: despite the 13% growth of the Trust Fund assets since 2010, annual interest income has dropped by 35%, from $108.5 billion in 2010 to $70.5 billion in 2021:

Medicare’s Open Enrollment Is Open Season for Scammers - Finding the best private Medicare drug or medical insurance plan among dozens of choices is tough enough without throwing misleading sales tactics into the mix.Yet federal officials say complaints are rising from seniors tricked into buying policies — without their consent or lured by questionable information — that may not cover their drugs or include their doctors. In response, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has threatened to penalize private insurance companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans if they or agents working on their behalf mislead consumers.The agency has also revised rules making it easier for beneficiaries to escape plans they didn’t sign up for or enrolled in only to discover promised benefits didn’t exist or they couldn’t see their providers.The problems are especially prevalent during Medicare’s open-enrollment period, which began Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7. A common trap begins with a phone call like the one Linda Heimer, an Iowa resident, received in October. She won’t answer the phone unless her caller ID displays a number she recognizes, but this call showed the number of the hospital where her doctor works.The person on the phone said she needed Heimer’s Medicare number to make sure it was correct for the new card she would receive. When Heimer hesitated, the woman said, “We’re not asking for a Social Security number or bank numbers or anything like that. This is OK.”“I can’t believe this, but I gave her my card number,” said Heimer. Then the caller asked questions about her medical history and offered to send her a saliva test “absolutely free.” That’s when Heimer became suspicious and hung up. She contacted the 1-800-MEDICARE helpline to get a new Medicare number and called the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline and the Federal Trade Commission.But later that morning the phone rang again and this time the caller ID displayed a number matching the toll-free Medicarehelpline. When she answered, she recognized the voice of the same woman.“You’re not from Medicare,” Heimer told her.“Yes, yes, yes, we are,” the woman insisted. Heimer hung up again.It’s been only two weeks since Heimer disclosed her Medicare number to a stranger and, so far, nothing’s gone wrong. But armed with that number, scammers could bill Medicare for services and medical supplies that beneficiaries never receive, and the scammers could sign seniors up for a Medicare Advantage or drug plan without their knowledge.

Deer may be reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, study finds --More than 80% percent of the white-tailed deer sampled in different parts of Iowa between December 2020 and January 2021 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The percentage of SARS-CoV-2 positive deer increased throughout the study, with 33% of all deer testing positive. The findings suggest that white-tailed deer may be a reservoir for the virus to continually circulate and raise concerns of emergence of new strains that may prove a threat to wildlife and, possibly, to humans. “This is the first direct evidence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in any free-living species, and our findings have important implications for the ecology and long-term persistence of the virus,” said Suresh Kuchipudi, Huck Chair in Emerging Infectious Diseases, clinical professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, and associate director of the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory, Penn State. “These include spillover to other free-living or captive animals and potential spillback to human hosts. Of course, this highlights that many urgent steps are needed to monitor the spread of the virus in deer and prevent spillback to humans.” According to Vivek Kapur, Huck Distinguished Chair in Global Health and professor of microbiology and infectious diseases, Penn State, while no evidence exists that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted from deer to humans, he believes hunters and those living in close proximity to deer may want to take precautions, including during contact with or handling the animals, by wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and getting vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Kapur. Previous research by the USDA showed that 40% of white-tailed deer had antibodies against the coronavirus; however, Kuchipudi and his colleagues note that those antibodies only indicated indirect exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or an immunologically related organism and did not prove infection with SARS-CoV-2 or the ability to transmit the virus onwards.

SARS-CoV-2 variant detected in dogs and cats with suspected myocarditis - A new study in the Veterinary Record reveals that pets can be infected with the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, which was first detected in southeast England and is commonly known as the UK variant or B.1.1.7. This variant rapidly outcompeted pre-existing variants in England due to its increased transmissibility and infectivity. The study describes the first identification of the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant in domestic pets; two cats and one dog were positive on PCR test, while two additional cats and one dog displayed antibodies two to six weeks after they developed signs of cardiac disease. Many owners of these pets had developed respiratory symptoms several weeks before their pets became ill and had also tested positive for COVID-19. All of these pets had an acute onset of cardiac disease, including severe myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle).“Our study reports the first cases of cats and dogs affected by the COVID-19 alpha variant and highlights, more than ever, the risk that companion animals can become infected with SARS-CoV-2,” said lead author Luca Ferasin, DVM, PhD, of The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre, in the UK. “We also reported the atypical clinical manifestations characterized by severe heart abnormalities, which is a well-recognised complication in people affected by COVID-19 but has never described in pets before. However, COVID-19 infection in pets remains a relatively rare condition and, based on our observations, it seems that the transmission occurs from humans to pets, rather than vice versa.”

Children, adults equally vulnerable to coronavirus infection, but children less likely to become sick -- New research addresses the misconception that children are less susceptible to infection with the new coronavirus. According to a recent report in JAMA Pediatrics, children and adults have similar risks of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2, but a much larger proportion of infected children do not show symptoms of COVID-19. When one household member is infected, there is a 52% chance they will transmit it to at least one other person with whom they live. Early in the pandemic, reports indicated that children accounted for the minority of COVID-19 cases. However, the observation was not able to distinguish between two scenarios. One was that children were less susceptible to infection. Another was that reported case rates in children were artificially low because they did not show symptoms, and therefore were not tested. To better understand infection dynamics, the C-HEaRT study followed 310 households with one or more children aged 0 to 17 years in Utah and New York City. More than 1,236 study participants submitted samples for weekly molecular testing (PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 infections and completed weekly questionnaires about symptoms. On average, each person was observed for 17 weeks, and the report included a total of 21,465 person-weeks of surveillance time. The results were from September 2020 through April 2021, before the Delta variant emerged in the U.S. The study showed that:

• Children and adults 18 years and older had similar rates of infection.
• Children in different age groups (birth to 4 years; 5 to 11 years; 12 to 17 years) also had similar rates of infection. Infection rates in each group were between 4.4 to 6.3/1,000 person-weeks.
• About half of the cases in children were symptomatic, compared with 88% of adult cases.
• In households with one or more infected individuals, the overall average household infection risk was 52%.
• The mean household infection risk was 40% in Utah and 80% in New York City.

More research will need to be done to investigate whether differences in housing density, the timing of emergence of the Delta variant, or other factors contributed to differences in household transmission rates in Utah and New York. Additionally, infection rates and household infection risk may be higher in the general population since study participants could be more likely to carry out COVID-19 prevention behaviors.

Nervous system manifestations of COVID-19 — The cluster of neurological symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19, suggests the virus can enter the brain and affect neural function. New findings were presented at Neuroscience 2021, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.Although much of the attention on COVID-19 centers on its respiratory effects, the virus has significant neurological manifestations as well. Many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 report neurological and psychiatric symptoms, including headache, loss of sense of smell and taste, hallucinations, vivid dreams, depression, fatigue, “brain fog,” and even seizures or stroke. These symptoms suggest the virus is capable of reaching the brain and may also affect other areas of the nervous system. Even for those who initially recover, many will experience lingering cognitive or neurological problems for months post-infection. Today’s new findings show:

• An analysis of human brain tissue identified two proteins, NRP1 and furin, that may mediate SARS-CoV-2 entry into human brain cells (Ashutosh Kumar, All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Patna).
• Studies of rhesus monkeys reveal how SARS-CoV-2 invades and spreads through the brain (John H. Morrison, University of California, Davis).
• In mice, peripheral nerve cells that transmit touch and pain information to the central nervous system are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, offering a possible route to infect the brain (Jonathan D. Joyce, Virginia Tech).
• COVID-19 can result in a prolonged effect on brain wave patterns for at least four months, but these differences may resolve by seven months post-infection (Allison B. Sekuler, Rotman Research Institute, McMaster University, and University of Toronto).

“We are just beginning to understand the central nervous system manifestations of COVID-19,” said Rita Balice-Gordon, the chief executive officer of Muna Therapeutics, an early-stage company working on novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. “The research presented today adds important new information about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying COVID’s effects on cognition and behavior.” This research was supported by national funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health and private funding organizations. Find out more about COVID-19 and the brain on BrainFacts.org.

• SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can affect the brain, where it contributes to neurological and psychiatric symptoms.
• New research examines how SARS-CoV-2 enters and spreads in the brain and how the virus affects brain function.

HSS study identifies risk factors for “long-haul” COVID-19 in people with rheumatic diseases -A new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City demonstrates over half of patients with rheumatic diseases who contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic and completed a COVID-19 survey, experienced so-called “long-haul” COVID, or prolonged symptoms of the infection, including loss of taste or smell, muscle aches and difficulty concentrating, for one month or longer. Findings identified long-haul COVID was particularly high for smokers, patients with comorbidities such as asthma or lung disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction, and those taking corticosteroids.. “For rheumatology patients, long-haul COVID may be particularly challenging as these patients already have significant chronic health issues and warrants further investigation.”For the study, Dr. Barbhaiya’s group emailed surveys to 7,505 men and women aged 18 years and older who had been treated at HSS for rheumatologic complaints between 2018 and 2020. Participants were asked if they had received a positive test for COVID-19 or if they had been told by a healthcare provider that they had contracted the infection.The researchers defined long-haul COVID-19 infections as those with symptoms lasting one month or longer, whereas limited-duration cases were considered those with symptoms lasting less than one month. Among the 2,572 individuals who completed the survey, nearly 56% of patients who reported having contracted COVID-19 said their symptoms lasted at least one month. Only two patients in the study had a previous diagnosis of fibromyalgia — a condition marked by fatigue, muscle aches and other symptoms that have been associated with long-haul COVID — suggesting that overlap between the two disorders is minimal.

Study finds COVID-19 breakthrough cases can be severe for people with blood cancers - People with blood cancers are at a higher risk than healthy individuals for severe and life-threatening COVID-19 illness; furthermore, research suggests that they do not always achieve optimal protection from vaccination. A new Blood study, the first to report on post-vaccination COVID-19 cases in patients with blood cancer, offers preliminary findings about the incidence of breakthrough infection in this vulnerable population.The study drew data from an open online registry, EPICOVIDEHA, which collects reports of patients with blood cancers who developed COVID-19 infection. As of August 31, 2021, out of the 4,000 total cases in the registry, there were 113 reported cases of COVID-19 occurring after vaccination. More than three out of four of these breakthrough cases occurred in fully vaccinated people (people who had received one dose of one-dose vaccines such as AstraZeneca, and two doses of two-dose mRNA vaccines such as Moderna or Pfizer). Around 23% had been partially vaccinated, receiving just one dose of an mRNA vaccine, when they became infected with COVID-19.Within the group of breakthrough cases, 79 patients experienced severe or critical COVID-19 infection, with 75 needing to be hospitalized. After a follow up of 30 days post-COVID-19 diagnosis, 14 (12.4%) patients died, and COVID-19 was deemed the cause of death for all but one of those individuals. The study researchers emphasize that although the mortality rate in patients with breakthrough COVID-19 cases was high, it was still much lower than before vaccines were available. Previous studies using the registry’s data reported that during the pre-vaccination period of the pandemic, people with blood cancers and COVID-19 had mortality rates ranging from 30% to 50% (depending on type of underlying blood cancer).“Before vaccination, if our patients with hematologic malignancies developed COVID-19, they died in a lot of cases,” said study author Livio Pagano, MD, of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy. “With these preliminary data, we showed that vaccination is not able to completely protect, but surely it has a strong role in reducing the mortality for COVID-19 for people with blood cancers.” The study also found that the level of COVID-19 vaccine response was associated with the type of underlying blood cancer. People with myeloproliferative disorders (disorders of red blood cells and platelets) were the least likely to develop COVID-19 after vaccination, and people with lymphoproliferative disorders (disorders of lymphocytes, the white blood cells of the immune system) were the most likely. Of the 113 breakthrough COVID-19 cases, 80% occurred in people with lymphoproliferative conditions such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.

Vaccines less effective at protecting against severe COVID-19 in immunocompromised adults -- New real-world evidence gathered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that COVID-19 vaccines are less effective at protecting against COVID-19-associated hospitalizations in people who are immunocompromised. In general, immunocompromised individuals are at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes. “These findings indicate that while two-doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are beneficial in immunocompromised individuals, they are significantly less protected from severe disease than people with normal immune systems,” said study lead author Peter Embí, M.D., M.S., Regenstrief Institute president and chief executive officer and associate dean for informatics and health services research at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “Since they are less protected after a two-dose series, those who are immunocompromised should receive an additional dose and a booster, take additional precautions like masking when in public, and, if they get infected, they should seek treatment with proven therapies that can protect against progression to severe disease and the need for hospitalization.”

Nearly one third of lupus patients in one study had low responses to COVID-19 vaccines --New research presented this week at ACR Convergence, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, shows that nearly 30% of patients with lupus in a multi-ethnic and multi-racial study had a low response to the new COVID-19 vaccines (Abstract #1420). ---- All patients in the study received a complete COVID-19 vaccine schedule. Their IgG seroreactivity to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike receptor binding domain was measured by two different tests to evaluate B-cell response to the vaccine, and their IFN-gamma production was measured to determine their T-cell response. Their SLE disease activity and any lupus disease flares were also measured.Overall, patients with SLE had a lower mean titer of post-vaccine antibodies compared to healthy patients. Researchers found that 26 SLE patients generated IgG antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike receptor binding domain that fell below the lowest response levels for healthy patients. Researchers found that the patients medications mattered: lower vaccine response was associated with use of prednisone in combination with at least one immunosuppressant drug, use of prednisone alone, use of a combination of two immunosuppressants, or use of mycophenolate mofetil or mycophenolic acid. People with SLE who had a normal anti-dsDNA antibody level before vaccination had a lower response, as well as those who received the Jansen/Johnson & Johnson brand vaccine.  However, taking an antimalarial drug was associated with a more positive response to the vaccine. Taking an antimalarial or no medication or having an elevated anti-dsDNA before vaccination independently predicted a positive response to the shots. “The data from our group and others have shown that overall disease activity did not change after vaccination. Our study also showed that severe flares were rare. Most flares were mild to moderate and manageable.

Covid-19 Vaccines and Myocarditis Link Probed by Researchers - As U.S. health authorities expand use of the leading Covid-19 vaccines, researchers investigating heart-related risks linked to the shots are exploring several emerging theories, including one centered on the spike protein made in response to vaccination. Researchers aren’t certain why the messenger RNA vaccines, one from Pfizer Inc. PFE -0.58% and partner BioNTech and the other from Moderna Inc., are likely causing the inflammatory heart conditions myocarditis and pericarditis in a small number of cases. Some theories center on the type of spike protein that a person makes in response to the mRNA vaccines. The mRNA itself or other components of the vaccines, researchers say, could also be setting off certain inflammatory responses in some people. One new theory under examination: improper injections of the vaccine directly into a vein, which sends the vaccine to heart muscle. Myocarditis describes inflammation of the heart muscle, while pericarditis refers to inflammation of the sac surrounding the muscle. Covid-19 itself can cause both conditions. They have also been reported in a smaller number of people who got an mRNA vaccine, most commonly in men under 30 years and adolescent males. About 877 confirmed cases of myocarditis in vaccinated people under 30 years have been reported in the U.S., out of 86 million mRNA vaccine doses administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk is higher within seven days of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the Food and Drug Administration says. Most myocarditis cases in vaccinated people are relatively mild, and patients get better on their own or with minimal treatment, doctors say. The CDC recommends that anyone 5 years and older should get vaccinated, saying the benefits of preventing Covid-19 illness, hospitalizations and death far outweigh the risk of myocarditis, even in younger males. The FDA has, however, held up authorizing use of the Moderna vaccine in adolescents while it investigates the risk

Unvaccinated 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19: Texas study - A Texas government study found that unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than the fully vaccinated throughout most of September, providing further evidence backing the vaccines. The research, published by the Texas Department of State Health Services on Monday, determined that 81.3 percent of COVID-19-related deaths between Sept. 4 and Oct. 1 occurred among unvaccinated people. In comparison, 5 percent of these fatalities occurred among the partially vaccinated, and 13.7 percent involved fully vaccinated patients. In that time period, unvaccinated individuals in their 40s were 55 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than others who were the same age and fully vaccinated. Among those aged 75 and older, the unvaccinated were 12 times more likely to die.Unvaccinated people were also 13 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than those who were fully vaccinated. More than 7 in 10 infected people were unvaccinated, compared to 19.3 percent who were partially vaccinated and 8.4 percent who were fully vaccinated. The analysis of electronic lab reports, death certificates and the state immunization registry extended from Jan. 15 to Oct. 1 and concluded Texans were four to five times more likely to contract COVID-19 or die from the virus amid the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant than they were previously.In that full time period, unvaccinated people were 45 times more likely to get infected and 40 times more likely to suffer a COVID-19-related death. Approximately 85 percent of those who contracted or died from COVID-19 were unvaccinated. The data out of Texas aligns with previous research that proves the vaccines’ effectiveness against the virus, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Data from the CDC released last month showed unvaccinated individuals were 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and six times more likely to test positive for the virus than the fully vaccinated.With about 66.5 percent of its total state population having had at least one dose, Texas appears to be in line with the national rate of 67.5 percent.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) banned all COVID-19 vaccine mandates of any "entity in Texas" last month. The governor issued the executive order after the Biden administration announced a rule for businesses with at least 100 employees to require vaccinations or regular testing for their employees.

Pfizer may seek approval for boosters for all adults as early as this week: report --Pfizer and BioNTech are soon expected to submit for approval regarding booster shots of their COVID-19 vaccine for all adults. The request to authorize boosters for anyone 18 and older could be submitted as early as this week and is expected to obtain the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to The Washington Post.At present, booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are available six months after a person’s second dose to groups who are 65 and older, are high-risk for COVID-19 because of medical conditions or have increased chances of exposure as a result of where they live or work. The Johnson & Johnson booster shot is available to anyone 18 and older two months after receiving the company’s single shot.A spokesperson for Pfizer said in a statement to The Hill that the company had “not submitted and will be in touch if and when that update occurs.”In August, President Biden announced that he aimed to make boosters available to all adults beginning Sept. 20. That decision garnered some initial criticism about that decision from people who said there was not enough evidence to suggest that young, otherwise healthy people needed an additional shot. Since then, data has indicated that several months after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, its protection lessens, the Post reported.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously advised that people could get whichever company’s booster shot they preferred, regardless of which shot they initially received.At present, 58 percent of people are fully vaccinated as the U.S. has seen more than 46,440,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 754,000 deaths throughout the pandemic, according to The New York Times.

Regeneron says antibody cocktail cuts COVID-19 risk for up to eight months - Regeneron’s antibody cocktail cut the risk of contracting COVID-19 by 81.6 percent in the two to eight months after the cocktail’s administration, the pharmaceutical company announced on Monday. A single dose of the cocktail, a combination of the monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab called REGEN-COV, involves four injections. The phase three trial, conducted along with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), showed the dose’s protection remained relatively stable since the 81.4 percent risk reduction reported in the first month. Within the eight months, there were zero COVID-19 hospitalizations among those who received REGEN-COV, while six out of more than 800 people in the placebo group were admitted due to the virus. Myron Cohen, who heads the monoclonal antibody research for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) COVID-19 Prevention Network, said the data shows the cocktail “can help protect people” from the virus “for many months after administration." “These results demonstrate that REGEN-COV has the potential to provide long-lasting immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infection, a result particularly important to those who do not respond to COVID-19 vaccines including people who are immunocompromised,” he said in a news release. The study involved 841 REGEN-COV recipients and 842 in the placebo group — all of whom were uninfected and did not have COVID-19 antibodies. Participants were tested weekly during the first month, while in the two to eight month range they were tested only if they developed COVID-19 symptoms. Researchers allowed participants to get vaccinated one month after the cocktail's administration. In total, about 34.5 percent of the REGEN-COV recipients and 35.2 percent of the placebo group had at least one dose of the vaccine before the eighth month ended. The Food and Drug Administration granted Regeneron’s antibody cocktail an emergency use authorization for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms in specific “high risk” individuals, including those infected but not hospitalized.

Medicine Wants to Kill You - Kunstler - Historians of the future, savoring ‘possum goulash around their campfires, will marvel that modern medicine squandered its authority, its credibility, and its sacred honor in the Covid Panic of the 2020s, when public health officials and doctors in clinical practice colluded to force mass vaccinations while suppressing news of the harms and injuries the vaccines caused — potentially sacrificing millions of citizens like so many experimental fruit flies. Poster-boy for this epic debacle was Dr. Eric J Rubin, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine who, serving on the CDC’s advisory vaccine committee, actually said, “We’re never gonna learn how safe the vaccine is until we start giving it.” Giving it to children, that is, which the government authorized last week, even while that same CDC issued a safety advisory warning on vaccine-induced myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), especially in boys and young men. Nota bene: myocarditis is not a condition you necessarily get over because affected heart muscle cannot replace itself; rather the inflammation leads to scarring of heart muscle and a shortened life-span. Meanwhile, young vaxxed athletes drop dead of heart failure in shocking numbers on high school gridirons, soccer fields, cricket pitches, bike trails, and running tracks around the world, and ordinary civilians develop a bewildering array of post-vax cardiovascular, neurological, and thrombotic disorders of which only a small fraction end up being recorded in the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Those numbers now are at least roughly 10,000 deaths and 20,000 permanently disabled. The VAERS website is so kludgy and inadequate that doctors are discouraged from using it — to the degree that only an estimated 10 percent of adverse events are actually reported. Doctors are also threatened with disciplinary punishment for publicizing problems with the vaxxes. In fact, the news can’t be completely suppressed. It is obvious now — due to the frantic push for “booster” shots — that the various vaccines stop working to prevent infection with Covid-19 after several months. What is only partially understood is the action of the spike proteins that linger in the body post-vax, but the evidence is not good, since they have a particular affinity for attaching to the endothelial linings of blood vessels generally, and in the capillaries of major organs in particular — especially ovaries and testicles, raising the specter of widespread infertility ahead.

Poll shows just how far COVID-19 misinformation has traveled - Almost 8 in 10 U.S. adults believe or are unsure of at least one false statement about COVID-19, according to polling data published Monday. The poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that 78 percent of U.S. adults surveyed said they believe or were unsure of at least one of eight false COVID-19 statements that the organization tested. That includes 38 percent who believe the government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths, 17 percent who believe pregnant women should not get the vaccine and 18 percent who believe deaths caused by the vaccine are being hidden by the government. The survey results highlight the problem of misinformation in the battle against COVID-19, which has been a leading concern in efforts to get more people vaccinated. KFF states in an analysis of the data that it shows "belief in pandemic-related misinformation is widespread." "Belief in COVID-19 misinformation is correlated with both vaccination status and partisanship, with unvaccinated adults and Republicans much more likely to believe or be unsure about false statements compared to vaccinated adults and Democrats," the analysis adds. Among unvaccinated people, 64 percent believed or were unsure about four or more of the false statements. That was significantly lower among vaccinated people, at 19 percent. Among Republicans, 46 percent believed or were unsure about four or more false statements, compared to 14 percent among Democrats. There was also a split based on which news sources people trusted. Less than 20 percent of people who trusted local TV news, NPR, MSNBC, network news, or CNN believed or were unsure of four or more false statements.Among those who trusted Fox News, that was higher, at 36 percent, and among those who trusted Newsmax it was 46 percent.

 Rise in US child COVID-19 cases foreshadows coming winter surge --Across the globe, COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise as a result of the further relaxing of mitigation measures and the approach of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the US, the 14-day average in cases is now trending upwards after a brief decline. This includes children who have experienced the devastating impact from COVID-19 in 2021 due to the reopening of schools. The weekly American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) report released Monday found that for the first week since September 2 there was an increase in recorded childhood cases, as another 107,350 children officially tested positive for COVID-19, roughly 24 percent of all US cases recorded in the last week.The weekly child death toll continues to hover over 15 deaths per week. Mortality data in the AAP report shows 17 reported deaths this week in the following US states and territories: California (1), Colorado (1), Guam (1), Maryland (1), South Carolina (1), Tennessee (1), Texas (8), Virginia (1) and Washington (2). An online search for local or national news reports on these tragic deaths produces zero results.For 13 straight weeks, the AAP has reported over 100,000 weekly new cases in children. Fourteen states reported that more than 12 out of every 100 children had contracted COVID-19, meaning that in a class of 25 children, three can be expected to have been infected with the virus. Significantly, a look at the regional data in the AAP report shows the biggest jump in infection rates has been seen in the West, Northeast and Midwest regions while the South has continued to decline. Recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mimics this regional trend, with the centers of viral transmission switching from the South and Southeast regions on August 12 to the West and Northwest as of November 7. On Sunday, a tweet by Eric Topol, cardiologist and professor of molecular medicine in Southern California, went viral pointing out that the maps are “almost opposites.” The AAP data offers only a glimpse into the monumental catastrophe that has been inflicted on children, with actual cases, hospitalizations and deaths far higher than the official figures.

November 10th COVID-19: New Cases Increasing -- The CDC is the source for all data. According to the CDC, on Vaccinations. Total doses administered: 434,486,889, as of a week ago 423,942,794, or 1.51 million doses per day. COVID Metrics: (see tables) For "herd immunity" most experts believe we need 70% to 85% of the total population fully vaccinated (or already had COVID). Note: COVID will probably stay endemic (at least for some time). 5 states have achieved 70% of total population fully vaccinated: Vermont at 71.8%, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts at 70.2% . 16 states and D.C. that have achieved 60% of total population fully vaccinated: New York at 67.3%, , New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, Virginia, New Hampshire, Oregon, District of Columbia, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Delaware, Florida, and Hawaii at 60.2%.The following 19 states have between 50% and 59.9% fully vaccinated: Wisconsin at 58.8%, Nebraska, Iowa, Utah, Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada, South Dakota, North Carolina, Alaska, Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Missouri and Indiana at 50.1%. This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

US heading into latest wave of the pandemic - For some time, reality and the rhetoric from official circles about the pandemic have been diverging. Despite the social crisis being wrought by the pandemic, there is barely any mention of the number of cases and deaths. Instead, the media’s focus is on the new oral antivirals produced by Merck and Pfizer, boosters for all adults, the authorization for pediatric vaccines and, finally, the opening of borders to all international traffic. More and more, from every venue, the mantra of endemicity and learning to live with the virus is being chanted by every political official and governmental representative with the promise that it will not be all that bad. Take Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who spoke on “CBS Morning” yesterday, explaining that Americans will have to learn to live with the coronavirus. In his matter-of-fact approach, he told the hosts: “As we look to the future, I think what is likely to happen is that there will be coronavirus around for some period. … I think we can certainly learn to live with it.” Downplaying the dangers of SARS-CoV-2, he added: “Think about the common cold, for example. We have learned to live with the common cold. … We can ultimately get COVID, I think, to a place where it’s somewhere in between the cold and the flu. Yes, it’s a virus that’s circulating but it doesn’t disrupt our way of life, doesn’t prevent us from seeing the people we love, doesn’t prevent our kids from being in school.” As written under the responsibilities of the Office of the Surgeon General, “The US Surgeon General is the Nation’s Doctor, providing Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.” And yet, he told the American people that the virus could be taken to a more benign place than even the flu. However, the best scientific estimates are that if SARS-COV-2 is allowed to become endemic in the US, it will kill upward of 100,000 people each year. The US is fast approaching 50 million reported cases of COVID-19, meaning that more than one in seven persons has had a documented infection. Almost 780,000 people have died, including more than 180,000 between the ages of 25 and 65. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projects that the real death toll is 873,000. In raw numbers, this level of death has surpassed the death toll of the Civil War and has exceeded those who died from the Spanish flu between 1918 and 1920.

 Identification of novel SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant sub-lineage in Europe Scientists from Germany have recently identified a new sub-lineage of the alpha variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in some European countries. This sub-lineage harbors additional mutations in the nucleoprotein, spike protein, and open-reading frame 8 (ORF8). The variant with spike mutations is 3-fold less sensitive to neutralization by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine-induced antibodies. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.The alpha variant (B.1.1.7) of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in the UK in September 2020. With significantly higher transmissibility than previously circulating strains, the alpha variant caused a sharp rise in new COVID-19 cases in the UK between February and May 2021. The original alpha variant is characterized by 17 mutations on the spike protein, ORF lab, ORF8, and nucleoprotein.In Germany, continuous genomic surveillance was started in January 2021 to identify newly emerging viral variants and characterize the dynamics of viral spread at the local-, national-, and global levels. In the current study, the scientists have identified a new sub-lineage of the alpha variant through genomic epidemiology analyses that they conducted weekly using viral isolates collected from a border region between Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. They have determined the evolution, transmission dynamics, and immune escape ability of this sub-lineage by conducting phylogenetic analysis, epidemiological analysis, virus neutralization assay, and viral growth kinetics.

WHO official: US should take notice of COVID-19 surge in Europe - The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning U.S. officials that the country should take notice of Europe, the current global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and learn from its mistakes. WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said that vaccination rates in Europe have plateaued and the region is seeing a fourth wave."The basic principle is, if there is a situation where the peak is accelerating, don't wait" to bring back antivirus measures, and "the earlier, the stricter, the better," Kluge told CBS News."There's a relaxation of the public health and social measures, which is a cocktail for what we see: a fourth wave," he said in a statement.The WHO had said in a statement Thursday that Europe could see half a million people die from COVID-19 by February next year.The WHO has pointed out that Europe is the only region globally that saw an increase in new coronavirus cases last month, and hospitalization rates across the continents have doubled. The statement added that in Europe only 47 percent of people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and only eight of its countries have more than a 70 percent vaccination rate, with two still below 10 percent."Most people hospitalized and dying from COVID-19 today are not fully vaccinated," Kluge said.The U.S., meanwhile, opened its doors to international travelers Monday after more than 18 months of restrictions.

The winter of death: Governments slash COVID-19 restrictions as cases surge --Over the past week, the world reached two horrific milestones. The official global COVID-19 death toll surpassed five million, and the total number of cases passed one quarter of a billion. It is well known that these figures far understate reality. “I don’t think the world has even begun to grieve this many deaths,” World Health Organization (WHO) technical lead Maria Van Kerkove said. “And we know it’s far, far higher.” A patient breathes through an oxygen mask in the COVID-19 section of the University Clinical Centre hospital in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021.(AP Photo) “Right now, we are seeing increases where we shouldn’t be,” she added. “There has been a more than 55 percent increase in cases over the past four weeks in Europe, where there’s ample supply of vaccines, where there is ample supply of tools.” This week, COVID-19 case rates hit all-time highs in Russia and Germany. And cases are surging astronomically in the Eastern European countries of Slovenia, Estonia, Georgia and Latvia, which now lead the world in per capita cases. Last week, the WHO warned that another half a million people could die in the ongoing COVID-19 surge in Europe by February, with the WHO’s Europe chief expressing “grave concern.” Globally, cases have been increasing for three weeks, ahead of what experts warn will be a major surge as winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere. In the United States, which has historically followed the trajectory set by Europe with a delay of several weeks, the decline of cases amid rising vaccinations has ended. “How many more people need to die?” asked Van Kerkove, “How many more countries need to be put into severe situations again, before we take action?” The US has made clear the answer to that question: “Many, many more.” Today, the US is ending restrictions on international flights and land travel that have been in place for 20 months, in advance of an expected massive surge of travel to the country. Delta Airlines is expecting a 50 percent increase in inbound flights, reporting that it is seeing “high demand.” The airline’s CEO said, “It's going to be a bit sloppy.” Throughout the US, all restrictions on the spread of the pandemic are being eliminated. The Miami-Dade school district, the largest in Florida, recently announced that it is eliminating its mask mandate in middle and high schools, as the latest district in Florida to do so. In Georgia, a number of districts, including Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, have ended mandates, while Michigan school districts have announced plans to do the same.

Massive COVID-19 outbreaks in Germany’s elderly care homes --With the rapid rise in COVID-19 infections in Germany, massive outbreaks are being recorded in elderly care homes. Once again, it is the residents, who are often in poor health or have pre-existing conditions, and the nursing staff who are suffering the most due to the criminal pandemic policy of the government. In the first two waves of the pandemic in the spring and autumn of 2020, the nursing homes, in addition to hospitals, became hotspots for COVID-19 infections. According to the AOK Federal Association, the mortality rate in nursing homes during this period was significantly higher than the average of previous years. As the “Nursing Report 2021” by the AOK Scientific Institute found, 20 percent more deaths occurred in the spring than in previous years. From October to December 2020, mortality even exceeded the level of previous years by an average of 30 percent. With the prioritized vaccination of older people, the imposition of visiting bans in elderly care homes and other medical facilities, as well as other—albeit inadequate—protective measures such as school closings and the partial shutdown of public life, the situation stabilized somewhat and infections in the facilities declined. However, the unscrupulous reopening policy of the last few months has now led to an even more disastrous situation. Despite the vaccinations, infections are higher than last year at the same time. A massive increase in the number of deaths is imminent in the coming winter months. Although representatives of all political parties insisted last year that the massive outbreaks in care facilities should not recur, they are happening again all over Germany. The devastating outbreaks of the past few days and weeks make it clear where the policies of federal and state governments have led. Four people recently died of a COVID-19 infection in a retirement home in Salzwedel (Saxony-Anhalt). A total of 38 people were infected with coronavirus. The infection was apparently brought into the facility from outside. The incidence rate in the Altmark Salzwedel district is currently over 400 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. According to District Administrator Michael Ziche (Christian Democrats), the schools were the starting point for the wave of infections. Ziche said the situation was “worrying.” The intensive care units in the regional clinics are fully occupied. Some of the patients have to be treated in Magdeburg.

Germany’s Covid-19 infection rate hits highest since pandemic began - Germany's coronavirus infection rate has risen to its highest level since the start of the pandemic, public health figures showed on Monday, and doctors warned they will need to postpone scheduled operations in coming weeks to cope. The seven-day incidence rate - the number of people per 100,000 to be infected over the last week - rose to 201.1, higher than a previous record of 197.6 in December last year, the figures from the Robert Koch Institute showed on Monday. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 4,782,546 from 4,767,033 a day earlier. The number of deaths increased by 33 to a total of 96,558. Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder called for more decisive action in view of the new peak in the incidence rate. More needs to be done "than a little compulsory testing in old people's homes", he told Deutschlandfunk radio. He called for tests to be offered free of charge again, vaccination centres to be reactivated and for states and the federal government to coordinate their strategies. Germany has abolished free testing to incentivise people to get shots. Christian Karagiannidis, scientific director at the DIVI association for intensive and emergency medicine, said an expected rise in coronavirus cases in coming weeks meant some scheduled operations would have to be postponed. "We will only be able to cope with the burden of all emergencies if savings are made somewhere else, though definitely not with surgical cancer treatments," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. Germany has already had to relocate some patients from regions with overburdened hospitals.

COVID-19 infections continue to explode in Germany -Hardly any other country is currently recording such a rapid rise of COVID-19 infections as Germany. On Monday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a record seven-day incidence rate of 201 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, which exceeds the previous high of 198 on December 22, 2020. On Tuesday this rose to 214 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. There were 20,800 confirmed COVID-19 infections on Monday, followed by 26,622 on Tuesday. The highest seven-day incidence rates among Germany’s 16 states are in Saxony (491), Thuringia (427) and Bavaria (316). Districts like Sächsische Schweiz/Ost-Erzgebirge are already approaching an incidence rate of over 1,000, with the current rate standing at 924 infections per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. This means that almost one in 100 residents there was infected with COVID-19 in the last week. Only two federal states, Schleswig-Holstein (75) and Bremen (89), have incidence rates below the mark of 100 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. Since the government scrapped the incidence rate of 50 as the benchmark for the reintroduction of stricter measures in early September, the number of infections has risen steadily. But cases have truly exploded over the past three weeks. The graphs expressing increased infection rates all point in only one direction: steeply upwards. On average, over 24,000 people are being infected every day, a figure that was last reached at Christmas time last year, shortly before the pandemic claimed its highest daily death tolls. A quarter of a billion people worldwide have contracted COVID-19, and officially over 5 million, unofficially up to 17 million, have died. In Germany, according to the Worldometers website, the number of officially registered deaths is 97,073. At the current rate of fatalities, this figure will soon pass 100,000. Many intensive care units are already overcrowded again. At the beginning of the week, 2,532 intensive care patients were counted, and 1,280 patients are currently on ventilators. The scientific director of the Divi intensive care register, Prof. Christian Karagiannidis, warned on Monday on WDR public television that the intensive care units nationwide were approaching 90 percent capacity.

