Fed raises key rate by half-point and signals more to come - (AP) — The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signaling more hikes to come. But it announced a smaller hike than it had in its past four meetings at a time when inflation is showing signs of easing. The Fed made clear, in a statement and a news conference by Chair Jerome Powell, that it thinks sharply higher rates are still needed to fully tame the worst inflation bout to strike the economy in four decades. The central bank boosted its benchmark rate a half-point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years. Though lower than its previous three-quarter-point hikes, the latest move will further increase the costs of many consumer and business loans and the risk of a recession. More surprisingly, the policymakers forecast that their key short-term rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023. That suggests that the Fed is poised to raise its rate by an additional three-quarters of a point and leave it there through next year. Some economists had expected that the Fed would project only an additional half-point increase. The latest rate hike was announced one day after an encouraging report showed that inflation in the United States slowed in November for a fifth straight month. The year-over-year increase of 7.1%, though still high, was sharply below a recent peak of 9.1% in June. “The inflation data in October and November show a welcome reduction,” Powell said at his news conference. “But it will take substantially more evidence to give confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path.” In its updated forecasts, the Fed’s policymakers predicted slower growth and higher unemployment for next year and 2024. The unemployment rate is envisioned to jump to 4.6% by the end of 2023, from 3.7% today. That would mark a significant increase in joblessness that typically would reflect a recession. Consistent with a sharp slowdown, the officials also projected that the economy will barely grow next year, expanding just 0.5%, less than half the forecast it had made in September. “The Fed is not done — it sees a prolonged slowdown and a rise in unemployment as the only way to fully derail inflation,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, said in a research note. Though Powell said he thought the economy could still avoid a recession, the Fed’s economic forecasts show the policymakers expect job losses to result from its higher rates. “They really need the unemployment rate to go higher and wages to start coming down,” said Subadra Rajappa, an investment strategist at Societe Generale. Powell has said that slower wage growth would reduce inflation pressures. Powell said Wednesday, “I just don’t think anyone knows whether we’re going to have a recession or not. ... I wish there were a completely painless way to restore price stability. There isn’t.”
FOMC Statement: Raise Rates 50 bp; "Ongoing increases appropriate" - FOMC Statement: Recent indicators point to modest growth in spending and production. Job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher food and energy prices, and broader price pressures.Russia's war against Ukraine is causing tremendous human and economic hardship. The war and related events are contributing to upward pressure on inflation and are weighing on global economic activity. The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks.The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent. The Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time. In determining the pace of future increases in the target range, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, as described in the Plans for Reducing the Size of the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet that were issued in May. The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective. In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals. The Committee's assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on public health, labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments.
FOMC Projections and Press Conference - (see tables) Statement here. Fed Chair Powell press conference video here or on YouTube here, starting at 2:30 PM ET. Here are the projections. In September, the FOMC participants’ midpoint of the target level for the federal funds rate was 4.625%. The FOMC participants’ midpoint of the target range is now closer to 5.125%. Current Wall Street forecasts are for GDP to increase in 2022 Q4 over Q4, slightly above FOMC September projections. These tracking estimates would put Q4/Q4 at 0.63% in 2022. So, the FOMC revised up 2022 GDP slightly, but revised down 2023 GDP. GDP projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Change in Real GDP: Projections of change in real GDP and inflation are from the fourth quarter of the previous year to the fourth quarter of the year indicated. The unemployment rate was at 3.7% in November. So far, the economic slowdown has barely pushed up the unemployment rate, and the FOMC revised down the 2022 projection but revised 2023 up. Unemployment projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Unemployment Rate: Projections for the unemployment rate are for the average civilian unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of the year indicated.
As of October 2022, PCE inflation was up 6.0% from October 2021. This was below the cycle high of 7.0% YoY in June. The FOMC revised up PCE inflation for 2022. Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, PCE Inflation” PCE core inflation was up 5.0% in October year-over-year. This was below the cycle high of 5.4% YoY in February. Core inflation has picked up more than expected and the FOMC revised up their projections.
Fed's Powell says inflation battle not won, more rate hikes coming (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will deliver more interest rate hikes next year even as the economy slips towards a possible recession, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, arguing that a higher cost would be paid if the U.S. central bank does not get a firmer grip on inflation. Recent signs of slowing inflation have not brought any confidence yet that the fight has been won, Powell told reporters after the Fed's policy-setting committee raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by half a percentage point and projected it would continue rising to above 5% in 2023, a level not seen since a steep economic downturn in 2007. Those rises in borrowing costs would come despite an economy that Fed officials projected will operate at near stall speed through next year, with an annual growth rate of 0.5% and an unemployment rate nearly a full percentage point higher by the end of 2023, well beyond the increase historically associated with a recession. "We don't talk about this kind of recession, that kind of a recession. We just make these forecasts," Powell said in a news conference. "I wish there were a completely painless way to restore price stability. There isn't, and this is the best we can do." He described the slow rate of economic growth penciled in by Fed officials next year as still "modest." "I don't think it would qualify as a recession ... That's positive growth," the Fed chief said, even though "it is not going to feel like a boom." But other aspects of the Fed's projections, notably a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.6% from the current 3.7%, are consistent with a downturn settling in as the central bank keeps its target policy rate at a "restrictive level" for at least the next two years. The rate increase on Wednesday, which was approved unanimously by Fed policymakers and widely expected by financial markets, lifted the targeted policy rate to the 4.25%-4.50% range, with officials expecting it to rise to a level between 5.00% and 5.25% next year. If anything, the bias is higher: seven of 19 policymakers projected even higher rates will be needed, and U.S. central bankers are unanimous that the risks are tilted towards higher-than-expected inflation rather than a surprise in the other direction. Still, Powell said, repeating the hard-line on enforcing the Fed's 2% inflation target that he has developed through the year, "the largest amount of pain, the worst pain, would come from a failure to raise rates high enough and from us allowing inflation to become entrenched." "The new economic projections imply an even higher pain threshold than before" for a Fed willing to tolerate the equivalent of about 1.6 million lost jobs, wrote Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist at Jefferies. "This suggests hawks still outnumber the doves by a significant margin."
Despite Recession Warnings, Fed Raises Rates Again—And Signals It's Not Done - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by half a percentage point and indicated that more hikes are coming in 2023, brushing aside mounting warnings from economists and policy experts that its actions risk hurling the U.S. economy into recession and throwing millions out of work.The Fed's latest rate increase, less aggressive than the 75-basis-point hikes of the four previous months, pushes interest rates to their highest level in 15 years, a restrictive policy stance explicitly aimed at tamping down economic demand, slowing hiring, and cutting workers' wages even as inflation shows clear signs of cooling significantly.In a statement, the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said it "anticipates that ongoing [interest rate] increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time."The Fed also released its updated economic projections, estimating that gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow next year and the unemployment rate will rise significantly—a reflection of the impact the central bank's policy moves have had on the U.S. economy thus far. During a press conference following the rate hike, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that while "inflation data received so far for October and November show a welcome reduction in the monthly pace of price increases," he believes it "will take substantially more evidence to give confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path."The 50-basis-point rate increase comes as the Fed leadership continues to face growing outside pressure—as well as some concerns from central bank officials—over its aggressive approach to combating inflation, which progressive critics argue is being fueled by outsized corporate profits and supply chain snags, not an overly tight labor market or excessive demand. "Today's inflation comes mostly from sectoral supply side disruptions, largely the result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequent disturbances to supply chains; and disruptions to energy and food markets originating from Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Joseph Stiglitz, a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and Ira Regmi, manager of the Macroeconomic Analysis program at the Roosevelt Institute, wrote in a paper published last week. "While we welcome the return of interest rates to more normal levels, which reduces a number of distortions associated with persistent, abnormally low interest rates, increasing interest rates too far and too quickly risks a painful slowdown to the economy with minimal benefits to inflation short of a significant downturn," they added. "This would have particular adverse distributional consequences, especially for marginalized groups in the country."
Fed Pivots even More Hawkish, Sees Peak Rate above 5%, No Rate Cuts in 2023. Powell Brushes Off Raising Inflation Target - By Wolf Richter. “We’ve raised 425 basis points this year.” Now it’s “not so important how fast we go” but “what the ultimate level is,” and “how long we remain restrictive.” This has now been the rule for Fed meetings since the fall of 2021, when it stopped brushing off inflation. At every meeting since then, the FOMC pivoted more hawkish than at the prior meeting: Each “dot plot” projected a higher peak interest rate than the prior dot plot, and it projected staying there for longer, and as a result of the higher rates staying there for longer, it projected a higher unemployment rate and lower economic growth. And yet, each time it projected inflation to stick around longer. And the Fed kept hiking its rates to catch up with its rate projections, and with the next dot plot, the goalposts got moved again. In today’s FOMC meeting, the “dot plot” raised the median projection for the peak federal funds rate by 50 basis points from the prior dot plot, to 5.13% at the mid-point of the target range, meaning a target range of 5.0% to 5.25%. Of the 19 members who participated in what is officially called the “Summary of Economic Projections” (SEP), 17 saw this peak rate of at least 5.13%, meaning another 75 basis points in hikes. Seven of them saw the mid-point of the federal funds rate rise above 5.38%. And yet, the goalposts might get moved again. When asked in the press conference, Powell conceded that the projections for the peak rate might be raised again with the next dot plot. The big focus now, after the fastest rate hikes in four decades, was no longer the size of the rate hikes, but how high to go, and how long to stay there, he said several times to make sure everyone got it. And despite the financial markets fervent hopes and prayers, there are no rate cuts for 2023 being projected in the SEP. And when asked about that omission, Powell unceremoniously brushed it off. The focus was on how high to go and how long to stay there, he said. At today’s meeting, the FOMC voted unanimously to raise all five policy rates by 50 basis points, which the Fed had widely telegraphed in recent weeks, and which “is still a historically large increase, and we still have some ways to go,” Powell said at the press conference.
- Federal funds rate target to a range between 4.25% and 4.50%, highest in 15 years.
- Interest it pays the banks on reserves to 4.4%.
- Interest it charges on overnight Repos to 4.5%.
- Interest it pays on overnight Reverse Repos (RRPs) to 4.3%.