 Singapore to no longer offer free COVID-19 treatment to the unvaccinated - Singapore announced Monday that it will stop covering the medical bills of its citizens infected by COVID-19 if they are "unvaccinated by choice" starting next month. The government has been footing the medical bills of Singaporeans, permanent residents and long-term pass holders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement from the country's Ministry of Health. "This was to avoid financial considerations adding to public uncertainty and concern when COVID-19 was an emergent and unfamiliar disease," the statement reads. "For the majority who are vaccinated, this special approach for COVID-19 bills will continue until the COVID-19 situation is more stable." Those who are not yet vaccinated against the virus have been negatively influencing the country's attempts at getting the virus under control, the ministry wrote. "Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources," the announcement states. The new policy, which goes into effect Dec. 8, affects willingly unvaccinated people who are admitted to hospitals or COVID-19 treatment facilities. People who are ineligible for vaccination, including children under 12 years old or those with certain medical conditions, will still continue to have their health care bills covered if infected with the disease.

Chinese authorities fear packages could be spreading COVID-19 - Chinese authorities have taken the extreme step of halting parcel deliveries in some parts of the country over fears that packages could be spreading COVID-19 following several positive cases linked to children’s clothing manufacturers.A string of recent positive cases has resulted in parcel delivery services being halted in several regions as hundreds of packages — and anyone who came in contact with them — were tested, Bloomberg reports.The saga comes ahead of China’s largest online shopping festival, Singles’ Day, on Thursday.In Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, three workers at an unnamed kids’ clothing manufacturer were found to have tested positive for COVID-19.It prompted authorities 1,200 miles away to force anyone who handled or received parcels from that company to get tested.The health commission in Guangxi, in the country’s southeast, described the situation as a “COVID-related mail chain,” the outlet said.Officials in Hebei tested 300 clothing packages linked to the Haohui Ecommerce Co. company for any traces of the coronavirus. They also stopped delivery services in the cities of Xinji and Jinzhou — but all tests came back negative.Officials in Xilinhot, located in Inner Mongolia, also asked people who had come into contact with packages from another clothes store within the past month to get tested.No positive cases have been found so far in relation to those packages, according to the outlet. It is among the measures China is taking amid its zero-tolerance policy toward local COVID-19 cases.

Flame retardants linked to autistic-like behavior -- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are a class of fire-retardant chemicals that are ubiquitous. They are found on upholstery, carpets, curtains, electronics, and even infant products. Flame retardants migrate out of products into dust that humans contact and can ingest. Considered to be global environmental pollutants, they have been detected in water, soil, air, food products, animals, and human tissues. They are found, too, in breast milk of women all over the world.A research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found that when female mice exposed to PBDEs pass on these neuroendocrine-disrupting chemicals to their developing offspring, the female offspring show traits relevant to autism spectrum disorders, or ASD. Their short-term social-recognition ability and long-term social memory is reduced significantly and the offspring show exaggerated “marble burying” behavior — repetitive behavior reminiscent of human compulsive behavior, a core symptom of ASD. “Our data support a link between maternal toxicant exposures and abnormal social and repetitive behavior in mice offspring that is relevant to ASD,” said Margarita Curras-Collazo, a professor of neuroscience, who led the study published in the journal Archives of Toxicology.The research team also found that the female offspring’s olfactory — or smell — discrimination of social odors is significantly compromised. “Humans mostly rely on faces to recognize people and most autistics show deficits in face-identity processing,” Curras-Collazo explained. “Mice, on the other hand, rely on smell for social recognition. The female offspring of mother mice exposed to PBDEs showed olfactory deficits that dampened their ability to recognize other mice. In effect, these offspring do not distinguish new mice from familiar ones. Humans with ASD also show abnormal olfactory ability.”

Study finds link between certain ‘forever chemicals’ and preeclampsia - Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), sometimes referred to as "forever chemicals," are long-lasting, man-made substances known to pollute the drinking water supplies of many communities. The Biden administration recently announced that it will require manufacturers to publicly report on PFAS levels found in household items. While scientists recognize their potential toxicity, they have yet to understand how exactly these substances impact human health. A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital suggests an association between PFAS exposure and late-onset preeclampsia, a condition characterized by hypertension and kidney dysfunction that affects anywhere between 2 and 8 percent of pregnancies in the United States. Results are published in Environmental Health Perspectives. “PFAS are ubiquitous in the environment and are commonly detected in humans,” “Exposure to PFAS has been linked to a wide array of adverse health outcomes, including reproductive ones. In our study, we focused on the effects of exposure to PFAS chemicals during early pregnancy and preeclampsia.” Previous research has uncovered a correlation between prenatal PFAS exposure and preeclampsia, suggesting these toxins influence the development of this disorder. In Cantonwine’s study, investigators aimed to examine the association between PFAS and early- and late-onset subtypes of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia was originally thought to develop from incomplete remodeling of the uterine spinal arteries in the placenta but it is now understood that it can arise from multiple, potentially, overlapping mechanisms.

Forest fires linked to low birth weight in newborns -- Women exposed to smoke from landscape fires during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to babies with low or very low birth weights, according to findings published in eLife. The study is the first to report a link between low birth weight and exposure to fire smoke in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of low birth weight infants are born and landscape fires are prevalent. Landscape fires, such as wildfires, tropical deforestation fires and agricultural biomass burning, play an important role in maintaining terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, landscape fire smoke is triggering a costly and growing global public health problem, causing recurrent episodes of pollution mostly affecting LMICs. Previous studies have shown that exposure to fire smoke during pregnancy is linked to low birth weight, which itself is a public health problem in LMICs. Reducing the risk of low birth weight is one of the World Health Organization’s global targets for 2025. “Babies with low birth weights are at higher risk of a range of diseases in later life compared to normal weight newborns,” explains co-first author Jiajianghui Li, a PhD student at the Institute of Reproductive and Child Health, School of Public Health Science Centre, Peking University, China. “Several studies have shown the effects of landscape fire smoke on acute lung and heart conditions, but the health impacts of these pollutants on susceptible pregnant women are not well known. We wanted to explore the association between birth weight and exposure to fire source pollution across several countries and over a long time period.”

EPA Fines Nutrien Ag Solutions for Illegal Dicamba Applications in 2020 -- EPA has levied a fine against Nutrien Ag Solutions for allegedly applying dicamba illegally on several Kansas farms in the summer of 2020. The company will be required to pay $668,100 for spraying dicamba products "in a manner inconsistent with the approved label," the agency's press release on the enforcement action stated. The action was announced by EPA Region 7, which enforces federal environmental regulations in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and nine Tribal Nations. This is the first enforcement action EPA has taken over dicamba label violations, which have largely been handled by individual state regulators for the past five years. It is also the first enforcement action to emerge from the tumultuous weeks following a federal court's order vacating three dicamba registrations in June 2020, which fell in the middle of spray season and caused confusion in the industry. (See more on that situation here: https://www.dtnpf.com/… and here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….) According to EPA, about half of the illegal spray incidents occurred shortly after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cancelled three dicamba registrations -- XtendiMax, Engenia and FeXapan -- on June 3, 2020. Five days later, EPA issued a cancellation order that permitted farmers to use "existing stocks" of those three herbicides until July 31, 2020, as long as they followed the label requirements. (See more on that situation and the cancellation order here: https://www.dtnpf.com/…) On 27 occasions, Nutrien Ag Solutions made off-label applications of two of those dicamba products, violating the terms of the cancellation order, EPA said. In addition, the agency states Nutrien Ag Solutions also applied other dicamba products on 33 occasions when wind speeds were too high, violating those products' labels. Nutrien Ag Solutions did not respond to DTN's request for comment, but the EPA's press release stated: "Nutrien Ag Solutions has taken steps to address the alleged violations, including conducting trainings on pesticide applications, working with pesticide applicators to comply with label and other requirements, and improving its recordkeeping practices."

Air pollution and proximity to blue and green spaces found to be key factors affecting quality of life of people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease High air pollution and living far away from blue or green spaces negatively influence health-related quality of life for people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a recent study from researchers with the University of Alberta and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). The study, published in the journal Environmental Research, evaluated, for the first time, the association between a series of environmental factors and disease effects in more than 400 patients living in Barcelona, Spain and its nearby provinces. In the study, researchers determined the exposure of patients to air pollutants, traffic noise and land-surface temperatures. They also measured how far patients lived from green or blue spaces such as parks or rivers. They found that exposure to high levels of air pollution were associated with worse health-related quality of life. Patients living further than 500 metres away from a blue or green space also reported worse health-related quality-of-life scores.“If you spend time in any blue or green space—like in the forest, a park, or near to the ocean or to a river—it actually gives immense benefit to mental health,” said Subhabrata Moitra, first author of the paper and a post-doctoral fellow in the U of A’s Division of Pulmonary Medicine. “And if you have access to those places, then you’re more likely to achieve a better physical activity by walking or jogging, and this also helps in improving one’s physical and mental health as well.” Land-surface temperatures and noise pollution were not found to have an impact on health-related quality of life, although the researchers say there were mitigating factors that need to be further explored. The authors also acknowledge that the findings show association, and not causality, and that further studies are needed to better understand the contribution of each pollutant.

Infrastructure bill: How will Utah, Mountain West be impacted? - The House passed the highly anticipated $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill late Friday, a sweeping package that will likely impact all 50 states in some way. The legislation, which the Senate approved in August, now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature.The package, which includes $550 billion in new spending, is aimed at improving the country’s roads, bridges, railways, water systems and broadband internet. In the West, the bill is being touted as a multipronged approach to tackling issues specific to the region, like drought, wildfires and public lands management. Although it’s too early to tell the exact scope of those projects, here is where some of that money is being diverted, and how it could take shape in Western states:

Infrastructure bill: What's in it for Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley - Roads, bridges and drainage systems across the Lehigh Valley are slated to get much-needed upgrades through a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill sent to President Joe Biden’s desk late last week. “The [changes] that are going to be really obvious are the roads and bridges,” said U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, who has been a vocal supporter of the plan. “The ones that are going to be not so visible, but equally important, are the drainage systems.” Passed by the House late Friday night, the bipartisan plan, which aims to create jobs and improve water supplies and other public works across the country, includes money for Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges, broadband internet and to help reclaim abandoned mines. Projects in the Lehigh Valley include the possibility of reviving the effort to widen Route 22 after it was quashed due to a lack of funding, Wild said. Smaller intersections “desperately” need attention, too, like the Sixth Street entrance to Route 145 in Allentown.“That’s just an example that there are a lot of these small intersections that the local municipalities have just never had the money to upgrade, but desperately needed,” she said. Drainage issues are widespread throughout the region, too, and would be addressed with the funding.

Biden administration: Trump-era stripping of owl protections based on 'faulty' science interpretation | TheHill -- Biden administration: Trump-era stripping of owl protections based on 'faulty' science interpretation © istock The Biden administration is restoring habitat protections for the northern spotted owl — saying that its predecessor relied on a “faulty” interpretation of science to remove such protections. The administration on Tuesday withdrew a Trump-era determination that would have excluded more than 3 million acres of protected habitat for the owl. Northern spotted owls are brown birds with white spots that can be found in the Pacific Northwest. They’re considered threatened by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The agency in January — in the final days of the Trump administration — decided to exclude nearly 3.5 million acres of owl habitat from protection, which would have opened it up for timber industry use. The Biden administration pulled that rule, and argued that its predecessor relied in part on a “faulty interpretation of the science.” Specifically, it said that the agency’s former director “overestimated” the likelihood that the owl population would persist into the foreseeable future if large swaths of its habitat were opened up to the timber industry. It said that this failure to recognize that spotted owl populations are declining “precipitously” because of both habitat loss and competition with another species and that the only way to halt this is to both manage threats from the other creatures and conserve enough connected “high-quality habitat.” It also said that the move, to cut 36 percent of the owl’s protected habitat, would have represented a “significant portion of the subspecies’ most important remaining habitat.”

New Species of Whale Discovered That Lives 6,000 Feet Below the Ocean - A new species of beaked whale has been identified in a unique collaboration between Indigenous knowledge and Western science.The new species, formally announced in Proceedings of the Royal Society B last month, is named Ramari's beaked whale after Ramari Stewart, a female Mātauranga Māori whale expert who was instrumental in the discovery. Ramari also means "rare event" in the Māori language."This species is remarkable both in its unique attributes and its name," Whale & Dolphin Conservation-North America (WDC-NA) executive director Regina Asmutis-Silvia said in a statement announcing the find. "It is not only rare to discover new whale species but even more rare to name them after women and honor the indigenous peoples whose coastlines are visited by these amazing creatures." The story of Ramari's beaked whale began in 2011, when a pregnant beaked whale was stranded on a New Zealand beach. Local tribe Ngāti Māhaki named the whale Nihongore, and Stewart helped to make sure she was preserved at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum.At first, experts thought that Nihongore was a True's beaked whale. However, Stewart looked closer and thought that didn't quite fit. She worked with Emma L. Carroll of the University of Auckland to discover that True's beaked whales in the Southern hemisphere have different genetics and skull shapes from True's beaked whales in the Northern hemisphere. Eventually, the researchers concluded that the Southern Hemisphere whales were in fact a different species.The scientific name of the new species, Mesoplodon eueu, also reflects Indigenous knowledge."'Eueu' means 'big fish' in the Khwedam language of the Khoisan peoples of South Africa, where other whales were found that helped distinguish this new species," "Our consultation and involvement with Indigenous peoples offers a model for broadening the cultural scope of the scientific naming process," they wrote.How is it possible that scientists are still discovering new species of animals as large as whales? The reason is partly that the new species lives more than 6,000 feet below the ocean and typically feeds at depths of 3,000 feet to avoid orcas, a major predator, The Hill reported.Beaked whales in general are difficult to study because they rarely surface and are hard to distinguish when they do, the study authors explained. There are also very few skeletons to study. Of the 23 species in the IUCN Red List, seven of them are listed as "Data Deficient."

Nearly 29,000 Tons of COVID Plastic Now Floats in the Oceans, Study Finds - One of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic has been the introduction of a new type of plastic waste in the form of single-use personal protective equipment (PPE).mNow, a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of Americacalculates for the first time how much of that waste is ending up in the oceans and what it is doing once it gets there."The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for single-use plastics that intensifies pressure on an already out-of-control global plastic waste problem," study co-authors Yiming Peng and Peipei Wu from Nanjing University told The Guardian. "The released plastics can be transported over long distances in the ocean, encounter marine wildlife, and potentially lead to injury or even death."The Nanjing University and University of California (UC), San Diego-led research team looked at waste generated between the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and August 2021, according to a UC San Diego press release. All told, the study found that 193 countries have generated more than 8.4 million tonnes (approximately 9.3 million U.S. tons) of COVID-specific plastic waste since the pandemic began, and 25,900 tonnes (approximately 28,550 U.S. tons) of that ended up in the world's oceans.The findings were based on a model that calculated how the pandemic would impact the amount of plastic released into the ocean from the land and where it would go from there."The model simulates how the seawater moves driven by wind and how the plastics float on the surface ocean, degraded by sunlight, fouled by plankton, landed on beaches, and sunk to the deep," study co-author Yanxu Zhang, also from Nanjing University, said in the press release. "It can be used to answer 'what if' questions, for example, what will happen if we add a certain amount of plastics to the ocean?"The answer is that, within three to four years, a large portion of the pollution will end up either on beaches or the seabed, with a smaller amount reaching the open ocean where it could end up in gyres or a plastic accumulation zone in the Arctic Ocean.Further, the study looked at the main sources of pandemic-related waste. Regionally, 46 percent came from Asia, 24 percent from Europe and 22 percent from the Americas, The Guardian reported. Interestingly, the bulk of this waste is not coming from individual use of PPE, which only accounted for 7.6 percent of the total. Instead, the bulk of the waste came from hospitals, at 87.4 percent."When we started doing the math, we were surprised to find that the amount of medical waste was substantially larger than the amount of waste from individuals, and a lot of it was coming from Asian countries, even though that's not where most of the COVID-19 cases were," study co-author Amina Schartup, an assistant professor at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in the press release. "The biggest sources of excess waste were hospitals in areas already struggling with waste management before the pandemic; they just weren't set up to handle a situation where you have more waste."

 This Land is Their Land -WHEN THE BILLIONAIRE JOHN MALONE became the country’s largest private landowner in 2011 with the purchase of nearly a million acres of forest in Maine and New Hampshire, it sparked a great deal of curiosity in the press. Why, reporters wanted to know, did a then-seventy-year-old media tycoon want to own 2.2 million acres of land—an area roughly half the size of Lake Ontario?Malone has offered a variety of mundane reasons over the years, including his Irish heritage, his wife’s horseback riding hobby, and the joy he takes in being “out in the open.” The most creative among them, though, came during a CNBC interview, when he described his decades-long land binge as a kind of affliction, a “virus” passed on to him by his friend, CNN founder Ted Turner—a fellow billionaire who, after Malone’s 2011 purchase, became merely the second-largest land baron in the country.If a lust for land among the billionaire class is a virus, it has become something of an epidemic recently. In 2007, the nation’s hundred largest private landowning families owned a combined 27 million acres of land—an area, as the Washington Post reported, the size of Maine and New Hampshire combined. By 2017, they’d increased their haul by nearly 50 percent to encompass an area equivalent to all of New England minus Vermont. In the pages of The Land Report—a magazine that covers land ownership—wealthy readers can browse new potential additions to their territory: a mountain range for $60 million, a collection of watersheds and creeks for $68 million, a “combination of landscapes” for $96 million. Today, to a great and growing extent, this country belongs to the readership of The Land Report. In 2016, according to one economist, the wealthiest 10 percent of American households owned 82 percent of all non-home real estate; 40 percent of that belonged to the top 1 percent of households alone. Now, amid accelerating ecological breakdown, the fate of life on this planet depends in part on what they’ll decide to do with their spoils. In May, the Biden administration announced its “America the Beautiful” initiative, a plan to conserve 30 percent of U.S. land and waters by 2030—a goal conservationists describe as the bare minimum required to slow the climate and extinction crises. (More than fifty other countries have similarly pledged to conserve 30 percent of their land and waters by 2030.) Today, 26 percent of U.S. ocean waters are already protected, and adding an additional 4 percent is conceivably within reach. But on land, the challenge is far greater: only 12 percent of American lands are protected, and reaching the 30 percent goal requires conserving an area more than twice the size of Texas.To reach that goal, the fastest course of action would be for Biden to use his executive powers to increase the protection of federal lands by designating new national monuments and banning extractive industry on them. The problem, however, is that most of the country’s biodiversity and capacity for storing carbon are not on federal lands. About two-thirds of species on the Endangered Species List live primarily on private land. More than half of the country’s forests are privately owned. And crucially, wildlife depends on the private lands that connect public lands. We can’t meaningfully fulfill America the Beautiful’s mission without them.

Magical Thinking on Fertilizer and Climate Change - As world leaders wrap up the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, new scientific research shows that there is still a great deal of magical thinking about the contribution of fertilizer to global warming. Philanthropist Bill Gates fed the retreat from science in his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster earlier this year. “To me fertilizer is magical,” he confesses, nitrogen fertilizer in particular. Under a photo of a beaming Gates in a Yara fertilizer distribution warehouse in Tanzania, he explains that “to grow crops, you want tons of nitrogen – way more than you would ever find in a natural setting [sic]…. But nitrogen makes climate change much worse.”That last part, at least, is true, and new research suggests that the climate impacts of excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers is much worse than previously estimated. Researchers estimate that the N-fertilizer supply chain is contributing more than six times the greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced by the entire commercial aviation sector. By all accounts, food and agriculture are barely on the agenda of the UN climate summit, even though food systems contribute about one-third of GHGs. Direct emissions from food production account for about one-third of that, with the principal source being livestock, mostly methane and manure emissions.But about 10% of direct emissions from come from synthetic nitrogen fertilizer applied to crops. Only a portion of the applied fertilizer is absorbed by plants. Some is turned into nitrous oxide by soil micro-organisms. Some leaches off the soil or volatilizes into gas when it is applied. The cumulative effect is the release of nitrous oxide, a GHG 265 times more potent than carbon dioxide.Three scientists working with Greenpeace, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and GRAIN have carried out the first comprehensive lifecycle analysis of N fertilizer emissions. They used improved data on direct field emissions and incorporated emissions from the manufacture and transportation of N fertilizers. Manufacturing, which relies heavily on natural gas, accounts for 35% of total N fertilizer GHGs.The new estimates, which are preliminary as they undergo peer review, are 20% higher than those previously used by the United Nations. Not surprisingly, the largest emitters are the largest agricultural producers: China, India, North America, and Europe. On a per capita basis, though, the largest emitters are the big agricultural exporters: United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.Africa is still not a large fertilizer user, with application rates low – about 15 kg/ha – but rising rapidly with the recent Green Revolution campaigns. While Gates essentially dismisses the climate impacts from fertilizer as a necessary evil to achieve the greater good of food security, evidence is growing that the Green Revolution approach is failing on its own terms. My researchshowed that in AGRA’s 13 focus countries, yields were not growing significantly and the number of undernourished people has increased 31%. The greater good promised by AGRA has not been very good. According to the new fertilizer research, AGRA is taking Africa in the wrong direction. Globally, the use of nitrogen fertilizer is projected to grow between 50% and 138% by 2050. Africa is projected to see at least a 300% increase in the next 30 years. It will be far greater if Gates has his way.

20% of Oil Palms Grown for Palm Oil in Indonesia Are Illegal, Report Finds - Growing palm oil is notoriously bad for the environment, as creating the oil palm plantations requires extensive deforestation. This process destroys the habitats of orangutans, Sumatran rhinos, tigers and many other creatures. Now, a report shows that about one-fifth of the oil palm plantations in Indonesia are actually grown in forest estates, including protected forests and conservation areas, that are supposed to be closed off from commercial agriculture. The report, released by Greenpeace and TheTreeMap, outlines the extensive deforestation of designated rainforest areas in Indonesia. Researchers found that 3.12 million hectares — roughly the size of Belgium — of oil palms were being grown in these supposedly protected forests, including areas inside national parks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and Ramsar wetlands, a distinction meant to protect rare or unique wetlands.The Indonesian government has already estimated 3.37 million hectares of oil palms are growing in forest estates, but Greenpeace's new report, called Deceased Estate, also notes the companies that are doing the illegal growing of oil palms. The report describes the lack of enforcement of the law that is supposed to prevent companies from operating within these designated forest areas."There has been a catastrophic failure of law enforcement to protect the forest estate. Large oil palm plantation groups have not been prosecuted, while mill owners and palm oil traders have also gone unpunished, despite a law against dealing in commodities produced from illegal plantings within the forest estate," the report states. "Instead, between 2012 and 2020, three increasingly lenient amnesties have been issued, providing companies with an opportunity for retrospective legalisation for their activity inside the forest estate."Even more concerning, the researchers found that even companies with Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil certifications were growing about 283,000 hectares of illegal oil palms, putting so-called sustainable palm oil into question, too.In addition to destroying protected forest estates and wildlife habitats, these plantations contribute about 104 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. This equates to about 60% of global aviation emissionsannually, according to Mongabay. Further, over 8.6 million people live near these forest estates, and these local and Indigenous communities will experience worsening climate impacts as the deforestation continues.

Severe flash floods hit Bosnia and Herzegovina - (6 videos) Heavy rains affecting Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday and Friday, November 4 and 5, 2021, caused severe flash flooding in parts of the country, causing power outages and forcing evacuations.Hundreds of homes in the Sarajevo suburbs, along the rivers Bosnia, Tilava, and Zeljeznica, and in the southwest part of the country, around the town of Konjic, had to be evacuated on Friday under unrelenting heavy downpours that started falling on Thursday.¹Most parts of Sarajevo were left for hours without electric power on Friday morning due to the flooding of one of the main substations on the outskirts of the city, the AP reports.The power transmission company, Elektroprijenos, said the heavy rain was hindering attempts to get the power rerouted.A five-year-old boy was rescued by locals in Kijevo, Trnovo after his home was completely flooded. Dramatic scenes are coming from Vojnići, eastern Sarajevo where a gas station and a hotel are in danger of collapsing into a river, potentially causing an ecological disaster.²

9 dead, 2 missing after floods hit Sri Lanka and southern India -- (video) At least 9 people have died and 2 others remain missing after heavy rains affecting Sri Lanka and parts of southern India since the start of the month. According to the AFP, nearly half of Sri Lanka's 25 districts have been hit by floods over the past couple of days, claiming the lives of at least 5 people and leaving 2 people missing. The worst affected areas in the country are in and around its tea-growing Central Highlands.1 Meteorologists are warning more floods are likely in the days ahead, especially on the northern coast around the city of Jaffna. At least 4 people have died in the neighboring Tamil Nadu, India, where more than 150 relief camps were established. In the state capital Chennai, most main roads were underwater and trees were uprooted, disrupting traffic, after 215.3 mm (8.47 inches) of rain fell on November 6. At least 237 homes were damaged. More than 210 000 people have been affected and about 100 000 buildings lost power in Sri Lanka after days of heavy rain during the first week of June. At least 17 people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes.2

Major early-season snowstorm hits northern China --A significant coldwave is affecting China, bringing the first major snowstorm of the season to much of the country's northern regions, including the capital Beijing.The conditions prompted China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) to issue the season's first Orange snowstorm alert on Saturday, November 6, 2021. The cold wave is sweeping areas from Beijing and Shanghai to Guangzhou, with temperatures dropping by as much as 14 °C (25 °F) today. Snow accumulations in some areas are expected to exceed 40 cm (15.7 inches) by Monday, November 8.For capital Beijing (population 21.5 million), the first snow of the season started falling on Saturday night, 23 days earlier than average, while the temperatures on Sunday night are forecast to drop to their lowest for the period in the past 10 years.¹Several highway sections in the city were closed, high-speed trains to Tianjin and Shanghai were canceled or delayed, bus service was suspended on more than 160 routes and flights were reduced at the city’s two major airports.² The snow is expected to last till Sunday noon or afternoon, said Guo Jinlan, chief forecaster of the Beijing meteorological center.³

58 000 agricultural facilities in NE China's Liaoning affected by record snowstorms' - (videos) Record snowstorms have affected 58 000 agricultural facilities in northeast China's Liaoning Province over the past few days. Local authorities said they are rushing to ensure power and food supply while repairing damages in a region heavily affected by rolling power outages in September 2021.The province has witnessed extremely heavy snowstorms, rainfall, cold wave and strong winds from Sunday, November 7 to Tuesday, November 9, 2021.The storms damaged more than 37 000 ha (91 500 acres) of cropland in 58 000 facilities and affected a total of 4 836 livestock farms.¹By Tuesday, Liaoning capital Shenyang logged an average snowfall of 51 mm (2 inches) and a maximum snow depth of 41 cm (16 inches), the highest level recorded since 1905, local meteorological authorities have said.² The powerful cold wave has already resulted in a total of 27 red alerts for heavy blizzards, the highest warning level in China's meteorological system, in four provincial-level regions including North China's Inner Mongolia and Northeast China's Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces.^{3, 4} Temperatures had plummeted by 10 to 14 °C (18 to 25 °F) in most areas, and by more than 16 °C (29 °F) in certain areas, compared to five days ago.Amid public concerns over power shortages posed by the blizzard, local governments in north China have made all-out efforts to keep homes warm, Xinhua reports.²The average coal storage rate at Liaoning's heating enterprises is currently over 60%. The provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang are also working to increase their energy production capacities and increase coal imports. To avoid vegetable price hikes influenced by the extreme weather, Shenyang has urged markets and grocery stores in the city to set the prices of several vegetables lower than the overall average and increase their supplies of vegetables.

The worst dust storm in Uzbekistan’s recorded history (videos) A severe dust storm that started in southern Kazakhstan hit parts of Uzbekistan on the evening of November 4, 2021, growing under favorable weather conditions into the worst since the country started keeping meteorological records in 1871. The worst affected were Tashkent and the southern Syrdarya Region, and Kazakhstan’s Turkestan Region.According to the country's meteorological service - Uzhydromet, under the influence of gusts of wind, the parched upper layer of soil rose up, creating the effect of a dust and sand haze, with visibility just 100 - 200 m (328 - 656 feet) in a number of districts in the country.¹Volumes of sand and dust that are raised into the air usually disperse and settle on the ground soon after the wind drops but in this case, a mass of cold air prevented this from happening.Instead, an inversion layer formed, in which temperatures stop falling with elevation but rise instead.This created a dust haze, a phenomenon unusual for the region. This sand and dust storm was the first of its kind since Uzbekistan started keeping meteorological records 150 years ago, Uzhydromet said.^{2, 3} By 21:00 LT on November 4, the concentration of dust in Tashkent’s air was 30 times the permitted level and 10 times over during the afternoon hours of November 5. Residents across the country made more than 4 000 calls seeking help for respiratory problems.

Phenomenal rainfall totals hit parts of Australia, residents urged to brace for more rain and potential flooding - Exceptional rainfall totals have been recorded in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia overnight Wednesday, November 10, 2021, as a potent storm moved over the region. Residents are being urged to prepare for potential flooding across parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria as Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) experts forecast heavy rain and thunderstorms for the rest of this week.Parts of New South Wales are forecast to receive more than a month's worth of rain over the next three days. Western Queensland is expected to see three times their November average rainfall in the coming days. Victoria may also see some gusty south-easterly winds, particularly across southern and mountain areas.Overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday, November 9 into 10, phenomenal rainfall totals fell in parts of Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, with the area north of Rockhampton in Queensland receiving more than 300 mm (11.8 inches) and Alice Springs in Northern Territory recording 100 mm (3.9 inches), BOM said. The 24-hour rainfall total registered in Alice Springs has not been this high since January 30, 2001. Residents are being urged to prepare for potential flooding across parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria through the rest of this week.1 BOM Hazard Preparedness and Response East Manager Jane Golding said key areas of concern ranged from Queensland down through to Victoria, and included river catchments close to the NSW-Queensland border and along the western slopes in New South Wales. "Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to set in from Wednesday and continue into the weekend, so we're urging people to prepare now," Golding said. "Many areas in eastern Australia will see significant rainfall, and some locations in New South Wales and Queensland are likely to see daily rainfall totals of 150 mm (5.9 inches) or higher." "This kind of heavy rainfall over a short period of time can cause dangerous flash flooding and combined with the fact that many river catchments down the east coast are already quite wet, there is a very real risk that we may see some rivers flood too."

 Ten-foot tides paint a picture of Hampton’s climate future -During a ten-foot-high tide, some of the low-lying streets in the town of Hampton are flooded.Water flows from the salt marsh on the west side of town up to the facades of houses, lapping against cars and recycling bins. It’s difficult to walk along the streets without getting your ankles wet, unless you have knee-high rain boots.This past Thursday through Monday, high tide predictions in Hampton reached above 10 feet. State officials said that flooding could paint a picture of daily life as the climate changes and sea levels rise.Currently, tides in Hampton reach above ten feet about 30% to 40% of the year, says Tiffany Chin, an environmental scientist with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services who has been collecting data from a tide gauge in the town. But with a predicted two-foot rise in sea level, which New Hampshire could experience by 2050, she says Hampton could see ten-foot-high tides 95% of the time — nearly every day.“People are going to need to move their cars all the time, so that they don’t get flooded in," Chin said. "Many homes and buildings might become inaccessible for periods of the day,” she added.Hampton’s town planner, Jason Bachand, says the town has taken steps to address the projected impact of sea-level rise, like including coastal resilience in their master plan. The town will continue to work on coastal resilience as seas rise.“How do you adapt those existing buildings? For example, do you raise them, elevate them using what we call freeboard? Do they look to maybe go to other locations?” Bachand said. “It really is a lot of the planning efforts that we’re doing.”The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recently passed by Congress includes $47 billion for climate resilience efforts that could help communities like Hampton prepare for the effects of flooding.The funding marks the largest amount of money spent by the United States on preparations to adapt to climate change. A larger bill, the center of which has become$555 billion to fight climate change, is still stuck in the House of Representatives.

The Tide: What new infrastructure bill could do for Coastal Georgia - With the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act freshly passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Friday, Coastal Georgia nonprofit leaders and elected officials are taking a look at how the coast’s needs fit into the act’s funding. Unlike the American Rescue Plan, which gave funding specifically to localities, this bill doesn’t earmark funding that way. Instead, according to the White House, the bill includes:

• $89.9 billion in guaranteed funding for public transit over the next five years.
• $66 billion in funding to eliminate the Amtrak maintenance backlog, modernize the Northeast Corridor, and improve rail service outside the northeast and mid-Atlantic.
• $110 billion in new funding to repair and rebuild roads and bridges “with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity, and safety for all users.”
• $55 billion in funding for clean drinking water, with an emphasis on eliminating lead pipes.
• $7.5 billion to build out a national network of EV chargers.
• $17 billion in port infrastructure and waterways.
• $65 billion in funding to create universal access to reliable high-speed internet.
• $65 billion in funding for clean energy transmission and power infrastructure upgrades.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) pushed to ensure the legislation included funding to help coastal Georgians prepare for more severe tropical storms, storm surge, and coastal flooding. “This was one of my highest priorities in this infrastructure legislation was ensuring that there were significant investments in coastal resilience,” he told residents in St. Marys in August. “And it is my pleasure to report to you that there is more than $12 billion for coastal resilience in this bipartisan infrastructure bill. And that means resources that will flow to localities and counties for drainage infrastructure improvements for permeable pavers to assist with draining flood and tropical storm and storm surge events, for marsh land remediation and sustainment, for weatherization of public and private buildings so that communities like this one can withstand more and more intense tropical storms and flooding.”

Three asteroids to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance today - At least 3 asteroids are expected to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance from the center of our planet on November 8, 2021. The objects are designated as 2021 VL3, 2021 VN3, and 2021 VM3. With 2021 VK3 on November 7, this makes 4 <1 LD asteroid flybys in 24 hours. Since the start of the year, our sky surveys have discovered 123 asteroids whose orbits took them within 1 lunar distance from Earth's center. According to data available on November 8, the month of October 2021 had 23 known <1 LD asteroid flybys, making it the month with the largest number of such flybys since at least 2018, and probably on record. 2021 VK3 was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey, Arizona on November 6, one day before its close approach. The object has an estimated diameter between 2.2 and 4.9 m (7.2 - 16 feet) and it belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It flew past us at 16:55 UTC on November 7 at a distance of 0.22 LD / 0.00057 AU (85 270 km / 52 985 miles). 2021 VL3 was first observed at ATLAS-HKO, Haleakala, Hawaii on November 7, just a few hours before its close approach. The object has an estimated diameter between 5.6 and 12 m (18.4 - 39.4 feet) and it belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It flew past us at 08:56 UTC on November 8 at a distance of 0.43 LD / 0.00111 AU (166 053 km / 103 180 miles). 2021 VN3 was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey on November 7. It belongs to the Aten group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 2 and 4.6 m (6.5 - 15 feet). The object flew past Earth at 09:56 UTC on November 8 at a distance of 0.36 LD / 0.00092 AU (137 630 km / 85 520 miles). 2021 VM3 was also observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey on November 7. It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 2.9 to 6.4 m (9.5 - 21 feet). The object will fly past us at a distance of 0.79 LD / 0.00204 AU (305 180 km / 189 630 miles) at 16:44 UTC.

Asteroid 2021 VU4 to fly past Earth at 0.28 LD on November 10 - A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2021 VU4 will fly past Earth at a distance of 0.28 LD / 0.00072 AU (107 710 km / 66 930 miles) from the center of our planet at 19:46 UTC on November 10, 2021. This is the 124th known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and the 7th so far this month. The object was first observed at Pan-STARRS 2, Haleakala, Hawaii on November 8, two days before its close approach. It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 5.7 and 13 m (18.7 - 42.6 feet).

New lava delta forming at La Palma, over 2 600 homes destroyed since the start of eruption, Canary Islands - New lava flows produced by the eruption at Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands reached the ocean near Los Guirres at 18:00 UTC on November 9, 2021, forming a new lava delta.As of 07:14 UTC on November 9, lava flows were extending across 999.6 ha (2 470 acres), with 5 additional ha (12 acres) in 12 hours.A total of 2 605 buildings were destroyed since the start of the eruption.

Increased gas emissions at White Island volcano, volcanic fog (VOG) produced, New Zealand - Recent gas and observation flights at Whakaari / White Island show increases in gas emissions and lake level. The volcano occasionally emits traces of volcanic ash and remains in a state of moderate to heightened unrest. The Volcanic Alert Level remains at Level 2 and the Aviation Color Code at Yellow. Last week GNS scientists undertook a visual observation flight and a gas emission measurement flight, GNS Duty Volcanologist Mike Rosenberg noted in a bulletin posted November 9, 2021.1 Temperature measurements of the active vent area were also made, Rosenberg added. The gas measurements showed that emissions of volcanic gases have increased since the last measurements made on October 14. Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) has increased to 681 tonnes per day from 267 tonnes per day in mid-October. The emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) increased from 757 to 2 712 tonnes per day, while the Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) also showed an increase, from 10 to 38 tonnes per day. "These data show another pulse of gas escaping from the molten material at depth in the volcano," Rosenberg said. Temperatures measured in the active vent area ranged from 252 to 202 °C (485 to 395 °F) in September and October. In July and August, the temperatures were in excess of 500 to 600 °C (932 to 1 112 °F). The level of water in the crater lake is slightly higher than we observed in late October, with nearly all of this rise due to heavy rainfall. Very weak ash emission was occurring during the observations last week, but the recent deposits are minor and only visible close to the active vents. Intermittent ash emission is still possible. The recent cloudy and humid weather conditions are allowing spectacular steam and gas plumes to be seen above the island, but also the weather is often obscuring views from the coast, Rosenberg said. Seismic activity from the degraded site remains similar, with low levels of volcanic tremor and occasional low-frequency volcanic earthquakes.

Asia-Pacific is home to the world's largest carbon-emitters — 2 charts show its reliance on coal - Asia-Pacific is home to some of the world's largest carbon emitters — and experts say much of global efforts to fight climate change depends on Asian countries cutting their reliance on coal. The region accounted for 52% of global carbon dioxide emissions last year, according to the latest edition of BP's Statistical Review of World Energy, a widely cited report. China alone contributed 59% of the region's emissions, while India made up 13.7%, the report showed.Global leaders and environmentalists were gathered in Glasgow, Scotland this month for the United Nations climate change summit, known as COP26. They're hoping to eventually phase out the use of fossil fuels — including coal— to cut carbon emissions and limit global warming. On Thursday, 28 countries joined an international alliance dedicated to phasing out coal, but the world's biggest burners of coal — such as China and India — did not sign up. Coal accounted for more than a quarter of the world's primary energy consumption. Primary energy refers to energy in its original form — such as coal and oil — and before it's converted into other resources. Slightly less than half — or about 47.8% — of the energy consumed in Asia-Pacific last year came from coal, according to data in the BP report. That percentage of coal consumption is the highest among geographic groups featured in the report, which included Africa, Europe and North America. While net zero targets come thick and fast … virtually all lack details on how these will be achieved. Within Asia-Pacific, coal made up more than half of energy consumed in China and India last year, the data showed. The region's move away from fossil fuels toward renewable sources has remained "far too slow," said Gavin Thompson, Asia-Pacific vice chairman at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. "Much of this stems from government policy. And while net zero targets come thick and fast … virtually all lack details on how these will be achieved," Thompson said in an October report. "Without progress in policy, Asia's future growth still looks too reliant on fossil fuels, particularly coal," he added. Net zero emissions refer to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions removed from the atmosphere, through either natural means or by using the still nascent carbon capture technology.

Climate is the 'biggest single opportunity' the insurance industry has ever seen, CEO says -- — Climate is the "ultimate systemic risk" and represents "the biggest single opportunity the insurance industry has ever seen," according to the CEO of the centuries-old insurance market Lloyd's. In an interview with CNBC, John Neal, who heads up the British company, attempted to paint a picture of how his sector would operate going forward. "We think of Covid as systemic risk — climate is the ultimate systemic risk, so this is our chance to show businesses, communities and even governments how we can help," Neal, who was speaking at the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, said last week. From floods and rising temperatures to cold snaps, the fallout from climate-related events already affects the insurance industry in a number of ways. The Association of British Insurers says an extreme freeze in the U.K. during 2018 led to payouts for burst pipes totaling £194 million (around $263.16 million) across a period of three months. In the same year, an extreme heatwave saw over 10,000 homes in the U.K. claim for damage created by subsidence. This exceeded £64 million, according to the ABI. Alongside payouts, the ABI points to another potential hurdle. "There is a risk that, if there is a disorderly transition to a low-carbon economy, the value of many of the assets in which insurers invest will fall with little warning," it says. The ABI argues the above also represents an opportunity for companies that make an early shift to "more sustainable assets." While there may be opportunities, there are also challenges, as highlighted by a wide-ranging report looking at climate change and insurance from Deloitte. Preparedness, it would appear, is key. Among other things, the Deloitte report's executive summary describes many insurers as still having "some way to go in getting to grips with how climate change will affect their business models in the medium to long term." Climate-focused litigation is another issues. Last week, a publication from the Insure Our Future campaign said insurers were "waking up to the growing risk that they may have to pay for the legal costs and damages of fossil fuel companies targeted by climate lawsuits."

It’s Time We Stop Listening to Economists on Climate Change - A TRICKY TRUTH of the climate crisis is that it calls for humanity to act today on what we believewill happen in the future, which requires us to put our faith in the predictions of mathematical models. A trickier truth — one that has helped sow seemingly endless political division and inertia — is that not all of those models are created equal.Take, for instance, the work of 2021 Nobel laureates Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann, whose models accurately predicted the global warming and climate change we’ve experienced in recent decades. Their work inspired sophisticated ocean-atmosphere models that can take months to process on the world’s fastest supercomputers. Climate physics foresees an Earth undergoing essentially irreversible shifts, or tipping points, into a much-altered biosphere if global temperatures rise more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels — a threshold we could reach within the next decade.Contrast that grim forecast with the predictions of the Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy model, for which Yale University’s William Nordhaus won the 2018 Nobel prize in economics. DICE is simple enough that a version of it can run in Excel, and Nordhaus has suggested society’s optimal climate trajectory — the one that best balances the economic harms of global warming with the costs of climate action — would correspond to a global temperature rise of 6.3 F (3.5 C) by 2100. (Note that DICE models can generate a range of results. One 2020 paper used the model to support the U.N.’s climate targets as the optimal trajectory. Here, let’s focus on Nordhaus’s influential prize-winning work.)Arguably, DICE and the economic models it inspired have influenced climate policy far more than their counterparts from physics. The Nordhaus-style models undergird the ubiquitous concept of asocial cost of carbon — which attempts to quantify the dollar amount of economic harm caused per ton of carbon emissions — and they have contributed to decades of policy inaction. Sure, we could act now on climate, these models suggest, but if we act too quickly or too forcefully, we’ll harm the economy.Even key economists resist such conclusions. “It is irresponsible to act as if the economic models currently dominating policy analysis represent a sensible central case,” wrote Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics and Political Science, in a 2013 paper arguing that economic models dangerously downplay the risks and urgency of the climate crisis.I would take that a large step further: These economic models are so fundamentally flawed that the climate discourse would be better off without them. That’s because, at their core, models like DICE attempt to do something that economics is simply unequipped to do: They try to quantify, with seemingly actionable precision, the impact of conditions unlike any humankind has ever witnessed on an economy that does not yet exist. They attempt to project the distant-future economic impacts of global warming from present-daycorrelations between temperature variations and economic activity.

'We're Here To Call For Climate Justice,' Say Glasgow Protesters — "I'd feel ridiculous if I weren't here," said Tom Birch, a teacher from Edinburg, as he carried a sign reading "Soon Humanity Will Be Net-Zero." Birch was among the many tens of thousands of marchers who filled the streets of Glasgow, host of the United Nations COP26 climate conference, on Saturday as part of a Global Day for Climate Justice. "Pledges are not action," read the back of Birch's sign, summarizing many activists' critique of the net-zero emissions pledges that governments and corporations have made at COP26. Eva Wewgorski, a librarian from Edinburgh who created the sign, said that "World leaders are acting like these pledges will solve the problem. But there've been countless pledges over the decades that haven't been kept, so why should we believe them now?" Coming at the midway point of the two-week COP 26 conference, the Global Day for Climate Justice also featured demonstrations in London, Paris, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Guardian reported that there were more than 300 protests worldwide, with 100 in the United Kingdom alone.Although the Glasgow march included representatives of Indigenous peoples from South America and youth activists such as Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, most of the crowd were locals judging from the paucity of umbrellas, despite bursts of heavy rain and gusty winds. "We're used to the rain," a local soccer coach and shopkeeper who gave only his first name, Niall, said with a grin.Wearing uniforms of sparkling gold lamé, a dozen musicians with a local brass band called "Brass, Aye?" got marchers dancing with pulsing renditions of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and other New Orleans standards. "We're here to call for climate justice and bring a bit of joy and vibrancy to this march," said Scott, a blonde trombone player who directed the group.A second group of street artists dressed head to toe in blood red, with faces painted white and set in grim expressions, stayed completely silent as they marched through Nelson Mandela Place in the heart of the city on their way to the march's terminus on the Glasgow Green."Inside that conference of polluters, the climate criminals are hiding behind barbed wire and fences and lines of police," Asad Rehman of the COP26 Coalition of activist groups, told the crowd on Glasgow Green. "We're not going to accept their suicide pact."Police officers in yellow vests were especially noticeable around an office building of Scottish Power, the electric utility, at the intersection of St. Vincent and North streets. Positioned 10 paces apart behind metal barriers that confined the marchers to the middle of the street, the officers stood with hands folded across their waists, watchful but not aggressive. As the crowd passed by at 2pm, a rainbow briefly illuminated the northern sky, leading a mother pushing a toddler in a stroller to remark, "That's a nice omen, isn't it?""The right to protest is a cornerstone of democracy; it's a direct way to speak to your leaders without having to wait for an election," said Danielle, 19, a Glasgow resident marching with a contingent from Tear Fund, a Christian NGO working to alleviate poverty in the Global South through advancing social justice rather than conventional foreign aid. "Movements develop over time," she added. "Generations of people have been doing this kind of witnessing for years, and world leaders are starting to listen because of that. Eventually, you reach a watershed moment, and that's what's happening now."

At COP26, Youth Activists From Around the World Call Out Decades of Delay - Jon Bonifacio was on his way to becoming a doctor when the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis began to sink in. The Philippines, where the 24-year-old was in medical school, was already feeling global warming’s effects, with more intense cyclones striking the low-lying archipelago. What he did was to drop out of medical school earlier this year to devote himself full-time to addressing climate change. Last week, he headed for the climate meetings in Glasgow, representing Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines, an organization he founded in 2019 with a small group of friends and that now counts hundreds of members all over the country. Thousands of diplomats, policy wonks, scientists and activists from all over the world have flocked to Scotland for the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties, known as COP26. Some of the most outspoken and visible participants are, like Bonifacio, also among the youngest. On Nov. 5, Bonifacio took the stage alongside Greta Thunberg of Sweden and Vanessa Nakate of Uganda as part of the school strike staged by Fridays for Future outside the COP26 meeting halls. This year, the pandemic added another layer of inequality to a process that many say already disadvantages developing countries. In order to attend, people had to navigate a maze of travel restrictions, vaccine mandates and sky-high costs. And even after arriving in Glasgow, some attendees have been turned away at the door because of tight Covid rules that limited the venue’s capacity.Young activists like Bonifacio have had to find other ways to be heard. He and others say they feel that world leaders are not taking the climate crisis seriously enough. They see their role at COP26 as telling the truth about what climate change is doing to their countries, and holding leaders accountable. About 25,000 people participated in Friday’s strike, according to the organizers. Indigenous women and girls from Latin America led the crowd through the streets of Glasgow, with throngs of local school children joining protestors who had come from afar. Ahead of the protest, Thunberg, Nakate and two other prominent activists—Dominika Lasota from Poland and Mitzi Tan from the Philippines—had circulated an online petition, signed by 1.8 million people, that outlined their message to world leaders. Their biggest demand was one that governments have already agreed to, in theory: limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.The petition urged an end to fossil fuel investments and subsidies and an immediate halt to new fossil fuel projects. The International Energy Agency—whose projections are closely watched by policymakers and are historically conservative in their estimates of renewable energy growth and fossil fuel decline—recently concluded that for the 1.5 degrees goal to stay within reach, the world would have to refrain from developing any new coal mines or oil and gas fields. Thunberg, Nakate, Lasota and Tan also called for wealthy countries to deliver the $100 billion per year in climate financing they promised to developing countries in 2009. The money is widely regarded as the linchpin holding countries with vastly unequal emissions and resources together in the Paris Agreement. The first $100 billion was due by the end of 2020. Though a complete tally of the money distributed isn’t available yet, experts say it’s unlikely governments have met their commitment.

Greta Thunberg says COP26 climate summit is a failure and a PR event — Climate activist Greta Thunberg said Friday that the COP26 climate summit is a failure, lambasting the U.N.-brokered talks for turning into a public relations exercise. "It is not a secret that COP26 is a failure. It should be obvious that we cannot solve the crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place," Thunberg said. "The COP has turned into a PR event, where leaders are giving beautiful speeches and announcing fancy commitments and targets, while behind the curtains governments of the Global North countries are still refusing to take any drastic climate action." She was speaking on stage shortly after a strike organized by "Fridays For Future" saw thousands march 1.6 miles from Kelvingrove Park to George Park in Glasgow's city center — less than 2 miles from where the COP26 event is being held. The U.K. is presiding over COP26 through to Nov. 12, a major climate event regarded as one of the most important diplomatic meetings in history. It has yielded some positive developments, including pledges to end and reverse deforestation, a deal to cut methane emission levels by 30% by 2030 and new commitments to phase out coal power. However, experts harbor deep concerns about whether countries and companies can keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal alive. This critically important temperature threshold refers to the aspirational target of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. Thunberg said COP26 had been described as "the most exclusionary COP ever," saying those at the sharp end of the climate crisis remain unheard. She added that the event could be considered a "two-week-long celebration of business as usual and blah, blah, blah."#160;

“COP26 Is a Failure”: Greta Thunberg Condemns U.N. Climate Summit as a “Greenwash Festival” - (video & transcript) This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report, as we bring you Climate Countdown. I’m Amy Goodman. Yes, we are covering the Glasgow summit from the United States, from Glasgow itself and from places around the world for those who couldn’t make it to Glasgow. We turn now to 18-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. She spoke on Friday at the rally in Glasgow organized by Fridays for Future, an international movement of students which grew out of her climate strike outside the Swedish parliament that began in 2018.
GRETA: It is not a secret that COP26 is a failure. It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place. And more and more people are starting to realize this. Many are starting to ask themselves, “What will it take for the people in power to wake up?”But let’s be clear: They are already awake. They know exactly what they are doing. They know exactly what priceless values they are sacrificing to maintain business as usual. The leaders are not doing nothing; they are actively creating loopholes and shaping frameworks to benefit themselves and to continue profiting from this destructive system. This is an active choice by the leaders to continue to let the exploitation of people and nature and the destruction of present and future living conditions to take place.The COP has turned into a PR event where leaders are giving beautiful speeches and announcing fancy commitments and targets, while behind the curtains the governments of the Global North countries are still refusing to take any drastic climate action. It seems like their main goal is to continue to fight for the status quo. And COP26 has been named the most exclusionary COP ever. This is not a conference. This is now a Global North greenwash festival, a two-week-long celebration of business as usual and blah, blah, blah. The most affected people in the most affected areas still remain unheard, and the voices of future generations are drowning in their greenwash and empty words and promises. But the facts do not lie, and we know that our emperors are naked.To stay below the targets set in the Paris Agreement, and thereby minimizing the risks of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control, we need immediate, drastic, annual emission cuts unlike anything the world has ever seen. And as we don’t have the technological solutions that alone will do anything even close to that, that means we will have to fundamentally change our society. And this is the uncomfortable result of our leaders’ repeated failure to address this crisis. At the current emissions rates, our remaining CO2 budgets to give us the best chances of staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius will be gone within the end of this decade. And the climate and ecological crisis, of course, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is directly tied to other crises and injustices that date back to colonialism and beyond, crises based on the idea that some people are worth more than others, and therefore had the right to steal others — to exploit others and to steal their land and resources. And it is very naive of us to think that we could solve this crisis without addressing the root cause of it. But this is not going to be spoken about inside the COP. It’s just too uncomfortable. It’s much easier for them to simply ignore the historical debt that the countries of the Global North have towards the most affected people and areas. And the question we must now ask ourselves is: What is it that we are fighting for? Are we fighting to save ourselves and the living planet, or are we fighting to maintain business as usual?

Carbon Tax Over-Rated - Addressing global warming requires cutting carbon emissions by almost half by 2030! For the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, emissions must fall by 45% below 2010 levels by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°C, instead of the 2.7°C now expected.Instead, countries are mainly under pressure to commit to ‘net-zero’ carbon (dioxide, CO2) emissions by 2050 under that deal. Meanwhile, global carbon emissions – now already close to pre-pandemic levels – are rising rapidly despite higher fossil fuel prices.Emissions from burning coal and gas are already greater now than in 2019. Global oil use is expected to rise as transport recovers from pandemic restrictions. In short, carbon emissions are far from trending towards net-zero by 2050.At the annual climate meetings in Glasgow, carbon pricing is being touted as the main means to cut CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The European Union President urged, “Put a price on carbon”, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advocates a global minimum carbon tax.Businesses are also rallying behind one-size-fits-all CO2 pricing, claiming it is “effective and fair”. But there is little discussion of how revenues thus raised should be distributed among countries, let alone to support poorer countries’ adaptation and mitigation efforts.Carbon pricing supposedly penalizes CO2 emitters for economic losses due to global warming. The public bears the costs of global warming, e.g., damage due to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, changing rainfall, droughts or higher health care and other expenses.But there is little effort at or evidence of compensation to those adversely affected. Therefore, poorer countries are understandably sceptical, especially as rich countries have failed to fulfil their promise of US$100bn yearly climate finance support.The CO2 price market solution is said to be “the most powerful tool” in the climate policy arsenal. It claims to deter and thus reduce GHG emissions, while incentivizing investment shifts from fossil-fuel burning to cleaner energy generating technologies. Carbon pricing’s actual impact has, in fact, been marginal – only reducing emissions by under 2% yearly. Such impacts remain small as ‘emitters hardly pay’. Most remain undeterred, still relying on energy from fossil fuel combustion. Also, many easily pass on the carbon tax burden to others whose spending is not price sensitive enough.

Key Cop26 pledges could put world 9% closer to 1.5C pathway -New Cop26 pledges announced on methane, coal, transport and deforestation could nudge the world 9% closer to a pathway that keeps heating to 1.5C, according to a study by the world’s most respected climate analysis coalition. Climate Action Tracker says the sectoral commitments announced in Glasgow represent potential cuts of 2.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the emissions of Germany, Japan and the UK combined, or 20,000 fully loaded aircraft carriers. This is in addition to measures previously outlined in national climate plans. However, this is dependant on governments keeping their climate promises, which almost none have done until now, and it still leaves the world heading towards ever more dangerous levels of heating.

COP26: New Draft Calls for Phase-Out of Coal and More Money – Bloomberg - A new draft of the a climate pact being debated at COP26 talks in Glasgow on Friday maintains most of the key elements climate-watchers were looking for -- though with some tweaks. The latest draft, which was negotiated overnight now “requests” countries to come back with better climate-action plans for 2030 by next year, instead of being “urged” to. It also allows for “different national circumstances,” which is seen as a kind of get-out clause.

COP26 climate summit ends in failure - As the global climate summit COP26 drags out to its miserable end this week in Glasgow, Scotland, the major capitalist powers and the banks and corporations that call the shots in national and world politics have largely failed in their efforts to use the summit to provide a semblance of “progress” in resolving the global climate emergency. The rival powers have been unable to reach any significant agreement, even on the type of half measures and purely voluntary arrangements that characterized the last major world summit in Paris in 2015. And the pledges and promises made at that summit have largely fallen apart, as reports issued on the occasion of the Glasgow meeting have made clear. Business Insider declared the event a “historic failure,” while an editorial in the Financial Times spoke of “More hot air than progress at COP26,” noting that the US’s decision not “to sign up to a deal to phase out coal production… struck a severe blow to what was meant to be a flagship policy of COP.” One report appearing over the weekend underscored an obvious reason for the abortive character of the Glasgow event. The environmental campaign group Global Witness analyzed the provisional list of conference attendees, provided by the United Nations, and determined that representatives of fossil fuel companies have the largest single delegation at COP26, more than any single country. The group found that at least 503 people linked to coal, gas and oil companies were in attendance, counting both direct representatives and those coming as part of groups acting on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. “The presence of hundreds of those being paid to push the toxic interests of polluting fossil fuel companies will only increase the skepticism of climate activists who see these talks as more evidence of global leaders' dithering and delaying,” a representative of Global Witness said.

Cop26 draft text annotated: what it says and what it means - The draft text is the most important document that will emerge from the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. Unlike the last major climate conference, in Paris in 2015, what emerges here will not be a new treaty, but a series of decisions and resolutions that build on the Paris accord. Those Cop decisions have legal force in the context of the Paris agreement, so this is a powerful document. But it is also a document that can only be accepted by the consensus of all parties, therefore much of the language is cautious and some is ambiguous or open to interpretation, to the frustration of the countries who want to move faster. The document was drafted by the UK presidency, but does not represent the UK’s view – rather, it is a reflection of what the UK has been told by all the parties in Glasgow. Delegations here are now consulting with the leaders of their countries and other senior officials. The key aim for Cop26 is to “keep 1.5C alive”. There are a few notable victories in this text: a mention of phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies – the first time that has appeared in a Cop decision – and strong language on the scientific imperative to stay within 1.5C of global heating. But whether this text is enough to achieve that overarching goal is still up for debate. Katie White, the executive director of campaigns at WWF, said: “It’s essential that we recognise this as the start line, not the finish. If we are to come close to reaching our 1.5C target in time, ambition and momentum need to accelerate across the board.” Here are some of the key elements in the seven-page draft:

So many fossil fuel industry reps went to COP26 that they outnumber the delegates from any single country - Representatives of the fossil fuel industry outnumbers the delegations of any single country at the COP26 climate summit, according to the NGO Global Witness.COP26, the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, hosted around 40,000 politicians, campaigners, and business representatives in the hope of addressing the climate crisis.A UN list of provisional participants obtained by Global Witness said that at least 503 fossil fuel lobbyists attended the event.The group was larger by 24 people than the biggest national delegation, the 479 people sent by Brazil.One of the most prominent presences was the International Emissions Trading Association, which took 103 delegates, including three from the oil giant BP, Global Witness said.Representatives from more than 100 fossil fuel companies were present at COP26, Global Witness said, as well as 30 trade associations.The NGO said: "The fossil fuel lobby at COP is larger than the combined total of the eight delegations from the countries worst affected by climate change in the last two decades — Puerto Rico, Myanmar, Haiti, Philippines, Mozambique, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Pakistan."Experts and activists dubbed COP26 a failure not long after it began,as noted by Insider's Tom Colson.The conference missed its aspiration of large numbers of countries pledging to cut emissions sharply enough to limit temperature rises this century to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.That threshold has been identified as crucial by scientists in preventing irreversible damage to the planet.Delegates did make new pledges to limit deforestation, finance climate-change initiatives, and work harder to stop methane leaks.But the scope of any action was limited, not least by the absence of China's President Xi Jinping, whose country is the world's largest polluter, and limited contributions from other large nations like Russia.Greta Thunberg, one of the world's most prominent climate campaigners, dismissed the conference as a "PR exercise."

Ocasio-Cortez at climate summit: America is 'not just back, we're different' - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), speaking at the COP26 international climate summit Tuesday, praised environmental activists and said their efforts had reframed climate discussions at the policy level. The New York congresswoman echoed other U.S. officials at the summit, saying that America “is back” when it comes to international climate policy. However, she clarified, “when we say the United States is back, it’s not just that we’re back in the way that the U.S. was pursuing climate policy before ... we’re not just back, we’re different." Ocasio-Cortez discussed her experiences demonstrating against the Dakota Access pipeline with members of the Lakota Sioux nation, saying that at that time, “I think we see many institutions saying, alright, the folks making policy, we’re the serious ones in the room, and we’re going to do the best we can, and everyone who’s outside protesting, it’s good but we’re the serious ones, they don’t have any plans.”However, she said, the influence of grassroots activism throughout the Trump presidency helped to create “an alternative path, an alternative framework for how we can pursue climate justice.” That approach, she said, helped to create ambitions beyond the “pure market-based solutions” of previous years, such as cap-and-trade legislation and carbon taxes. The introduction of policies such as the Green New Deal to the conversation, she said, fed an understanding that “we can’t actually just pursue decarbonization ... it has to center a benefit for the working class, for the vulnerable, for frontline communities, people of color, women, underserved communities.” Ocasio-Cortez also praised President Biden’s receptiveness to

Trust Is Hard to Find at the U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow – McKibben - As the second week of the cop26 United Nations global climate talks began in Glasgow on Monday, the Washington Post published a truly remarkable piece of reporting that will surely demoralize the hardworking people gathered in the convention hall trying to hammer out an agreement. A team led by the Post’sveteran climate analyst Chris Mooney went through the emissions data proffered by countries at the summit, and found that they were in many cases wildly wrong. Malaysia, for instance, claimed that its forests are sucking up so much carbon that its net emissions are smaller than tiny Belgium’s—even though most researchers are convinced that clearing peatlands for palm-oil plantations, as Malaysia has been doing, is the very definition of a carbon bomb. The Central African Republic reported that its land absorbs 1.8 billion tons of carbon a year; the Post termed it “an immense and improbable amount that would effectively offset the annual emissions of Russia.” The worst-case scenario: the emissions data could be off by twenty-three per cent over all, or roughly the equivalent of China’s emissions.That’s the kind of thing that can undercut whatever confidence the U.N. negotiators are trying to build. Barack Obama spoke at the conference on Monday, tellingyoung people (many of whom are complaining that they can’t get inside the hall) that “you’ve grown up watching many of the adults who are in positions to do something about it either act like the problem doesn’t exist or refuse to make the hard decisions necessary to address it.” But, just three years ago, Obama was in Houston, telling a very different crowd, at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, “I know we’re in oil country and we need American energy.” He then said that oil and gas production “went up every year I was President,” adding, “Suddenly, America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas—that was me, people.” Indeed, although the United States cut carbon emissions during Obama’s years in office, it happened mainly because of his aggressive backing of natural-gas fracking—and the increased methane emissions that came with the switch may have left the nation warming the planet just as much as before. (Methane features prominently in the Post’s analysis.)Meanwhile, in a press release issued last week, the government of the United Kingdom, which is hosting the summit, initially claimed that a hundred and ninety nations and organizations represented there had joined in a breakthrough pledge to phase out coal and stop investing in new coal-power projects. But, as Agence France-Presse’s Patrick Galey pointed out, by the time the list of nations was published, only twenty-three had announced new plans to abstain from coal, and ten of them don’t even burn coal. Together, he found, the twenty-three nations account for just thirteen per cent of the world’s coal use. China, Russia, the United States, and Australia aren’t on the list. As the headline to an article by Galey politely put it, a “chasm” has opened between “COP26 words and climate action.”

It’s Really Weird How Little We Talk About Humanity’s Imminent Doom - Caitlin Johnstone - Land-dwelling insects like butterflies, ants and grasshoppers are now half as common as they were 75 years ago; that’s why those of you who remember catching fireflies on summer nights as kids don’t see them much anymore, and why car windshields don’t get covered in dead bugs like they used to.This is a part of the animal kingdom that the rest of the ecosystem is built upon, and it’s undergone a drastic plummet that we’ve personally witnessed in our own lifetimes. If you were a sapient insect watching it happen, you wouldn’t be thinking in terms of a future armageddon, you’d feel that you were currently witnessing it. People bicker and argue about global warming and what should be done about it and if it even exists, but climate change is only one of the many ways our biosphere is moving toward death. There’s also been a shocking loss of two-thirds of Earth’s wildlife in the last 50 years, ecosystems dying off, forests disappearing, soil becoming rapidly less fertile, mass extinctions, oceans gasping for oxygen and becoming lifeless deserts while continents of plastic form in their waters, and the aforementioned insect apocalypse. The way the debate fixates solely on temperature and carbon levels is like if someone had stage four cancer throughout their body and they were in a coma and their vital signs were dropping and the doctor said death is imminent, and everyone was stuck on arguing over whether or not low blood pressure is necessarily a bad thing. And nothing’s being done about global warming anyway. Conspiracy types have been claiming for decades that it’s a hoax designed to advance this or that agenda, and during that time the only thing that’s advanced is the temperature of the planet and the ecocidal capitalist systems responsible for it. The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference has seen world leaders issue a non-binding pledge to achieve carbon neutrality “by or around mid-century” while taking naps and tossing coins into Rome’s Trevi Fountain for “luck” in addressing the issue they could all solve quickly if they actually wanted to. “Carbon neutrality” is itself a highly misleading and potentially completely worthless neoliberal sham designed to allow the continuation of carbon output but attempting to fix it with more consumption.Meanwhile methane — a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon in the short term — has started hemorrhaging into the atmosphere from thawing arctic permafrost, and no one really knows what to do about it. This, like the albedo effect of polar ice loss and numerous other self-reinforcing warming effects that have been unlocking in recent years, can potentially cause the Earth to continue warming all on its own regardless of future human behavior.That’s all on top of the western empire ramping up world-threatening aggressions against both nuclear-armed Russia and nuclear-armed Chinasimultaneously, a multi-front cold war the likes of which we’ve never seen before and which is only just barely getting started. And if we don’t wipe ourselves out by climate collapse or nuclear war, we could still easily do it fairly soon with weaponized AI.So our species is facing existential threats on myriad fronts which could easily lead to horrifying extinction-level events that we could easily see unfold in our own lifetimes.And it’s just so very strange how we don’t talk about that more. It’s like if you knew you had a deadly but treatable disease, and not only did you not pursue treatment, you also didn’t think about it much and didn’t talk about it with anyone. None of your friends even brought it up.

U.S. and China Announce Surprise Climate Agreement at COP26 - The world's two biggest climate polluters announced a surprise agreement at COP26 Wednesday. The agreement was light on details but was significant nonetheless, and seen as a potentially positive signal of U.S.-China relations. The two countries will take "enhanced climate actions" and "raise ambition in the 2020s" toward keeping the global warming limits central to the Paris Agreement "within reach."The agreement also, for the first time, includes a Chinese commitment to develop a "national plan" to cut methane pollution. China is the world's largest methane polluter and has so far refused to sign on to the U.S. and EU-backed Global Methane Pledge.The agreement resembles, but is far less substantial than, a deal brokered by the same lead negotiators — China's top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and then Secretary of State John Kerry — in 2014 that laid the groundwork for the Paris Agreement the next year.Chinese president Xi Jinping and President Biden will meet virtually next week, reportedly Monday evening, the countries confirmed earlier this week.As reported by The Washington Post: "The United States and China have no shortage of differences," U.S. special climate envoy John F. Kerry said in announcing the agreement Wednesday evening. "But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get this job done."The United States and China, plus other major emitters such as the European Union, have come under fire in recent days for not yet delivering on some of the lofty rhetoric their leaders showcased last week.But many leaders have demonstrated a willingness during COP26 to go further than they have before, as shown by a new draft of the agreement conference president Alok Sharma released barely 12 hours before the U.S.-China declaration came out.The draft, which Sharma said he hoped would be signed by the end of the week, proposed a breakthrough not seen in three decades of U.N. climate negotiations: an explicit acknowledgment that nations must phase out coal burning faster and stop subsidizing fossil fuels."It's fossil fuels that cause climate change," said Mohamed Adow, director of the Kenya-based think tank Power Shift Africa. "Explicitly mentioning it gets on the path to addressing it."

Infrastructure Bill Makes First Major U.S. Investment in Climate Resilience - The New York Times— The $1 trillion infrastructure bill now headed to President Biden’s desk includes the largest amount of money ever spent by the United States to prepare the nation to withstand the devastating impacts of climate change.The $47 billion in the bill designated for climate resilience is intended to help communities prepare for the new age of extreme fires, floods, storms and droughts that scientists say are worsened by human-caused climate change.The money is the most explicit signal yet from the federal government that the economic damages of a warming planet have already arrived. Its approval by Congress with bipartisan support reflects an implicit acknowledgment of that fact by at least some Republicans, even though many of the party’s leaders still question or deny the established science of human-caused climate change.“It’s a big deal, and we’ll build up our resilience for the next storm, drought, wildfires and hurricanes that indicate a blinking code red for America and the world,” Mr. Biden said in a speech in late October.But still in limbo on Capitol Hill is a second, far larger spending bill that is packed with $555 billion intended to try to mitigate climate change, by reducing the carbon dioxide pollution that is trapping heat and driving up global temperatures.House Democratic leaders on Friday came to the cusp of bringing that bill to the floor for a vote, but ultimately had to scrap the plans because they did not have enough support in their own caucus to pass it. They hope to attempt a vote before Thanksgiving.

Manchin Could Score Carbon Capture Subsidies to Prop Up Coal - The signature climate plan in Democrats’ Build Back Better legislation would have penalized power companies that fail to hit annual targets for increasing renewable energy. Following thecollapse of that carrot-and-stick approach, funding in the party’s mega-bill is being diverted to a subsidy scheme that many energy analysts fear will have the opposite effect: It could keep polluting plants running, even as their costs rise.To compensate for the loss of the clean energy standard, which was cut due to opposition from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, Democrats are proposing a range of clean energy subsidies including a multibillion-dollar expansion to the current tax incentive for carbon capture, known as 45Q.Carbon capture, which traps CO₂ emitted in manufacturing or electricity production, and direct air capture, which sucks the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, could be needed to deal with stubborn sources of pollution. So far, however, neither technology has been proven at commercial scale. Climate activists say carbon capture should only be a last resort, given the availability of cheaper renewable alternatives to coal and gas.But as demand for coal declines, elected officials from coal producer states like Wyoming and West Virginia have urged the uptake of carbon capture.THE EFFORT TO KEEP coal viable is becoming more and more expensive. Electric bills have risen as a shrinking coal fleet attempts to keep up with mandatory environmental regulations, which frequently require large investments in upgrades.Attaching carbon capture facilities to coal plants is among most expensive of those outlays, potentially costing more than the value produced by generating electricity from coal.In West Virginia, which relies heavily on coal-fired generation, average residential electricity rates have nearly doubled since 2005. Monthly electric bills from the West Virginia subsidiaries of American Electric Power, which owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, more than doubled over the last 13 years from an average of $62.46 to $138.57. If carbon capture is adopted across the country and passed on to electricity consumers, it could drive up monthly bills by more than a quarter, according to a recent study by the Ohio River Valley Institute, a think tank that supports renewables and economic growth in Appalachia. In states like Wyoming, Kentucky, and Utah, which depend heavily on coal and gas, carbon capture could increase electric bills by more than 50 percent. No state would see its bills rise more than West Virginia, which last year sourced 88 percent of its electricity from coal and 5 percent from natural gas. The study found that West Virginians could see their electric bills increase by 63 percent.

KY can collect $2.9 million from W.Va. Gov. Justice - Kentucky regulators can collect a $2.9 million penalty from West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice for violations at Eastern Kentucky coal mines, a judge has ruled. Interest on that penalty could push the total significantly higher. Under the order, the state is entitled to take bonds posted to cover reclamation work at several Justice mines and revoke their permits, and it requires the Justice companies to finish the reclamation. The companies also have to pay the state’s costs in pursuing the case against them and will be listed in a federal violator system that will prevent them from getting new permits or amending existing permits until the violations are cleared up. Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas D. Wingate entered the order Tuesday, granting every request by the state Energy and Environment Cabinet in its effort to get Justice companies to clear up reclamation and environmental violations at several mines in Eastern Kentucky.Most of the sites are surface mines. Jay Justice, Jim Justice’s son, recently announced plans to resume mining and reclamation work at four surface mines in Pike, Knott and Harlan counties and hire an estimated 150 people. The reclamation work can continue, said Lexington attorney Richard A. Getty, who represents the Justices. “It’s always been our intent to complete this work,” Getty said of reclaiming the mines.