- Primary credit rate it charges banks to 4.5%.
Since this rate hike cycle started in March, the Fed has raised its policy rates by 425 basis points – unimaginable earlier this year
Powell Opens The Door To Higher Inflation Target "As Part Of A Longer-Term Project" ---- While Powell showered the market with trite platitudes, eager to convince the market that the market is wrong in expecting the Fed to not only push the economy into a recession, but to end 2023 with a 5.1% rate (the market-implied rate is 4.36%, more than 70bps below the Fed's forecast anticipating at least one rate cut from the current level), the most important exchange at the Powell press conference took place when someone asked the central banker if the Fed's 2% inflation target would be changed (a topic of great significance, and one which we have covered extensively here, here and here). So what did Powell respond? Well, at first blush, nothing one didn't expect and certainly nothing that could have crushed the Fed's credibility in a millisecond (because that's precisely what raising the inflation target from 2% to 3% will do, not to mention pushing gold from $1800 to $10,000 and bitcoin limit up). Indeed, the word salad out of Powell's mouth was best summarized by the Fed chair's own mouthpiece, WSJ's Nick Timiraos: "Powell on changing the Fed's 2% inflation target: "We're not going to consider that under any circumstances." Only that's not what Powell said: yes, he hemmed and hewed, and did say that we are not going to consider that under any circumstances now... but then quietly added that "it may be a longer-run project at some point." Bingo: because that vague advance signaling is precisely what we said half a year ago would happen sooner rather than later... ... and while nobody would expect Powell to even dare breach this topic when inflation is 7% and unemployment is near record lows, let's see what happens when inflation remains stubbornly around 4% and the unemployment rate starts to surge: how long until "someinflation target point" becomes "right now." While the timing nuance may have been lost on the WSJ Fed mouthpiece who is mostly qualified to repeat only what he is fed, others did not miss the critical distinction, to wit: Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro said: "Powell even saying that there could be a “longer-run project” in looking at the inflation target is “dovish.” David Wilcox at Bloomberg Economics added : “At the presser, Powell slaps down any notion of rethinking the 2% inflation target any time in the foreseeable future. Implicitly, he leaves open the possibility of revisiting the target down the road -- perhaps at the next ‘framework review’ due to be concluded in about 2025, or perhaps the one after that. In other words, not until WAY down the road.”
Powell: Duration, not speed, is the name of the interest rate game — The Federal Reserve's sprint to rein in inflation is nearing its end. Now comes the endurance portion of the race. The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee voted Wednesday to increase its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point this week, up to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%. In doing so, the FOMC broke a streak of consecutive 75-basis point increases during its last four meetings. The move follows a string of speeches from Fed Board members and reserve bank governors calling for "moderation" to its rate hiking schedule.
The Fed doesn't think its recession forecast is forecasting recession -- The Federal Reserve expects an economic downturn next year.But just don't call it a recession.In its latest Summary of Economic Projections released Wednesday, Fed officials said they expect GDP growth at the end of next year to stand at just 0.5% while the unemployment rate is set to rise from its current level of 3.7% to 4.6%.These projections were released alongside the Fed's last monetary policy decision of 2022, which saw the central bank raise the target range for its benchmark interest rate by 0.5%, as expected.Asked during a press conference following this announcement whether these forecasts — flat growth, rising unemployment — imply a recession hitting the economy next year, Powell demurred."I don't think it would qualify as a recession...because you've got positive growth," Powell said. Though as NBC's Brian Cheung noted in his question to Powell, the Fed's unemployment forecasts suggest some 1.6 million Americans are going to lose their jobs in the next year. "There will be some softening in labor market conditions," Powell said. "And I wish there were a completely painless way to restore price stability. There isn't. And this is the best we can do." As we've seen in numerous forecasts for markets and the economy next year, consensus among most strategists has hardened around the idea of a downturn hitting the economy in the second or third quarter of 2023, sending the stock market falling. And expectations that the Fed will react to a recession by easing policy have most strategists betting on stocks getting back to unchanged by the end of '23. But with Tuesday's inflation data showing that the Fed's aggressive rate hikes this year — which totaled 4.25% cumulatively — have started to have some effect in slowing prices, economists seem increasingly skeptical that the Fed hasn't misjudged the efficacy of its own program, which is aimed at getting inflation under control and back to its 2% target. Still, whether Fed officials want to call next year's economic outlook recessionary or not, their own forecasts have the central bank reacting to just that scenario. Interest rates are expected to top 5% in 2023 before sliding back to 4.1% in 2024. "The Fed remains willing to risk a recession in the labor market in order to bring inflation down and, if anything, the December projections suggest that risk has risen, not diminished," wrote Michael Gapen and the economics team at Bank of America Global Research. "We agree and continue to look for a recession in 1H 2023 and a sharper rise in the unemployment rate than the median FOMC member projects," they added.Rising unemployment, below-potential growth, and 100 basis points of interest rate cuts.If it walks like a recession and talks like a recession, call it whatever you want.
Here’s what the Federal Reserve’s half-point rate hike means for you -The Federal Reserve raised its target federal funds rate by 0.5 percentage points at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday in a continued effort to cool inflation. Although this marks a more typical hike compared to the super-size 0.75 percentage point moves at each of the last four meetings, the central bank is far from finished, according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “The months ahead will see the Fed raising interest rates at a more customary pace,” McBride said. The latest move is only one part of a rate-hiking cycle, which aims to bring down inflation without tipping the economy into a recession, as some feared would have happened already. “I thought we would be in the midst of a recession at this point, and we’re not,” said Laura Veldkamp, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia University Business School. “Every single time since World War II the Federal Reserve has acted to reduce inflation, unemployment has shot up, and we are not seeing that this time, and that’s what stands out,” she said. “I couldn’t really imagine a better scenario.” Still, the combination of higher rates and inflation has hit household budgets particularly hard. Whether directly or indirectly, higher Fed rates influence borrowing costs for consumers and, to a lesser extent, the rates they earn on savings accounts. For now, this leaves many Americans in a bind as inflation and higher prices cause more people to lean on credit just when interest rates rise at the fastest pace in decades.. Since most credit cards have a variable interest rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark, so short-term borrowing rates are already heading higher. Credit card annual percentage rates are now over 19%, on average, up from 16.3% at the beginning of the year, according to Bankrate.
Toomey aims to keep regulators 'focused on their day job' with swan song legislation - When Sen. Pat Toomey leaves office at the end of this year, he wants to take a bit of the Federal Reserve's secrecy with him. The ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee put forth two proposals last week that would force new transparency requirements on Fed regional banks. One is attached to the National Defense Authorization Act and is expected to be signed into law this month.If it does, it would be a rare legislative change to Fed policy. It would also give Toomey a signature achievement in the waning weeks of his congressional career, one few expected the Pennsylvania senator to accomplish when he began calling for greater accountability from the central bank last year.
BankThink: Congress's deepening scrutiny of the Fed might just be getting started -- I've said it before, but I find the Federal Reserve as an institution deeply fascinating. It is clearly a governmental institution, operating under the executive branch and subject to congressional oversight. But it operates independently of the executive branch, particularly on monetary policy issues; the Fed is subject to congressional oversight but funds itself through its balance sheet, bypassing congressional appropriations; it is headquartered in Washington, but its monetary policy decisions run through a committee that includes regional Fed bank presidents around the country who are neither nominated by the president nor confirmed by Congress. That makes the Fed something of an evolutionary curiosity — the duck-billed platypus of government agencies. But those unique characteristics that make the Fed different have notable implications for the agency, the role it plays in the regulatory ecosystem and the way it conducts its business. The Fed's independence — and independent resources — make it a haven for economists and other academic types, which in turn gives it an air of professionalism and expertise. They're the good guys, Marty. And because the Fed has a reputation as being the good guys, when Congress was deciding how to put the financial regulatory apparatus back together again after 2008, the Fed ended up with a lot more power than it had before. Besides presiding over a much larger balance sheet than it had before the financial crisis, the Fed also gained new freedoms in extending emergency lending to nonbanks (though that authority was technically bestowed in 1991) and became the regulator for systemically risky nonbanks — if there were any.
Four 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 December 11th. This data shows the 7-day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Light Blue), 2020 (Black), 2021 (Blue) and 2022 (Red). The 7-day average is 5.3% below the same week in 2019 (94.7% of 2019). (Dashed line) Air travel - as a percent of 2019 - has picked up recently - but still below pre-pandemic levels. This data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue). The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through December 8th. Movie ticket sales were at $72 million last week, down about 63% from the median for the week. This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average. This data is through Dec 3rd. The occupancy rate was down 7.7% compared to the same week in 2019. The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is above the median rate for the previous 20 years (Blue) and close to 2019 levels. - This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019. As of December 2nd, gasoline supplied was down 7.5% compared to the same week in 2019. Recently gasoline supplied has been running below 2019 and 2021 levels - and sometimes below 2020.
“Do foreign yield curves predict US recessions and GDP growth?” - by Menzie Chinn - Our short answer: yes. From NBER working paper No. 30737 (update of findings in this post) by myself and Rashad Ahmed, out today (abstract): This paper shows that foreign term spreads constructed from bond yields of non-U.S. G-7 constituents predict future U.S. recessions and that foreign term spreads are stronger predictors of U.S. recessions occurring within the next year than U.S. term spreads. U.S. and foreign term spreads are both informative of the U.S. economy but over different horizons and for different components of economic activity. Smaller U.S. term spreads lead to smaller foreign term spreads and U.S. Dollar appreciation. Smaller foreign term spreads do not lead to significant U.S. Dollar depreciation but do lead to persistent declines in U.S. exports and FDI flows into the United States. These findings are consistent with the proposition that foreign term spreads embed growth spillovers from the U.S. and the resulting Dollar strength and slowdown abroad spill back to the United States. Here’s the AUROC for US term spread only (model 1), for foreign term spread only (model 2), and US and foreign term spread plus other variables plus financial conditions index (model). These AUROCs pertain to columns (1), (2), and (4) in Table A.1. Notice we are not saying the US term spread is not predictive; just that including the foreign term spread and a slew of other US variables, results in a not-statistically-significant coefficient on the US term spread (the US term spread does show up as signficant in column (3)).Turning to GDP growth, Figure 4 shows impulse response functions in response to a 1 ppt increase in the US(foreign) 10yr-3mo spread. Here is the current situation with respect to 10yr-3mo spreads (Treasury minus 3 month Treasury or interbank, depending on what OECD reports):Figure 1: Ten year government bond yields minus three month rates for US (black), UK (teal), Germany (orange), and Japan (red), %. Three month rates are government bond yields for US, interbank rates for others. NBER defined peak-to-trough US recession dates shaded gray. Source: Treasury via FRED, OECD Main Economic Indicators, updated with Tradingeconomics.com, NBER, and author’s calculations.Foreign yield curves in Germany (proxy for Euro area) and UK are inverting. The Japanese term spread remains positive however. We also identify the response of the dollar to term spread shocks.
Lawmakers race toward Christmas deal on spending -- Congressional negotiators are racing to strike a bipartisan deal on government funding for fiscal year 2023 this week, but they have a long way to go before they can put a bow on an omnibus before Christmas. Lawmakers have until midnight on Friday to pass legislation to keep the government running or risk a shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) said from the chamber floor on Monday that Congress is headed for a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), this week, giving negotiators a likely extra week to try to hash out a larger compromise on billions in spending. “Members should be prepared to take quick action on a CR, a one-week CR, so we can give appropriators more time to finish a full funding bill before the holidays,” Schumer said on Monday afternoon. Democratic negotiators had been expected to release new funding proposals as early as Monday after bipartisan spending talks appeared to stall last week. They said the bills were designed to attract bipartisan support in lieu of a larger spending deal, but the plans met immediate skepticism in the GOP who said the bills had not been pre-approved by Republicans. “It might come out of the House, but it’s going nowhere in the Senate,” Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters last week, while writing off such bills as “absolutely” a waste of time. But those plans were scrapped over the weekend after an aide said negotiators made progress in discussions. A Senate Democratic aide told The Hill on early Monday that Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) felt that “sufficient progress in negotiations took place over the weekend to delay the introduction of the omnibus appropriations bill for the time being.” “Bipartisan and bicameral negotiations continue,” the aide added. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), an appropriator, said last week that one of the biggest hold-ups preventing an agreement is a roughly $25 billion gap between what Democrats and Republicans want allocated for discretionary spending. Another issue Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) raised on Thursday is a conflict over whether veterans funding should be classified as nondefense discretionary spending. “The more we do for our veterans, which we should do, they want to take it out of other needs that we have for our judiciary, for our housing, for education, for food, for transportation, for energy,” Pelosi said during a press conference. “So, if we’re increasing veterans at the expense of our domestic agenda, then you see how challenging that is,” Pelosi told reporters, while pushing for certain veterans funding to be considered “in their own category.”
What’s at stake for state and local governments in the year-end government funding negotiations - EPI Blog -As the clock ticks toward the end of the 117th Congress, legislators on Capitol Hill are reportedly still locked in negotiations on how to fund the government for 2023. Congress faces the deadline this week—December 16—to pass a plan for government funding, when the short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government will expire.The federal appropriations fight has serious stakes for state and local governments. Democrats in Congress, in particular, are pushing to not merely pass another short-term CR to keep the funding as is, but to pass a comprehensive spending bill, or omnibus, that fully appropriates funding that meets the realities of the moment. The outcome of these negotiations will, as always, have real consequences for working people and our economic stability overall.The appropriations debate has especially high economic stakes because of long-standing inaction on Capitol Hill to address the debt limit. The new House Republican majority in the 118th Congress has already signaled their willingness to once again use the debt ceiling to force harmful spending cuts. State and local governments need significant funding to restore public services.The public sector is in rough shape. While private-sector employment has recovered from the COVID recession of 2020, the same is not true for the public sector. There are 461,000 fewer people in public-sector jobs since February 2020, and specifically in state and local governments, we are still 2.3% below pre-pandemic levels. Even worse, state and local employment is more than 5% below February 2020 levels in many states, including Louisiana, West Virginia, and Michigan.While the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) have helped fuel transformative investments and state and local fiscal conditions are generally strong, governments need to spend the money required to hire highly qualified workers to alleviate today’s shortfall. SLFRF dollars should have given them the fiscal capacity to do this, but those funds are finite. Crucially, rebuilding the public sector will require substantial investments from state and local governments long after SLFRF funds have been expended. The ongoing effort to rebuild a better public sector will be compromised if Congress fails to pass an omnibus appropriations bill—or if they pass one that shortchanges the needed increase in non-defense spending. These shortfalls in state and local government services have real impacts on people’s lives. About 45% of public school report vacancies in special education teachers, and 31% report shortages of elementary teachers. More than 14% of school bus driver jobs are vacant. Key government agencies like health departments are experiencing critical staff shortages as burned-out staff depart and replacements cannot be found at current wage levels. Additionally, a return to the pre-pandemic status quo is not sufficient. State and local governments never fully recovered from the waves of austerity that followed the Great Recession in 2008-09. The shortfall in state and local government jobs is clearly driven by the inadequate wages paid to public-sector workers. Fully one-third of state and local government workers are paid less than $20 an hour, and 15% are paid less than $15 an hour. Black and Latinx employees are especially likely to be paid inadequate wages in the public sector, which also employs a disproportionate share of women workers. These workers need a raise, and state and local governments will need assistance in raising pay for their workers. Any omnibus budget bill needs to provide state and local governments the resources they need to fill existing vacancies, expand public services in areas of highest need, and rebuild sufficiently to withstand future shocks. Failing to reach agreement on an omnibus spending bill, and instead retreating to uncertain and flat-lined short-term continuing resolutions, will dissuade many state and local policymakers from making these needed investments.
House GOP pushes members to vote against short-term funding bill House GOP leadership is urging Republicans to vote against a short-term government funding bill lawmakers are hoping to quickly pass ahead of a looming shutdown deadline. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office sent out a notice to members on Tuesday evening recommending a “no” vote on the stopgap funding bill unveiled earlier Tuesday that leaders are expected to bring to the floor this week. “Once again, House Democrats failed to meet the fundamental duty of funding the government despite spending most of the year passing trillions in wasteful spending that has fueled inflation and driven up our debt,” the notice said. “This one-week continuing resolution is an attempt to buy additional time for a massive lame-duck spending bill in which House Republicans have had no seat at the negotiating table,” the notice added. Funding runs out on Friday at midnight, and the stopgap bill would keep the government running through Dec. 23 while negotiators try to hash out funding for a larger omnibus spending package. Lawmakers reach deal on framework for omnibus spending package Defense & National Security — White House feels heat to free Paul Whelan Republicans pushing for the shutdown deadline to be punted through next month say it’s necessary to allow the incoming GOP-led House more say in how the government should be funded. But other Republicans have pressed for an omnibus to be enacted sooner to ensure adequate funding for defense and national security. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Tuesday that lawmakers are “very close” to a bipartisan deal on an omnibus this month. “I think we’re very close to getting an omnibus appropriations bill,” McConnell said while also setting the timeline for passage by Dec. 22.
Lawmakers reach deal on framework for omnibus spending package - Lawmakers have struck a much-anticipated deal on a framework for an omnibus package to fund the government for fiscal 2023. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Tuesday night said negotiators had “reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the President.” Leahy said he reached the deal with Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). “We have a framework that provides a path forward to enact an omnibus next week,” DeLauro said, adding that the House and Senate Appropriations committees will “work around the clock” to negotiate the final spending bills for 2023. “The pain of inflation is real, and it is being felt across the federal government and by American families right now. We cannot delay our work any further, and a two-month continuing resolution does not provide any relief,” Leahy said. Government funding runs out at midnight Friday, and lawmakers must pass a short-term funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, this week in order to prevent a shutdown. The House is expected to pass a weeklong stopgap spending bill on Wednesday that would keep the government’s lights on through Dec. 23 to give negotiators and lawmakers enough time to pass the omnibus package. The Senate would advance the bill on its own shortly after. The omnibus package would set spending through Sept. 30, also known as the end of the fiscal year. There are still outstanding issues at play. None of the three negotiators indicated what the top-line figure was or any other details of the framework. The main hangup in discussions was the disparity between domestic and defense spending, both of which are expected to get a significant boost from the current spending levels.
House GOP accuses McConnell of selling them out with yearlong budget deal - The two top congressional Republicans are bitterly split on a yearlong budget deal, with some allies of Kevin McCarthy even accusing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of selling them out. House Republicans say that McConnell, R-Ky., should only agree to help Democrats fund the government until mid-January. The timeline would give Republicans more leverage in budget negotiations since the party is set to control the House of Representatives. "Republican voters fought hard to win back control of the House to take away insane spending control from the Democrats," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. "Mitch McConnell is on the verge of taking away House Republicans' power of the purse next year by making a dirty deal with the Democrats." House Minority Leader McCarthy, R-Calif., who is the GOP's designee for House speaker, recently told Fox News that a lame-duck budget deal would be "wrong." "Why would you want to work on anything if we [don't] have the gavel inside Congress?," the California Republican told Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Dec. 5. "Wait until we're in charge." Another House Republican was less diplomatic, saying McConnell's help in passing a yearlong budget deal amounted to a "sellout." House and Senate appropriators on Tuesday reached a nearly $1.7 trillion budget deal to fund the government until the end of September. Lawmakers are likely to approve the budget deal next week, but will need to first pass a one-week government funding bill before Friday to avert a shutdown. "We have a framework that provides a path forward to enact an omnibus next week," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. While the full budget has yet to be released, it is likely to include billions in funding for the pet projects of lawmakers via congressional earmarks. The Senate alone is slated to include more than 3,000 earmarks within the budget, while the House will get more than 4,300.