Kentucky Court Orders Justice To Pay Penalty Over Mine Reclamation | WVPB - A Kentucky court has found coal companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice in default of a 2019 mine reclamation agreement.A judge in Frankfort on Tuesday ordered Justice to pay a nearly $3 million penalty, plus interest, over mine reclamation work at three sites in eastern Kentucky that was not completed before deadline.The judge revoked five of Justice’s permits, including some at mines he’d planned to reopen.Justice also must pay attorneys fees to the state Energy and Environment CabinetAttorneys for Justice had argued that the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to meet the deadlines for completing the reclamation work. The state countered that at least one of the deadlines passed before COVID-19 had widespread impacts and that one site had been left untouched for years.Justice’s attorneys also tried to persuade the court to reduce the penalty based on work completed and to set aside the 8% per day interest rate it had agreed to pay.“The Cabinet, nor the Court, has any obligation to continue to grant Defendants leniency,” Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate wrote in his 21-page order Tuesday.Both Justice and his son, Jay, were named as defendants in the case.A spokesman for Justice didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Coal dust: Former mine managers face fraud trial in Kentucky (AP) — A group of four former coal company officials conspired to cheat federal safety regulations to boost their Kentucky company’s profits instead of protecting their workers, federal prosecutors alleged at the start of a criminal fraud trial Monday.The four men are accused of ordering workers to skirt dust sampling regulations in two of Armstrong Coal’s underground mines. The regulations are meant to protect workers against dangerous levels of breathable dust in the air, which can lead to a deadly and incurable disease known as black lung.The trial is a rare prosecution of coal company officials on criminal charges. Federal regulators typically issue fines and shut down mines when they find safety violations, but in this case prosecutors allege that the men broke the law by conspiring to cheat the rules.Assistant U.S. Attorney Corrine Keel said during opening statements Monday that the men took “dangerous shortcuts” when they ordered workers to rig dust sampling, including moving dust sampling devices to cleaner parts of the mine to get lower readings. The devices are known commonly in the industry as dust pumps.“Evidence will show the defendants were supposed to be protecting miners, instead they protected these pumps,” Keel said. Rather than slow production and take measures to clear dust from the mine, “cheating on the sampling was routine,” at the company’s Parkway and Kronos mines, Keel said. Armstrong went bankrupt in 2017. Prosecutors said the incidents occurred at the two mines between 2013 and 2015.Attorneys for the former coal company officials argued Monday that they are innocent of the charges. They said none of the men on trial were directly involved in manipulating readings on the pumps. They are each charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, a felony.

Black Appalachian Coalition aims to shift narrative on energy, other issues - Appalachia’s people of color have borne greater social and economic burdens, on average, than their White counterparts, but their stories are often left out of policy discussions about energy and other issues in the region. A new coalition is now seeking to amplify those unheard voices.The Black Appalachian Coalition is an initiative of Black Women Rising. Bishop Marcia Dinkins, the group’s founder and executive director, recently talked with the Energy News Network about its work to shift from a single story about Appalachia.

• Q: Why do we need conversations with Appalachia’s people of color about the effects of fossil fuels, pollution and other problems?
• A: “We should be having these conversations because Black people are impacted,” Dinkins said. “And when we look at the inequities with regards to exploitation, extraction and exclusion — historically and presently — it continues to divest from these voices.”As she sees it, people often have one view of America and a separate view of rural America that is primarily White. By numbers, Black people are a small minority in many parts of Appalachia. “But it does not mean there should be an absence of these rural voices.”

Supreme Court’s Unusual Decision to Hear a Coal Case Could Deal President Biden’s Climate Plans Another Setback - Just as it became clear that President Joe Biden could not get Congress to agree to a Clean Electricity Payment Program, the Supreme Court announced it would hear a case that could prove just as big a setback in his plans for climate action.The case brought by the coal industry and a coalition of red states resurrects an argument they have been making for years: that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can’t impose major changes on the nation’s energy system without explicit authority from Congress. The foes of climate policy now will have their chance to make their case before a high court majority that is deeply skeptical of the authority of federal regulatory agencies.With Congress so far unwilling to act on Biden’s $150 billion plan to rein in the greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, especially from coal, with incentives for utilities that switch to wind and solar power, the president now faces the prospect of new Supreme Court-imposed limitations on the EPA’s ability to act under current law. “This is a one-two punch,” said Richard Lazarus, a professor at Harvard University who has argued numerous environmental law cases before the Supreme Court. “The timing was not good—to have the budgetary stuff not happen in Congress, and then for the court to basically say, ‘By the way, we may be willing now to slam the door on anything else you’re thinking about doing.'” And it all happened just as Biden was heading to Glasgow, where he hoped to show those gathered for United Nations climate talks that the United States was serious about action.Experts believe Biden still has options for tackling greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector; indeed, Lazarus believes that the EPA—which is still working on new rules to cut carbon emissions from electricity—likely had already factored in the probability that the Supreme Court would be hostile to anything resembling the approach President Barack Obama took in his signature climate policy, the Clean Power Plan. Still, it is more evidence that even though surveys show that more than two-thirds of Americans favor strict limits on carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, Biden is in a fight with a political system geared to favor the fossil fuel status quo.

6 Automakers and 30 Countries Say They’ll Phase Out Gasoline Car Sales - Ford, G.M. and Mercedes agreed to work toward selling only zero-emissions vehicles by 2040. But Toyota, Volkswagen and Nissan-Renault did not join the pledge. — At least six major automakers — including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Volvo — and 30 national governments pledged on Wednesday to work toward phasing out sales of new gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 worldwide, and by 2035 in “leading markets.” But some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, and the Nissan-Renault alliance did not join the pledge, which is not legally binding. And the governments of the United States, China and Japan, three of the largest car markets, also abstained. The announcement, made during international climate talks here, was hailed by climate advocates as yet another sign that the days of the internal combustion engine could soon be numbered. Electric vehicles continue to set new global sales records each year and major car companies have recently begun investing tens of billions of dollars to retool their factories and churn out new battery-powered cars and light trucks. “Having these major players making these commitments, though we need to make sure that they follow through, is really significant,” said Margo Oge, a former senior U.S. air quality official who now advises both environmental groups and auto companies. “It really tells us that these companies, and their boards, accept that the future is electric.” The automakers that signed the pledge accounted for roughly one-quarter of global sales in 2019. The 30 countries that joined the coalition included Britain, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. Earlier counts, based on news releases from conference organizers, had placed the number of national governments at 29 and 31.

U.S. And China Don’t Join Pledge For Fossil Fuel Vehicle Phase-out - Several car manufacturers, large economies, and major cities around the world signed on Wednesday a declaration to work towards phasing out new car and van sales running on fossil fuels by 2040. But the pledge is far from global, despite signatories aiming to work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero-emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets. The declaration lacks the signatures of the world’s two biggest carmakers and major car markets such as the United States and China.“As cities, states, and regional governments, we will work towards converting our owned or leased car and van fleets to zero emission vehicles by 2035 at the latest, as well as putting in place policies that will enable, accelerate, or otherwise incentivise the transition to zero emission vehicles as soon as possible, to the extent possible given our jurisdictional powers,” says the declaration signed by Canada, Norway, the UK, Sweden, and Austria, among others. Cities such as Barcelona, Rome, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Santa Monica, as well as Washington state, California, and New York, also signed the pledge.“As automotive manufacturers, we will work towards reaching 100% zero emission new car and van sales in leading markets by 2035 or earlier, supported by a business strategy that is in line with achieving this ambition, as we help build customer demand,” say the carmakers part of the declaration, which include U.S. carmakers Ford Motor and General Motors, plus Volvo Cars and Mercedes-Benz, among others.The third of Detroit’s Big Three, Stellantis, is not part of the pledge, nor are the world’s first and second biggest automakers in terms of sales – Toyota and Volkswagen.Greenpeace criticized the pledge as falling “far short of what’s needed to align with 1.5 degrees.”“What’s gravely concerning today is that major economies like the US, Germany, China, Japan and manufacturers like VW, Toyota and Hyundai could not even bring themselves to sign a declaration on electric vehicles that promises less than what’s actually required to maintain climate security,” said Martin Kaiser, Executive Director of Greenpeace Germany.

Plans To Dig the Biggest Lithium Mine in the US Face Mounting Opposition - Deep below the tangled roots of the old-growth sagebrush of Thacker Pass, in an extinct super-volcano, lies one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—a key element for the transition to clean energy. But above ground, a cluster of tents has risen in the Northern Nevada desert where, for eight months, environmental and tribal activists are protesting plans to mine it for “green” technologies. “We are not leaving until this project is canceled,” said Max Wilbert, of the Protect Thacker Pass campaign. “If need be, this will come down to direct action. We mean to put ourselves in between the machines and this place.”Plans to dig for the element known as “white gold” have encountered a surge of resistance from tribes, ranchers, residents and activists who say they believe the repercussions of the mine will outweigh the lithium’s contributions to the nation’s transition to less-polluting energy sources than fossil fuels. The opponents view lithium extraction as the latest gold rush, and fear that the desperation to abate the climate crisis is driving a race into avoidable environmental degradation. The flawed assumption behind the “clean energy transition,” they argue, is that it can maintain levels of consumption that are inherently unsustainable.“We want people to understand that ‘clean energy’ is not clean,” Wilbert said. “We’re here because our allegiance is to the land. It’s not to cars. It’s not to high-energy, modern lifestyle. It’s to this place.”Proponents of the mine maintain its potential to address climate change and develop a rich domestic economy around a resource that is currently produced almost entirely outside the United States justify its environmental consequences and potential burden on local communities. Most mainstream environmental organizations and activists, while recognizing the significant environmental burdens from mining for elements required for the energy transition, see them as necessary to wean the world off of the fossil fuels that are driving global warming.Lithium is essential for batteries to power electric vehicles (EVs) and to store energy produced by renewable but intermittent sources like wind and solar. But getting it can have environmental impacts that draw similar pushbacks to those associated with the extraction of fossil fuels—a conundrum that is taking center stage as the mining of minerals critical to new energy technologies comes to the U.S. in a major way for the first time. “The tension between the local environmental and social impacts of mining and the demand for critical minerals is a worldwide problem, not just a challenge in the USA,” said

Foxconn buys Lordstown Motors' Ohio factory for $230M, plans to help produce Endurance electric pickup - Electric light-duty truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors has officially sold its 6.2-million-square-foot Lordstown, Ohio factory to Foxconn, the Taiwanese hardware manufacturing company best known for making Apple's iPhone. The $230 million deal is expected to close by the end of April next year, according to a statement from Lordstown. The terms of the deal are in line with the agreement in principle the two companies entered into on September 30, after which Foxconn promptly bought $50 million in common stock directly from Lordstown at $6.8983 per share. Foxconn is now on the hook for a $100 million down payment by November 18 and subsequent payments of $50 million in both February and April before the final close targeted for April 30, 2022. Foxconn also agreed to pursue a contract agreement with Lordstown to help the struggling EV company manufacture its Endurance pickup truck, according to a statement from Lordstown. The two parties will also pursue a joint venture to co-design and develop commercial fleet vehicle programs for North American and international markets. Finally, once the deal is done, Foxconn will get 1.7 million warrants to buy Lordstown common stock at $10.50 per share for the next three years. Lordstown will keep its electric motor production line and battery module and pack assembly lines.

House lawmakers pitch community solar measure - This summer, Ohio took a big step backward when it comes to renewable energy. Lawmakers approved Senate Bill 52 which grants county officials the opportunity to intercede in the development of solar or wind projects within their borders. Now a different measure working through the House could represent a small step forward. House Bill 450 opens the door to community solar, relatively small installations that could feed power to homes and businesses located nearby. Under the measure, sponsored by Reps. Brian Baldridge, R-Winchester, and Laura Lanese, R-Grove City, state regulators would be cleared to approve up to 3,000 megawatts of solar around the state. One megawatt of solar can power about 190 homes on average in the U.S. Introducing the bill last month, Lanese made a wide-ranging pitch covering everything from job creation to national security, but one of the prevailing policy focuses is brownfields. “Many of us have distressed sites in our districts be they coal ash ponds or discarded landfills sitting empty, void of economic use, and often unsightly barriers to development,” Lanese said. She described a solar facility planned on a former landfill just south of Columbus in her district. Lanese argued the measure would allow developers around the state to turn their “lemons into lemonade.” And the bill gives preferential treatment to those brownfield facilities. A third of the overall wattage allowance is earmarked for those developments, and each individual installation can be larger, too. While the measure caps most arrays at 10 megawatts, brownfield projects can get as large as 45 megawatts.

New Jersey Resources starts up 1st East Coast green hydrogen blending project - New Jersey Resources Corp., or NJR, has placed its green hydrogen pilot project into service, making the gas utility operator the first on the East Coast to blend the zero-carbon fuel into its distribution system. The project went into operation at NJR's Howell, N.J., training facility in October and has since been delivering small amounts of green hydrogen to homes and businesses within subsidiary New Jersey Natural Gas Co.'s service territory. The startup gives NJR a pole position among roughly a dozen gas utility operators that have announced hydrogen pilot projects, as the industry seeks to demonstrate that gas infrastructure can play a role in mitigating climate change. "We believe using the existing infrastructure to deliver decarbonized fuels is going to get us to emissions reductions more quickly," NJR President and CEO Stephen Westhoven said in an interview. "We're going to maintain reliability, and we're going to be able to do it cheaper than if you just pick one path forward alone." At the heart of the project is a 175-kW electrolyzer produced by Norwegian hydrogen equipment manufacturer Nel ASA. The unit produces 65 kilograms per day of hydrogen, which NJR injects into an 8-inch, 60-pounds-per-square-inch distribution line. NJR currently uses renewable electricity from wind resources to power the electrolyzer, which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. It will eventually source electric power from a 414-kW on-site solar array.To start, NJR is flowing a less than 1% blend of hydrogen into the gas grid. Like many of its peers, Westhoven said NJR is seeking to develop expertise in hydrogen project development and pipeline blending in anticipation of broader deployment, which has generated support among lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and NJR's home state. New Jersey legislators are considering a bill that would allow cost recovery for renewable gas investment and procurement. At the federal level, the Biden administration launched a program to drive down the cost of low-carbon hydrogen by 2030, while congressional Democrats are advancing a hydrogen production tax credit.

Manchin’s Favorite Clean-Energy Plan Could Soon Be Obsolete - A bet on `blue hydrogen’ could leave Appalachia with another set of stranded assets in boom-bust plagued shale country.

Lucedale wood pellet plant will start production in 2022 -A new wood pellet plant in Lucedale will be ramping up production in the first half of 2022. Enviva Biomass spokeswoman Maria Moreno told the Northside Sun that the new plant is still under construction and that the company has already hired 87 of the 90 workers planned for the plant. Enviva and Mississippi officials announced in January 2019 that the company — which manufactures wood pellets that fuel overseas power plants — will build a $140 million pellet mill along with a $60 million loading terminal at the port in Pascagoula with about $17 million in incentives from state and local governments. The plant designed to produce more 750,000 metric tons worth of pellets annually. Enviva has 10 mills in the Southeast, including a mill in Amory it acquired in 2010. Maryland-based Enviva Biomass has pellet plants in Ahoskie, North Carolina; Cottondale, Florida; Greenwood, South Carolina; Hamlet, North Carolina, Northampton County, North Carolina; Sampson County, North Carolina; Southampton County, Virginia and Waycross, Georgia. The company also has export terminals in Chesapeake, Virginia; Mobile, Alabama; Panama City, Florida; Wilmington, North Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.Enviva is expected to hire 90 employees in Lucedale, with 300 loggers and truckers possibly finding work supplying logs to the company. Taxpayers will be providing $4 million in grant funds, with $1.4 million for a water well and a water tank, while the other $2.5 million is for other infrastructure needs and site working. George County will provide $13 million in property tax breaks over the next 10 years. These wood pellets are made from low-grade wood fiber unsuitable for lumber because of small size, defects, disease or pest infestation and also parts of trees that can’t be processed into lumber and chips, sawdust and other residue.

New electricity project in WA takes a twist on hydropower | Crosscut A different kind of hydropower project is in development in Central Washington on the cliffs overlooking the Columbia River. Electrical power equivalent to what can be created by a nuclear reactor would be generated by sending water back and forth between two reservoirs.The concept, called “pumped storage,” works similarly to a hydroelectric dam without killing salmon or keeping them from their spawning grounds.It would be nestled between two rows of wind turbines and, while the idea may be environmentally promising, the proposed location of the project is getting pushback. The Yakama Indian Nation considers the site sacred and the tribe wants to protect it.Rye Development of Boston is hoping to build Washington’s first pumped storage project for $2 billion in southern Klickitat County near the John Day Dam and having it in operation between 2028 and 2030.The project would include two lined 600-acre water reservoirs that are 60 feet deep and separated by 2,100 feet in elevation. One reservoir would be on the river shore and the other at the top of a cliff. An underground pipe would connect the two reservoirs with a subterranean electricity generating station along the channel. Water would flow from the upper reservoir to the lower one to power the four-turbine generator station and then would be pumped back up to the upper reservoir in a closed-loop system.

Boston voted against a planned East Boston substation. Does it matter? --Close to 84 percent of voters citywide cast their ballots in opposition to an electric substation that Eversource plans to build along the Chelsea Creek in the Eagle Hill neighborhood of East Boston. Activists say the lopsided result of the nonbinding ballot question sends a loud and clear message about where Bostonians stand on the project. And yet the outcome also begs the question: Will it change anything? Despite years of vocal community opposition, the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board approved the location of the substation back in February, and Eversource is indicating no plans to change course in the wake of last Tuesday’s result. “This substation is a critical component of the electric infrastructure needed to meet the significant demand for electricity in the East Boston area and reliably serve all our customers, while also helping the city achieve its ambitious carbon-reduction goals,” Chris McKinnon, an Eversource spokesman, told Boston.com in a statement, noting that the company is committed to addressing concerns and implementing feedback from the City of Boston and its residents. Local advocates have disputed that the substation is needed. Furthermore, they argue the planned location — across the street from a popular park and playground — raises concerns about climate vulnerability and safety in a low-income neighborhood that is already burdened by pollution from Logan Airport and stores the region’s jet fuel and almost all of its home heating oil. GreenRoots, a local environmental justice group, has filed an appeal of the EFSB’s decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. And in the wake of last week’s election, Wu says she is “committed to exploring every possible tool available to intervene” in the project. “The people of Boston overwhelmingly reject the proposed location of the substation in East Boston in a flood plain, in a residential area, in an environmental justice community — and so do I,” Wu told Boston.com.

Maine DEP leader to take vote into account in CMP Corridor permit — The construction of the Central Maine Power Corridor will continue, but a decision on whether to shut it down is likely to come later this month. Maine’s environmental commissioner Melanie Loyzim said Friday that she’ll take the referendum vote into account when deciding whether to suspend a permit for a $1 billion electric transmission line in western Maine. Loyzim will close comments at the end of a new public hearing on Nov. 22 so she can expedite a decision. Her letter to the New England Clean Energy Connect points to a more aggressive timetable after Maine residents voted Tuesday to halt the project. The law takes effect 30 days after election results are certified. Meanwhile, CMP’s parent company Avangrid is suing over the referendum vote, contending it was unconstitutional. Suspending the corridor project would be a huge blow to Avangrid and the NECEC, which have already spent at least $350 million on it, according to the most recent comments from the company. It would mean stopping contractors and sending hundreds of workers home. But on Friday corridor opponents said this week’s vote, with nearly 60% opposing the corridor, means shutting down the project is exactly what should happen. “It's time for the DEP to prioritize environmental protection over foreign corporate interests, “ Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford said in a virtual press conference organized by the YES on 1 group that led the referendum. "CMP is plowing through the upper Kennebec region with no public land lease and without the approval of Maine voters,” Bennett added. Other opponents, including Sandi Howard of NO CMP Corridor, said the vote sends a clear message. “It's time for CMP to do right by the state and their own customers, so we urge CMP to stop construction now.”

FERC orders GreenHat, traders to pay $243M for alleged PJM market manipulation - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered GreenHat Energy and two of the trading firm's founders to pay $229.6 million in penalties and, along with the estate of a founder, return $13.1 million in unjust profits for allegedly manipulating a PJM Interconnection market. GreenHat's "manipulative scheme" in PJM's financial transmission rights (FTR) market resulted in $179 million in losses that were covered by the grid operator's members, FERC said in a decision released Friday. After GreenHat defaulted on its FTR portfolio in June 2018, PJM andother grid operators responded by beefing up the way they manage credit risks among market participants.. FERC ordered GreenHat, which no longer operates, to pay $179.6 million and company founders John Bartholomew and Kevin Ziegenhorn to pay $25 million each in civil penalties. The agency also ordered GreenHat, the founders and the estate of Andrew Kittell, another founder, to return $13.1 million in unjust profits. Between 2015 and 2018, GreenHat acquired a massive FTR portfolio in PJM, according to FERC. In June 2018, the trading firm defaulted on the portfolio, leaving other PJM members to cover about $179 million in losses. PJM runs the grid and wholesale power markets in 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states and the District of Columbia. FERC contends GreenHat manipulated PJM's market for FTRs, which are used by utilities to hedge against congestion costs related to bottlenecks on the transmission system. Speculators also buy and sell them. GreenHat's alleged market manipulation included acquiring an FTR portfolio made up of primarily long-term FTRs with almost no supporting, upfront capital, planning not to pay for losses at settlement, and obtaining cash for the founders by selling profitable FTRs to third parties at a discount, according to FERC. In another sign of market manipulation, GreenHat bought the FTRs without considering market factors but to solely obtain as many as possible with minimal collateral, FERC said. Also, company officials made false statements to PJM to avoid a planned margin call, according to FERC. GreenHat submitted inflated bids into PJM's long-term FTR auction to drive up the clearing price of FTRs that Shell Energy North America bought from GreenHat and offered for sale in the auction, FERC said.

Could housing be built at New Haven's former English Station power plant site? That depends — A developer representing the current owner of the defunct English Station power plant has presented conceptual drawings for part of the site that “look like Battery Park City” in terms of residential development density, the city’s deputy economic development director said. Steve Fontana said the drawings presented to city officials by GMP Property Solutions “showed us towers that were 10, 12, 13 stories at the tip of Ball Island.” The man-made island, in the middle of the Mill River as it runs through the city’s Fair Haven neighborhood, is the portion of the 8.9-acre site where the hulking remains of the former power plant sit.“I’m not sure that a man-made island made with the kind of fill that was used can support that kind of development and I told the developer that,” Fontana said. But right now, the English Station site is not ready for development. Its former owner, The United Illuminating Co. in Orange, is paying for the massive environmental cleanup of the site, and that project currently is amid legal wrangling. It has been six years since a partial consent order to clean up the property was signed by some former owners of the site with state officials. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is involved in oversight of the cleanup. Elizabeth Benton, a spokeswoman for the office of state Attorney General William Tong, said as part of the DEEP approvals for the remediation at English Station, “a condition was placed on UI requiring them to obtain acknowledgment that the current owner is aware of what the remediation of its property entails and that it will accept and maintain the environmental land use restrictions.” “It is not uncommon to end up in litigation over these restrictions in a situation where the property owner and the party undertaking the clean-up are different,” Benton said. “DEEP made this a condition of the remedial action plan approvals to resolve the issue on the front end rather than the back end when the clean-up is done.” In a statement released Monday, a UI spokesman said the company remains “fully committed to remediating the English Station property and moving forward once all plans are acknowledged by the current property owner and approved by both state and federal regulators.” City and state officials refer to the portion of the property that includes the property’s frontage on Grand Avenue as Parcel A. Benton said officials in Tong’s office “expect an acknowledgment to be signed for the first parcel in the next few days.” Will Healey, a DEEP spokesman, said in a statement that in order for the cleanup plan to be implemented, “an Environmental Land Use Restriction (ELUR) has to be placed on the property as part of the clean-up goals.”

'You start imagining everything you could lose': Woman not done fighting Transource project - Transource Energy on Thursday announced the final route for the Sooner-Wekiwa Project, a new $100 million, 76-mile electric transmission line in Oklahoma that Transource says is designed to save customers hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years. The company announced the project in July and began a public input process that included both in-person open houses, such as one in August at Case Community Park, and virtual town halls. “Public input is essential to siting transmission lines,” Transource Director Todd Burns said last week in a news release. “We met with hundreds of people and considered their comments along with a host of natural, cultural and recreational resources that were identified in the process. “Ultimately, we were able to develop a line route that best balances the overall priorities and the need for reliable, affordable electricity.” But not everyone affected by the project sees it that way. Neva Alsip, who, with her husband, owns Country Gardens Farm, a cottage-esque Airbnb alongside an organic farm on 105 acres near Yale, dismisses the company’s characterization of that process. “They brought a train-carload of people down here from Columbus, Ohio, to give us a dog and pony show and to act sympathetic, and then they do what they were going to do anyway,” she said. The Southwest Power Pool awarded Transource, a partnership between Ohio-based AEP and Evergy, the bid to construct the electric transmission line in October 2020 to address deficiencies in the electric grid and improve consumer access to low-cost power, according to Transource’s news release. Called the Sooner-Wekiwa Project, it includes building 76 miles of 345-kilovolt electric transmission line from Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.’s Sooner Substation in Noble County to American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s Wekiwa Substation on the east side of 209th West Avenue about half a mile north of U.S. 412. OG&E and AEP-PSO will upgrade their respective substations to integrate the facilities into the grid. But it’s not the substations that trouble Alsip; it’s the power line. It’s “still coming across our property,” she said, noting that it and a KAMO Electric Cooperative power line that already bisects her land have regulations in place that prevent building or planting within 100 to 200 feet of the lines. Not that she thinks living under or eating food grown under high-voltage lines is anything anyone would want to do anyway. “Whenever people want to come here, they want it to be healthy,” Alsip said,

Utility Company in Oklahoma May Charge $1,400 Fee to Switch From Gas to Electric - A utility company in Oklahoma could start collecting a $1,400 "exit fee" for customers who switch from gas service to electric. If approved, the new fees could set a precedent for fossil fuel companies and discourage customers from switching to electric heating and stoves. Oklahoma proposed the new exit fees as part of a larger plan for Oklahoma Natural Gas, the state's largest utility company, to sell off its debt. The debt comes from a historic cold snap in February 2021, which caused fuel costs to sharply increase.The exit fee solely targets clients switching to electric and could be approved by December. If so, the fees would go into effect in June 2022. The proposal is currently under review by a judge at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.Environmentalists warn that this move would prevent customers from transitioning to zero-carbon energy sources, as the cost to switch would increase exponentially. The precedent is already set, though, as officials in Texas and Kansas are now considering similar proposals."Exit fees are just one more example of barriers being put in place to make it more difficult for customers to electrify their homes and cut greenhouse gases," Charlie Spatz, a researcher who tracks preemption laws at the Energy and Policy Institute, told HuffPost. "As gas prices rise and consumers are more concerned about their carbon footprints, this exit fee could become a serious financial hurdle locking customers into the gas system."The move to enact exit fees comes after Oklahoma banned new gas hookups in buildings, following a similar decision in Berkeley, California that requires new buildings to have electricity rather than gas. Meanwhile, over 20 states under conservative leadership have made laws to ban such bans on gas. The exit fees are another strategy to keep fossil fuels in power, despite the fact that buildings (including operations and construction) are responsible for nearly 40% of carbon emissions in the U.S. Oklahoma Natural Gas advocated for the state preemption law and didn't request the potential exit fees. But its debts required it to borrow $1.5 billion from Bank of America. Lawmakers that support Oklahoma Natural Gas have instead created ways for the utility company to pay off this debt, first through securitizing. More recently, an Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff member suggested the exit fee as an ongoing way to collect money to pay toward the debts. Oklahoma Natural Gas and its parent company, ONE Gas, don't oppose the idea.

Is coal ash contaminating your drinking water? Ameren responds— The St. Louis area is surrounded by four toxic waste pits that hold coal ash. From arsenic to mercury, the pits contain poisons near our rivers. Environmental groups say Ameren’s records show their pollutants are exceeding safe levels. Ameren, on the other hand, says they are not polluting our water supply and that their families live in the same communities, so they also want safe drinking water. The pits hold the toxic waste left over after burning coal. All of them are next to main water sources, like the Sioux plant which is near where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet. Patricia Schuba, president of the non-profit Labadie Environmental Organization, contends Ameren is not doing enough to protect us from contaminants. “Coal-fired power plants depend on a lot of water to be operational,” said Schuba. “So, historically they’ve been built on our rivers and streams.” Schuba said the contaminants are underground and can come in contact with groundwater. “It’s like taking a teabag and putting it in water,” said Schuba. “It’s steeping in water, in the tea, then ends with toxins in it that are water-soluble sitting in the water for decades. That is eventually going to move off-site.” Washington University Environmental Engineer Peter Goode says we’ve only recently seen more extensive water testing after the 2008 Kingston, Tennessee, disaster. A power plant dike ruptured, pouring billions of gallons of toxic coal ash into the Emory River. “The EPA kind of woke up to the hazards it was posing, and they proposed the first-ever coal ash regulations, and those were adopted in 2015,” said Goode. “So, while coal ash has been contaminating groundwater for many decades, the EPA just kind of got on it in the last decade recognizing the threat that it really posed.”

China's coal imports in October nearly doubled from a year ago — China imported nearly twice as much coal in October as it did a year ago, despite signs the country's power shortage is easing, according to customs data released Sunday. Monthly purchases of coal reached 26.9 million tons in October, up 96.2% from a year ago, according to data accessed through Wind Information. However, that was down 18.2% from 32.9 million tons in September. Chinese authorities have rushed to address a coal shortage in the country since late September, after many factories were forced to cut production. By mid-October, the number of Chinese provinces with significant power shortages fell to two, down from 18 at the start of the month, according to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. On Sunday, China's State Grid said power supply and demand in its areas of operation had returned to normal, but warned of challenges in the coming winter months. Data on China's coal imports by country is due out later in November. The U.S. remained China's largest trading partner on a single-country basis. Imports from the U.S. slowed sharply to about 4.6% year-on-year in October, while exports to the U.S. maintained a high growth pace of nearly 22.7%, China customs data showed. Imports from Australia — once China's largest source of coal — slumped to 24.3% year-on-year growth in October, down from a 50.7% pace in September, the customs data showed. Exports grew by 22.3%, down slightly from 23.8% in September. China's overall imports grew by 20.6% in October, missing expectations of 25% growth, according to Reuters. China's exports rose by 27.1%, beating Reuters' forecast of 24.5%. Exports are particularly important to watch since they have been China's single largest growth driver for the past year and a half, Nomura's chief China economist Ting Lu said in a report Sunday. Excluding a surge in producer prices, Lu estimates China's exports grew by only 7% year-on-year in October. China's producer price index for last month is due out Wednesday.

Macron Confirms: France To Build New Nuclear Reactors For The First Time In Decades -It looks like the love-fest for nuclear is officially back on, complimenting our bull case for uranium that we first touched upon almost a year ago in December 2020. With every passing day, our core thesis set here last December that uranium stocks are poised for a historic surge (see "Uranium Stocks Soar: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze"), is getting closer to widespread adoption.Following up on our previous reporting that France's Emmanuel Macron was considering the use of nuclear in his country's decarbonization plans, it was reported this week that France will in fact build new nuclear reactors, according to Reuters. The reactors will be built to help the country meet its global warming targets and keep prices under control, Macron said this week. He called the decision to continue building new reactors to keep prices down "reasonable", five months before the country's Presidential election.

California should revisit shutting down Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, Stanford, MIT analysis finds --California could reduce its power sector emissions by more than 10% from 2017 levels, save $2.6 billion in power system costs and improve system reliability by delaying the retirement of Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) Diablo Canyon, its last nuclear plant, to 2035, according to a new report from experts at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Regulators in 2018 approved a settlement that would have the nuclear power plant shut down completely by 2025, when the federal license for its second unit expires. The Diablo Canyon facility provides 8% of in-state electricity and 15% of California’s carbon-free electricity, according to the report. PG&E is aware of the study, and its focus remains on safely and reliably operating the plant until the end of its licenses, which expire in 2024 and 2025, spokesperson Suzanne Hosn said in a statement. “The state has made clear its position on nuclear energy, and the plan to retire Diablo Canyon Power Plant has been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission and the state legislature,” Hosn added.The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in 2018 approved the settlement to shut down Diablo Canyon. However, the report noted that several developments have occurred since then that prompted the study team to take another look at the value of the 2,240 MW nuclear facility: In 2018, California committed to supplying all its electricity from zero-carbon sources and achieve climate neutrality by 2045. Two years later, the state experienced blackouts in the midst of a record-breaking heatwave. The study found that if California operated Diablo Canyon through 2045 and beyond, it could save up to $21 billion in power system costs as well as 90,000 acres of land that would otherwise be used for energy production. It also determined that Diablo Canyon could be connected to a hydrogen plant to produce hydrogen at 50% less cost than that produced by solar and wind power. In addition, the plant could be used as a power source for desalination, it noted, providing the state with more fresh water supplies. And operating Diablo Canyon as a “polygeneration facility” — including the production of electricity, desalinated water and clean hydrogen — could increase the value of the plant by nearly 50%, according to the report.

Biden administration draft drops uranium from critical minerals list, reversing Trump - The Biden administration is proposing dropping uranium from the critical minerals list, reversing the Trump administration. A Trump-era executive order required the federal government to publish a list of critical minerals as part of an effort to boost mining. On the list, published in 2018, the Trump administration included uranium, which is used to produce nuclear power. But a new draft of the list from the Biden administration excludes uranium. The administration said the mineral couldn’t be evaluated for the list because of a 2020 law that excluded “fuel minerals” from the definition of critical minerals.When the Trump administration put out its list, it noted that uranium also has “non-fuel” uses. Adding uranium to the minerals list was just one of several moves by the Trump administration to bolster the uranium industry. Last year, it put forward a nuclear plan to boost uranium mining, including the creation of a reserve which would buy uranium from U.S. producers.

Ohio utility regulator lobbied for legislation to save FirstEnergy millions, texts show - Ohio’s top utility regulator quietly lobbied lawmakers to include a provision in the state budget that saved tens of millions for FirstEnergy Corp., text messages from company executives show.FirstEnergy admitted in federal court earlier this year that it funded $60 million to a political nonprofit that wasn’t required to disclose its donors, secretly controlled by former House Speaker Larry Householder. Householder, who has maintained his innocence, allegedly used it for personal and political gain and to engineer passage of House Bill 6, a bailout package worth at least $1.3 billion to FirstEnergy.The company also stated in court documents it paid attorney Sam Randazzo more than $4.3 million in the weeks before Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him in February 2019 as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which regulates power companies. The payment topped off a consulting agreement dating back to 2010 that totaled $22 million. Randazzo, according to FirstEnergy, advanced a variety of favors for the company from his perch as Ohio’s top utility regulator. Randazzo has not been charged with a crime and has denied wrongdoing.Court records indicate prosecutors have mostly focused on two outputs from Randazzo to benefit FirstEnergy: his backstage role shaping HB 6, and his steering of PUCO decisions. The obtained text messages, however, suggest Randazzo also helped convince lawmakers to slip into the 2019 budget a short few sentences worth millions to FirstEnergy.State law requires utilities to demonstrate to the PUCO every year that their earnings aren’t “significantly excessive.” The law doesn’t define the term and leaves it to PUCO to determine via a “significantly excessive earnings test” (SEET). The 2019 budget changed this formula to protect utilities structured like FirstEnergy from issuing PUCO-ordered consumer refunds.

FirstEnergy and AEP still spending big on lobbying - Ohio utilities are still backing candidates or lobbying for legislative actions that could subsidize fossil fuels or slow the growth of renewable energy, according to their latest filings.Ohio’s energy companies have long been active in the political arena. And while non-election years tend to involve much lower levels of campaign contributions, lobbying nonetheless continues on multiple fronts.Earlier this year, FirstEnergy President and CEO Steve Strah announced that the company’s “approach to political and legislative engagement and advocacy … will be much more limited than it has been in the past,” and that there would be “additional oversight and significantly more robust disclosure.” Indeed, spending by the FirstEnergy Corp. Political Action Committee this year actually shows up as a negative number on Federal Election Commission filings. From January through May, FirstEnergy’s PAC voided multiple campaign donation checks from 2020. The committee’s campaign donations drew heightened attention last year after the federal government released its complaint alleging corruption at the heart of Ohio’s nuclear and coal bailout law, House Bill 6.Nonetheless, FirstEnergy reported spending half a million dollars on congressional lobbying during the third quarter of 2021. And its year-to-date filings through Sept. 30 reveal congressional lobbying spending of roughly $1.5 million. In many ways, FirstEnergy is still clinging to “the way they did business 50 years ago,“ said Ashley Brown, a former Ohio public utilities commissioner who now heads the Harvard Electricity Policy Group. “That’s part of why they’re just a lobbying firm with a utility sideline.”“The reported expenses [for congressional lobbying] include a variety of items, including salaries for FirstEnergy employees that are registered lobbyists, leases for company offices in Washington, expenditures for outside firms and travel,” said company spokesperson Mark Durbin.FirstEnergy’s lobbying is especially significant this year “because the company made a big deal about how it has dialed back its political spending, including a freeze on PAC contributions, in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s bribery investigation,” said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy & Policy Institute.So far, FirstEnergy’s congressional lobbying spending for 2021 appears to be on track with the $1.9 million spent for congressional lobbying in 2020 and the $1.8 million spent in 2019.

Consumer advocates: New facts demand fresh FirstEnergy audit (AP) — Advocates for electricity consumers in Ohio are asking the state’s utility regulatory board to reopen one of its audits of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. after discovering evidence that the first review didn’t look at whether money the company has admitted funneling into a $60 million bribery scheme came from its customers.In a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio filing posted Monday, the advocates said the supplemental audit they are requesting also needs to take a second “shocking new revelation” into consideration: A March 2020 text message exchange between FirstEnergy executives detailing favors delivered to the company by the commission’s former chair, Sam Randazzo.The Office of Ohio Consumers’ Counsel and Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council said the texts seem to reflect a corporate separation violation between FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Advisors, “if not other types of violations,” as well as improper communication between the utility and Randazzo, whose job was to regulate the company. The texts were between FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and senior vice president Dennis Chack — who have since been fired.The other piece of evidence included in the filing was a Nov. 13, 2020, email from a commission staffer. The employee answered “no” when potential bidders on the audit asked if the review would involve examining the source of funds for FirstEnergy’s political and charitable spending on House Bill 6, the tainted nuclear plant bailout at the heart of the alleged bribery scheme, and whether those were provided by consumers. The commission has four open and pending investigations, three of which focus on what HB6-related activities may have been included in utility rates. One review found $6.6 million due in refunds and the need to discount $7 million off future annual rate calculations. Another has comments due later this month.

Judge grants class status in FirstEnergy lawsuit -— Ohio ratepayers who argue they were unfairly charged by electric utility FirstEnergy Corp. to compensate for failing nuclear power plants were granted class action status by a federal judge this week. Those ratepayers were forced to pay a monthly surcharge under a state law, House Bill 6, that was passed by state lawmakers in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes from FirstEnergy. The utility agreed to pay $230 million in July to settle criminal charges of conspiracy as a part of a deferred prosecution agreement. U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus in Columbus on Tuesday granted Ohio ratepayers the right to sue FirstEnergy collectively. “Each individual ratepayer may only be out $100 or $200. That’s really not worth their filing a lawsuit and would ensure that the defendant gets away with it. A class action is a device to see that that doesn’t happen,” Toledo-based attorney Richard Kerger said Friday. Mr. Kerger is a part of a small team of lawyers fighting on behalf of ratepayers in federal court. With the class action status certified, discovery for the civil suit began this week, Mr. Kerger said. The next step will be to schedule a pretrial conference, but Mr. Kerger estimated the case is still looking at at least a two-year timeline before it reaches resolution. Mr. Kerger added that progress in the civil case is at least in part dependent on the resolution of ongoing criminal cases connected to the passage of House Bill 6, which was designed to funnel about $1 billion from surcharges on consumer bills to bail out the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Oak Harbor and the Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland, both of which were formerly owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary but now are operated by an independent, offshoot company. In July, 2020, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a veteran Republican lawmaker who spearheaded the law, was federally indicted and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges for allegedly accepting about $61 million in bribes in exchange for the bill’s passage. He was charged alongside four other co-conspirators on July 21. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act civil lawsuit was first filed against FirstEnergy in Cincinnati in July, 2020, by Ohio resident Jacob Smith. Toledo resident James Buldas, 63, jumped into the fray by similarly filing suit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, 10 days after Mr. Householder and his co-conspirators were arrested by the FBI.

Ascent Res. 3Q: Drilled 19 Wells, Produced 1.98 Bcfe/d, Lost $1.3B - Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its third quarter 2021 update yesterday. The company produced 1.98 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q–nearly all of it, 1.83 MMcf/d–was natural gas, the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated $28 million of free cash flow, but like other M-U drillers, hedging bets on derivatives resulted in a huge loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter.

Republican Ohio Congress members fear shutdown of oil and gas pipeline from Canada — Republican members of Congress from Ohio are warning President Joe Biden that shutting down a pipeline that brings oil and gas from Canada into the upper Midwest could cost tens of thousands of jobs, cause fuel price shocks and jeopardize billions of dollars in economic activity. Environmental groups like the Sierra Club have urged decommissioning the aging Enbridge Line 5 pipeline that traverses Wisconsin and Michigan on its way to a refinery in Sarnia, Ontario. The groups say the pipeline has a long history of spills and poses risks to farmland, natural areas, and waterways. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has tried to shut it down by revoking its easement to cross the Straits of Mackinac. However, the company that operates the pipeline, Enbridge Inc., has sued to keep it open. The Canadian government has formally requested negotiations with the United States over the matter under a 1977 transit pipeline treaty. On Monday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing an environmental impact statement on the Line 5 pipeline and the construction of a proposed replacement line that Enbridge says would virtually eliminate the chance of a spill in the Straits because it will be bored through rock as much as 100 feet below the lakebed. Jean-Pierre said the Army Corps’ findings “will help inform any additional action or position the government will take on replacing Line 5. “This is consistent with President Biden’s commitment that every infrastructure project, potential pipelines very much included, must undergo a full and fair review that considers the environmental impact that those projects would have,” Jean-Pierre said. Last week, Republican U.S. House of Representatives members Bob Latta of Bowling Green, Troy Balderson of Zanesville and Bill Johnson of Marietta wrote a letter to Biden to caution against shutting down the pipeline, which opened in 1953. They said that “absent any credible data showing that there is a real safety hazard to continuing Line 5 operations, the intrastate, interstate, and international commerce implications of a possible shutdown should be overwhelming evidence that this path should not be followed.” They also said doing so would worsen shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane.“Line 5 is essential to the lifeblood of the Midwest,” their letter says. “Should this pipeline be shut down, tens of thousands of jobs would be lost across Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the region; billions of dollars in economic activity would be in jeopardy; and the environment would be at greater risk due to additional trucks operating on roadways and railroads carrying hazardous materials.”

Latta, Gavarone urge Biden administration to keep pipeline open - — State Senators Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, and Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, have introduced Senate Resolution 211, urging President Joe Biden to keep the Enbridge Line 5 open. Line 5 is a major oil pipeline connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. A potential shutdown threatens over 1,200 refining jobs at PBF Energy’s Toledo Refining Co. and the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery, and would have a $5.4 billion negative economic impact, according to the senators. Earlier this year, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 41, which urged the governor of Michigan to keep the Enbridge Line 5 open for business, after she ordered the initial shutdown. Senate Resolution 211 is a result of the Biden administration’s admission this week that they were studying the closure of Line 5. “The closure of Line 5 would be devastating for thousands of Ohio workers and would increase already rising energy costs that Ohioans are paying right now,” Gavarone said. Earlier this week, Congressman Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, along with Michigan Congressmen Tim Walberg, Jack Bergman and 10 other House members, sent a letter to Biden regarding reports of the Biden Administration exploring the possibility of taking action to terminate the Enbridge’s Line 5 Pipeline. The potential economic devastation was detailed by the Consumer Energy Alliance in a recent report, stating: “Ohio could lose up to $13.7 billion in economic activity, $147.9 million in state revenue and over 20,000 jobs from the shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline.” In July, Gavarone joined workers in Toledo at an event where hard hats were laid, signifying the jobs that would be lost should Line 5 close. Likely repercussions of the Line 5 closure include higher agricultural and energy prices that would immediately increase the cost of living for Ohio households. “We need to ensure our voices are heard on an issue as important as the operation of Line 5 and I am proud to lead that effort,” Gavarone added.

Ascent Res. 3Q: Drilled 19 Wells, Produced 1.98 Bcfe/d, Lost $1.3B - Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its third quarter 2021 update yesterday. The company produced 1.98 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q–nearly all of it, 1.83 MMcf/d–was natural gas, the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated $28 million of free cash flow, but like other M-U drillers, hedging bets on derivatives resulted in a huge loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter.

16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 1-7 | Marcellus Drilling News - Three weeks ago the total number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica was 22. Two weeks ago it fell to 9. Last week the numbers picked up somewhat, with 16 new permits issued, breaking down as: 12 permits issued in Pennsylvania, 2 permits issued in Ohio, and 2 permits issued in West Virginia.  Google to see embedded tables:

• Pennsylvania New Shale Permits Issued Nov 1-7
• Ohio New Shale Permits Issued Nov 1-7
• West Virginia New Shale Permits Issued Nov 1-7

In PA, use of oil and gas wastewater on dirt roads kicks up dust -The debate over whether to again allow briny, sometimes radioactive, wastewater pumped from conventional oil and gas wells to be spread on Pennsylvania’s dirt roads has become as salty and charged as the material itself. For more than a half-century, the water used to pump oil and gas from the ground has been a savior for rural road managers, with hundreds of millions of gallons spread for free on thousands of miles of back roads to suppress dust in summer and prevent icing in the winter. A legal challenge led the state to ban the practice in 2018. But now environmentalists are squaring off with drillers and some legislators as the state determines whether or not it should resume. In the meantime, most of the drilling wastewater is being stored and reused in conventional oil and gas wells or taken to wastewater treatment plants. In 2018, Duke researchers discovered a buildup of radioactivity in three sites downstream of a treatment plant that handled wastewater from these conventional oil and gas wells. Approximately 240 million gallons of drilling wastewater were spread on Pennsylvania roads from 1991–2017, according to records, though the practice started before that. Twenty-one of the state’s 67 counties, mainly in northwestern parts of the state, have used the water. The drilling industry thought it was making headway — a bill to allow road spreading passed the state House in May — until a study by Penn State scientists released in August found that the drilling wastewater spread on western Pennsylvania roads was at least three times less effective than commercial alternatives and can actually damage the dirt roads. Also, the salty water is laden with lead, arsenic and other pollutants, and it easily washes off roads into nearby streams and sometimes lingers in the air, the study found. Researchers also measured levels of radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element and carcinogen, and found it at levels higher than regulatory health standards allow.

Diversified Energy CEO Rusty Hutson talks ESG and gas producer's innovation - Diversified Energy Co. is making a major commitment to increasing its ESG efforts in Appalachia, where it has tens of thousands of oil and natural gas wells, many conventionally drilled and decades old.The company is one of the top 20 natural gas producers in Pennsylvania, but it doesn't drill wells. Instead, Diversified takes a different approach: Since its founding in 2001, Diversified has built up a stable of 67,000 conventional and unconventional wells, many conventional gas wells that have been drilled decades ago and dot the landscape particularly in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. By sheer number of wells and the benefits of scale, Diversified has built up its portfolio by acquiring older traditional and now more recent Marcellus and Utica shale wells. It has acquired wells from many of the region's biggest shale companies, including EQT Corp. and CNX Corp., among others. All those wells provide a logistical challenge when it comes to greenhouse gas reduction. Putting continuous monitoring equipment on each of the wells, which is the emerging standard of the bigger shale companies that have pads with six or more wells each, would be cost prohibitive. In an interview Tuesday with the Pittsburgh Business Times, Diversified CEO Rusty Hutson Jr., said it wouldn't be needed: While there are many more legacy conventional wells in Appalachia even a decade and a half of unconventional drilling in the Marcellus and Utica, Hutson said conventional wells aren't the source of the bulk of the greenhouse gas emissions. Hutson calls them de minimis, minor in the larger picture."When you look at the methane that is being emitted on those smaller wells in conventional Appalachia, it's a very small, minute, amount," Hutson said. But Hutson and Diversified are committed to doing their part to reduce greenhouse gas and methane emissions. It began a pilot project to outfit some its field workers — about 100 in Pennsylvania and West Virginia — with portable methane emission detection devices. The field workers, who visit and tend to Diversified's oil and gas wells, bring the devices with them and test each well to determine if there's a leak. Hutson said that he expects it'll be about a year before Diversified can get to every one of the wells with a leak detection check. But the company believes any leak detected will be quickly and easily taken care of: Most leaks on conventional wells can usually be fixed with the turn of a wrench or other small effort, he said.

Abarta Oil & Gas Co. LLC files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - Abarta Oil & Gas Co. LLC, a Pittsburgh-based oil and gas drilling company, filed late Sunday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The company, also known as Abarta Energy and headquartered at 200 Alpha Drive in Pittsburgh, reported liabilities of $25.4 million and assets of $4.2 million. In court filings, Abarta Oil & Gas said it wants to sell its remaining oil and gas assets and wind down its business that stretches back to the late 1970s and included wells in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. It's asking the Bankruptcy Court's approval for the sale of its interest in a 1,722-acre natural gas field and gathering pipeline in Bradford County. Its parent company is Abarta Inc., to which it owes $10 million. By far the largest creditor is Dominion Field Services, a pipeline company based in Pittsburgh whose parent company is energy giant Dominion (NYSE: X). Abarta Oil & Gas owes $2.8 million as part of a settlement to Dominion made in 2016 when Abarta terminated a gas transmission agreement in Pennsylvania. It also owes $170,000 to another pipeline company, BHE Eastern Gas Transmission, from an agreement that wasn't picked up when Abarta Oil & Gas sold oil and gas assets in West Virginia. In a filing Monday, Abarata Oil & Gas said its trouble began in 2015 during an earlier period of natural gas commodity declines, which dragged on the company as well as what it termed in a filing as substantial debt. "(Its) obligation to Dominion under the Dominion Settlement, pushed the limits of the Debtor's ability to sustain the weight of its capital structure," CEO and President James A. Taylor said in a bankruptcy filing. Abarta Oil & Gas, which now has nine employees, posted a net operating loss of $4.8 million on $4.2 million in revenue in 2020 and a net loss of $800,000 on revenue of $3.3 million in the first nine months of 2021. Taylor said the sharp drop in oil and gas prices led the company to decide in 2019 to sell off its oil and gas properties "like many other similarly situated exploration and production companies." While it has sold $5.5 million in assets between then and now worth about $7.7 million in future plugging of old wells, efforts to sell its interest in the 1,722-acre gas field and gathering pipeline weren't successful even though there was a willing buyer. A hearing on the asset sale is set for Nov. 19 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

ISO-NE Move Puts New Gas-Fired Plant in Doubt - The future of a natural gas-fired power plant planned in northeastern Connecticut is in jeopardy after regional grid operator ISO-New England (ISO-NE) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to end a capacity contract with the project. Florida-based NTE Energy’s plan to build the 650-MW Killingly Energy Center has been delayed due to permitting issues. NTE Energy secured an obligation in ISO-NE’s 2019 energy supply auction for the 2022-23 supply period, meaning it agreed to produce a certain amount of power at a specific cost that would be funneled into the larger New England power grid. ISO-NE in a Nov. 4 letter to FERC asked the agency for authorization to cut Killingly from future power considerations, known as Capacity Supply Obligation (CSO) plans. The ISO said its monitoring of the project’s progress found NTE Energy would not hit its “critical path schedule milestones” until more than two years after the start of the agreed-on commitment period. ISO-NE in its filing said, “Killingly was required to achieve commercial operation on June 1, 2022.” The Killingly Energy Center most recently was expected to begin operating in 2024, according to NTE Energy’s project website, which said construction would begin this year, although no ground has been broken. ISO-New England said that projects that secure funding through the auction process must meet development milestones, including financing, permitting, orders for major equipment, and operational startup, but Killingly remains in limbo, prompting the grid operator to ask FERC to end the contract for the plant. The grid operator’s letter to FERC in part says that after discussions with NTE Energy, ISO-NE is “exercising its right to seek to terminate Killingly’s CSO.” FERC’s acceptance of ISO-NE’s request would enable the grid operator to “draw down the financial assurance” NTE Energy was required to provide to back up the utility’s commitment to the project.

Passaic County commissioners delay vote on controversial gas pipeline proposal -Passaic County commissioners will wait at least two more weeks before taking a stance on a controversial proposal to pump more natural gas through a North Jersey pipeline. Commissioners plan to revisit the issue during their Nov. 23 meeting after spending two hours Tuesday night hearing from project representatives and public opponents regarding Tennessee Gas Pipeline's East 300 Upgrade Project. The project would construct a new electric-driven compressor turbine in West Milford. It would also upgrade two existing gas-fired compressor stations. One is in the Sussex County town of Wantage. The other is in Pennsylvania. Project opponents have sent hundreds of emails to county commissioners detailing their short- and long-term safety and environmental concerns. During the commissioners' Tuesday meeting, officials from the pipeline company and union representatives said the low-impact project would create jobs and energy while relying on existing infrastructure. "When we look at expansion of our system, we look at how can we expand that system with the least impacts possible," said Allen Fore, vice president of public affairs for pipeline parent company Kinder Morgan. Commissioners expressed a desire to gather more information and receive more responses from company officials in deciding to delay voting on a proposed resolution opposing the project on Tuesday. Still, Commissioner Terry Duffy said he remains wary of the company, which was fined for not properly managing environmental impacts during the installation of a pipeline segment through the region a decade ago. "We're dealing with a company that didn't do the right thing," Duffy said. "One mishap and everything is for naught. We're talking about drinking water. We're talking about the environment."

More than 14,640 Massachusetts gas pipeline repairs could cost billions of dollars just as state looks to cut carbon emissions in half - In 2020, an estimated 5,753 tons of methane leaked from roughly 24,547 subterranean pipeline leaks across Massachusetts.In addition, over 9,900 pipelines were repaired last year, while 14,640 were still in need of repair. And the total cost of fixing the problem could be over $20 billion, an amount rivaling the Big Dig, according to a study by the Gas System Enhancement Program published in October.This $20 billion estimate is based on current, approved rates of return and unit costs, and assumes that GSEP-funded infrastructure is depreciated by 2050, the year that Massachusetts has targeted to achieve net-zero emissions.The cost of infrastructure replacement in the gas distribution system has been rising sharply, with the cost of replacing one mile of main distribution pipeline increasing on the order of 17% annually for the largest investor-owned gas companies, according to the study.The report warns that the costs of pipeline replacement will ultimately be borne by a shrinking customer base as the state moves away from natural gas.The report was presented to the advocacy group Gas Leak Allies which promotes environmental justice, advocates for quality jobs and focuses on energy solutions. The GSEP was introduced as part of a 2014 gas leaks law that forces gas providers to submit yearly data to the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) on its plans to repair or replace aging natural gas infrastructure in the interest of public safety and to reduce lost and unaccounted for gas.

‘Residents would not reap the benefit’: Longmeadow Select Board chair critiques the Eversource gas pipeline proposal - The chair of the Longmeadow Select Board, Marc A. Strange, issued a statement that was read out during the Eversource Gas open house that was critical of the proposed pipeline and referred to it as “redundant.” “Are we talking about a natural gas disaster, like the once in a lifetime 2010 tornado? Are we talking about an earthquake, an act of terrorism? Any of these hypothetical events seem highly unlikely to occur. So again, without a risk assessment, we’re left with speculation that some event may occur that results in a total loss of the Memorial bridge pipe and necessitate a new pipeline,” said Strange in the statement provided. “The truth is that nothing is broken here that needs to be fixed.” Eversource has stated that the project is not an expansion program and reiterated that costs for the proposals that are still being discussed range from roughly $32.5 million to $44.6 million. The exact costs for each option are still being discussed internally at the energy company. The 16-inch diameter proposed gas pipeline would be constructed underground in state and local streets between the existing Eversource Bliss Street POD (point of delivery) Station in Springfield and the new proposed Longmeadow POD Station, according to the website description. On Oct. 9, 2020, Eversource purchased the former Columbia Gas of Massachusetts for $1.1 billion.

Piedmont Natural Gas selects route for critical Greenville County, S.C., – After months of collaborating with local community leaders, government officials and individual landowners, Piedmont Natural Gas today said it plans to locate its Greenville County Reliability Project in the Department of Transportation (DOT) right of way running along Highway 290. The new infrastructure project is vital to meeting the demand for natural gas resulting from growth in and around Greenville.Those familiar with the project will recognize this as Piedmont’s proposed blue route. The company offered three different routes, labeled as red, green and blue, and invited landowners, business operators along each route and other community stakeholders to submit feedback and share any additional details to consider when evaluating the route options. After reviewing community input as well as environmental impact, safety, cost and reliability, the blue route, which is roughly 12 miles long, beginning near the post office in Taylors, S.C., and ending off Highway 25, emerged as the most preferred route. Construction of the Greenville County Reliability Project is still more than a year away with land surveys set to begin early in 2022. Piedmont says it will communicate directly with landowners and businesses along the route before land surveys begin and throughout the process until the project is complete. The company also will continue posting up-to-date project information on its website at piedmontng.com/Greenville.

Colonial Pipeline buying more land near massive gasoline spill in Huntersville - Colonial Pipeline has bought yet more property in Huntersville, near the site of North Carolina’s largest gasoline spill in history — 25.8 acres for nearly $1.7 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records.This brings the total spent by the company on property buyouts near the spill site to roughly $2.5 million.The purchase, which occurred in September, includes land, a house and a barn on Huntersville-Concord Road, just feet from the Oehler Nature Preserve, where a pipeline leak discharged at least 1.3 million gallons of gasoline into the groundwater in August 2020.The properties lie within the groundwater monitoring zone. High levels of benzene, xylene, toluene and other petroleum-related chemicals have been found in monitoring wells at the site.The accident occurred Aug. 14, 2020, when a portion of the pipeline broke, releasing the gasoline. It is unclear how long the pipeline had been leaking; two teenage boys riding ATVs saw gasoline gurgling from beneath the ground and reported it to their parents, who notified the authorities.Colonial Pipeline says no drinking water wells have been contaminated; however, state environmental officials have directed the company to extend residential private well sampling radius an additional 500 feet, to 2,000 feet from the spill site. Petroleum contamination has been found beneath the water table.These are the latest acquisitions by Colonial, which began buying out private landowners a year ago. At that time, the company had bought three houses and their acreage near the spill site for nearly $1 million. “In anticipation of additional work related to the ongoing assessment and remediation activities, Colonial has worked with some landowners to purchase property in the area of the release site,” a Colonial spokesperson wrote in an email at the time. “This will provide us with a safe workspace to support those operations and minimize inconvenience to those living in close proximity to the location.”Last week the NC Department of Environmental Quality took legal action against Colonial in Mecklenburg Superior Court. State officials alleged that the company is “failing to meet their obligations” in its clean up of the spill, the nation’s largest such onshore accident since 1991.

Colonial Pipeline Responds to Gas Pipeline Leak By Buying Up Surrounding Property - One of the most easily understood, but almost never enacted, concepts in environmental protection is that you should clean up your own mess. Your oil company poisons the groundwater, or your pipeline bursts in someone else’s pasture, you pay to make the folks whole again. How is this not the simplest form of justice short of a punch in the nose? Yet, the extraction industries have spent millions of dollars, and thousands of billable hours, devising ways to stick the American taxpayer with the bill for their malfeasance—or, at the very least, tennis-shoe’ing their own responsibility by ducking into bankruptcy, or into a maze of shell corporations and offshore holding companies. Down in North Carolina, however, the company responsible for a massive gasoline leak—kids on ATVs discovered it because gasoline was bubbling out of the ground—has found an even simpler way around its responsibility. Apparently, it has decided that it’s cheaper to buy all the land that its gasoline wrecked than to immediately clean it up. From NC Policy Watch: Colonial Pipeline has bought yet more property in Huntersville, near the site of North Carolina’s largest gasoline spill in history — 25.8 acres for nearly $1.7 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records. This brings the total spent by the company on property buyouts near the spill site to roughly $2.5 million. The purchase, which occurred in September, includes land, a house and a barn on Huntersville-Concord Road, just feet from the Oehler Nature Preserve, where a pipeline leak discharged at least 1.3 million gallons of gasoline into the groundwater in August 2020. The company claims that it’s buying the land to clean it up, and it can pretty much money-whip most of the current landowners into selling off their property. But these transactions also mean that the company can take its own sweet time about it. And the state authorities are already looking on the cleanup activities with a decidedly skeptical squint. Colonial Pipeline says no drinking water wells have been contaminated; however, state environmental officials have directed the company to extend residential private well sampling radius an additional 500 feet, to 2,000 feet from the spill site. Petroleum contamination has been found beneath the water table. These are the latest acquisitions by Colonial, which began buying out private landowners a year ago. At that time, the company had bought three houses and their acreage near the spill site for nearly $1 million. I don’t know what’s more aggravating—the arrogance of the company’s believing that its endless bankroll can buy its way out of anything, or the complete confidence with which the company acts as though it can.

St. Louis County Council plans hearing over Spire’s pipeline warning — The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday grilled a Spire Missouri official over an email sent to residents last week warning of potential natural gas outages this winter, with the council later pledging to hold a hearing to get to the bottom of the issue.Spire on Nov. 5 sent an email to its more than 600,000 customers warning of a potential gas shutoff: “While the STL Pipeline continues to operate today, it is now in jeopardy.” The email was sent after the U.S. Supreme Court last monthrejected the company’s emergency request to keep operating a 2-year-old bistate pipeline. The company said it could be forced to stop operating the pipeline on Dec. 13 unless the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission extends an emergency order granted in September. The decision followed a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in June, in a lawsuit brought by an environmental group, that FERC didn’t adequately demonstrate a need for the 65-mile pipeline.The Environmental Defense Fund, the group that sued over the pipeline, has said Spire’s email warning to customers was overblown because FERC is likely to allow the pipeline to continue to operate through the winter.Under council questioning on Tuesday, David Yonce, a Spire planning manager, said that about 400,000 homes in the region could lose gas supply eventually.Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, asked whether the email was “about putting pressure on FERC.”“What is the purpose of sounding the alarm?” Fitch said. Yonce said Spire believed the email “was the prudent thing to do because if we didn’t, if this does happen ... we would have been put on the spot for not communicating the risk,” he said.

Natural Gas Drilling Picks Up in US as Activity Climbs Onshore and in GOM - The U.S. natural gas rig count rose two units to 102 for the week ended Friday (Nov. 12) as gains both on land and offshore headlined continued gains in domestic drilling activity for the period, the latest Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) data show. Four oil-directed rigs were also added in the United States for the week, lifting the overall domestic tally six units to 556, 244 rigs ahead of year-ago totals. Four rigs were added on land, with two added in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the BKR numbers, which are partly based on data from Enverus. Seven horizontal rigs joined the patch domestically, alongside two directional units. Partially offsetting was the departure of three vertical rigs.The Canadian rig count jumped eight units higher to end the week at 168, with six oil-directed rigs and two gas-directed rigs added for the period. The Canadian count finished the week 79 rigs ahead of its year-earlier count of 89.Broken down by major play, the Cana Woodford and Utica Shale each posted net increases of two rigs week/week, while the Ardmore Woodford dropped two rigs to fall to zero overall. The Barnett and Eagle Ford shales, and the Permian Basin, each added one rig to their respective totals.In the state-by-state breakdown, Texas saw a 10-rig jump in its count for the week, reaching 264 rigs, versus 145 at this time last year. New Mexico, meanwhile, recorded a five-rig decline in the latest BKR count.Elsewhere among states, Ohio added two rigs for the period, while Louisiana added one. One rig exited West Virginia for the week, according to BKR.According to the most recent inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), domestic oil stocks increased for a third straight week as producers held output at elevated levels – at least by 2021 standards — while high prices curbed gasoline and jet fuel demand.

Near-Record Production, Persistent Mild Outlook Send Natural Gas Futures Lower - Natural Gas Intelligence - Natural gas futures teetered between gains and losses much of Monday as traders contrasted rising production and mild fall weather forecasts against strong demand for U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The December Nymex contract, however, ultimately settled at $5.427/MMBtu, down 8.9 cents day/day amid domestic demand weakness. January fell 12.1 cents to $5.505. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. shed 4.5 cents to $5.070. Comfortable weather permeated most of the Lower 48 to start the week, spurring relatively little heating or cooling demand. Additionally, forecasts over the weekend were essentially unchanged from last Friday, leaving modest gas-weighted degree day expectations through mid-November. This left the futures market waiting for more impressive cold to develop, Bespoke Weather Services said. “The modeling still advertises a return to a blocky pattern, one which could deliver some cold as we head into late month, but we have seen this modeled for a while now with no material gains in demand showing up,” Bespoke said. “It is unclear if there is simply a model bias toward showing too much cold potential a couple of weeks out, or if they simply were too quick on the trigger.” Beyond weather, production estimates on Monday hovered near 95 Bcf and around 2021 highs. RBN Energy LLC analyst Sheetal Nasta noted that large publicly traded producers are under pressure from investors to hold the line on oil and gas output and invest instead in renewable sources of energy. But private companies are responding to strong demand in 2021 overall – and expectations for more to come this winter. While sustained production growth remains a wildcard, “U.S. natural gas supply is primed for growth, with the Lower 48 supply/demand balance the most bullish it has been in years,” Nasta said. “On top of that, exports are very strong and poised for growth, with international prices setting records.” LNG feed gas volumes climbed above 11 Bcf Monday, as export destinations in Asia and Europe continued to call for more U.S. supplies of the super-chilled fuel as winter approaches. EBW Analytics Group noted that the strong feed gas demand trends indicated Train 6 at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal is starting up. This makes “a fresh all-time LNG record likely when Freeport returns to full strength,” Goldman Sachs Groups analysts noted that, while overseas prices eased some last week after Russia vowed to ramp up gas deliveries via pipeline to Europe, they expect upward pressure to quickly resume and demand for U.S. LNG to remain elevated.

U.S. natgas drops 8% to 6-week low on rising output, drop in European gas (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures fell over 8% to a six-week low on Tuesday on rising output and expected lower demand over the next two weeks because of increased nuclear and wind power generation. In addition, U.S. prices followed global gas prices lower - European gas plunged over 10% - after Russian gas flows resumed to Germany, raising hopes that Moscow is acting on a pledge to increase supplies and ease concerns about shortages and high prices as winter approaches. "Russia’s Gazprom has begun to supply natural gas to several European facilities," which should reduce Europe's reliance on U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG). Those U.S. LNG exports were rising this week now that the sixth train at Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana started producing LNG in test mode. Analysts have said that European inventories were about 20% below normal for this time of year, compared with 3% below normal in the United States. Gas prices in Europe and Asia were still trading about five times higher than in the United States. Front-month gas futures fell 44.8 cents, or 8.3%, to settle at $4.979 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). That was the lowest close for the contract since Sept. 23 and the biggest daily percentage decline since early October when it dropped over 10%. Data provider Refinitiv said output in the U.S. Lower 48 states has averaged 95.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in November, up from 94.1 bcfd in October and a monthly record of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019. Refinitiv projected average U.S. gas demand, including exports, would jump from 95.8 bcfd this week to 105.1 bcfd next week as the weather turns colder and homes and businesses crank up their heaters. Those forecasts were lower than Refinitiv projected on Monday, owing to a decline in expected power generator gas demand. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants has averaged 11.0 bcfd so far in November, up from 10.5 bcfd in October. That compares with a monthly record of 11.5 bcfd in April. With gas prices near $26 per mmBtu in Europe and $32 in Asia, compared with about $5 in the United States, traders said buyers around the world will keep purchasing all the LNG the United States can produce.

US natural gas storage fields inject 7 Bcf as heating season nears | S&P Global Platts - US natural gas stocks increased by single digits as the East region reported a withdrawal, but at least one more net injection remains while global gas demand keeps domestic prices much higher than normal to start the heating season. Storage fields injected 7 Bcf for the week ended Nov. 5, according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration on Nov. 10. It was much less than the 15 Bcf build expected by a survey of analysts by S&P Global Platts. The 7 Bcf build for the week was also lower than the five-year average injection of 25 Bcf, ending the eight-week streak of larger-than-normal storage injections that began in early September and reduced the storage inventory deficit from minus 231 Bcf to minus 101 Bcf by late October. The inventory deficit has widened once again. Working gas inventories increased to 3.618 Tcf. US storage now stands 308 Bcf, or 7.8%, less than the year-ago level of 3.926 Tcf and 119 Bcf, or 3.2%, less than the five-year average of 3.737 Tcf. US supply and demand balances tightened sharply during the latest storage week, with strong gains in heating demand pushing the market to be nearly 7 Bcf/d tighter compared with the week before, even amid rising production, according to Platts Analytics. Total supplies for the week averaged 700 MMcf/d higher on strengthening output in the Southeast and Texas cell regions. Downstream, total demand increased by about 7.4 Bcf/d as residential-commercial demand picked up 7.1 Bcf/d week over week and industrial demand added 1.1 Bcf/d over the same period, helping soften the blow of a roughly 800 MMcf/d decline in pipeline flows to Mexico. The NYMEX Henry Hub December contract fell 8 cents to $4.90/MMBtu, in trading following the release of the EIA's storage report. The remaining winter strip, December through March, shed 8 cents as well. These latest price developments mark a dramatic shift from just two weeks ago, when the November 2021 Henry Hub contract settled at $6.20/MMBtu. Early cold weather in November this year has been displaced by milder temperatures, and weather forecasts continue to show sustained (relative) warmth possibly through the end of the month, likely paving the way for a prolonged injection season as production has also been rising since the beginning of the month. Platts Analytics' supply and demand model currently forecasts a 20 Bcf build for the week ending Nov. 12. This would stand in contrast to the 12 Bcf withdrawal reported on average over the past half decade.

UPDATE 2-U.S. natgas jumps over 5% on forecasts for higher demand (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures gained more than 5% on Thursday, rebounding from the previous session's slide to a seven-week low as forecasts called for higher demand, European prices rose and traders looked toward storage reports showing withdrawls from gas stocks. Front-month gas futures rose 26.9 cents, or 5.5%, to settle at $5.149 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), snapping a four-session losing streak. Data provider Refinitiv projected average U.S. gas demand, including exports, would jump from 96.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this week to 104.1 bcfd next week on heating demand as the weather turns seasonally colder. "The front month fell 84 cents in 4 trading days, and many traders felt the bearish trend had gone far enough," U.S. prices were also boosted by an uptick in European gas, which spurred earlier strong rallies this year. The Title Transfer Facility in the Netherlands, the European benchmark, rose by about 5% on Thursday. Gas prices in Europe and Asia are trading about five times higher than in the United States. In October, global gas prices hit record highs as utilities around the world scrambled for liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to replenish low stockpiles in Europe and meet insatiable demand in Asia, where energy shortfalls have caused power blackouts in China. "Yesterday's low injection number was marginally friendly as it reflects the market is still pretty tight, so Mother Nature is going to tell us which way this market is going to go next," Refinitiv forecast that the weather over the next two weeks would be in line with seasonally lower temperatures. U.S. gas stocks increased last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday, but the build was smaller than usual for this time of year and was less than forecast. Analysts said the market was preparing for the next set of storage reports, as they said the week ending Nov. 19 is likely to be the start of the withdrawal season in natgas. Meanwhile, Refinitiv said output in the U.S. Lower 48 states has averaged 96.1 bcfd so far in November, up from 94.1 bcfd in October and a monthly record of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019.

Weekly Natural Gas Prices Wobble as Demand Uncertainty Reins -Weekly natural gas cash prices slumped amid unseasonably mild temperatures and light heating demand throughout the eastern United States.NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the Nov. 8-12 period dropped 59.5 cents to $4.690.Conditions were comfortable throughout the Lower 48 early in the week and, while colder air blew into the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes by midweek, benign conditions permeated the densely populated eastern reaches of the country through the covered period.Hubs across the Lower 48 had backtracked by the week’s close. Chicago Citygate fell 60.0 cents to $4.740, while Waha shed 49.5 cents to $4.355 andOGT lost 77.0 cents to $4.295.“This time of year it’s all about the weather, and we need to see more cold before these prices can move up and sustain momentum,” The December Nymex contract struggled through most of the week as traders mulled hazy weather outlooks, rising production and a November injection of natural gas into storage. The prompt month settled at $4.791/MMBtu to close the trading week on Friday, down 35.8 cents on the day and down 13% from the prior week’s finish.Forecasters anticipated stronger demand early in the week ahead, with cold air in the Midwest spreading into the East over the weekend, though it was not likely to last long, NatGasWeather said. “National demand will drop to light levels mid-week due to a warm break across the southern and eastern U.S.,” the forecaster said. “Demand will return to seasonal levels Nov. 19-21 as a cool shot sweeps across the Midwest with lows of 10s to 30s. However, a swing back to lighter demand is possible around Nov 23-25 and where the pattern is again not cold enough.”For all the headwinds facing the futures market, spot prices advanced on Friday amid a late-week blast of winter-like weather. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. gained 9.5 cents to $4.690 for weekend through Monday delivery.NatGasWeather noted that comfortable highs of 50s to 80s permeated the southern and eastern expanses of the Lower 48 on Friday. However, the wintry conditions that swept across the upper reaches of the nation’s midsection were spreading east and projected to deliver freezing lows to portions of the heavily populated East Coast.This was enough to get furnaces cranking, NatGasWeather said, propelling cash prices, particularly in the East.At the close of trading Friday, Cove Point was up 37.0 cents day/day to average $4.800, while Columbia Gas was ahead 37.0 cents to $4.455 andMillennium East Pool was up 57.5 cents to $4.390. Physical prices in the West proved the exception on the day, with SoCal Citygate down 88.5 cents to $5.090.