House OKs stopgap funding fix with broader deal still under wraps - The House passed a stopgap spending bill Wednesday night that gives negotiators an extra week to finish a $1.7 trillion year-end spending package, setting up an all-out legislative sprint before lawmakers leave for the holidays. The temporary funding patch, approved in a 224-201 vote, staves off a government shutdown Friday at midnight and extends federal cash through Dec. 23. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate could pass the measure as soon as Thursday, as long as there isn’t “unwelcome brouhaha” — a reference to the ability of any one senator to hold up the funding fix in exchange for concessions or amendment votes. The House vote on the stopgap comes after leading appropriators finally cemented a deal Tuesday night on a bipartisan framework to pave the way for a sprawling year-end funding bill that would boost federal agency budgets for the current fiscal year. It’s an enormous lift for a Congress that has struggled to do anything on time, with critical issues like military readiness, Ukraine aid and Medicare cuts on the line. Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) declined to get into details about the broader spending deal Wednesday, only saying negotiators now needed to “do some allocation.” “We’ve made the first big, big, big, big step,” Shelby said. House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) was confident Wednesday morning that House Democrats can pass the massive spending package once it comes together, noting that earmarks will help build support for the legislation. DeLauro must ensure the bill can get through the lower chamber, with only two Democratic votes to spare if every Republican opposes it. House Republicans largely voted against the one-week stopgap, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is signaling opposition to a broader spending deal, too. The House GOP’s top appropriator, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), has not been involved in negotiations. “There’s been tremendous input from our caucus in how these bills were constructed and what’s in them,” DeLauro said in a brief interview. “We’re going to help meet their expectations. Community projects are in there as well. I expect that I will have support.” Schumer said Wednesday morning that the framework is a “big step in the right direction” though “we still have a long way to go.” In a floor speech, he characterized the yet-to-be-revealed outline as “a balanced approach because it will contain wins for both sides.” He has also said the final year-end spending package will include a revamp of the Electoral Count Act, an outdated law former President Donald Trump tried to manipulate to overturn the results of the 2020 election, in addition to tens of billions of dollars in emergency money for Ukraine.
House passes spending bill, narrowly avoiding shutdown - - The House on Wednesday passed a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown, moving the Friday funding deadline to next week and allowing lawmakers more time to pass an omnibus spending package for the remainder of fiscal 2023.The so-called continuing resolution (CR) passed the House in a 224-201 vote, and now heads to the Senate, where it must pass and be sent to President Biden’s desk before midnight on Friday to avoid a shutdown. The measure will keep the government funded at current levels through Dec. 23. Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) didn’t wade into details about the broader spending deal Wednesday, only saying negotiators now needed to “do some allocation.”“We’ve made the first big, big, big, big step,” Shelby said.Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that the Senate could pass the measure as soon as Thursday, provided there aren’t any “unwelcome brouhaha” — or actions by one senator that could hold up the bill in exchange for concessions or amendments.House Republicans largely voted against the one-week stopgap, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is signaling opposition to a broader spending deal, too. This comes in contrast to others in Republican leadership, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has expressed support for an omnibus to be enacted sooner, citing concerns about funding for defense and national security“We were basically negotiating with the House Democrats and the Democrats here because some of the House Republicans have not shown as much interest in getting an omnibus,” Shelby told reporters on Wednesday (The Hill and Politico). McCarthy’s opposition to the omnibus is fueling tensions between Senate and House GOP leaders. As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, McConnell’s Senate allies say that McCarthy’s criticisms are “not helpful” to their efforts to pass the year-end spending package. One GOP senator, who spoke anonymously with The Hill, said McCarthy is making it tougher to wrap up the unfinished business of the 117th Congress and stirring up conservative critics. “I understand the politics of criticizing McConnell but they need to have a relationship,” the lawmaker said. “McConnell’s got pretty thick skin but I think there’s a way for McCarthy to try to placate conservatives in the House without attacking McConnell.”McCarthy is also facing scrutiny as he negotiates a fragile path to the Speakership next year despite opposition from a handful of conservatives within his own conference who are resisting all entreaties to alter course for the sake of party unity. It has sparked a number of predictions — some of them more far-fetched than others — about how the day might evolve and who might emerge as the next Speaker if McCarthy falls short The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mike Lillis have mapped out seven scenarios being floated heading into the vote, ranked from least to most likely.
Short-term government funding bill passes House, heads to Senate - CBS — The House approved a short-term measure Wednesday night that extends funding for federal agencies for one week, giving Congress additional time to finish crafting a massive longer-term spending package. The vote was 224-201, with nine Republicans joining Democrats. House Democrats unveiled the text of the bill, known as a continuing resolution, on Tuesday, amid bicameral, bipartisan efforts to reach consensus on the broader proposal to fund the U.S. government through most of 2023. House and Senate negotiators had announced Tuesday night that they had agreed to a framework that provides a path to negotiate the final details of the roughly $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package.The current stopgap funding measure expires Dec. 16, and lawmakers must act before then to stave off a partial government shutdown. Republican leaders in the House urged their members to vote against the legislation, calling it an "attempt to buy additional time for a massive lame-duck spending bill in which House Republicans have had no seat at the negotiating table."Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Congress needs to pass the temporary funding bill "ASAP," and noted the Senate should be prepared to "act quickly" after House passage. Approving legislation that keeps federal agencies operating is one of the must-pass items on Congress' legislative to-do list before the end of the year. House and Senate Appropriations leaders from both parties have urged the adoption of the package funding the government through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, and have expressed optimism toward reaching a deal on the legislation.Schumer cheered the announcement that negotiators coalesced around the framework, saying in remarks on the Senate floor it was "welcome and important news.""Congress now has a roadmap for funding the government before the conclusion of the 117th Congress, something the large majority of us want to see," he said. "We still have a long way to go, but a framework is a big step in the right direction."Schumer said the year-long package will ensure bills approved by Congress this year, such as a plan to boost domestic production of semiconductor chips and a law that extends health care benefits to veterans who developed illnesses because of their exposure to toxic substances from burn pits on U.S. military bases, are funded and implemented. "A CR will not fund these bills, but an omnibus agreement will, and they were all bipartisan with large support from both sides of the aisle," he said.The details of the framework for the omnibus spending package were not announced, but the two sides have been at odds over domestic spending levels for the next fiscal year. Republicans have been opposed to boosting spending for domestic programs, citing increases through other laws enacted this year such as Democrats' sweeping climate, health care and tax package. GOP negotiators have also been pushing for defense spending to match the $858 billion set in a defense policy bill approved by the House last week.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated Tuesday the omnibus spending package would meet the funding level set in the defense authorization bill, and said he believed negotiators were getting "very close" to a long-term measure that would be "broadly appealing."Still, he set a deadline of Dec. 22 for Congress to pass the legislative package, as Republicans did not plan on returning to Washington between Christmas and New Year's. If lawmakers fail to pass the sweeping plan, McConnell said Republicans would be "happy" to pass another short-term bill that funds the government into early 2023.McConnell also warned Democrats on Wednesday not to stray from the framework and add provisions to the omnibus package that would drive away Republican support."It will take seriousness and good faith on both sides to produce actual legislation that follows the framework," he said on the Senate floor. "Poison pills, especially far-left demands to overturn longstanding and commonsense policy riders, will need to stay away from the process. And even then the calendar will still make this a challenging sprint."
One-week stopgap bill clears as appropriators work to close out omnibus - The Senate on Thursday cleared a one-week continuing resolution to keep the government funded through Dec. 23, as Appropriations Committee leaders distributed final spending allocations to their dozen subcommittees to ready a sprawling omnibus package they plan to unveil Monday afternoon. The stopgap extension cleared on a 71-19 vote, likely a benchmark for potential support on the omnibus next week. That measure will start in the Senate, where the plan is to attach it to a shell vehicle the House sent over on Wednesday. House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro expressed confidence that her chamber will be able to clear the omnibus once it comes back to her side of the Capitol. "We're going to get an omnibus next week," DeLauro, D-Conn., said Thursday. "I'm resolute. I can't account for crazy things that come up, but that's my goal." While the regular or "base" subcommittee allocations appeared settled, there was at least one outstanding issue on the emergency funding title appropriators are planning to add. President Joe Biden has already asked for tens of billions of dollars to respond to the war in Ukraine and natural disasters. But lawmakers are also trying to respond to a separate administration request for a $3.5 billion increase over last year to help the Department of Homeland Security handle management of the southern border. Given Democrats had to trim their regular nondefense allocations, appropriators are discussing adding border funding to the supplemental package that's under consideration. Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Chair Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., said there's still no bipartisan agreement on that front yet, however. "There's still a whole bunch of Republicans that are rooting for chaos on the border," Murphy said. "We just need to … make sure we have enough money to let the border guards do their job." Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the Homeland Security Appropriations ranking member, said Republicans are concerned about providing emergency funding for border management without additional “deterrence” measures to “stem the flow” of migrants. “My feeling is there has to be much a better effort through appropriations for deterrence,” she said. “Let's make some moves there and then see where we are.”
White House calls spending bill vote a 'major test' on whether House GOP is 'ready' to govern - The White House on Thursday said upcoming votes on federal spending will be a "major test" of the willingness of House Republicans to put governing above the "ultra MAGA" agenda of some members of the GOP conference. House Republicans support a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government, which would give them more of a say on 2023 spending once they take control of the House of Representatives in January. Senate Republicans, though, appear to support a yearlong budget deal. The White House touted President Biden’s desire and willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion and celebrated Senate Republicans' "interest in avoiding a Christmas shutdown and negotiating with their Democratic colleagues to find compromises on both sides and to put governing and the American economy above partisan politics." But the White House is now questioning whether Republicans in the House are willing to do so. "House Republicans face a major test: Are they ready to put governing above the ideological agenda of ultra MAGA members of their conference?" White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News. Bates said American voters were "inescapably clear in the most successful midterms for a new Democratic president in 60 years that they expect the parties to work together in Congress, not cater to the most extreme elements of their caucuses or choose internal political gain before governing." "Across his entire time in public life, President Biden has realized his commitment to working with Republicans in good faith, through finding common ground and compromise; and he has historic results to show for it in office," Bates said. "He’s dedicated to continuing that."