US weekly LNG exports increase, Henry Hub spot price falls - LNG exports from the U.S. increased this week, while Henry Hub spot prices fell, according to weekly data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA reports that U.S. LNG exports climbed this week from the last report week. Twenty-two LNG vessels departed the United States in the reporting period of 28 October to 3 November 2021. Six departed from Sabine Pass, five each from Corpus Christi and Freeport, four from Cameron, and one each from Cove Point and Elba Island. The vessels held a combined LNG-carrying capacity of 80 billion cubic feet. On the other hand, the Henry Hub spot price fell from $5.86 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $5.59/MMBtu this week. Furthermore, natural gas deliveries to U.S. LNG export facilities (LNG pipeline receipts) averaged 10.9 Bcf/d, or about 0.3 Bcf/d higher than last week.

Cheniere Reports Record LNG Exports, but Steep Loss on Volatile Natural Gas Prices - Cheniere Energy Inc. loaded a record 141 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes in the third quarter as prices skyrocketed and global demand increased ahead of the winter. Management expects more of the same in the coming months. “In the short term, we have witnessed significant volatility and record prices for LNG and natural gas across the globe,” said CEO Jack Fusco during a call to discuss quarterly results. “With storage levels in key demand centers below historic levels as we approach the winter season, we expect demand and prices to remain elevated into 2022. Cheniere said global LNG consumption jumped 7% in the third quarter as markets across the globe competed for energy amid other commodity shortages, a need for cleaner fuels and resurgent demand as economies recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. European and Asian benchmarks touched highs of more than $50/MMBtu during the most chaotic stretches of trading during the period, reversing the historic lows of last year when they traded near $2. Chief Commercial Officer Anatol Feygin warned the market’s volatility could threaten demand for natural gas. “Sustained market volatility could be disruptive for our industry as it potentially incentivizes end-use customers to utilize cheaper, higher polluting fuels in the shorter-term,” he said. Feygin stressed that growing U.S. exports have helped to offset declines at legacy LNG facilities across the world, proving “instrumental in providing much-needed supplies to the market.” He said 28 million tons (Mt) of LNG capacity have come online in the last two years, most of which is in the United States, offsetting the 19 Mt decline in production at legacy plants over the same period. “This new supply has played a critical role in alleviating the global supply shortage while helping mitigate some of the underlying volatility,” Feygin added. A gap in supply that has emerged in recent years with the delay of project final investment decisions and sky high prices has brought long-term buyers back to the table. Cheniere signed agreements for offtake with ENN Natural Gas Co. Ltd. and Glencore plc in recent weeks. About 90% of the output from Cheniere’s nine liquefaction trains are now under contract, management said.

New Fortress Energy Sees Significant Gap in Global LNG Supply - Management for New Fortress Energy Inc. expects liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand to “materially” exceed supply through 2039, saying in the third quarter 2021 earnings report that underinvestment in fossil fuels has left the global market vulnerable. Investment in oil and gas projects, according to NFE, has dropped sharply in recent years, going from $800 billion in 2014 to $400 billion today. Meanwhile, climate-related events like a lack of rainfall in Brazil and inclement weather in China are happening more frequently and jolting the market. Global gas prices have skyrocketed this year in response. The trend has NFE positioned to match growing demand, particularly in underserved markets. Ongoing energy shortages in Brazil have led to emergency power measures, including an auction in the south and southeast part of the country in October. NFE said 1.2 GW of new power projects were awarded at the auction. The company’s Santa Catarina terminal under development in the southern region of Brazil could supply more than 900,000 gallons/day of LNG to the new power plants. “I think our terminal is very well situated,” said NFE managing director Andrew Dete during a call to discuss quarterly results. “Outside of some very limited domestic gas, our LNG terminal is really the main source of supply for fuel to these new power plants.” South America has imported significant amounts of LNG this year, particularly in Brazil. Cargo arrivals have hit record levels amid a historic drought that has left hydropower reservoirs depleted and created power shortages. NFE said 18 million gallons/day of LNG are being imported into Brazil to meet energy needs, compared to historical levels of about 4 million gallons/day.

EOG Eyeing 'Incredible Value' for LNG Exports from Permian, Eagle Ford and Dorado -- Houston-based EOG Resources Inc., one of the Lower 48’s biggest oil and natural gas producers, is looking to give back to shareholders instead of boosting volumes, with discipline still the mantra going into 2022.The independent delivered better-than-expected natural gas, oil and liquids production during 3Q2021, along with sharply higher profits, CEO Ezra Yacob said during a conference call to discuss results. Yacob took the helm last month after working for the Minerals Division at the U.S. Geological Survey.“EOG has never been in better shape,” he told investors. “We extended our track record of reliable execution with better-than-expected production, capital expenditures, operating costs and product prices….“Our high-return business model is sustainable for the long term, underpinned by a deep inventory of double premium drilling locations…We also remain optimistic about the potential of new exploration plays to improve the overall quality of our inventory.”Boosting production in light of higher commodity prices is not yet on the table, though. For EOG, there are no plans to grow “until the market clearly needs the barrels.” Growth is going to depend on “market fundamentals, not price,” in 2021 and beyond. EOG is looking for signs of low spare capacity and oil demand recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

Tomlinson: Big Oil makes big profits sending U.S. energy overseas - If you’re looking to assign blame for rising gasoline and heating prices, don’t get angry at politicians or environmentalists; look at how much energy Big Oil is exporting overseas. Refiners averaged 802,000 barrels per day of gasoline exported in the first eight months of 2021, the highest rate since 2018, according to Energy Department data. Liquefied natural gas companies are setting new records for quantities shipped overseas, almost doubling prices for U.S. customers.The U.S. is one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas producers. After years of lobbying by the industry, the Obama administration loosened export regulations and turned North American companies into international players.Rather than expanding production, these corporations are now reaping the windfall of post-pandemic demand by limiting supply. Anyone blaming regulations or climate change activism is trading in lies. The chief executives even say so on conference calls with investors. Companies specializing in shale oil wells in the Permian Basin talk incessantly about “capital discipline” and returning value to shareholders through dividends and stock buy-backs. After years of disappointing Wall Street, they promise not to drill new wells until investors see some profit.Shale drillers are the bellwether for the industry. Their oil and natural gas wells are relatively inexpensive and quick to get online, even if they don’t produce as long or as much as an offshore well. Companies have thousands of approved permits and drilling plans; all they need to add supply is to hire a rig. CEOs know that adding supply will lower profits, reduce cash flow, and deliver lower returns to investors, so they are reluctant to add much more production. So are international competitors.President Joe Biden called on OPEC and its allies to increase global production to bring down energy prices because the cartel could quickly add a million barrels a day. But Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, OPEC’s de facto leader, has demurred.Mohammed came up with the idea of selling shares in Saudi’s national oil company, Aramco. He wants to see profits rise along with the stock price. High gasoline prices also provided him an opportunity to retaliate against the U.S. for sanctions imposed on him after he ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.When Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman insists the supply of oil is “not the problem” and says the “energy complex is going through havoc and hell,” he’s really telling Biden he needs to treat the crown prince with a little more respect. Consumers are paying the price. Gasoline is $1.31 a gallon more expensive on average than a year ago, adding to public fears about inflation and the economy’s future. Biden has promised to lower pump prices, but frankly, he can only do so much to affect the global market.

Florida has rejected a plan to drill for oil in the Everglades -State environmental regulators ruled the proposed well could impact water supplies and endangered species, such as the Florida panther.The state has denied a request to dig exploratory oil wells near the Everglades.A ruling by the state Department of Environmental Protection on Friday rejected the application by Trend Exploration of North Fort Myers. The letter states drilling the wells could adversely impact water supplies and wildlife in the area, which includes habitat for the endangered Florida panther.The ruling determined:

• The proposed well is located in the environmentally sensitive Big Cypress watershed.
• It would be adjacent to areas that would likely be developed.
• The nearest drilling projects to the proposed sites were dry holes and there has been no exploratory drilling there in 40 years.
• There is "insufficient geological data" to indicate the likelihood of oil in the area.
• The company failed to ensure there would be no permanent impact on wildlife in the area, including rare and endangered species.

Opposition has come from people who say it could contaminate the water supply in the area and trucks would disrupt one of the prime habitats of the Florida panther. One person who wrote a letter to state regulators said there have been a large number of panther roadkills in areas surrounding the proposed well. Another person wrote it would be near historical sites on Seminole Tribal lands. The tribe has requested a survey of the area for its cultural significance.

A plan to drill two more oil wells in Big Cypress Swamp is being challenged (video) An environmental advocacy group is challenging a plan to drill two more oil wells near the Everglades in the Big Cypress Swamp. State environmental regulators last week denied a request by an oil company to drill wells near the Everglades. But another company wants to drill two wells in the nearby Big Cypress National Preserve. The drilling is being opposed by the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice. Tania Galloni, an attorney with the Florida office of Earthjustice, says it's part of a larger challenge to a move done at the end of the Trump administration to transfer authority to bulldoze wetlands to Florida. Galloni says the state has been lax in protecting wetlands. "If you consider that Florida is at one of the greatest threats of sea level rise and climate change from intensifying storms," Galloni said, "the idea that we would drill for oil at all — and begin new drilling in the Everglades, one of the most ecologically sensitive parts of the state and for the region — it really makes no sense at all." Galloni said the same oil company did seismic exploration several years ago, and there's concern about how much environmental damage that caused. "We're also in a situation where people are finally starting to recognize the climate crisis that we're in," Galloni said. "And so the idea of — in Florida, of all places — to start new oil drilling, and to do it in the country's first national preserve, is pretty concerning."

Refinery closure sparks concern over oil's future in Belle Chasse — The upcoming closure of a Plaquemines Parish oil refinery is leaving the surrounding community concerned for its future. Phillips 66 announced Monday afternoon it would turn its Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse to a storage terminal next year. The conversion comes after Hurricane Ida's storm surge caused the property $1.3 billion in damage, and it leaves some 900 jobs in limbo. "We made this decision after exploring several options and considering the investment needed to repair the refinery following Hurricane Ida," Phillips 66 chairman and CEO Greg Garland said in a statement. Word caught on quickly around Belle Chasse, where many people either have worked or know someone who has worked at the refinery. "You're either a fisherman, a shrimper, oysterman or you work in an oil refinery down here," former Alliance Refinery worker Tyler Thompson said Tuesday. "It's part of the way of life here." "It sucks for the parish," owner Bobby Monsted III said. "These workers are really, really good guys. You think of some of the best people you know, and that's them." The Alliance Refinery was built in 1971 and has refined light crude oil into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels. It also produced feedstocks for other petrochemical products, home heating oil and petroleum. Its conversion into a storage base comes as Phillips 66 furthers its shift toward lower-carbon fuels. The refinery will be Louisiana's second to shutter within a year. In November 2020, Shell closed a facility in St. James Parish, taking 1,100 jobs with it. The recent closures leave Plaquemines Parish Councilman Beau Black concerned that longtime oil workers will find jobs in other states — and leave Louisiana behind. "This is one of the things that keeps me up at night," Black said. Roughly 500 employees and 400 contractors work at the Alliance Refinery, according to numbers Phillips 66 provided.

Analysis: U.S. oil refiners bet the farm Biden will back them on biofuels (Reuters) - U.S. merchant oil refiners like Monroe Energy and PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) Inc are playing chicken with the White House, taking moves in the biofuels credit market that could force them to close plants and fire union workers unless the Biden administration bails them out by changing the rules on blending biofuels in gasoline.Merchant refiners have long tried to dismantle a U.S. law requiring them to blend biofuels like ethanol into their fuel or buy credits from competitors who do.But until very recently, they largely continued to participate in the multibillion-dollar credit market by buying credits to offset their production, a Reuters analysis of earnings releases shows. Now, some of these refiners are building up record short positions in the credits.They are betting U.S. President Joe Biden will ultimately side with refiners and their union supporters and roll back the law, known as the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), experts interviewed by Reuters said, but this would anger the Farm Belt.Refiners have leverage right now because rising fuel price are hurting Biden's poll ratings."This is nothing more than a political shakedown," Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, told Reuters. "These refineries are daring the Biden White House to make them lie in the bed they made by intentionally running up massive short positions," on biofuel credits.Refiners who had little outstanding biofuel credit liabilities a year ago have let them climb to record highs in the third quarter, according to a review of their latest financial filings.(Graphic: Refineries' ramped up biofuel debts - https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-BIOFUELS/WHITE-HOUSE/znpnekxowvl/chart.png)* Monroe Energy, a subsidiary of Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL), , has increased its potential biofuel liabilities to a company record of $547 million by the end of the third quarter, up from just $68 million a year prior, the latest filing shows.* PBF Energy Inc has amassed a $1.3 billion credit liability from halting or slowing purchases, according to its third quarter filing, up from $236 million a year earlier.* CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI), whose majority owner is billionaire Carl Ichan, has a $442 million credit liability, according to the company's third quarter filing, up from $83 million a year earlier.None of the companies responded to requests for comment.“This whole situation is proof of how broken the RFS program is. ... The program is making it more expensive to produce gasoline and diesel in the United States," Chet Thompson, President of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers said on Thursday.

India's Reliance Exits North America in Eagle Ford Deal with Ensign - A unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. reported Monday that it has divested all of its unconventional natural gas assets and has exited North America. Earlier this year Reliance pulled out of Appalachia.The latest exit follows Ensign Natural Resources LLC’s buyout of Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding LP’s working interest in leases and wells on about 62,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale. Ensign said it now owns 100% of the Eagle Ford acreage in the South Texas counties of Bee, DeWitt, Karnes and Live Oak. The exploration and production company, owned by private equity firms Warburg Pincus LLC and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP, said the assets currently boast net production of 18,000 boe/d.“Through our efforts over the last three years, we have created an asset that generates significant free cash flow and has a deep inventory of highly economic well locations in the core of the Eagle Ford Shale,” said Ensign CEO Brett Pennington. Ensign said it acquired the leases and wells from Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc. in 2019 and Mexico-based Newpek LLC the following year. Newpek parent Alfa had been seeking a buyer for Newpek’s Eagle Ford stake since 2017. Reliance had also owned interests in the acreage with Pioneer and Newpek, having entered the Eagle Ford 11 years ago in a $1.15 billion deal.

‘This Must Not Happen’: If Unhalted, Permian Basin Fracking Will Unleash 40 Billion Tons of CO2 by 2050 - As activists at the COP26 summit continue to denounce the “massive” gap between wealthy governments’ lofty rhetoric and their woefully inadequate plans for addressing the climate emergency, a new analysis of projected extraction in the Permian Basin in the U.S. Southwest exposes the extent to which oil and gas executives’ refusal to keep fossil fuels in the ground puts humanity’s future in jeopardy. “While climate science tells us that we must consume 40% less oil in 2030, Permian producers plan to grow production more than 50%.”Released Tuesday by Oil Change International, Earthworks, and the Center for International Environmental Law, the second chapter of The Permian Basin Climate Bomb warns that if the drilling and fracking boom that has turned the Permian Basin into “the world’s single most prolific oil and gas field” over the past decade is allowed to persist unabated for the next three decades, it will generate nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide by mid-century.Common Dreams summarized the first chapter of the six-part multimedia series—which includes an introductory video detailing how expanded fossil fuel extraction in the basin endangers vulnerable communities from New Mexico to the Gulf Coast and beyond—when it was published last month. The second installment of the report reveals the stark contrast between global climate targets and the current trajectory of oil and gas production in the Permian Basin.“The Permian Basin has, for the past decade, been the site of an oil and gas boom of unprecedented scale,” Lorne Stockman, research co-director at Oil Change International, said in a statement. “Producers have free rein to pollute and methane is routinely released in vast quantities. Oil exports fuel Permian production growth and today they constitute around 30% of US oil production.”“With global markets flush with Permian oil and gas, it can only be harder to steer the world’s economy toward clean energy.”“While climate science tells us that we must consume 40% less oil in 2030, Permian producers plan to grow production more than 50%” from 2021 to 2030, said Stockman. “This must not happen.”“If left unchecked,” the report notes, “the Permian could continue to produce huge amounts of oil, gas, and gas liquids for decades to come. With global markets flush with Permian oil and gas, it can only be harder to steer the world’s economy toward clean energy.”According to the report, the nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide that would be emitted from burning the fossil fuels that corporate executives expect to extract from the Permian Basin by 2050 represent about 10% of the world’s remaining “carbon budget,” or the amount of pollution compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by the century’s end. Moreover, “scientists studying methane emissions in the Permian Basin estimate that as much as 3.7% of gas production is being vented and leaked into the atmosphere,” the report notes. “At this rate, methane emissions in the Permian Basin would emit over 9.5 billion tons of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) by 2050,” which the authors compare to “taking 50 standard mile-long trains of coal out into the desert, dumping the coal, and just burning it in a giant pile” every day from 2021 until 2050.

Fossil Fuel Companies Are Job Killers --A recent analysis from the Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy, published last week, finds that “robotic drilling systems can potentially reduce the number of roughnecks required on a drilling rig” by 20 to 30 percent over the next decade, translating to hundreds of thousands of jobs lost and billions of dollars saved worldwide. In the United States, Rystad Energy predicts that could mean the permanent loss of 140,000 jobs. In the past year, tumult in the oil industry has led to a rash of bankruptcies, consolidations, and layoffs. While the price of oil is starting to rebound, a study released by Deloitte last fall found that some 70 percent of the 107,000 jobs lost between March and August 2020 may not return, and those that do are likely to be weighted toward white-collar office work. Across mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction—a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics category that also includes support services—unemployment now stands at 15 percent. As of last month, the sector had the highest sectoral rate of unemployment in the country. Executives, contrary to lobbyists’ portrayal of the industry as generous job creators, are eager to let automation take its course, accelerating those trends. In March, at CERAWeek—an annual conference for the oil and gas industry—Chevron CEO Mike Wirth excitedly described how Covid-19 had accelerated the company’s workforce shrinkage. “We had directional drilling going on in people’s homes, where just a couple of years ago we had to have somebody on a rig that was controlling the drill bit. That had been moved to a drilling support center centralized in Houston, and we were able to quickly move that actually to individual employees’ homes,” he said. “There’s been a great acceleration of technologies that had begun to be available to our business, but there was perhaps a bit of reluctance to see them accelerate into use. And now we had no choice.… That will be one of the lasting impacts that I think will be very positive.” Fossil fuel companies are generally happy to take federal money and lay off employees anyway. A study from Bailout Watch finds that 77 oil and gas companies that got a total of $8.2 billion worth of stimulus-related tax breaks last year laid off 16 percent of their combined workforce, totaling 58,000 people. Marathon Petroleum—which raked in $2.1 billion in pandemic tax breaks—got approximately $1 million for each of the 1,920 workers it laid off. As was predicted to happen at the start of the pandemic, bigger producers with more resilient balance sheets are snapping up shakier competitors. In the year’s fourth multibillion consolidation, reported byReuters on Thursday, Pioneer Natural Resources bought the privately held firm DoublePoint Energy for $6.4 billion. But long before the novel coronavirus, his companies had been rapidly automating their operations, contracting with supposedly climate-conscious companies like Microsoft and Amazon to pump out more oil with fewer people via cloud-computing technology.

The vilification of oil producers continues apace at COP26 -Forbes - As the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow wraps up, the oil and gas industries are once again the villains of the piece (coal of course is already beyond the pale). On the eve of the summit, Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO stated that the company would be absent from the climate talks after being told it would not be welcome. Teenage climate icon Greta Thunberg, whose tirades have repeatedly gone viral on social media over the past two weeks, tweeted “I don’t know about you, but I sure am not comfortable with having some of the world’s biggest villains influencing & dictating the fate of the world.” Just prior to the start of the Glasgow summit, the US House Oversight Committee chair Carolyn Maloney accused ExxonMobil in the US of “lying” about climate change since the 1970s “like the tobacco executives were (about smoking and the link to cancer)”. This is par for the course for Biden’s Democratic administration which has demonized the US oil and gas sector since achieving office. In the eyes of the administration, the oil giant had for years raised doubts about climate change, as in 1997 when its then-CEO Lee Raymond said the “case for global warming is far from airtight” and that scientific evidence was “inconclusive.” Perhaps Ms. Maloney in her indignation is unaware that even the highly qualified climate scientist Steven Koonin, undersecretary for science at the U.S. Department of Energy in the Obama administration, finds that climate science is far from “settled” in his masterly survey of the literature. The Western oil majors have long been accustomed to being accused of being the new tobacco lobby, selling poison and destroying lives, with many of them adopting the role of supplicants begging for time to “transition” out of the hated fossil fuels into the sunny vales of “renewable” energy. But for non-Western state-owned oil producers, over which activist shareholders and virtue-signalling Western governments have little influence, the special ire expressed by various commentators is remarkable. Among the group of oil producers, Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, serves as a lightning rod. Reliably vociferous Greenpeace expressed “grave concern” at “moves by the Saudi government to cripple the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow”. The NGO accused the Saudi government of being “smart, strategic and utterly cynical”, pushing back on including the 1.50 C goal — an arbitrary limit that seems to have taken on a life of its own — at the talks. Indeed, as an arsonist at the talks, the Saudis “light matches, drop them, start fires and walk away”, Greenpeace said.

In Glasgow, COP26 Negotiators Do Little to Cut Emissions, but Allow Oil and Gas Executives to Rest Easy - As the debate continues over whether the global climate summit in Scotland will significantly move the needle on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, one thing is clear: The oil and gas industry still holds its grip on the world’s economic and political systems. Many climate advocates and vulnerable nations entered this year’s conference hoping to address an enduring failure of the Paris Agreement, which said nothing about fossil fuels. But a draft agreement released on Saturday included only one reference, calling on parties to accelerate phasing out “unabated” coal consumption and “inefficient” subsidies for fossil fuels more broadly. Explicit references to oil and gas were absent.The conference produced new pledges and alliances aimed at phasing out fossil fuels, but a look at the details of these promises shows they are likely to result in little, if any, change, at least in the short-term. For example, as the climate meetings came to a close, a group of national and regional governments announced the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. Eight core members, including Costa Rica, Denmark and France, pledged to halt new oil and gas leasing and to phase out existing production. But the group collectively represents less than 1 percent of global output. And at least one member, Greenland, produces no petroleum products at all.Many of the most significant commitments to emerge from the summit either omit oil and gas completely or pose little threat to their continued dominance. Nations pledged in one case to end deforestation. In another, they vowed to phase out coal, though China, India and the United States, which collectively consume about 70 percent of the world’s coal, declined to join in. Still another pledge promised to end sales of combustion engine cars and vans over the next two decades, and while the agreement included India, it did not include China or the United States, among the largest markets.A group of developed nations promised to end fossil fuel financing overseas. While that effort could help slow the expansion of oil and gas projects in developing countries in the future, it would do nothing to address current or future development in top producers like the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia or Canada. China, Japan and South Korea—all major funders of fossil fuel projects—did not join the deal. And, if anything, the pact may further deepen the injustices of climate change, depriving developing countries of money to build gas power plants, for example, even as wealthier countries are free to continue constructing them domestically. Perhaps the most direct impact on the oil industry could come from a pledge by more than 100 countries to curb methane emissions, which are produced by oil and gas development and other activities, including agriculture. But the pledge, which included no specific targets for individual countries, would at best clean up fossil fuel production, rather than winding it down.

 Devon Holding Lower 48 Natural Gas, Oil Production Flat into 2022 Global oil and natural gas demand is forecast to remain tight in the months ahead, but Devon Energy Corp. is holding the line on its Lower 48 production and instead rewarding shareholders. The Oklahoma City-based independent, whose portfolio is concentrated in some of the richest oil and natural gas basins of the country, plans to maintain production in 2022 at 570,000-600,000 boe/d, CEO Rick Muncrief said during the recent third quarter conference call. The preliminary plan is to maintain production flat or below 2021 levels. Production in 3Q2021 averaged 608,000 boe/d, exceeding guidance by 5%. The free cash flow (FCF) instead would be used to increase dividends by 71% and strengthen the balance sheet. A $1 billion share buyback program also has been launched. “As we have stated many times in the past, we have no intention of adding incremental barrels into the market until demand-side fundamentals sustainably recover,” Muncrief said. Devon also wants it to be “evident” that spare oil capacity from the Organization of the Petroleum of Exporting Countries and its allies “is effectively absorbed by the world markets.” Devon is “focused on staying out ahead of the inflationary pressures that are impacting not just our industry, but all aspects of the broader society,” Gaspar said. “The supply chain team is working hard to anticipate issues, mitigate bottlenecks and work with the asset teams to adjust plans to optimize our cost structure and future capital activity.” With operating efficiency gains and improved economies of scale, Devon expects to fund its 2022 program at a West Texas Intermediate oil breakeven of around $30/bbl. During 3Q2021, the Permian Basin’s Delaware formation carried production growth, with rising oil, natural gas liquids (NGL) and natural gas. Oil production rose year/year to 213,000 b/d from 77,000 b/d, with NGLs at 100 b/d from 38 b/d. Natural gas output increased to 578 MMcf/d from 239 MMcf/d. Growth in the Delaware was driven by turning 52 wells to sales across the 400,000 net acres in New Mexico and West Texas. Devon’s other operating areas, including the Anadarko, Powder River and Williston basins, along with the Eagle Ford Shale, showed mixed production results from a year ago. Anadarko oil output fell to 14,000 b/d from 19,000 b/d, with NGLs at 25,000 b/d versus year-ago volumes of 30,000 b/d. Gas production declined to 219 MMcf/d from 242 MMcf/d. During 3Q2021, two drilling rigs were working in the basin, supported by a $100 million drilling carry with Dow Inc.

Oklahoma environmentalists heat up over storm costs recovery plan that could include natural gas exit fee - Customers of Oklahoma Natural Gas could be hit hard as they pay additional monthly costs to retire the $1.37 billion the utility spent to acquire natural gas during February's winter storm.Monthly costs could be as much as $7.80 per average residential customer, over a 25-year-long period, if the utility is approved to recover those costs through state-sold bonds, according to testimony in a case filed by ONG at Oklahoma's Corporation Commission.Furthermore, customers could be stuck with a hefty "exit fee" if they choose to adjust their home to rely more heavily on electrical power than natural gas. However, electric utilities aren't immune to storm costs, and many customers also face added fees to retire February storm-related costs incurred by their electricity providers.In the case of Oklahoma Gas and Electric, the utility has proposed charging about $2.12 per average residential customer over 28 years to recover $760 million in costs.Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, meanwhile, proposed recovering a $732.5 million cost through a $4.02 charge per month its average residential customer over a 20 year period.So, what could a customer impacted by fees on both electric and natural gas service do?Some customers might be tempted to drop natural gas service, opting instead to convert his or her home or business to operate entirely on electricity.That potential — and a proposed solution to keep that from happening — has people concerned.Some To keep customers from switching, some are calling for an "exit fee" charged to customers who might switch to reduce their natural gas consumption.

Michigan tribes send letter to Biden asking him to back Line 5 shutdown ⋆ All 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan sent a letter to President Joe Biden and his administration Friday, urging him to lend strong support to the state’s effort to shut down the controversial, 78-year-old Line 5 oil pipeline owned by Canadian company Enbridge.“The Governor, the Attorney General, and our Tribal Nations need your Administration’s help,” the letter reads. “… During your campaign, you promised that you would heed our concerns and act to protect our fundamental interests.“We view Line 5 as an existential threat to our treaty-protected rights, resources, and fundamental way of life as Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes.”The 12 tribes — the Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC), Grand Traverse Bay of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Hannahville Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe), Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians — make up the Three Fires Confederacy of the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi.All are publicly opposed to Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and its proposed tunnel-enclosed replacement in the Straits of Mackinac. BMIC President Whitney Gravelle led the effort. The letter was also sent to a list of top state and federal officials, including: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and his assistant attorneys general; U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland; U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken; Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan; Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.); U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm; U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and more. Whitmer and Nessel are currently locked in several court battles with Enbridge to shut down the pipeline, all but one of which are on pause right now as a federal judge deliberates if litigation should be heard in state or federal court. Whitmer revoked and terminated Enbridge’s easement with the state last fall and ordered a Line 5 shutdown by the spring, which the company is resisting.In her notice of revocation and termination, Whitmer cited treaty rights and the concerns of Indigenous citizens in the state as one of the main reasons to shut down the pipeline. She specifically mentioned the1836 Treaty of Washington, which ceded Ojibwe and Odawa lands in Michigan in exchange for fishing, hunting and gathering rights on the treaty territory. Biden has so far been silent on the issue of Line 5. It is not clear whether he is supportive of Whitmer’s attempts to shut it down, although the two are close allies.

Biden administration considering shutting down another pipeline despite soaring energy prices: Republicans demand Michigan's Line 5 be kept open to avoid a further rise in energy bills this winter - The Biden Administration is considering shutting down a Michigan oil pipeline in another push to get the U.S, away from fossil fuels, despite warnings from Republican lawmakers who believe the move would result in fuel price shocks throughout the Midwest.The administration is exploring the possibility of terminating the Line 5 pipeline - which links Superior, Wisconsin, with Sarnia, Ontario - and gathering data to determine if shutting down the line will cause a surge in fuel pricing, according to published reports.In a letter dated Thursday, 13 Congress members - led by Ohio Rep. Bob Latta - urged the president to keep the oil line in operation, saying: 'Line 5 is essential to the lifeblood of the Midwest.' 'Should this pipeline be shut down, tens of thousands of jobs would be lost across Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the region; billions of dollars in economic activity would be in jeopardy; and the environment would be at greater risk due to additional trucks operating on roadways and railroads carrying hazardous materials,' the legislators wrote.'Furthermore, as we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the termination of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages, and skyrocketing gas prices.' Line 5 is part of a network that moves crude oil and other petroleum products from western Canada to Escanaba, Michigan and transports approximately 540,000 barrels each day. Biden told the COP26 conference in Glasgow this weekend that the U.S. will become world leaders in the climate change fight. He is fighting to close pipelines, setting up a conflict between Indigenous groups and environmentalists who want to block them and Republicans trying to stop a further spike in energy prices. He sparked backlash by closing down the Keystone XL Pipeline, costing thousands of American jobs, and has been accused of folding to Russia by allowing Europe's Nord Stream 2 pipeline to remain open.

Biden Mulls Shutting Down Pipeline That Supplies Energy To Midwest --The Biden administration is reviewing the possible ramifications of shutting down a key pipeline transporting crude oil and natural gas from Canada into the Midwest.The White House recently initiated a study of the economic impacts of closing the Line 5 pipeline, principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed at a press conference Monday. She added that the Army Corps of Engineers was preparing an environmental impact study on shutting down the pipeline.President Joe Biden faced significant criticism last week after Politico reportedhis administration’s decision to study Line 5.“As we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the termination of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages, and skyrocketing gas prices,” Republican Ohio Rep. Bob Latta wrote in a Nov. 4 letter alongside a dozen other lawmakers.Line 5 carries about 540,000 barrels of oil and gas per day from Canada to Michigan, according to the pipeline’s operator, Enbridge. The pipeline provides energy to several Midwestern states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.Line 5 alone accounts for about 55% of Michigan’s propane supply, Enbridge said. Roughly 320,000 Michigan households primarily rely upon propane for their heating needs. “We should be remembering the people that are going to be going through the upcoming winter months whether it’s in Michigan or other northern states,” Jason Hayes, the director of environmental policy for the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.“We have a state in Michigan that uses the most residential propane in the nation,” he continued. “And yet, we’re seriously considering shutting down this pipeline and giving these people not even two or three months notice, just basically saying, ‘well, sorry, you’re gonna be on your own.'”Hayes added that it’s “extremely poor energy policy” to shut down Line 5 and that the move would be dangerous, considering the number of people dependent on the pipeline. Overall, closing the pipeline would cause at least $20.8 billion in economic losses to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, according to a Consumer Energy Alliance study.

Biden Puts Another Pipeline On The Chopping Block - The Federalist - The Biden administration is looking at a shutdown of Michigan’s Line 5 pipeline, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed to reporters Monday.“The Army Corps of Engineers is preparing an environmental impact to look through this,” Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing, after denying reports that President Joe Biden is preparing to revoke the Canadian pipeline’s permit — as happened to the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office.A new environmental impact under this administration, however, is often a precursor to the project’s cancellation. Jean-Pierre said the study would “help inform any additional action or position the U.S. will be taking on the replacement of Line 5.”Politico broke the news Sunday that the White House was actively surveying the market consequences of a shutdown. The Line 5 pipeline operated by the Calgary-based energy company Enbridge transports about 540,000 barrels of crude oil and other petroleum products per day from western Canada through Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsula. The pipeline begins in Superior, Wis. and ends in Sarnia, Ontario.Line 5’s shutdown would deal the biggest blow to Michigan residents, where the project supplies 65 percent of the Upper Peninsula’s propane demand and 55 percent of the entire state’s propane, according to Enbridge. As Americans approach winter with repeated warnings from the Energy Department of higher power prices, propane users will be hardest hit, already expected to pay up to 94 percent more than last year over the six-month heating season, according to season projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By comparison, homes heated by electricity are expected to face up to a 15 percent increase and those heated by natural gas face as much as a 50 percent spike from the year prior. The price shocks could mean hundreds of dollars in higher heating bills.The quiet deliberations inside the White House provoked more than a dozen Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to send a letter demanding the administration hold back.“As we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the termination of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages, and skyrocketing gas prices,” wrote lead author Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, on Nov. 4, as reported by Politico.

Democrats Threaten to Send Winter Shivers Through Michigan – WSJ - Winter is coming, and President Biden may soon make Michigan’s hardest season even more painful. The White House is reportedly studying the consequences of shutting down Line 5, an oil and natural-gas liquids pipeline that carries heating and transportation fuels from Wisconsin through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. A shutdown would be a replay of the Keystone XL cancellation, except this pipeline is already operating, so the damage would be much worse. Media reports earlier this month prompted the White House to admit it was studying a shutdown. This week, however, the administration backtracked, denying it would make such a move. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor, has already stated that Americans should expect to pay more for their gasoline and heating fuels this winter. The administration must realize that further price hikes, along with self-imposed energy shortages, will occur if a shutdown moves ahead. But these aren’t normal times. Anti-energy activists have conquered the Democratic Party, demanding that traditional energy sources be stamped out. From her first days in office, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has fought to shut down Line 5, and in November 2020 she revoked the easement allowing the pipeline to operate and ordered its owner to cease all operations by May 2021. The operator ignored the order, arguing that only the federal government has that jurisdiction. Canada has since invoked a 1977 treaty, contending that closing the pipeline without Ottawa’s consent is illegal.Ms. Whitmer should know better than to cripple a pipeline that powers so much of her state. So should Ms. Granholm, who as energy secretary will play a key role in any White House decision to shutter the pipeline.Families would be hardest hit, since Michigan uses more residential propane than any other state. Line 5 provides nearly two-thirds of the supply in the Upper Peninsula and more than half of statewide propane use. The residential price for propane has already increased 38% since winter 2020-21. Michigan’s own research show that closing Line 5 would lead to a nearly 60% jump in prices, depending on location. Regional natural-gas and gasoline prices would surely rise as well, despite already being up 48% and 59%, respectively, compared with last year.

 Biden administration clarifies it's not weighing Line 5 shutdown -The White House on Tuesday clarified that the Biden administration is not considering a shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline in Michigan despite a push from the state to do so. Asked Monday about the pipeline, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration was studying the impact of shutting down the pipeline, but during her Tuesday comments, she appeared to walk back her assertion. Jean-Pierre noted that amid a dispute with the state over the pipeline, Canada invoked a treaty involving the U.S. government. But she said that these negotiations should not be viewed as an attempt to stop the vessel’s operations. “These negotiations and discussions between the two countries shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than that — and certainly not an indicator that the U.S. government is considering shutdown. That is something that we’re not going to do,” Jean-Pierre said. Jean-Pierre noted that part of the line could be replaced and that the U.S. Army Corps will study that potential replacement. The clarification comes after Politico reported last week that the administration was weighing the economic impacts of a potential shutdown. Canadian company Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline ships Canadian oil and other fuels to the U.S. Earlier this year, the company defied an order from the state of Michigan to shut down the vessel. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has argued that the vessel’s underwater portion is too risky to remain in operation. The company has argued that it's operating lawfully under federal authorities and brings affordable fuel to the region.

Confusion Over Line 5 Shutdown Highlights Biden’s Tightrope Walk on Climate and Environmental Justice - When Whitney Gravelle saw reports earlier this week that President Biden might be considering the shutdown of Michigan’s controversial Line 5 pipeline, she was elated. For years, she and other Native tribal members in the state had been fighting for the decommission of the 68-year-old fossil fuel pipeline, which they say has long violated their tribal rights and risks contaminating the Great Lakes and other lands that their communities depend on for their livelihoods and traditions. The news reports, denied by White House officials, received fierce criticism from Republicans, who said shutting down such a vital fuel line would only exacerbate the country’salready surging natural gas prices. While climate and Indigenous activists have applauded Biden’s decision to axe the Keystone XL Pipeline, he’s been widely criticized by the same groups for refusing to do the same with other major U.S.-Canada pipelines, such as Michigan’s Line 5 and Minnesota’s recently completed Line 3. Owned by Canada-based Enbridge Energy, Line 5 plays a crucial role in Canada’s energy exports and oil refining industry, while also supplying the state of Michigan with more than half of its propane needs. The pipeline delivers up to 540,000 barrels of Canadian crude and other petroleum products every day from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, passing through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and under the Straits of Mackinac on the way. Now Line 5 has become the latest symbol for a growing anti-fossil fuel movement in the United States, led by climate activists—who say the country’s network of oil and gas lines play a major role in the rapid warming of the planet—and by Indigenous communities, who warn that any potential spills threaten to contaminate lands where they fish, hunt and gather wild rice—rights guaranteed to them by past treaties. The notion that President Biden might kill Line 5, the way he did with the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this year, was short lived. On Tuesday, White House officials confirmed that they were studying the possible economic ramifications of shutting down Line 5—as first reported last week by POLITICO—but said they had no intention of doing so.And the recent confusion only highlighted the delicate balancing act President Biden has been performing since taking office with pledges to tackle climate change and environmental injustice, while pursuing bipartisan cooperation. It also underscored the high stakes for the Biden administration, and for other Democrats, as they attempt to pass their massive domestic climate agenda.

The Climate Fight Over Line 5, or the Upper Peninsula and Canada Versus Greenhouse Gas Absolutism - A row over Line 5, an oil pipeline running from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarina, Ontario, is the biggest US climate fight you almost certainly haven’t heard of. Doomberg has an excellent post on its role and the stakes, which we are mining liberally. We’re featuring this pipeline fight not just for its own importance but also because it illustrates several issues that climate change activists and politicians don’t seem willing to consider. First, as we have said repeatedly, that plans serious enough to prevent the worst climate outcome will have to include radical conservation. Second is an unwillingness to look hard at existing conditions and figure out where and to what extent it makes sense to create new “green” infrastructure, which may be green in carbon cost terms but not necessarily in terms of other environmental costs. Third is that some elements of modern lifestyles like suburbs with detached single family homes, are untenably bad for the environment (even if their energy needs can be met with solar panels, the people who live in them need to provision their houses, drive to doctors and schools and often to work, and a lot more than if they were housed differently) but no one is willing to say bad things about this American mainstay. For instance, yesterday, OilPrice highlighted Biden’s climate hypocrisy: But what happens when Americans aren’t ready to move on from oil, and new domestic supplies aren’t meeting demand?That’s the position we currently find ourselves in. The Biden Administration could respond in one of two ways.They could say “High oil prices will speed up the transition to renewable energy” — which is certainly how they feel privately. After all, U.S. officials attended the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow this week, where they discussed plans to reduce carbon emissions. They could tell Americans to take their medicine, live with higher gas prices, and then privately hope that hastens the transition to green energy.But people don’t like paying higher gasoline prices. So, the first irony is that the Biden Administration asked OPEC to pump more oil, undermining its COP26 messaging of reducing fossil fuel consumption. At the G-20 meeting in Rome, President Biden complained: “The idea that Russia and Saudi Arabia and other major producers are not going to pump more oil so people can have gasoline to get to and from work, for example, is not right.” Now to the Line 5 case study. Line 5 delivers 540,000 barrels of oil daily, versus US consumption of 18 million barrels a day. It has operated for 70 years with an excellent safety record. As Doomberg explains:There are two main problems with Line 5. The first is that for a four-mile stretch it runs under the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. Should a catastrophic leak occur, the pipeline could contaminate priceless shorelines and potentially threaten the Great Lakes themselves, which hold some 20% of the total freshwater on earth. The second is that [current operator] Enbridge had a significant (but unrelated) pipeline spill in Michigan back in 2010. Known as the Kalamazoo River oil spill, the incident resulted in significant local environmental damage. For a period of 17 hours, the company struggled to understand that a leak was even occurring, unwilling to believe what its own sensors were indicating. This slow response exacerbated the damage and crushed Enbridge’s credibility with local authorities. There’s a direct line from that incident to the major push by environmentalists to proactively shutter Line 5 today. Unlike opposition to the Keystone Pipeline, a project which was never completed, Line 5 is a preexisting critical artery of the North American energy infrastructure. This seems like an important precedent in the making. Doomberg also published Enbridge’s defense, which is that the pipeline has never had a spill, was built by Bechtel, and was overengineered as well as sited so as to minimize corrosion risk and is intensively monitored. The wee problem is that even if you initially come down on the side of thinking the pipeline is too risky to be allowed to continue, you are then faced with the fact that the alternatives are worse. People in that part of the world, including Canada, need that oil and related products. If the pipeline were decommissioned, that huge volume of oil would need to be hauled via railroad or truck. Remember the Lac-Mégantic rail car explosion, which killed 47? And that’s before the fact that delivering oil via an existing pipeline is also greener than running trucks and trains around.

Biden Threatens OPEC+ With Undisclosed "Tools" - "There are other tools in the arsenal that we have to deal with other countries at an appropriate time," President Biden said this weekend, referring to OPEC+ and its refusal to boost crude oil supply in response to repeated calls from Washington to that tune.The mentioning of "tools in the arsenal" came in response to a question about whether Washington was considering the release of some crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a means of reining in retail fuel prices."I'm not anticipating that OPEC would respond, that Russia and/or Saudi Arabia would respond," President Biden said, as quoted by Reuters. "They are going to pump some more oil. Whether they pump enough oil is a different thing.""We can get more energy in the pipeline figuratively and literally speaking," the president added.The U.S. administration has been urging OPEC and its partners in OPEC+ to add more barrels to their combined output since July as recovering demand for oil products pushed prices at the pump to politically uncomfortable highs.Most recently, the calls have turned into demands and accusations of OPEC+ threatening the global economic recovery by withholding barrels from the market."Opec+ seems unwilling to use the capacity and power it has now at this critical moment of global recovery for countries around the world," a spokesperson for President Biden's National Security Council said last week, as quoted by the Financial Times. "Our view is that the global recovery should not be imperilled by a mismatch between supply and demand." The option of releasing crude from the SPR has been mentioned a few times, including by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, but for now, the administration appears to be reluctant to tap the strategic reserve. As to what the other tools are that Washington plans to use to convince OPEC+ to pump more oil, details on those have yet to be shared publicly.

SOS OPEC+ – suddenly, the Western world needs Russian energy amid sanctions - The United Nations 2021 Climate Conference known as COP26 ends on Friday in Scotland, but its climate change problems for 2021-22 might be just beginning. The leaders are calling on Russia and OPEC to turn up the dial on oil and gas to save them from themselves. It’s quite the bind for the West’s climate concerns. But unless manna from heaven can power Madrid hospital rooms and Frankfurt e-bikes, a ramp up in solar and wind won’t do. So, call the Kremlin and see what Gazprom and Rosneft can offer. Europe is increasingly worried that they won’t pick up the phone, Reuters reported on November 8. At COP26 last Tuesday, President Joe Biden blamed the Russians for your gas bill. He said that rising gasoline prices in the U.S. and Europe were “a consequence” of “the refusal of Russia or the OPEC nations to pump more oil.” This while making banning new oil permits on federal land and stopping the extension of the Keystone XL Pipeline from Alberta to the Midwest and the Gulf of Mexico into his first orders of business in January. Some Democrats want the Enbridge pipeline project connecting Wisconsin to Alberta, Canada gas fields to be stopped, as well. Blaming suppliers, like Russia and the Middle East, is a poor policy during a shortage. “Our view is that the global recovery should not be imperiled by a mismatch between supply and demand. OPEC+ seems unwilling to use the capacity and power it has now at this critical moment of global recovery for countries around the world,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a widely reported statement. The statement did not mention Russia by name but said major oil and gas producers need to ‘drill baby drill’ and ‘pump baby pump’ because if the global recovery stalls out (thanks to their lockdowns to fight Covid-19), it’s the fault of oil and gas states like Russia. Biden could not make such a plea to Vladimir Putin as he decided to stay home in Moscow. Germany would love for Russia to send them more natural gas, though. Nord Stream II is almost complete. That is the gas line that the U.S. sanctioned under Trump and then the White House later lifted under Biden as a gift to Angela Merkel. Europe’s oil and gas industry has been deemed an “evil” against the planet. No one is looking for new fields, if there are any left to explore. Europe is also running out of coal, and have abandoned nuclear energy in most states, led by Germany, since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor accident in 2011 caused by an earthquake off the coast of Japan.

SPR should not be used to manipulate oil market -The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) should not be used to manipulate the crude oil market or product markets. That is the long-held view of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), the organization’s chief operating officer, Jeff Eshelman, highlighted in a statement sent to Rigzone recently. “It should be a safety net in case of disruption of crude oil supplies. Policymakers should oppose all non-emergency sales of oil,” Eshelman said. “We strongly oppose the use of oil stockpiles to affect gasoline prices. Market interference makes us all more vulnerable and is counterproductive to long term adjustments in the marketplace. A better solution is to enhance, not stifle or shut-down, America’s leadership in natural gas and oil production,” the IPAA chief operating officer stated. If the government regularly released SPR oil for sale each time domestic fuel prices rose, it could reduce the country’s ability to address a situation with the potential to seriously injure the U.S. economy, Eshelman noted. In addition, a draw-down of the reserve might not have the desired result, he added. “The sale of SPR oil now could destabilize the fragile oil market. After eighteen months of historically low oil prices that devastated the domestic oil and natural gas industry, oil prices have now returned to the levels they were pre-pandemic,” Eshelman said. “However, the sale of SPR oil at this time when supplies are adequate to meet domestic needs could easily undermine the market and drive the domestic industry back into economic turmoil,” he continued. Over the past few days, several members of Congress have urged the White House and the department of energy to sell oil from the SPR, Eshelman highlighted. In a statement sent to Rigzone earlier this week, Rystad Energy’s senior oil markets analyst Louise Dickson outlined that an SPR release would “likely only have a temporary bearish effect on prompt prices and is not a lasting solution for an imbalance between supply and demand”. In a separate statement sent to Rigzone last week, Rystad Energy’s head of oil markets, Bjornar Tonhaugen, highlighted that OPEC+’s decision to keep its supply policy intact increased the chance of the U.S. and China intervening in the physical market, including tapping of their strategic crude reserves. The SPR is the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil and was established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The federally owned oil stocks are stored in underground salt caverns at four sites along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Established in the aftermath of the 1973-74 oil embargo, the SPR has a maximum nominal drawdown capability of 4.4 million barrels per day, the DOE highlights.

California joins the “we love OPEC” alliance -The state of California – once an energy giant, not beset by supply shortages and high costs – has joined the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), a group of countries and regional governments that have pledged to end oil and natural gas production. Yet, as Energy in Depth has repeatedly shown, California’s move to restrict the development of their own resources does nothing to shrink its demand for oil, it just shifts the production to other jurisdictions. This recent move to join BOGA is only a doubling down on this flawed strategy that makes the state even more dependent on foreign oil imports, essentially giving more economic and political power to OPEC countries. When Denmark and Costa Rica announced BOGA in August, the two nations earned plenty of headlines, but lost in much of that publicity is their lack of actual production. Costa Rica has never produced oil, and while Denmark is the European Union’s largest producer – that’s not saying much, as the BBC notes it only pumped 103,000 barrels in 2019 and “produces much less than non-EU members Norway or the UK.” In fact, the United Kingdom declined to join the alliance during recent meetings at COP26, and did other major producing countries that dwarf Denmark’s output. For perspective, Texas’ and New Mexico’s Permian Basin alone produced 4.3 million barrels per day in 2019. Since the launch, more governments have joined BOGA, including France, Greenland, Ireland, Sweden, Wales, and the Canadian province Quebec that recently imposed a fracking ban that could expropriate foreign assets, but as Reuters reported: “None of the members, which pledge to stop handing out drilling permits and eventually to ban oil and gas production in their territories, has substantial production.” Moreover, noticeably absent from the BOGA announcements was that none of the countries pledged to phase out the use of oil and natural gas. It’s one thing to commit to stopping production – when there is none in the first place – but it’s quite another to stop using these fuels when people rely on them to fill up their cars with gasoline and generate electricity to power their homes and businesses. In sharp contrast to its fellow BOGA members, California actually has major production, but has chosen to undermine its own ability to stay energy independent. The Wall Street Journal editorial board reviewed the stats: “In 1982 California produced 61.4 percent of its oil consumption and imported 5.6 percent. In 2019 29.7 percent of the oil Californians consumed was produced in the state while 58.4 percent was imported—mostly from the Middle East and South America.”

Why US Shale Won't Go To War With OPEC+ --For years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economy has suffered from low oil prices. Since 2014 when it increased supplies to try and break American shale producers, Saudi Arabia has had to struggle with a flooded market. Its cash reserves have been drawn down by hundreds of billions and it had to sell a small percentage of its prize asset, Saudi Aramco. At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan fell behind in its lofty goals of diversifying its economy. I discussed this at some length in a prior Oilprice article. Now with the price of Brent - the benchmark against which Saudi Arabia prices its production - finally back above the $80 mark, the Kingdom is beginning to refill its coffers. So it was no great surprise when the Saudis and the Russians, the two principal members of the OPEC+ cartel, roundly rejected a demand from President Biden to increase production to ease the world’s energy crisis.Up to this point, there had been some lingering concern on the part of OPEC+ that too high a price would reinvigorate the shale industry that had finally come to heel in early 2020. Restraint on the part of shale drillers since then has encouraged them that a new “war” for market share won’t be the result. As the linked Reuters article notes, while some American shale drillers are bumping up their budgets, many are standing pat. Kaes Van't Hof, the CFO of Diamondback Energy (NYSE:FANG) was quoted as saying, "The industry has tried a market share war with OPEC before and it didn't work out." In this article, we will discuss what we see as being the major variables to the oil supply equation and where oil prices might go in the next few months. We think the world is in a new era of higher-priced commodities including oil, and several factors will sustain this condition for a number of years.There are three countries with the significant excess capacity to substantially increase oil supplies in a short period of time, KSA, Russia, and the USA. The IEA projects that KSA has about 12.25 mm BOPD of capacity or about 2.25 mm BOPD above present levels. S&P Global Platts estimates that Russia, currently producing 9.7 mm BOPD under the OPEC+ agreement, has an upper capacity of about 11.5 mm BOPD. Between the two they could quickly add 4-mm BOPD and knock prices down considerably if it was remotely in their best interests. KSA and Russia depend upon oil sales to fund their economies as they produce little else of value for the global market. The USA on the other hand is a giant of international commerce but still depends on its internal production to fund its approximate 21.3 mm BOPD habit. Russia and KSA have the clear objective of wanting to derive the maximum benefit from their production by optimizing the supply/price ratio. The U.S. has for years sent mixed messages to its domestic producers, a trend that’s only increased with the new administration. With its climate goals front and center the U.S. has tied the hands, figuratively speaking, of its domestic energy producers. Whether it’s the canceling of lease sales, denying permits on federal lands, opposing midstream takeaway, or implementing carbon taxes the American government has sent U.S. producers a very clear message.

In big win for Enbridge, most of its old Line 3 pipeline will remain in the ground - For Colleen Bernu and others, the new, larger Line 3 pipeline, which began moving oil on October 1, isn’t the most pressing issue now. They worry about the old pipeline, which for more than 50 years transported oil 1,097 miles from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin.That line, under policies adopted by Canadian owner and operator Enbridge, will mostly remain in the ground, decommissioned, emptied of oil but with the potential for environmental damage in the future.Keeping most of the pipeline in the ground is a win for Enbridge, but environmentalists, activists and some concerned landowners like Bernu say the company has put them at risk for future contamination and only offered them the illusion of choice about the soon-to-be dormant pipeline.“As pipelines wear out, they should be taken out,” Bernu said, adding that if removal is not possible, they should at least be cleaned, disconnected and plugged with cement, to mitigate future impacts on soil or water. “That would create an entire new economic opportunity for people, and it would be a win for the environment as well as a win for families.”Private landowners and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa own different parts of the land where the pipeline runs past Bernu’s home, which is on the reservation. Bernu, a Fond du Lac descendant, said she didn’t get a say in whether it should be removed because it isn’t on her property. She still doesn’t know what its fate will be. Pipeline removal could potentially unite those who typically oppose each other on pipeline issues. Removing it would provide jobs for workers in parts of the state that need them, and it would also protect the environment, including surrounding water sources, in the long term.

Will Enbridge's Line 3 Replacement Narrow The WCS/WTI Spread? -- Crude oil production in Western Canada has been rising steadily for most of the past decade. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for its oil pipeline export capacity to the U.S., which has generally failed to keep pace with the increases in production. Dogged by regulatory, legal, and environmental roadblocks, permitting and constructing additional pipeline takeaway capacity has been a slow and complicated affair, although progress continues to be made. The most recent tranche arrived last month with the start-up of Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement pipeline, which provides an incremental 370 Mb/d of export capacity and should help to shrink the massive price discounts that have often plagued Western Canadian producers in recent years. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the long-delayed project and how its operation is likely to affect Western Canada’s crude oil market, now and in the future. In recent years, Western Canada had been chronically short of sufficient oil pipeline capacity to its primary export market: the U.S. At times, the huge mismatch between production and takeaway capacity resulted in enormous price discounts for its flagship Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy-oil blend relative to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at Cushing — a spread that ballooned to more than $40/bbl in October 2018 and spurred a major rebound in crude-by-rail, a more expensive transport alternative. That painful episode led the provincial government of Alberta, home to the large majority of Western Canada’s heavy oil and oil sands production, to impose a month-to-month curtailment of crude oil production beginning in 2019 to bring production more into line with available pipeline export capacity. The result was a dramatic reduction in the big price discount for WCS, but clearly a better solution had to be found — one that did not involve complicated monthly adjustments to oil production by producers and curtailment limits by the Alberta government. Although changes in the marketplace and massive production cuts in 2020 led to the eventual phase-out of the curtailments by the end of 2020, the best fix would be to expand pipeline capacity to the U.S. to accommodate current oil production and support some degree of future production growth. RBN has blogged many times in the past few years about Canada’s trials and tribulations of expanding its oil pipeline export capacity, including a comprehensive roundup in our two-parter, Oil From The North Country. In sum, TC Energy’s 830-Mb/d Keystone XL pipeline to the Midwest, the government of Canada’s 590-Mb/d Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) project to Canada’s West Coast, or Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement (L3R) to the U.S. Midwest all faced major hurdles. KXL was eventually canceled and TMX is still under construction, but the L3R has finally reached completion.

Lawmakers to consider $150M plan to bring Bakken gas to eastern North Dakota – A proposal to use $150 million in federal stimulus money to build another pipeline delivering natural gas from the Bakken to eastern North Dakota is among the issues state lawmakers will consider next week when they convene at the Capitol.Lawmakers plan to divvy up $1 billion from the federal American Rescue Plan Act during the special session, and the money leaders hope to set aside for a pipeline could make the prospect of such a project more attractive to developers."There's been a longstanding desire to see more North Dakota gas be used in the state," North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad said.Kringstad is the state official who keeps tabs on oil and gas production and transportation data, and for years he's heard conversations lamenting the disparity between the western and eastern parts of the state in terms of gas access. The Bakken region of western North Dakota produces substantial quantities of gas alongside oil, and some of it is wastefully burned off in flares at well sites rather than piped to a processing plant and put to use due to a lack of infrastructure.Some eastern North Dakota communities have gas service because they happen to be near a limited number of pipelines that extend to that part of the state, but many do not.Much of the gas produced within North Dakota is transported to markets in other states on major pipelines such as Northern Border, which ends in the Chicago area.WBI Energy operates a pipeline that already delivers gas to parts of eastern North Dakota. Cost appears to be the major barrier to building another pipeline that would carry Bakken gas eastward within the state. Such a project comes with a roughly $1 billion price tag. The economics tend to work out better to send gas down existing pipelines into other states rather than build a new project from scratch, Kringstad said.

 Grand Forks mayor asks lawmakers to expedite pipeline project -Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski is asking North Dakota lawmakers to shorten the timeline for constructing a pipeline that would bring Bakken natural gas to the Red River Valley. The legislature is considering a proposal to spend $150 million from the latest federal COVID-19 money for the pipeline, to be built along the U.S. Highway 2 corridor. Money from the state is needed to get the project going. The pipeline is estimated to take about four years to complete, but Bochenski is asking that the timeline be shortened if possible. Bochenski says the announcement by the Fufeng Group to build its first U.S. facility in Grand Forks was based, in part, on natural gas. Fufeng plans to be located in Grand Forks’ agri-business park. The facility is expected to initially require 25 million bushels of corn annually. “We could lose that project. We could lose it to Iowa if we can’t get this done” Bochenski said. Bochenski says a temporary solution is to connect to the Viking Pipeline in Minnesota, but he says there are other companies looking at Grand Forks that would need bigger supplies of natural gas.

Alaska Journal | DEC proposes changes to regulations on oil spill contingency plans --The long list of changes Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation leaders want to make to spill regulations for oil and fuel shippers and handlers is out, and stakeholders are diving in. DEC Commissioner Jason Brune offered some unique language when attempting to describe the department’s objectives for the regulatory reform effort in a Nov. 2 statement, shortly after the 118 pages of long-awaited proposed changes were published. “In the end, we want to see contingency plans that are very effective for preventing and responding to spills and don’t get caught up in things that are duplicative, inefficient, or no longer work,” Brune said. The proposed changes to the state’s rules for spill contingency plans, or C-plans, for entities producing, storing or transporting large quantities of oil and fuels come roughly two years after DEC officials first began soliciting input on C-plans from direct stakeholders and the public, ahead of the likely reforms. Currently, there are 131 active C-plans held by 77 plan holders, according to DEC. Most members of the public then urged DEC officials to maintain the current levels of protections in the regulations, and many questioned why the department would open the regulations to possible changes given the state’s reliance on marine resources and the relative lack of large fuel or oil spills in the state since the Exxon Valdez in 1989. Many expressed concerns that the decidedly pro-business Dunleavy administration would ease environmental standards at the behest of industry. Local government officials by and large also emphasized a general desire for the department to uphold current levels of oversight on the oil and gas industry, while also suggesting some changes to clarify and strengthen the existing regulatory code. Several local and Tribal governments across Alaska submitted resolutions against actions to ease the regulations. Fuel shippers, oil field service companies and Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. at the time all offered numerous ways they feel the regulations are too rigid, unclear or outdated. Stakeholders across a range of interests in the realm of spill prevention and response all said they were actively reviewing the more than 30 detailed regulatory changes, and deferred comments on the proposals to a later time.

Lights Out for All O&G Production in Quebec, Including Utica Shale | Marcellus Drilling News - For years Canadian company Questerre Energy patiently waited to begin drilling on their extensive Utica Shale acreage in the St. Lawrence Lowlands of Quebec, Canada. Quebec has been like New York–completely closed to the oil and gas industry, particularly shale and fracking (see Quebec to Ban Utica Shale Drilling, Most Other Drilling Too). And yet Questerre kept trying. As recently as March of this year the company touted hydrogen (from natural gas) as the reason they should be allowed to drill in the Utica Shale (seeQuesterre Still Trying to Convince Quebec to Let Them Drill Utica). All hope is now gone. Three weeks ago Quebec announced it will expropriate all of the rights for all oil and gas companies in the province to drill and extract oil and natural gas. It’s all being shut down–including actively producing wells.

Canadian Natural Expanding Montney Shale Leasehold with Storm Resources Takeover Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is scooping up liquids-rich Montney Shale wells and growth prospects in northern British Columbia (BC) with its takeover of Storm Resources Ltd.The acquisition, announced Wednesday, gives the Calgary-based producer 170 square miles of the Montney, where Storm reports liquid byproducts average 20% of well flows. Current production is averaging 136 MMcf/d of natural gas and 5,600 b/d of liquids.The deal is valued at C$960 million ($768 million), including C$766 million for 122 million Storm shares, C$188 million ($150.4 million) in Storm debt, plus transaction costs.“This acquisition provides existing production and infrastructure that complements our current assets in the area,” said Canadian Natural President Tim McKay. “These operating areas provide opportunity for synergies within our current diversified portfolio.”Canadian Natural during 3Q2021 produced 1.7 Bcf/d of natural gas, up from 1.36 Bcf/d in 3Q2020. Oil production, 75% from oilsands, averaged 952,839 b/d, compared with 884,342 b/d in the year-ago period.Storm’s board announced support for the takeover, with directors voting their combined 12.6% of shares for the deal. A stockholder vote is planned for December. Before the takeover, Storm had notified investors that its Montney assets were in an area affected by negotiations between the BC government andBlueberry First Nation on obeying a recent court verdict that requires a strengthened native regulatory role.The merger is not expected to impact free cash flow as it relates to previously announced share repurchases. The incremental cash flow generation from the tie-up would be used for shareholder returns and improvements to the balance sheet.

Keyera Riding Tailwinds on Rising Demand, Pricing for NGLs - Strong demand and rising prices for natural gas liquids (NGL) led to a surge in profits and capacity growth in British Columbia (BC) during the third quarter, Calgary-based Keyera Corp. said. Keyera has set a 2023 target date to complete the C$1.6 billion ($1.3 billion) Key Access Pipeline System (KAPS) in time to serve spin-offs from liquefied natural gas and pipeline projects now under construction in BC. KAPS construction was delayed last year by Covid-19. KAPS, a partnership with Energy Transfer Canada ULC, is a dual-pipe express route for NGLs and lighter byproducts. The system would carry supply from northern BC and Alberta natural gas fields in the Montney Shale and Duvernay formation to a Keyera facility in Fort Saskatchewan near Edmonton. With Canadian demand for gas and byproduct services on the rise, Keyera has canceled a plan to shutter the Nordegg facility — a Central Alberta gas processing plant targeted for closure last year during the industry slump.

Sempra Pushes Second LNG Export Facility on Mexico’s Pacific Coast Ahead in Queue - San Diego-based Sempra Infrastructure said it could sanction a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on Mexico’s Pacific Coast ahead of another planned U.S. export project. In discussing third quarter 2021 results, Sempra Infrastructure CEO Justin Bird said the Vista Pacifico LNG export facility would be similar in size to Phase 1 of the company’s Energía Costa Azul LNG (ECA) export terminal, at around 3-4 million metric tons/year (mmty). The Sempra subsidiary is planning a second phase at ECA that would add about 12 mmty of LNG capacity to the project, which was sanctioned last year and expected to enter service in 2024. Vista Pacifico would be a mid-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility located near Sempra’s refined products terminal in Topolobampo, the company said. It would be sourced with “lower-cost natural gas from the Permian Basin for export to high-demand Asian markets,” according to Bird. The project would be connected to two existing pipelines, including a high-pressure pipeline system Sempra owns in Sonora, Mexico. Sempra Infrastructure would need to build “a very small spur-type pipeline” that would connect Vista Pacifico to the existing pipelines, both of which are currently underutilized, the chief executive said.

Belarus leader threatens to shut off natural gas to Europe --Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko suggested shutting off the flow of natural gas to Europe Thursday amid a threat of potential European Union sanctions imposed on the country for its handling of migrants. “We are heating Europe, they are still threatening us that they will close the border. And if we shut off natural gas there?” Lukashenko said in comments first published by Belarusian news agency Belta, Reuters reported. “Therefore, I would recommend that the Polish leadership, Lithuanians and other headless people think before speaking,” the leader added. The pipeline Lukashenko was referring to, the Yamal gas pipeline, carries Russian natural gas through Belarus to Poland and Germany, according to Reuters. Russia is an ally to Belarus. Europe has experienced gas shortages and price increases in recent weeks, and any interruption to the flow of gas through Belarus could have significant effects for other European countries, the media outlet noted. Lukashenko’s comments follow accusations from the EU against Belarus earlier this week of using “gangster-style” tactics toward migrants gathering on the country’s border with Poland. Belarus is reportedly encouraging migrants to come to the border with promises that they will easily be able to enter the EU, and the country’s security is reportedly giving migrants tools to damage Poland’s border fencing.

QatarEnergy expands LNG carrier fleet - QatarEnergy placed the first batch of LNG shipbuilding orders with Korean shipyards consisting of four vessels from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and two vessels from Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), as part of QatarEnergy’s historic shipbuilding programme to meet its future LNG carrier requirements. The orders came in the form of QatarEnergy’s declaration of its ship construction options with the two Korean shipyards under its Reservation of Shipyard Capacity agreements signed in May 2020. Commenting on this new shipbuilding order, His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said: “We are pleased to take this further step with DSME and SHI, which have built 23 Q-Flex and 14 Q-Max LNG vessels for Qatar as part of our previous LNG expansion project.” His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi added: “These orders, and those that will follow in the near future, constitute a significant part of our programme to expand Qatar’s LNG fleet to meet the requirements of our LNG expansion projects, our existing fleet replacement, as well as our LNG trading arm.” In concluding his remarks, His Excellency the Minister said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the management and working teams from DSME, SHI, QatarEnergy, and Qatargas, whose dedicated efforts were instrumental in the realisation of this milestone.” The North Field expansion projects will increase Qatar's LNG production capacity from 77 million tpy to 126 million tpy by 2027. QatarEnergy’s LNG carrier fleet programme is the largest of its kind in the LNG industry and is designed to meet the shipping requirements of QatarEnergy’s LNG expansion projects, as well as replacing part of Qatar's existing LNG fleet.

 Nigeria’s Aiteo reports “extremely high order” oil spill from well (Reuters) – Nigeria’s Aiteo Eastern E&P has reported an “extremely high order” oil spill from a jointly owned well in the Niger Delta and has had to abort immediate efforts to control the leak due to the pressure emanating from the well head. The well, which in Bayelsa State and is not in production, is jointly owned by Aiteo and state oil company NNPC. The cause of the leak, which was discovered last Friday, has not yet been determined but Aiteo did not rule out crude oil theft leaks and sabotage. Oil spills, sometimes due to vandalism, sometimes to corrosion, are common in the Niger Delta, a vast maze of creeks and mangrove swamps criss-crossed by pipelines and blighted by poverty, pollution, oil-fuelled corruption and violence. “The magnitude of this incident is of an extremely high order. Immediate efforts to control the leak were aborted due to the high pressure emanating from the well head,” Aiteo said in a statement late on Tuesday. In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, oil spills have had a catastrophic impact on many communities where people have no other water supply than creeks and rely on farming and fishing for survival. Aiteo said it had reported the incident to regulators and mobilised a team of local and international control specialists to try to close the leak. The well, is part of the assets that Aiteo purchased from Royal Dutch Shell in 2015, company spokesman Ndiana Matthew said. Oil companies in Nigeria have run into problems trying to clean up spills, sometimes because of obstruction and even violence by local gangs trying to extract bigger payouts, or to obtain clean-up contracts.

Profit-taking hits hedge funds' oil positions: Kemp- (Reuters) - Petroleum-related derivative markets were hit by the largest wave of hedge fund selling last week for almost three months as portfolio managers realised some profits after the recent rally in oil prices. Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 45 million barrels in the six most important petroleum-related futures and options contracts in the week to Nov. 2 (https://tmsnrt.rs/3BQfEnr).  Most selling was driven by the reduction of existing bullish long positions (-39 million barrels) rather than the creation of new bearish short ones (+6 million), consistent with profit-taking rather than aggressive short selling. Portfolio managers were sellers across the whole complex, including NYMEX and ICE WTI (-15 million barrels), Brent (-10 million), European gas oil (-9 million), U.S. heating oil (-6 million) and U.S. gasoline (-5 million). The formerly most bullish parts of the complex (WTI and middle distillates) experienced the largest sales, again consistent with profit-taking after a strong rally that had taken prices to multi-year highs since the summer. The weekly sales were the largest since the week ending Aug. 10, and in the 18th percentile for all weekly position changes since 2013, implying a small but significant shift in the hedge fund community’s outlook. Portfolio managers are still bullish towards petroleum prices (the ratio of long to short positions is in the 80th percentile) but less than bullish than two weeks ago (when the ratio was in the 87th percentile). Position ratios in crude are still high (72nd percentile) but have retreated modestly from their recent peak on Oct. 19 (77th percentile). The overall picture is one where hedge funds still think prices are more likely to rise further rather than fall, but the balance of risks has shifted somewhat after a strong rally, tempting some to lock in a portion of their profits.

Global Crude Oil Prices to Average $82 to Year's End and $72 in 2022, EIA Says - After averaging $84/bbl in October, Brent crude oil spot prices are on track to remain near current levels through the end of 2021, according to updated forecasting from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), published Tuesday, that it expects Brent crude spot prices to average $82 during the fourth quarter. The $84 October Brent average represented a $9 sequential increase over September prices. EIA said it expects Brent prices to soften to $72 on average in 2022 as production growth — from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, from U.S. tight oil and from other sources — outpaces slowing growth in global consumption. [Tune In: Join NGI’s Director of Strategy & Research Patrick Rau as he dives into what to expect from third quarter earnings reports. From where U.S. natural gas producers are with regard to boosting production to the next wave of LNG projects, from the industry’s hyper-focus on RSG to M&A activity coming down the pike, get in the down with NGI’s Hub & Flow podcast.] Global consumption reached 98.9 million b/d in October, lagging pre-pandemic October 2019 demand by 1.9 million b/d, according to the latest STEO. “We revised up our forecast for consumption of petroleum and liquid fuels for the fourth quarter of 2021, partially as a result of fuel switching from natural gas to petroleum in the electric power sector in parts of Asia and Europe” resulting from soaring natural gas prices globally, researchers said. Petroleum and liquid fuels consumption is set to average 97.5 million b/d for 2021 overall, up 5.1 million b/d year/year. Consumption is then forecast to climb another 3.3 million b/d in 2022, according to the agency. EIA estimated 11.4 million b/d of domestic crude oil production for October, up from 10.7 million b/d in September. The agency said it forecasts 11.6 million b/d of output for December, with full-year 2022 production on pace to average 11.9 million b/d on growth in tight oil production in the United States. “Growth will come largely as a result of onshore operators increasing rig counts, which we expect will offset production decline rates,” researchers said.Natural gas spot prices are set to average $5.53/MMBtu over the next few months as near-average winter inventory draws and higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports figure to help keep prices elevated into early 2022, EIA said. In the latest STEO, EIA reported an average Henry Hub spot price of $5.51 for October, up from $5.16 in September and the $3.25 average seen through the first half of 2021. The steep gains for the domestic benchmark in recent months have coincided with continued power generation demand for the fuel even at higher prices, along with strong demand for LNG overseas, according to EIA. The latest STEO calls for Henry Hub prices to average $5.53 during November through February before declining to an average of $3.93 in 2022 amid higher production and slowing growth in LNG exports.