McCarthy's ongoing speaker battle paralyzes House - Kevin McCarthy’s imperiled speakership bid is threatening to incapacitate Republicans during a crucial planning period, virtually guaranteeing a sluggish start for the new House majority. The GOP leader on Thursday took the unusual step of punting conferencewide races for committee leadership slots until after his speaker election on Jan. 3, a maneuver that could help insulate him from disgruntled members who fall short in those contests and their allies. But that delay will also mean days, if not weeks, of uncertainty for GOP committees as they begin their stint in the majority. Some of the most important panels, including those charged with tax-writing and border security, won’t be able to prepare bills, tee up hearings, or even hire staff. While some House committees already have uncontested leaders in place, those chairs won’t be able to choose their member lineup or potentially pay staff. The GOP’s subpoena power, too, will be frozen. “Without question, delays in selecting chairmen and committee members put a lot of pressure on the agenda,” said retiring Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), who led the influential House Ways and Means Committee the last time the GOP had the majority. The decision to formally punt comes as little surprise to many lawmakers, who had speculated that McCarthy might delay contested fights as a point of leverage as he works to lock down support. Still, many Republicans say they’re concerned that limbo could have lingering effects — particularly if the speaker’s election gets ugly and drags on past Jan. 3. McCarthy believes he will have the votes to become House speaker SharePlay Video Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio, for instance, raised the point in a recent closed-door meeting with his GOP colleagues, saying afterward: “These poor staffers, they’ve got mortgages too.” Not to mention, if the speakership battle does extend beyond Jan. 3, government employees in the House who are enrolled in the 10-year student loan forgiveness program may face breaks in service, which can affect both retirement and whether they qualify for loan forgiveness. And if the speakership vote goes as long as the 15th, committee staff essentially lose their jobs and their pay.
White House Successfully Topples Anti-War Resolution Restricting US Role In Yemen - US senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday agreed to withdraw the so-called ‘Yemen War Powers’ resolution from a planned vote on the senate floor, following intense lobbying against the bill by White House officials. “I’m not going to ask for a vote tonight … I look forward to working with the administration who is opposed to this resolution and see if we can come up with something that is strong and effective. If we do not, I will be back,” Sanders said on Tuesday night, alleging that he would enter negotiations with the White House on “compromise language.”Sanders’ withdrawal of the crucial bill – which would have restricted US military involvement in Yemen and reasserted Congress’ war-making authority – and promise to “be back” comes mere weeks before democrats lose control of the House of Representatives. With Republicans in complete control of the house, many believe the bill would have a much harder time passing a vote, given US lawmakers’ propensity to comply with the demands of influential Saudi, Emirati, and Israeli interests – all of whom benefit from the humanitarian crisis in YemenAhead of the expected vote on Tuesday, White House officials scrambled to persuade senators against curtailing Washington’s involvement in war-torn Yemen, highlighting that “significant hostilities have not yet resumed” and arguing that the peace resolution would actually mean war by claiming it “complicates diplomacy.”Senators were also told that President Joe Biden’s aides would recommend a veto if the bill passed and that the administration was “strongly opposed” to it. On top of this, White House officials argued that the bill “could complicate the effort to back Ukraine in its war against Russia.”“We’re in touch with members of Congress on this. Thanks to our diplomacy, which remains ongoing and delicate, the violence over nine months has effectively stopped,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters when pressed about Biden’s interest in keeping a strong US army presence in Yemen. Yemeni resistance leaders have accused Washington of deliberately obstructing a comprehensive peace process between Sanaa and Riyadh, highlighting that the Saudi-led coalition, Israel, the US, the UK, and France have in recent months consolidated their military presence in southern Yemen and on the country’s islands.
Senate passes $847B defense bill, forcing Biden’s hand on vaccine mandate - The Senate on Thursday handed President Joe Biden a sprawling defense policy bill that supersizes his Pentagon budget and undoes a mandate for troops to receive the Covid vaccine. A compromise version of the $847 billion National Defense Authorization Act passed the upper chamber in an 83-11 vote, clearing the bill for Biden’s signature. The measure was approved by the House last week in a blowout bipartisan vote. If the measure becomes law as expected, it would mark the 62nd consecutive year Congress has enacted legislation prescribing military policy and authorizing overarching Pentagon spending. But the compromise bill throws a wrench into the administration’s plans on a variety of fronts. It repeals the Pentagon vaccine mandate within 30 days of enactment. The provision is a win for Republicans who argue that forcing thousands of people out of the ranks for not getting the shot has compounded an already tenuous recruiting and retention environment for the military. Administration officials say Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stand by the vaccine mandate as a matter of health and readiness for the armed forces. But in signing the bill, Biden will effectively agree to end the policy. The White House has given no indication the commander in chief is weighing a veto of the must-pass bill. The measure also significantly revises Biden’s $802 billion budget request, which took heat from both parties. Lawmakers agreed to boost the topline to buy more weapons and address the impact of stubborn inflation on the Pentagon, troops and the supply chain. The final bill authorizes $847 billion in national defense funding, $45 billion more than Biden sought. The Pentagon receives $817 billion of that, while $30 billion would go toward nuclear weapons development overseen by the Energy Department. The total comes to $858 billion when factoring in accounts that don’t normally fall under the Armed Services committees’ jurisdiction. Both parties also touted that $19 billion of the increase to Biden’s budget goes toward mitigating inflation. The measure also poured $32.6 billion into shipbuilding to buy 11 new hulls, up from the eight ships the Navy sought to procure. It also authorizes 69 F-35 fighters, eight more than the Pentagon requested. The bill halts Biden’s plans to kill a developmental nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile and scrap the U.S. inventory of B83 nuclear gravity bombs.
Senate backs big land transfer for Nevada military complex (AP) — The U.S. Senate has voted for a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air training complex that will transfer of a huge swath of public land to the military. The U.S. Senate passed a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air base as part of its defense spending bill, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, that is set to finalize a historic transfer of public land to military use. The amendment designates 558,000 additional acres for military training at the Naval Air Station Fallon east of Reno. The Senate on Thursday approved as part of the annual defense spending bill what is likely to be one of the final steps in yearslong negotiations to designate 872 additional square miles (2,258 square kilometers) of land for bombing and military use to the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, which is 65 miles (104 kilometers) east of Reno. The measure also designates more than 906 square miles (2,347 square kilometers) of land for conservation, wilderness areas and other protected areas, as well as roughly 28 square miles (73 square kilometers) of land and $20 million each to two Native American tribes. Churchill County, where the training facility is located, will also receive $20 million. The Fallon complex is the Navy’s main aviation training range, supporting aviation and ground training, including live-fire exercises. All naval strike aviation units and some Navy SEALs train at Fallon before deployment.The House approved the National Defense Authorization Act last week. It now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature. The management of Nevada’s vast swaths of federal land, and the differing needs it serves, has long been a push-and-pull for different groups in Nevada that has resulted in legal battles over lithium mining, development, national monuments and endangered species designations. The training facility expansion has been under consideration for years as Nevada’s congressional delegation has introduced it time and again while trying to balance the interests of different groups, including the Navy, conservationists, counties and Native American tribes who have long considered the land to be sacred. The expansion will “improve our national security, fuel economic growth in Churchill County, and preserve important cultural heritage sites for Tribal nations,” Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement. Praise also came from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and Sen. Jacky Rosen, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Mark Amodei and Churchill County Chairman Pete Olsen. The Navy has said the expansion is critical to meeting combat training needs for modern aircraft and weapons systems that have outgrown training capabilities over the past two decades. “This critical legislation enhances our Nation’s security by allowing our Carrier Air Wings and Naval Special Warfare Teams to train in a more realistic environment and better prepare for strategic competition,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said in a statement. Several groups have historically been split or mixed on the expansion, including conservationists and some nearby tribes. Brian Sybert, the executive director for the Conservation Lands Foundation, thanked Cortez Masto, Rosen and Amodei for “crafting a delicate community compromise that has resulted in the only conservation win within this year’s NDAA.” But Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity called it “a devastating loss for Nevada wildlife.” He said the public land set to be transferred is one of the few swaths of U.S. land that is largely absent of humans. He added that even parts of the land that will still be maintained by the U.S. Interior Department will still hold combat training exercises that can harm wildlife.
Biden welcomes African leaders for summit as China and Russia expand influence -— President Joe Biden welcomed nearly 50 leaders from Africa on Wednesday for a summit intended to reset Washington’s commitment to a region where China and Russia are also working to expand their influence. “When Africa succeeds, the United States succeeds. Quite frankly, the whole world succeeds as well,” Biden said during his first appearance at the multi-day US-Africa Leaders Summit, being held in Washington. The gathering, coming nearly two years into Biden’s term, will focus on issues critical to the continent’s future, including climate change, public health and food security. Already, the administration has announced billions of dollars in economic aid and voiced support for a permanent seat at the Group of 20 for a representative from the African Union. In his speech, Biden announced billions of dollars in new trade investments and an effort to help expand internet access on the continent, which the President said was necessary to boosting economic growth. “Improving Africa’s infrastructure is essential to our vision of building a stronger global economy that can better withstand the kinds of shocks that we’ve seen in the past few years,” Biden said during his remarks. Later this week, Biden is also expected to unveil plans to travel to the continent – he hasn’t visited Sub-Saharan Africa since taking office – and to appoint a new special representative for implementing the summit’s commitments. Following his speech Wednesday, Biden was hosting a small group of African leaders at the White House “for a discussion on upcoming presidential elections in 2023 in Africa and US support for free, fair and credible polls across the continent,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday, a sign of Biden’s focus on issues of democracy on the continent. Four nations’ leaders were excluded from the summit invite list following recent coups. But otherwise, all of the continents’ countries will be represented, including some with dire human rights records. The gathering is one of the largest collection of foreign leaders in Washington in recent years, and has led to traffic jams and tightened security for the dozens of motorcades and officials. On Wednesday evening, Biden will host the heads of delegation and their spouses for a dinner at the White House before kicking off Thursday’s program and closing the day “with a discussion on food security and food systems resilience” in Africa, which Sullivan said has been disproportionately affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The goal, according to senior administration officials, is to build more robust ties with African nations in the hopes of addressing the significant challenges the continent faces and to cultivate beneficial economic and security partnerships.