Global Crude Oil Prices to Average $82 to Year's End and $72 in 2022, EIA Says After averaging $84/bbl in October, Brent crude oil spot prices are on track to remain near current levels through the end of 2021, according to updated forecasting from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), published Tuesday, that it expects Brent crude spot prices to average $82 during the fourth quarter. The $84 October Brent average represented a $9 sequential increase over September prices. EIA said it expects Brent prices to soften to $72 on average in 2022 as production growth — from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, from U.S. tight oil and from other sources — outpaces slowing growth in global consumption. [Tune In: Join NGI’s Director of Strategy & Research Patrick Rau as he dives into what to expect from third quarter earnings reports. From where U.S. natural gas producers are with regard to boosting production to the next wave of LNG projects, from the industry’s hyper-focus on RSG to M&A activity coming down the pike, get in the down with NGI’s Hub & Flow podcast.] Global consumption reached 98.9 million b/d in October, lagging pre-pandemic October 2019 demand by 1.9 million b/d, according to the latest STEO. “We revised up our forecast for consumption of petroleum and liquid fuels for the fourth quarter of 2021, partially as a result of fuel switching from natural gas to petroleum in the electric power sector in parts of Asia and Europe” resulting from soaring natural gas prices globally, researchers said. Petroleum and liquid fuels consumption is set to average 97.5 million b/d for 2021 overall, up 5.1 million b/d year/year. Consumption is then forecast to climb another 3.3 million b/d in 2022, according to the agency. EIA estimated 11.4 million b/d of domestic crude oil production for October, up from 10.7 million b/d in September. The agency said it forecasts 11.6 million b/d of output for December, with full-year 2022 production on pace to average 11.9 million b/d on growth in tight oil production in the United States. “Growth will come largely as a result of onshore operators increasing rig counts, which we expect will offset production decline rates,” researchers said.Natural gas spot prices are set to average $5.53/MMBtu over the next few months as near-average winter inventory draws and higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports figure to help keep prices elevated into early 2022, EIA said. In the latest STEO, EIA reported an average Henry Hub spot price of $5.51 for October, up from $5.16 in September and the $3.25 average seen through the first half of 2021. The steep gains for the domestic benchmark in recent months have coincided with continued power generation demand for the fuel even at higher prices, along with strong demand for LNG overseas, according to EIA. The latest STEO calls for Henry Hub prices to average $5.53 during November through February before declining to an average of $3.93 in 2022 amid higher production and slowing growth in LNG exports.

Seasonal weakness could take some heat out of oil prices: Kemp - (Reuters) - Oil prices are expected to stabilise near current levels over the next few months, then decline progressively over the course of next year, according to the latest forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The EIA expects output increases from OPEC+, U.S. shale firms and other oil producers will outpace slowing growth in consumption, helping to bring down prices (“Short-Term Energy Outlook”, EIA, Nov. 9). Front-month Brent futures prices are forecast to decline to less than $70 per barrel by the end of 2022, broadly in line with the current strip of futures prices, putting them close to the long-term inflation-adjusted average. The EIA predicts global liquids production will increase by almost 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) between December 2021 and December 2022, while consumption will rise by only 0.9 million bpd. As a result, the agency expects production and consumption to be balanced in the first quarter of 2022, moving into a surplus of 0.7 million bpd in the second, 0.5 million in the third, and 0.9 million in the fourth. The production-consumption balance in the first and second quarters is forecast to remain slightly tighter than usual for the time of year, before becoming slightly looser than normal in the third and fourth. But all the anticipated balances are well within historic seasonal ranges, easily absorbed by the market, and unlikely to disturb prices much (https://tmsnrt.rs/3HgmO8K). Nonetheless, there are reasons to think the strong rally in oil prices over the last year may experience at least a pause over the next 3-6 months. Hedge funds and other investment managers have already accumulated a higher-than-average position in crude oil and other petroleum futures and options contracts. From a positioning perspective, the balance of risks has therefore shifted to the downside, with liquidation rather than further accumulation more likely. Crucially, the oil market is moving towards the weaker part of the year. Over the last three decades, Brent futures prices have tended to be strongest relative to other months in September and weakest in March. The probability of a sharp rise in oil prices is roughly equal throughout the year, but the probability of a significant short-term decline is greatest between December and April. The result is an upward bias in prices that reaches a maximum in September and a downward bias in prices that reaches a maximum in March. The market is now moving into the six-month period where seasonal declines are more likely, which could take some of the heat out of prices.

Oil Futures Gain on Saudi OSP Hike; US Lifts Travel Curbs -- Oil futures nearest delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange rallied at the start of a new trading week, sending the international crude benchmark above $83 barrel (bbl) after Saudi Aramco raised its official selling prices for Asian and European buyers by larger-than-expected margins for December deliveries, indicating robust demand for its crude as the winter heating season in the Northern Hemisphere begins. In addition, the United States lifted its nearly 20-month ban on international travelers, which is expected to further boost demand for middle distillates.On Monday, the United States scrapped its pandemic-era travel restrictions on vaccinated visitors from more than 30 countries, including the European Union, China, Japan and Southeast Asia. Airlines have reported an immediate surge for inbound flight searches, with United Airlines expecting 50% more international passengers as early as this week. United Airlines will fly 69% of its 2019 international schedule next month, according to representative, up from 63% in November, and its trans-Atlantic schedule is expected to be 87% restored in December. American Airlines' international capacity for November and December is set to be more than double that of a year ago and down 28% from 2019.Oil traders will look for signs of rebounding jet fuel demand this month, with U.S. consumption of jet fuels still trending about 15% lower than the pre-pandemic level. In its latest inventory report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said jet fuel demand surged to 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd) during the final week of October, up 231,000 bpd from the previous week to the highest weekly rate since the pandemic shut the economy down in March 2020. On a four-week average basis, U.S. jet fuel consumption is about 45% higher compared to the same four-week period last year. Separately, top oil exporter Saudi Aramco raised its official selling prices into Asia by more than double in December versus November, exceeding market expectations and sending a bullish signal to the markets. Aramco's differentials for the flagship Arab Light grade were hiked by $1.40 barrel (bbl) versus Dubai/DME Oman to $2.70 bbl, while Arab Medium was increased to $2.35 bbl. Traders mostly expected a more modest increase between $0.50 and $1 bbl. What makes it even more bullish is the Saudi price move in December follows two consecutive months of OSP cuts, when Aramco slashed prices between $1.40 bbl and $1.70 bbl for Asian crude loadings. Refiners in Northwest Europe and Asia are reportedly seeking more crude for heating supplies as cold weather approaches, which, in turn, has bumped up prices for Middle East light. Lighter grades like Arab Light yield more naphtha and kerosene. As for weather forecasts, two strong cold waves will hit most of China and Korea in the next ten days. An early start to winter has sent temperatures plummeting in cities like Beijing and Seoul, prompting the beginning of centralized heating programs this year ahead of the normal schedule. Near 7:30 a.m. EST, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate for December delivery gained $0.51 to trade at $81.79 bbl, and the ICE January Brent contract added $0.55 to $83.26 bbl. NYMEX RBOB December futures advanced 0.93 cents to $2.3302 gallon and front-month NYMEX ULSD futures gained 1.13 cents to $2.4681 gallon.

U.S. infrastructure bill ‘screams bullish for oil’ as crude futures post back-to-back session gains -- Oil futures rose on Monday, bouncing back from last week’s losses to post back-to-back session gains, as investors cheered passage of a $1 trillion U.S. infrastructure spending package and Saudi Arabia lifted prices for crude exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery CL00, 0.16% CLZ21, 0.13% rose 66 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $81.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. benchmark fell 2.8% last week, January Brent crude BRN00, 0.18% BRNF22, 0.18%, the global benchmark, gained 69 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $83.43 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe after falling 1.2% last week. Both contracts ended Monday at their highest since Nov. 2, FactSet data show. Global oil-market conditions became more bullish following last week’s meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which saw the producers defy pressure to increase the size of planned production increases, she said. OPEC+ has also been “struggling to pump [oil] as promised,” according to an S&P Global Platts survey released Monday. OPEC+ crude-oil production rose by 480,000 barrels per day in October, but only half of the group’s members actually lifted output last month, the survey showed. The 19 OPEC+ members with production quotas were a combined 600,000 barrels per day below their allocations for the month, putting compliance at 113.21%, the survey said. Oil demand is likely to grow in the wake of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress late Friday, Dickson said. “This U.S. infrastructure bill screams bullish for oil,” Dickson wrote. Meanwhile, a decision by Saudi state-run oil company Saudi Aramco to boost crude prices on exports added to the bullish tone, analysts said. Aramco late Friday more than doubled the premium that Asian consumers would pay beginning in December next month for its flagship Arab Light crude to $2.70 a barrel more than the average of Platts Dubai and DME Oman prices. Aramco also raised prices for its sales of light crude to the U.S. to $1.75 a barrel above the Argus Sour Crude Index, which reflects the U.S. Gulf Coast medium-sour crude, and cut discounts it offers Northern European and Mediterranean consumers to $0.30 a barrel less than ICE Brent prices. Oil traders also assessed the latest data on China’s crude oil imports, which slumped below the 9 million barrel-per-day mark to a 39-month low of 8.94 million barrels per day in October, according to a report from S&P Global Platts Monday, At the same time, analysts are watching for clues as to whether the Biden administration, whose pleas for OPEC+ to accelerate production increases were ignored last week, will tap the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In other Nymex energy trading, December gasoline tacked on nearly 0.1% to $2.322 a gallon and December heating oil added 0.5% to $2.467 a gallon. Natural-gas futures fell for a second session in a row, with the December contract down 1.6% to $5.427 per million British thermal units.

Oil Futures Higher as OPEC+ Production Target Falls Short - Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange continued higher in early trade Tuesday after industry surveys found that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 producers outside of the cartel led by Russia fell short of their planned production increase last month, with about half of the coalition members unable to raise output, hamstrung with operational issues and years of underinvestment. Involuntary production outages in Nigeria, Libya, and Angola -- Africa's largest oil producers, held OPEC's output target last month below an agreed to 254,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to private surveys. OPEC pumped 27.5 million bpd in October, a rise of 190,000 bpd from the previous month, but still about 65,000 bpd below the quota allowed under their joint agreement. OPEC+ deal allows for a 400,000-bpd monthly increase that is shared among all 23 members of the alliance. The biggest decline was posted by Nigeria, down 70,000 bpd from the previous month to a five-month low 1.37 million bpd with the country's key pipeline facing persistent sabotage. Nigeria's output of its main crude grades -- Bonny Light and Forcados -- have been mired with production issues this year, while output of other grades such as Qua Iboe, Brass River, Agbami, Akpo and Egina have also remained consistently low. Angola has also been unable to reverse a sharp decline in its oil production. In October, production slipped 40,000 bpd to 1.11 million bpd, well below its quota of 1.362 million bpd. Angola's upstream sector appears to have suffered from technical and operational problems at some fields, aggravated by a lack of upstream investment. Production declines in smaller members offset gains in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq, with all three Gulf states believed to have most of OPEC's spare capacity. Saudi Arabia saw the biggest increase month on month, adding 130,000 bpd, from the previous month to 9.79 million bpd in October, the highest level since April 2020 amid strengthening demand for its crude. Saudi Aramco raised its official selling crude prices for all markets in December, nearly doubling the selling price for Asian buyers. Outside the cartel, Russia was the largest producer, with output standing at 9.96 million bpd -- well above its quota of 9.81 million bpd, and the highest output rate since April 2020, the survey showed. In early trade, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate for December delivery added $0.39 to trade at $82.33 per barrels (bbl), and the ICE January Brent contract gained $0.24 to $83.67 bbl. NYMEX RBOB December futures added 2.35 cents to $2.3448 gallon and front-month NYMEX ULSD futures advanced 1.55 cents to $2.4826 gallon.

Oil reaches $84 as lifting of U.S. travel ban boosts demand --Oil rose to around $84 a barrel on Tuesday, gaining for a third session, as the U.S. lifting of travel restrictions and more signs of a global post-pandemic recovery boosted the demand outlook, while supply remained tight. On Monday, travellers took off for the United States again, while the passing of U.S. President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill and better-than-expected Chinese exports helped paint a picture of a recovering global economy. Brent crude was up $1.35, or 1.6%, $84.78 per barrel, after gaining 0.8% on Monday. U.S. oil advanced $2.22, or 2.7%, to $84.15 per barrel also after a 0.8% rise the previous day. "With the re-opening of U.S. borders for vaccinated travellers, jet fuel demand ought to receive a healthy ... boost," said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM. "The passage of the $1 trillion U.S. infrastructure bill in Congress is also expected to provide additional help." The price of Brent has risen over 60% this year and hit $86.70, a three-year high, on Oct. 25, supported by supply restraint by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, and recovering demand. At a meeting last week, OPEC+ decided to stick to its existing pace of easing record output cuts and rebuff U.S. pleas to pump more - helping to keep supply tight for the near term in the view of some analysts. JPMorgan Chase said global demand for oil in November was already nearly back to pre-pandemic levels of 100 million barrels per day (bpd), following last year's collapse. Biden, however, may take measures as early as this week to address soaring gasoline prices, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday. Despite a tight global market, U.S. crude inventories are expected to have risen for a third straight week, possibly helping to cap further gains in prices.

WTI Extends Gains After API Reports Surprise Crude Draw - Oil jumped today on speculation that the Biden administration may pull the plug on any plans to release crude from the nation’s emergency reserves after a U.S. energy report showed supplies rising next year. “The market is clearly looking at this STEO report and determining that odds of a coordinated SPR release are shrinking,” said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.“However, there is a political element to this issue and prices at the pump remain very high, so I would not discount this chance of SPR release entirely on this report.”WTI rallied for a third straight day as some analysts pointed out that talk of a potential release of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve highlights a shortage of crude supplies. An SPR release would be a "short-term measure at best," since any inventory drawn from the reserve would have to eventually be replenished, Manish Raj, chief financial officer at Velandera Energy Partners, told MarketWatch.Oil prices may even rise in response to an SPR release, he said, as the move "will be seen as a desperate attempt that highlights the acute shortage of oil."For now, all eyes will be on Cushing (stocks near lower operating limits) and Crude (to see if the builds are continuing). API:

• Crude -2.485mm (+1.6mm exp)
• Cushing
• Gasoline -552k (-1.2mm exp)
• Distillates +573k (-1.1mm exp)

API reported an unexpected crude draw during the prior week... WTI was hovering around $84.25 ahead of the print and pushed modestly higher after the surprise draw... At the end of the day, a White House official said on Tuesday afternoon that the administration reviewed the EIA forecast and welcomes news of moderating prices (the report forecasts U.S. benchmark crude will fall below $80 a barrel by December and reach as low as $62 by the end of next year).

WTI Holds Losses After Official Data Shows Crude Inventory Build - Oil prices are lower this morning, after a brief jump following last night's API-reported surprise crude draw. The weakness followed a U.S. government report which forecast oversupply next year, cooling expectations of an immediate emergency stock release. The U.S. government projected that the global market will become oversupplied and prices will fall by early next year. DOE:

• Crude +1.002mm (+1.6mm exp)
• Cushing -34k
• Gasoline -1.555mm (-1.2mm exp)
• Distillates -2.613mm (-1.1mm exp)

While API reported a draw, official data confirmed a crude inventory build. Cushing crude stocks fell very modestly last week, remaining near operational lows, well below seasonal averages...

Oil Futures Deepen Losses as Crude Inventories Rise - Crude and refined products futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange accelerated losses in mid-morning trade Wednesday. This followed government data from the Energy Information Administration that detailed a third consecutive weekly increase in U.S. crude oil inventories through Nov. 5, offsetting larger-than-expected drawdowns from refined fuels stockpiles and higher crude demand from domestic refineries.U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by 1 million barrels (bbl) from the previous week to 435.1 million bbl, and are now about 7% below the five-year average, according to EIA data released this morning. Analysts widely expected crude stockpiles would rise by 1.3 million bbl from the prior week. The build was realized even as domestic refiners increased run rates for the third consecutive week through Nov. 5, up by 0.4% to 86.7%, compared with expectations for a 0.7% increase. Oil stored at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate, fell by 34,000 bbl from the previous week to 26.4 million bbl. Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, declined 2.6 million bbl from the previous week to 211.7 million bbl, well above the calls for a 600,000 bbl draw. The larger-than-expected drawdown came even as gasoline demand weakened, down 254,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.259 million bpd.Distillate stocks fell by larger-than-expected 2.6 million bbl to 124.5 million bpd, leaving supply about 5% below the five-year average. Analysts expected a 1.2 million bbl decline.Distillate demand moved up off a three-week low 3.686 million bpd, surging 594,000 bpd last week -- directionally in line with a 3.1% increase seen in DTN Refined Fuel data. Total diesel consumption in the U.S. was up 7.1% relative to the same week in 2019, strengthening further on a relative seasonal basis after being up 4.4% compared to 2019 levels, according to DTN data.Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.2 million bpd, up by 6.1% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.4 million bpd, up by 11.2% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.0 million bpd over the past four weeks, up by 3.0% fromthe same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 45.2% compared with the same four-week period last year. Near 11:30 a.m. EST, NYMEX December WTI futures slumped $1.25 to trade at $82.89 per bbl, and NYMEX December RBOB futures declined $4.31 to 2.3311 per gallon while the front-month ULSD contract traded at $2.4907 per gallon, down 1.82 cents on the session so far.

NYMEX WTI Tumbles 3% on Resurgent US Dollar, Crude Build - Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange fell 3% or more on Wednesday, sending front-month West Texas Intermediate towards $81 barrel (bbl) amid a resurgence of buying interest in the U.S. Dollar Index triggered by higher-than-expected print on domestic inflation for last month, fueling fears that inflation could prove stickier than the U.S. Federal Reserve previously projected.At settlement, NYMEX WTI futures for December delivery plummeted $2.81 or 3.54% to $81.34 bbl, with losses accelerating post-settlement, and the international crude benchmark Brent January futures contract eroded $2.14 for a $82.64 bbl settlement. NYMEX RBOB December futures plunged 7.8 cents to $2.2972 gallon and front-month NYMEX ULSD futures declined 5.6 cents to $2.4521 gallon.The U.S. dollar surged against major peers Wednesday, settling at a 17-month high 94.838 after the U.S. Labor Department reported consumer prices last month rose to their highest rate since 1990. The U.S. consumer price index -- a measure of inflation -- spiked 6.2% in the 12 months ending in October, far above median expectations for a 5.8% year-on-year increase. Alarmingly, consumer prices accelerated gains across various categories including shelter, energy, food, used and new cars, suggesting inflationary price pressures across the economy are broad based.Markets appear to have priced in more aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes for next year as a result of this data. Last week, Fed officials took a first step in normalizing monetary policy by slowing down the pace of $120 billion a month in bond-buying stimulus -- a measure seen cooling off long-term demand.Ahead of Wednesday's CPI release, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida conceded this week that inflation is running "much more than a moderate overshoot" of the central bank's 2% target, adding that the repeat of inflation next year "would not be considered a policy success."Further weighing on the oil complex, U.S. crude oil inventories increased for the third consecutive week through Nov. 5, reported the Energy Information Administration Wednesday morning, easing concerns over tightening global oil market. Crude stockpiles rose by 1 million bbl from the previous week to 435.1 million bbl and are now about 6% below the five-year average. Build was realized even as domestic refiners hiked run rates and domestic production remained near a pre-pandemic high of 11.5 million barrels per day (bpd).U.S. gasoline demand, meanwhile, fell 254,000 bpd or 2.5% from the previous week to 9.259 million bpd, suggesting consumers might be pulling back on gasoline purchases amid soaring prices. Earlier this week, EIA lifted its 2021 retail gasoline prices forecast by 3 cents to $3 gallon, with full-year gasoline consumption seen at 8.78 million bpd.

Oil prices plunge into close, roiled by inflation fears - Oil prices slumped on Thursday, Wednesday, hit by a surge in the dollar after US President Joe Biden said his administration was looking for ways to reduce energy costs amid a broader surge in inflation. Brent and US crude futures dropped sharply at the end of the session as traders sold out of riskier assets, including stocks and commodities, driven by expectations that central bankers will take steps to curb rising prices. Consumer inflation data on Wednesday showed US prices were rising at a 6.2 per cent year-over-year rate, their fastest rate in three decades, and may spur both the White House and US Federal Reserve to take action to head that off. That boosted the dollar, which often trades inversely to oil. Brent crude futures settled down US$2.14, or 2.5 per cent, to US$82.64 a barrel. That contract hit a high of US$85.50 on the session before retreating. US crude settled down US$2.81, or 3.3 per cent, to US$81.34 after reaching a high of US$84.97 a barrel, just off seven-year highs touched in the last few weeks. Inflation is heating up as the economic drag from the summer wave of Covid-19 infections fades and supply bottlenecks persist. The Federal Reserve is expected to try to stave the ongoing increase in prices, which has lasted longer than originally anticipated. That sparked a rally in the dollar, which undermines the price of oil as it raises the cost for other nations because oil is largely transacted in dollars. Biden said he asked the National Economic Council to work to reduce energy costs and the Federal Trade Commission to push back on market manipulation in the energy sector in a larger effort to reverse inflation. "Those comments caused the market to tank," . Separately, US crude inventories rose by 1 million barrels in the most recent week, short of estimates for a 2.1 million build in crude stocks. Several traders said on Thursday that prices could continue to rise in coming months, but noted as well that an ongoing rally could spur more shale industry production that would offset demand. The market has rallied in recent days on expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia, along with other exporting allies, would maintain a steady increase in output. Opec+, as the wider exporting group is called, rebuffed calls by the White House to boost production. US output was most recently at 11.5 million barrels per day, still short of the near-13 million bpd reached in late 2019. The White House has tiptoed around the possibility of releasing oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve amid concern over recent soaring petrol prices. Generally, the US taps the SPR in the case of emergencies, like hurricanes.

WTI, Brent Fall After OPEC Downgrades 2021 Demand Outlook - Nearby delivery month oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude traded on the Intercontinental Exchange extended losses into morning trade Thursday after Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries revised lower its 2021 global demand forecast, citing weaker-than-expected fuel consumption in China and India, while investor concerns that surging U.S. inflation would force the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates as early as next year, making an abrupt departure from expansionary fiscal policies, added to the selling pressure.U.S. dollar cracked above the key 95-level in early index trade Thursday, surging more than 1% against its global peers after sharp appreciation Wednesday after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported domestic inflation spiked to 6.2% on an annualized basis in October -- the highest level in three decades. Alarmingly, price increases spread well beyond the parts of the economy that were most affected by the pandemic, like gasoline prices and cars. Economists estimate domestic inflation could breach 7% by year end before gradually easing in mid-2022. This scenario, however, would likely prompt U.S. Federal Reserve to conclude the tapering process of $120 billion of monthly bond-buying stimulus as early as first quarter 2022 -- about three months ahead of consensus.The Fed has already begun to back away from the narrative of "transitory inflation" in recent weeks, with a growing number of officials leaning toward raising interest rates next year instead of waiting until 2023. Wednesday's inflation data could accelerate the timetable.Further weighing on the oil complex, OPEC this morning downgraded global demand projections to 96.4 million barrels per day (bpd) for 2021, down 160,000 bpd from the previous month forecast. Global demand growth is now seen at 5.7 million bpd. A wave of COVID-19 infections that triggered targeted lockdown measures, as well as weaker manufacturing output and power sector challenges in China, reduced third quarter transportation and industrial fuels demand against initial expectations. India's oil demand in the third quarter was also adjusted lower due to a slower recovery in the demand for industrial fuels. Near 7:30 a.m. ET, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery declined $0.71 to $80.67 per barrel (bbl), and international crude benchmark Brent January futures eroded $0.50 to $82.11 bbl. NYMEX RBOB December futures declined 0.87 cents to $2.2885 gallon and front-month NYMEX ULSD futures fell 2.15 cents to $2.4306 gallon.

Oil Rises as Biden Faces Mounting Pressure to Rein in Prices -- Oil rose in choppy trading as investors weighed the odds that the White House will intervene to cool rising energy prices. Futures in New York climbed 0.3% after swinging between gains and losses on Thursday. U.S. President Joe Biden is facing growing pressure, including from his own party, to address rising prices as gains in consumer costs hit the fastest pace in decades. His options include tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or even banning oil exports. “Where we are at this point is prices have risen because demand is rising and so you need a more permanent supply response,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Meanwhile, inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for benchmark U.S. crude futures, fell by about 36,000 barrels Nov. 5-9, according to traders citing data from Wood Mackenzie on Thursday. Oil prices have soared as the global economic recovery from the pandemic boosts demand. Rising prices prompted the Biden Administration to weigh the merits of an emergency crude release. As much as 60 million barrels could be released from the SPR, in part by bringing forward mandated sales from 2022, according to Citigroup Inc. That would be enough to wipe out the supply deficit the Energy Information Administration has forecast for the rest of this year. With the market keenly watching for potential U.S. steps, trading has been highly volatile. One closely monitored market gauge -- the spread between the nearest two December contracts -- has swung by more than a dollar in four of the past six trading sessions, when it would generally move a few cents.

Oil Set For Third Consecutive Week Of Losses - Oil prices fell early on Friday and were headed for a third consecutive week of losses, as the U.S. dollar strengthened and the market continues to guess whether the Biden Administration will act now to try to bring down high gasoline prices. As of 9:55 a.m. EST, WTI Crude was trading down 1.21% at $80.60 and Brent Crude had fallen by 0.93% to $82.10.Oil prices were weighed down by a rise in the U.S. dollar as some investors now see the Fed raising interest rates as early as next year to tame inflation. A stronger greenback makes oil buying more expensive for holders of other currencies.In addition, market participants are weighing the possibility of the U.S. Administration acting now to seek to reduce the highest gasoline prices in America in seven years, with a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) cited by analysts as the most likely option. On Thursday, OPEC cut its oil demand forecast for 2021, for a second month running, acknowledging that “a slowdown in the pace of recovery in 4Q21 is now assumed due to elevated energy prices,” on top of weaker than expected Q3 demand from China and India. On Thursday, oil prices were supported in part by a shutdown of the giant 535,000-barrel-per-day Johan Sverdrup oilfield offshore Norway after a power outage. Production was fully restored by Friday, the field’s operator Equinor saidtoday.Analysts are also warning of the oil market balance tipping into surplus early next year.“Assuming OPEC+ maintains its current production strategy, the implication is that the string of quarterly declines that began in 3Q20 will come to an end in the next quarter. In other words, the oil market is sleepwalking into a supply surplus,” broker PVM Oil said on Friday.“OPEC and its allies will at the very least need to put a pause on the easing of their supply curbs in the new year. Inaction will result in global oil stocks swelling once again and oil prices making a beeline lower,” analysts at the oil broker noted.

Weekly Losses for WTI, Brent as Inflation Fans Demand Worries -- Oil futures nearest delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange settled Friday's session lower, with both crude benchmarks suffering their third consecutive week of losses. Those losses were triggered by the prospects of weaker global demand growth in the fourth quarter, with soaring inflation and a strengthening U.S. Dollar Index further weighing on the energy complex. U.S. consumer sentiment this month plummeted to its lowest showing in a decade, according to the survey from the University of Michigan, with one-in-four American households citing diminished purchasing power and a reduction in living standards. The drop-off in sentiment has been triggered by rising inflation that surged to a 30-year high last month as well as a belief the Biden administration has failed to "develop effective policies to reduce the damage from rising prices," noted Surveys of Consumers Chief Economist Richard Curtin.The consumer price index -- a measure of inflation -- spiked to 6.2% in the 12 months ending in October, delivering a gut-punch to an already slowing economic recovery. The Federal Reserve's long-held inflation target has been around 2%. President Joe Biden vowed this week to address rising gasoline and food prices, but no specific policy has yet been presented. Speculation is swirling the White House might authorize additional sale of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, currently holding about 613 million barrels (bbl) of crude oil, which follows the sale of 20 million bbl that has been underway this fall. Analysts, however, estimate SPR sales would have limited impact on the market as it doesn't structurally change supply-demand fundamentals. Faced with relentless rise in consumer prices, U.S. Federal Reserve could end its bond-buying stimulus program earlier than expected to position the markets for the first interest rate hike since March 2020. The Fed has already begun to back away from the narrative of "transitory inflation" in recent weeks, with a growing number of officials leaning toward raising interest rates next year instead of waiting until 2023. The high level of inflation, now three times above the central bank's targeted 2%, will be a driving force in determining market direction heading into the final weeks of the 2021 trading year. Further weighing on the oil complex this week, U.S. crude oil inventories increased for the third consecutive week through Nov. 5, reported the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday, easing concerns over tightening global oil market. Crude stockpiles rose by 1 million bbl from the previous week to 435.1 million bbl and are now about 6% below the five-year average. The build was realized even as domestic refiners hiked run rates while domestic production remained near a pre-pandemic high of 11.5 million barrels per day (bpd). U.S. gasoline demand, meanwhile, fell 254,000 bpd or 2.5% from the previous week to 9.259 million bpd, suggesting consumers might be pulling back on gasoline purchases amid soaring prices. On the session, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate futures for December delivery retreated $0.80 to $80.79 bbl, and the international crude benchmark Brent contract for January declined to $82.17 bbl, down $0.70 on the session. NYMEX RBOB December futures eased 0.64 cents to $2.3114 gallon and front-month NYMEX ULSD futures fell 4.34 cents to $2.4037 gallon, with both products falling to five-week lows on their spot continuation charts during the session.

UAE reportedly looks elsewhere as Israel hesitates over pipeline deal - A deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, signed on Oct. 19, 2020, to transport Emirati crude through existing Israeli pipelines between the port of Eilat on the Red Sea to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean—initially hailed as the first major agreement following the Abraham Accords—is now in jeopardy, with the UAE reportedly sending out feelers for an alternative route. The deal is between MED-RED Land Bridge Ltd., a private Dubai-based company, and Israel’s state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Co. (EAPC). According to the EAPC, the deal benefited the UAE by letting it deliver its oil more efficiently to Western markets and benefited Israel in ensuring its energy security. On Oct. 21, almost a year to the day after the signing, a Globes article described how the UAE was considering finding a path through Egypt instead as the Israeli government becomes mired in internal disagreement over the deal’s pros and cons, casting doubt that it will allow the agreement to stand. Israeli environmentalist groups have sued the government. Their main argument is that the pipeline deal would lead to a sharp rise in the number of oil tankers visiting the Gulf of Eilat, creating a serious threat to Israel’s coral reefs in the event of a spill. Ironically, the new potential route would run from the Egyptian resort of Taba on the Red Sea, only a short distance from Israel’s pipeline installation, leaving Israel’s coral reefs just as exposed to a potential oil spill, only without any upside for Israel.

Palestinian activists’ mobile phones hacked using NSO spyware, says report The mobile phones of six Palestinian human rights defenders, some of whom work for organisations that were recently – and controversially – accused by Israel of being terrorist groups, were previously hacked by sophisticated spyware made by NSO Group, according to a report. An investigation by Front Line Defenders (FLD), a Dublin-based human rights group, found that the mobile phones of Salah Hammouri, a Palestinian rights defender and lawyer whose Jerusalem residency status has been revoked, and five others were hacked using Pegasus, NSO’s signature spyware. In one case, the hacking was found to have occurred as far back as July 2020. FLD’s findings were independently confirmed with “high confidence” by technical experts at Citizen Lab and Amnesty International’s security lab, the world’s leading authorities on such hacks. The revelation is likely to provoke further criticism of Israel’s recent decision to target Palestinian human rights activists. UN human rights experts have called the designation of the groups as terror organisations a “frontal attack” on the Palestinian human rights movement and on human rights everywhere, and said it appeared to represent an abuse of the use of anti-terrorism legislation by Israeli authorities. Investigations by the Guardian and other media outlets have found multiple cases of governments using NSO spyware to target journalists and human rights advocates who are perceived as threats, often by autocratic regimes such as Saudi Arabia that have been sold the technology. Targets in the past have included the fiancee and wife of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as Carine Kanimba, the daughter of the jailed Rwandan dissident Paul Rusesabagina. NSO has said it investigates all allegations of abuse and that its technology is meant to be used by governments to fight terrorism and other serious crimes. The case of the six Palestinians also raises new questions about how Israel itself may use spyware to target critics of the government or others who are seen as threatening the country. The Biden administration placed NSO on a US blacklist last week, a move that will make it exceedingly difficult for the Israeli company to buy any US-originating technology or services. The administration said it took the decision after it found evidence that the Israeli spyware maker had acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”. There is no technical evidence confirming that the state of Israel ordered the hacks of the six Palestinians, but three of the six individuals work for organisations that have been targeted and accused of crimes by Israeli authorities. NSO has said it sells its spyware only to government clients for the purposes of fighting serious crime and terrorism, and the company is closely regulated by the Israeli ministry of defence. A spokesperson for NSO Group said: “Due to contractual and national security considerations, we cannot confirm or deny the identity of our government customers. As we stated in the past, NSO Group does not operate the products itself; the company licence approved government agencies to do so, and we are not privy to the details of individuals monitored. “NSO Group develops critical technologies for the use of law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world to defend the public from serious crime and terror. These technologies are vital for governments in the face of platforms used by criminals and terrorists to communicate uninterrupted.”

Alibaba’s Singles Day pulls in $84.5 billion in sales despite regulatory crackdown. Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA) raked in a whopping $84.5 billion in sales during its annual 11.11 Singles Day shopping extravaganza. This year’s numbers blew away the company’s 2020 sales of $74 billion, despite Alibaba facing regulatory scrutiny at home, and the pandemic-driven global supply chain crunch.The largest shopping event in the world, Singles Day dwarfs Amazon’s Prime Day, Cyber Monday, and Black Friday combined, which came in at about $30.7 billion.Some 290,000 brands participated in Alibaba’s shopping festival, which began on Nov. 1 and ran through Nov. 11. Alibaba rival JD.com said it pulled in $48.7 billion just before the end of the shopping day in China. Here in the U.S., Alibaba held an event featuring brands like Diane Von Furstenberg, Supergoop!, Mansur Gavriel, and basq NYC, which have begun using Alibaba’s live stream platform to sell goods to Chinese-based consumers. Diane Von Furstenberg CEO Gabby Hirata told Yahoo Finance that the effort has paid off handsomely for the high-fashion brand. The brand’s sales jumped 110% in the first 15 minutes of its live stream during this year’s event.

Teachers and parents expose rising COVID infections in Australian schools - The Committee for Public Education (CFPE) has been independently collating and tracking school closures since the beginning of Term 4, following the official reopening of schools in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), Australia’s two most populous states. In just over five weeks over 500 schools in Victoria have either been closed or partially closed due to COVID infections with the numbers in NSW heading towards 300. The full extent and overall data are not published by the state governments, the media or the unions—the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the New South Wales Teachers Federation (NSWTF)—which are complicit in this dangerous experiment. Many of the closed schools have been hit by multiple infections, the extent of which also remains undisclosed. The refusal of public authorities to publish comprehensive accounts of COVID-related school closures is just one expression of the extraordinary censorship that has accompanied the reopening drive. It was only after the CFPE began exposing the alarming infection numbers on social media, that the Age and Guardian newspapers and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation suddenly began highlighting some of the closures. The CFPE is holding an online meeting this Saturday at 4 p.m. (AEDT), entitled “Oppose the dangerous reopening of schools in Australia! Form and join our rank-and-file action safety committees!” We urge all educators, parents, students and workers to attend the event, which will outline the experiences in the schools and a perspective to fight against the endangerment of teacher and child safety. The CFPE has received correspondence from teachers and parents providing updates on school closure sites and explaining their stories. Teachers have requested their comments remain anonymous because they fear that speaking publicly could have implications for their employment. Parents have also requested that they not be named in case their children are targeted.

EU Court Requires Google To Pay $2.8 Billion Anti-Monopoly Fine - That the US (specifically, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen) cheered a few weeks ago when it managed to cobble together an international deal via the OECD - or at least a framework for said deal - to create a new global minimum corporate tax. The deal looks something like this. Countries like Ireland with among the lowest base corporate tax rates have agreed to raise them, and in exchange, the US will allow other countries to take a bigger piece of tax action from American multinationals - particularly tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google owner Alphabet. Unfortunately for Alphabet, which was memorably hit with a trifecta of billion-euro fines a few years back over allegations of monopolistic behavior (note: many of these issues are supposedly being addressed in the tax deal), the global deal won't free it from having to shell out the massive fines levied by the European Commission's notorious anti-trust chief Margrethe Vesteger. On Wednesday, the EU General Court approved a massive €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) fine, agreeing with Vesteger that Google was squeezing out rival shopping services on its search engine (the reason for the fine). On Wednesday, the Luxembourg-based court backed the decision by the EU’s executive body. Google has the right to appeal the ruling at the ECJ, the EU's highest court. The fine was assessed following an investigation that began all the way back in 2010. The US tech giant appealed against the fine and called it "wrong on the law, the facts, and the economics," but still complied with the European Commission’s order to change the way its shopping service operated. For Google, it was the first of three antitrust fines, which together amount to €8 billion ($9.2), handed to the US tech giant in the EU in recent years.