Biden’s China challenge in Africa resists summit quick fix – President Joe Biden closes out his U.S.-African Leaders’ Summit today. And the three-day event marked his administration’s implicit challenge to China’s economic and diplomatic primacy on the continent. That’s a tall order. China is the number one trading partner of sub-Saharan African countries through imports of everything from textiles to smartphones while purchasing massive volumes of African agricultural products and commodities including copper and oil. And Beijing has disbursed billions in infrastructure lending and foreign aid across Africa over the past two decades.The Biden administration has spent the past three days trying to convince the 49 leaders invited to the event that the U.S. government’s tradition of what some critics call benign neglect toward Africa is over. And that the U.S. has the resources and resolve to rival Beijing’s decades of diplomatic and economic wooing of the continent.Read my full story on Biden’s China challenge in Africa here.U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai set the tone on Tuesday by declaring that “the future is Africa” in a meeting with African trade ministers. National security adviser Jake Sullivan backed that rhetoric by announcing that the administration will spend $55 billion in Africa over the next three years to tackle issues including “economic growth, health and security.”Vice President Kamala Harris added to the summit’s financial sweeteners by announcing a one billion dollar pledge “to finance American commercial investment in Africa” through the U.S. Export-Import Bank. And the administration has created a Special Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit Implementation to ensure that the U.S. actually delivers on those commitments. Beijing is not amused. “Africa is not a wrestling ground for major-country rivalry,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday. At least one African leader rejected any suggestion that African countries should have to choose between U.S. and Chinese diplomatic alignment. “I don’t think we need to be bullied into making a choice between the U.S. or China…we need to have both as partners,” Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said at the Semafor Africa Summit on Wednesday.
US-Africa: President Joe Biden courts the continent as rivals make advances - BBC News - Africa appears to be the potential bride being courted by suitors from across the world. Each is keen to sweeten the deal, but there seems to be an acceptance that these days, insisting on an exclusive relationship with African countries may no longer be tenable. Washington is fighting for attention with Beijing, and to some extent Moscow, and the just-concluded US-Africa Leaders Summit is the latest example of this struggle. In recent years, China has stolen a march on the US. Its trade with Africa now surpasses the amount that the US, or other Western nations, does with the continent. The previous US administration of President Donald Trump had been explicit in its assessment of China's relationship with Africa. It centred its Africa policy around countering what it saw as a "predatory" China when it was unveiled by the former National Security Advisor John Bolton. He also talked about not wanting to waste "hard-earned taxpayer dollars". But this week's rhetoric from the White House showed a different approach. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had given some hint to this approach when, during his first visit to the continent he said: "Our Africa policy is about Africa, not China." Nevertheless, there is no doubt about the rivalry and the US made clear its intention to promote and expand its interests in health, environment, clean energy and security as well as trade. Discussions at the summit have focussed on building on already existing programmes, including:
- Prosper Africa - a US government initiative "to increase two-way trade" between African nations and the US launched in 2018
- the Clinton-era Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, Agoa, which provides African apparel manufacturers preferential access to the US market
- the Power Africa initiative launched by President Obama to connect millions of African to the grid among others.
But the successes in those programmes have been slow to be realised.Africa only accounts for just over 1% of US foreign trade, which is dominated by petroleum imports from Nigeria and Angola.
Biden announces presidential trip to sub-Saharan Africa next year - President Biden announced plans for a presidential trip next year to sub-Saharan Africa as part of the final day of a summit in Washington that his administration is hosting for leaders from the continent. Biden also formally voiced his support for the African Union to become a permanent member of the Group of 20 nations, a highly influential forum for the world’s most powerful economies. With the summit, the first of its kind since 2014, the Biden administration is seeking to revitalize the U.S. relationship with Africa. On Capitol Hill, the Senate passed a stopgap measure to fund the government beyond Friday. The measure is designed to give negotiators more time to finalize a longer-term spending bill that has divided Republicans. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is seeking to become House speaker next year, is urging his colleagues to oppose both measures.On Thursday, President Biden participated in the last day of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, where he doubled down on the U.S. government’s commitment to fighting food insecurity on the continent. The Senate, meanwhile, approved a stopgap funding measure a day after it passed the House, averting a government shutdown Friday.
US Set To Add Chinese Chipmaker And Over 30 Firms To Trade Blacklist --Bloomberg reported that as soon as this week, the Biden administration could place Chinese chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) and over 30 other Chinese firms on a trade blacklist that would prevent them from acquiring US semiconductor components. The action would mark another escalation in the deepening US-China technology war. Washington is trying to crush China's ability to develop and manufacture advanced chips for military applications. People familiar with the US Department of Commerce's move expect YMTC and the 35 other companies could be added to the so-called "Entity List" as early as this week. Once the companies are on the list, US suppliers must apply for special licenses to ship even low-grade items overseas. Bloomberg pointed out that Huawei Technologies Co.'s consumer smartphone business was severely impacted after it was placed on the list. The latest action, whether this week or in the coming month, comes after President Biden and President Xi Jinping held their first in-person meetings at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Also, the potential action comes two months after the US unveiled harsh export controls on YMTC and 30 other Chinese companies. On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing that the US has "politicized and weaponized economic cooperation," adding that Washington's actions are causing supply chain disruptions. He said Beijing would take steps to protect its chip industry. More broadly, Washington is negotiating with Japan and the Netherlands in a trilateral deal to prevent companies from selling chipmaking equipment to China. The goal is to slow down the progress of China's accession as it aims to become the top economic superpower.
Opinion | The Fevered Anti-China Attitude in Washington Is Going to Backfire – With little fanfare or public debate, America has embarked on one of its most difficult and dangerous international challenges since the Cold War. The task: reversing decades of economic and technological integration with its chief rival, China.This technological decoupling, if done selectively, will help to preserve America’s military edge, protect key U.S. industries from unfair competition, and push back on Beijing’s human rights abuses. But if decoupling goes too far, it will drag down the U.S. economy, drive away allies, stymie efforts to address global crises like climate change, and increase the odds of a catastrophic war. Balancing these grave risks is a high-wire act for U.S. leaders, but unfortunately, their policies have begun to teeter toward excess. Hawkish figures in the Biden administration, in Congress and in the foreign policy establishment who seek to lunge further and faster toward decoupling are leading the country’s current approach. This “restrictionist” camp is unfailingly confident in anti-China measures like sanctions and blacklists. Its rising influence can be seen in proposals for open-ended investment controls and extraordinary financial sanctions. Most recently, the White House spearheaded new export controls on semiconductors and chip-making equipment, the boldest U.S. leap toward decoupling so far. Restrictions on Chinese technology make sense when they match the scale of specific threats and buy time for America to bolster its own tech base. But Washington seems intent on a grander crusade — to hobble China at a fundamental level — with little regard for the risks to global stability, the U.S. economy and American alliances. Many U.S. officials and analysts think that every Chinese firm is another Huawei, every Chinese technology is a loaded gun pointed at the heart of America, and every restrictive tool available to Washington is still much too underutilized. A righteous panic has set in, flattening complex uncertainties.This fevered atmosphere all but guarantees an intensifying surge of new U.S. export controls, investment curbs, financial sanctions, visa restrictions and the like. While many will celebrate “tough” responses to China’s genuinely troubling behavior, Americans and others may soon find themselves experiencing carelessly broken supply chains and a fracturing economic order. They could face slower innovation, higher inflation, rockier trade among friendly nations and spiraling instability with an emerging Asian superpower. And the more decoupling accelerates, the harder it becomes to control. If anyone believes they know what kind of world will emerge from the maelstrom, they’re fooling themselves.
US Heavy-Handedness Forges Russia-Iran-India Ties - India already rebuffed US pressure to cut ties with Russia. Now it appears ready to at least partially ignore US sanctions on Iran. Back in 2017, India got roughly 11 percent of its oil from Iran, and the two countries were steadily increasing economic ties. Then the Trump administration slapped sanctions back on Iran, and New Delhi caved to US pressure to halt oil imports and other cooperation. That could soon change. According to The Cradle: Faced with a burgeoning demand for oil and gas amid the global energy crisis and recent oil cuts by the OPEC+, India now looks poised to resume oil imports from Iran, defying US sanctions, The Cradle learned from sources in Tehran and New Delhi.Interestingly, India’s petroleum minister Hardeep Puri hinted at it during his visit to Washington in October, saying New Delhi will buy oil from wherever it has to. Russia, as we know, is already shipping oil to India, despite strong US pressures.It remains to be seen if India goes through with the plan, especially considering Washington’s warning shot in September when the US sanctioned Mumbai-based Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited for shipping Iranian petrochemical products to China (reportedly the first Indian company sanctioned by the US for dealing with Iran). US sanctions on Iran’s oil exports deprive India of cheap Iranian oil, forcing it to look elsewhere, including buying more expensive US energy exports. India is now the largest oil export destination for the US. Still, New Delhi likely isn’t in a big rush, as it has already emerged as a big winner from the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as India is indispensable to both the US and Russia. Washington needs New Delhi to help control China’s rise and Moscow needs it as an outlet due to western sanctions. For months now India has been getting Russian oil at a discount and selling some to the EU at substantial profits. According to Michael Tran, global energy strategist at RBC Capital Markets: India is buying record amounts of severely discounted Russian crude, running its refiners above nameplate capacity, and capturing the economic rent of sky-high crack spreads and exporting gasoline and diesel to Europe. In short, the EU policy of tightening the screws on Russia is a policy win, but the unintended consequence is that Europe is effectively importing inflation to its own citizens. This is not only an economic boon for India, but it also serves as an accelerator for India’s place in the new geopolitically rewritten oil trade map. What we mean is that the EU policy effectively makes India an increasingly vital energy source for Europe. Indian-Russian integration is likely to accelerate despite US pressure and Ukraine throwing fits. Fuelled by a surge in import of oil and fertilizers, India’s bilateral trade with Russia has soared to an all-time high of $18.2 billion over the April-August period of this financial year, according to the latest data available with the Department of Commerce. That makes Russia India’s seventh biggest trading partner — up from its 25th position last year. The US, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Indonesia remain ahead of Russia. The increased trade with Russia is a primary driver bringing New Delhi and Tehran closer together – largely a result of US efforts to sever Europe from Russia. According to Reuters, at the end of November Moscow sent India a list of more than 500 products it wants India exporting to Russia, “including parts for cars, aircraft and trains.” The report added:
Senate to vote on Manchin's permitting overhaul - E&E Sen. Joe Manchin will get a floor vote on his environmental permitting overhaul, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday. It’s a move that will roil environmental groups, but the bill has a shaky outlook on the floor, with an unusual partnership of progressives and Republicans ready to oppose it. Manchin’s legislation will be considered as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act. It’s an attempt to uphold a bargain the West Virginia Democrat made with leadership to vote on his reform of permitting laws for energy projects in exchange for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act in August. “We’re gonna vote on that amendment. As you know, Republicans have blocked it in the House, even though permitting reform is something that they’ve always supported in the past,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “So I hope they’ll help us.” Some Senate Republicans have already said they would support Manchin’s bill, but others are maintaining their opposition. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, both indicated Tuesday they would vote against the amendment. Manchin’s proposal would make it easier to permit energy projects across the board, including fossil fuels and renewables. It would also authorize the Mountain Valley pipeline, a contentious project that has long been a top priority for Manchin and other West Virginia lawmakers. But he’s had trouble building a coalition to support it. Progressives are furious that Democrats would consider legislation to speed permits for fossil fuel projects, while Republicans oppose Manchin’s attempt to give the federal government more power over transmission permitting.
'This Is Abhorrent,' Say Climate Groups as Schumer Plans to Force Vote on Manchin's Dirty Deal - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he intends to force a floor vote as soon as this week in a bid to ram through Sen. Joe Manchin's fossil fuel industry-friendly permitting bill, a ploy that climate groups and progressive lawmakers condemned and vowed to defeat. Schumer's (D-N.Y.) planned maneuver, which he confirmed to reporters Tuesday, amounts to a last-ditch attempt to salvage legislation that has thus far failed to garner sufficient support to pass Congress. The permitting bill has also drawn sustained and furious protests from environmentalists, who warn the measure would expedite climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects—including Manchin's favored Mountain Valley Pipeline—and weaken bedrock environmental laws. "This is abhorrent," the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition wrote on Twitter in response to Schumer's plan. "We've stopped this TWICE now because it sells our communities and planet out for fossil fuel profits.” Schumer said Tuesday that Manchin's proposal—which climate advocates have labeled a "dirty deal" and a "fossil fuel wish list"—will receive a floor vote as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), sprawling legislation that is set to approve nearly $860 billion in military spending. Schumer and Manchin have received large donations from a major utility giant and pipeline firms that would benefit from passage of the West Virginia Democrat's plan, which critics say uses the cover of permitting reform to advance regulatory changes long sought by the fossil fuel industry. "We're gonna vote on that amendment," the Democratic leader told reporters Tuesday. "As you know, Republicans have blocked it in the House, even though permitting reform is something that they've always supported in the past. So I hope they'll help us." What Schumer didn't mention is the significant opposition from Democratic lawmakers in both the House and Senate. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who chairs an environmental justice and regulatory oversight subcommittee, made clear he would vote against the latest effort to revive Manchin's proposal. "I cannot vote for a deal that cuts community non-profits out of the environmental reviews, further burdens frontline communities with toxic fossil projects, runs a fossil gas pipeline over every existing environmental law, and rigs the court system to boot," Merkley said Tuesday, referring to a provision in the bill that legal experts say would likely result in more favorable rulings for pipeline developers. "We need improved permitting for renewable energy projects," Merkley added, "but this is not the way to do it." It's unclear whether Manchin's bill stands a chance in the upcoming Senate floor vote, with key Republicans including Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) pledging to vote no. In September, Manchin—who has enlisted the help of oil and gas CEOs—was forced to withdraw his permitting legislation after it became obvious it would crash and burn in a vote on the Senate floor.Manchin, the top recipient of fossil fuel industry campaign donations in Congress, suffered another defeat earlier this month when Democratic leaders dropped their initial plans to attach his legislation to the NDAA.
Senate rejects Manchin’s energy permitting amendment to defense bill -- The Senate has bucked Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) latest effort to get his energy deal with Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) attached to must-pass legislation. The chamber blocked Manchin’s permitting reform amendment from getting onto a defense funding bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act in an 47-47 vote. Sixty votes were needed to advance the measure. Schumer had promised Manchin he would take up the legislation to speed the process for approving new U.S. energy projects in exchange for Manchin’s vote on the Democrats’ major climate, health and tax bill. The vote did not exactly fall along party lines. Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitt Romney (Utah), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) voted in favor of the bill. Meanwhile Democratic Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), as well as liberal Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voted against it. Manchin’s permitting reform effort was expected to help advance both fossil and renewable energy projects, though it has generated pushback from both sides of the aisle. The measure was widely expected to fail on Thursday, but the vote provides Manchin a headcount, as he is expected to continue pushing for a compromise deal next year. It also put many Republicans on the record as opposing legislation that would be expected to bolster the energy industry. Manchin, in a statement following the vote, slammed his Republican colleagues who voted against the measure, saying they put politics ahead of the country. “Once again, [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell [(R-Ky.)] and Republican leadership have put their own political agenda above the needs of the American people,” he said. “Mitch McConnell and his Republican caucus voted down a bill that would have completed the Mountain Valley Pipeline and quickly delivered natural gas to the market lowering home heating costs for families and making America more energy secure and independent. I believe anyone who voted against permitting reform has failed to act in the best interest of our country,” he added. President Biden issued a statement Thursday morning, hours before the vote, throwing his support behind Manchin’s proposal, pitching it as a continuation of Democrats’ efforts to lower costs through the Inflation Reduction Act enacted this fall.
End of the line for permitting bill, but 2023 fight looms - Sen. Joe Manchin’s attempt to overhaul environmental rules for energy projects failed in the Senate on Thursday, ending a monthslong effort from the West Virginia Democrat. After the 47-47 vote, Manchin blasted Senate Republicans — most of whom voted against the measure. “Once again, Mitch McConnell and Republican leadership have put their own political agenda above the needs of the American people,” Manchin said in a statement, citing high energy costs and the Mountain Valley pipeline, a contentious natural gas project in his state whose advancement was included in the bill. The vote underscored disagreements between Democrats and Republicans about how the federal government should handle the major electric transmission projects that will be needed to add scores of new wind and solar projects to the grid. It could be a defining political issue for the energy transition over the next several years. The failed vote, however, sets up a potential permitting fight in a divided Congress next year that could shape the future of the nation’s power mix. “It’s crucial for the emissions reductions that the [Inflation Reduction Act] bill claims to produce,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in an interview Thursday. Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was making a final bid to get his permitting bill added as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act. It would have fulfilled a deal Manchin struck with Democratic leadership to pass a permitting overhaul in exchange for Manchin’s vote on the Inflation Reduction Act in August.The bill’s failure came despite vocal support from the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress (Greenwire, Dec. 15). The full NDAA passed 83 to 11 after several failed amendment votes Thursday evening, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk. Among the Democrats who voted “no” on the permitting amendment were Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Manchin’s GOP supporters included fellow West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, as well as Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
New Study Reveals Billions of Dollars in Political Spending by US Trade Associations, Most of It on PR – DeSmog - Out of $3.4 billion spent by trade associations over 10 years, nearly $2.2 billion went towards advertising and promotion, with the oil and gas industry the biggest spender. Industry trade associations in the United States that work on climate and energy issues spent more than $3 billion over 10 years on political activities, according to a new study that sheds light on trade associations’ role in influencing policies and obstructing climate action. The new paper by scholars Robert Brulle of Brown University and Christian Downie of The Australian National University, published Monday in the journal Climatic Change, examined the political spending of nearly 90 U.S. trade associations from 2008 to 2018. The analysis, based on combing through trade associations’ IRS filings, found that these organizations spent $3.4 billion on climate-related political activities. It also found that what they spent the most money on wasn’t lobbying or campaign contributions — as had been previously assumed — it was advertising and promotion. Out of the $3.4 billion in total political activity spending, almost $2.2 billion of it went towards advertising and public relations. Trade groups in the oil and gas sector were the largest spender in this category, pouring more than $1 billion into it. These findings are consistent with a previous analysis done by the Climate Investigations Center that found that major U.S. fossil fuel trade associations spent $1.4 billion on advertising and PR between 2008 and 2017. The American Petroleum Institute alone accounted for nearly half of that sum. “Trade associations in the gas and oil sector engage in a high level of public relations spending,” Brulle and Downie wrote in their new study. It is no secret that companies in carbon-intensive industries engage their trade associations to lobby and advertise on their behalf in order to stave off climate policies. Relying on these organizations to influence policy outcomes and public opinion is a documented tactic of polluting corporations, and yet, according to Brulle and Downie, scholarly research focusing specifically on trade associations in the context of climate change is sparse. Their study aims to fill this gap.
Biden administration announces $2.5 billion loan to help GM and LG make EV batteries The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office will announce Monday that it is issuing a $2.5 billion loan to help start three lithium battery manufacturing hubs in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. The DOE loan programs office will loan the money to Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of General Motors and South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solutions making batteries to power electric vehicles. General Motors has pledged to go all-electric by 2035, phasing out conventional gas and diesel-powered engines. In a statement, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the DOE loan would “jumpstart the domestic battery cell production needed to reduce our reliance on other countries to meet increased demand.” “DOE is flooring the accelerator to build the electric vehicle supply chain here at home – and that starts with domestic battery manufacturing led by American workers and the unions that support them,” Granholm said.
Exclusive: Biden preparing to fund overseas mining projects - The Biden administration is looking at funding roughly a dozen mineral projects overseas in a bid for more resources used in lower-carbon technologies. Supporting more mining overseas could ease a raw material squeeze hurting electric vehicles, but it could also have a side effect: giving Biden’s foes fodder against him for rejecting mines at home. Jose Fernandez, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, said in an interview the administration is mulling “around a dozen” mineral projects around the world for potential federal financing. It’s one way the administration is responding to the rapidly rising demand for EV battery minerals like lithium — an issue that's raising prices. This money may be distributed through the Mineral Security Partnership, a Biden program leveraging international relations to address U.S. mineral supply concerns. The partnership includes Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Commission. Part of its work will include mineral projects around the world “potentially receiv[ing] financing from the U.S. and/or other MSP partners,” a State Department spokesperson confirmed. This includes mining, mineral processing and recycling projects. Federal funding will be available via two agencies: the Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation, which is already funding a nickel mining project in Brazil. The big picture: Unless something drastic changes, the world would need to mine a lot more to rid itself of fossil fuels. EVs and solar panels rely on unique metals produced in only a few places. Most of the supply is currently controlled by China. Tech innovation and recycling won’t be enough to resolve this — at least not as fast as scientists recommend we cut carbon emissions. Some of these minerals, like graphite, are hard to find in the United States, per E&E News. Fernandez said the program "is what we believe is the best way to address" the problem that "we're going to need an exponential amount of rare earths and critical minerals, above what we have today." The program's success will mean “raising the level of investment and [doing] it in a way that benefits these countries and would be sustainable.” : The partnership is talking with American carmakers, including Ford, General Motors, Rivian and Tesla. They’re also talking to at least two U.S. lithium mining firms, Albemarle and Piedmont Lithium. These companies are members of a State Department “clean energy resources” committee formed in March that Fernandez said is involved with the partnership. Fernandez declined to specify companies the partnership is considering for potential financial support.
Biden loses a key climate ally - President Joe Biden has made combating the climate emergency a major focus of his agenda. Yet a crucial agency for realizing his clean energy future is losing its like-minded leader. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (sometimes called the most important agency you’ve never heard of) is tasked with greenlighting major natural gas pipelines and regulating the nation’s energy markets. As a commissioner, Richard Glick spent years arguing for a more robust assessment of how pipeline projects would affect the nation’s greenhouse gas output. His vision never came close to reality during the Trump administration. Glick made another push after Biden made him chair of the five-member commission. But after nearly two years of battling, Glick’s efforts have been defanged and his tenure cut short, writes POLITICO’s E&E News reporter Miranda Willson. The reason can partly be traced to a frequent thorn in Biden’s side: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). In February, Glick proposed establishing a metric to help determine whether a project's greenhouse gas emissions would have a "significant impact" on the environment. Glick and the two other Democratic commissioners also updated FERC’s natural gas policy statement for the first time since 1999, adding more focus to environmental issues and scrutiny of whether new projects are needed. Both decisions faced strong objections from the two Republican commissioners, who said they went beyond FERC’s legal authority. Following more pushback from Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and from natural gas pipeline groups and others, FERC turned the policies into unenforceable “drafts.” That has rankled the natural gas industry and environmental groups alike. “Everyone is frustrated,” Neil Chatterjee, who chaired the commission during much of the Trump administration, told Miranda. “It’s been a mess.” Manchin later torpedoed Glick’s hopes for another term by refusing to hold a hearing on his renomination, which means the commission will face a 2-2 stalemate after Glick leaves at the end of the year. The question now is whether and how the commission will handle greenhouse gas reviews next year. Biden will need to nominate a new commissioner, whose confirmation could likewise be stymied by — you guessed it — Manchin.
Supply Chain Issues Block Full Impact Of Biden's Clean Energy Law - Project delays caused third-quarter solar installations to decline 17 percent from the previous year and have delayed the impact of Biden’s clean energy law. The U.S. added 4.6GW of new solar capacity in the third quarter of 2022, a 17 percent decrease from the same quarter last year as trade barriers and ongoing supply chain constraints continue to slow America’s clean energy progress. These disruptions will cause a 23 percent decline in solar installations this year compared to 2021, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Q4 2022 report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie. Wood Mackenzie said detainments under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) are depressing near-term solar installation forecasts and delaying the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The U.S. Department of Commerce’s recent decision to apply anti-circumvention tariffs on solar products from Southeast Asia presents a downside risk to future solar deployment. “America’s clean energy economy hindered by its own trade actions,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “The solar and storage industry is acting decisively to build an ethical supply chain, but unnecessary supply bottlenecks and trade restrictions are preventing manufacturers from getting the equipment they need to invest in U.S. facilities. In the aftermath of the Inflation Reduction Act, we cannot afford to waste time tinkering with trade laws as the climate threat looms.” As a result of supply constraints, the utility-scale, commercial, and community solar markets all experienced quarter-over-quarter declines in the third quarter. The residential solar segment is less directly impacted by existing trade issues and saw 1.57GW of new installations, marking a 43 percent increase over the third quarter of 2021. “Installations this year were significantly depressed due to supply chain constraints,” said Michelle Davis, principal analyst and lead author of the report. “It has proven more difficult and time-consuming to provide the proper evidence to comply with the UFLPA, further delaying equipment delivery to the U.S.” Forecasts from Wood Mackenzie found that the UFLPA will limit solar deployment through 2023 and mute the impact of the IRA in the near term. The report forecasts the utility-scale solar market to add 10.3GW of new capacity in 2022, representing a 40 percent drop from 2021 volumes. By 2024, IRA-fueled growth will begin in earnest, with annual solar growth averaging 21 percent between 2023-2027.
Republicans take aim at ESG, move against Labor Dept. rule - Republicans are starting their all-out assault on ESG by targeting a Biden administration rule for retirement plan fiduciaries, Axios has learned. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) are attempting to dismantle a recent Department of Labor rule allowing retirement plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their investment actions.That DOL rule, issued on Nov. 22, followed an executive order signed by President Biden in May 2021 that directed federal agencies to consider ESG policies. Braun and Barr are introducing a joint Congressional Review Act measure that would nullify the DOL rule and prevent future, similar rules from taking effect. The CRA legislation won't pass in a divided Congress, or with President Biden in office, but is designed to raise the issue's profile and force lawmakers to go on the record about where they stand."By finalizing rule-making allowing plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors, Biden’s Department of Labor is steering capital away from the American energy sector, discriminating against oil and gas producers, driving up prices at the pump, and preventing investors from reaping returns from high-performing energy stocks," Barr told Axios.The move is already gaining support from conservative groups eager to sink their teeth into the ESG fight. “Taking on Biden for attempting to make it easier for companies like BlackRock to put politics ahead of profits is only the beginning of what will be an ongoing effort to bring to light and take action against ESG, the biggest racket happening in America today," Will Hild, executive director of the conservative Consumers' Research Group, told Axios.
House Republicans plan "collusion" probe into climate activists -- House Republicans want to launch investigations into a baseless claim that China and Russia unduly influence U.S. climate activism. Republicans are using this claim to seek donation information from climate groups and could potentially use subpoenas. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last week said that if elected House speaker, he’d support investigations into “environmental NGOs’ collusion with Russia and China to hurt American energy.”GOP offices have sent many climate groups oversight letters in the past year suggesting they’re part of foreign influence campaigns, including multiple citing a debunked claim that one foundation may have been used as a conduit for Russian money. The letters asked for donor information and details about communications with other governments, including China. Asked if he’ll subpoena environmental groups, incoming House Natural Resources chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said: “If I need to, I will.”"[I]f there’s evidence the Chinese government is funding their actions, we have to go after them. I don’t care what kind of group they are," he said. Westerman said the subject is “not a really high priority” right now compared to energy legislation, and “we’ve got to gather the data” first. But Westerman deeply cares about this. He's helped lead these efforts in Congress, including a 2018 effort to probe whether some activists' talks with China violated a foreign agents registration law. “House Republicans have legitimate oversight questions regarding environmentalist NGOs and their interactions with foreign actors, and will use investigative authority to get answers for the American people," said McCarthy spokesperson Mark Bednar. Environmental groups vehemently deny the GOP’s accusations. Still, sources at some targeted groups told Axios they are taking the potential legal threat seriously. Some of the GOP letters to activists used a debunked claim about a charity called the Sea Change Foundation being a pass-through for Russia financing climate groups.There’s no evidence of Russian money to the foundation, and the family behind it has repeatedly said it’s funded by their own money.A Washington Post fact-check found that the claim originates from a report by the Environmental Policy Alliance, an “astroturf” front group that has received support from oil executives.
The House passed a bill that would enable the people of Puerto Rico to decide the future of their political status on their own.--The House passed historic legislation setting up a process for the people of Puerto Rico to determine their future political status. It cleared the chamber 233-191 with 16 Republicans supporting it. It's been a top priority for outgoing Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Other key members involved include: Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Jenniffer González-Colón (R-P.R.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) credited Hoyer for "his "insistence, his prodding and, on occasion, his calmness to get us to this point." As the group of negotiators noted in a joint statement: "Many of us disagree on what that future should look like, but we all accept that the decision must belong to the people of Puerto Rico and to them alone. The Puerto Rico Status Act will grant them that choice." The bill establishes a binding plebiscite in which the voters of the island would vote between three options politically going forward. Read the full text.
- Statehood,
- Independence
- Sovereignty in free association with the U.S.
A majority would be needed for any of the options to prevail — with a runoff taking place if that threshold isn't met. The measure would fund public education on each of these three options, as well as robust oversight of the election itself.The Biden White House voiced support for the bill in a statement of administration policy, saying it would "provide Puerto Ricans with a fair and binding democratic process to address the political status of Puerto Rico." There almost certainly isn't enough time for the Senate to consider this legislation this year — and it likely wouldn't have sufficient support for passage if it did. However, reaching this level of consensus on how the island could decide its political future marks a remarkable breakthrough in its own right.
Biden administration goes to court to defend Trump anti-immigrant policies - In separate statements last week, the Biden administration declared it would seek to continue two major features of the horrific Trump policies of attacking migrant workers fleeing poverty and repression. On Wednesday, December 7, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would appeal the ruling by federal judge Emmet Sullivan, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, ordering the administration to lift the restrictions on asylum seekers imposed under Title 42 of a 1944 law on public health. The Trump administration first invoked Title 42 in March 2020 on the initiative of Trump’s fascistic adviser Stephen Miller. While the administration was doing nothing to actually fight the COVID pandemic, Miller seized on the provision as a legal pretext for excluding immigrants at the US-Mexico border without any hearing to determine the validity of their asylum claims, on the grounds that they might be infected with coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) actually exercises the authority under Title 42, and CDC officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations have agreed to prostitute public health considerations to the anti-immigrant bigotry which pervades the Washington political establishment, Democrats as well as Republicans. The Biden administration has continued the use of Title 42, under which some 2.4 million asylum seekers have been excluded under Trump and Biden combined. Title 42 has become the most important legal instrument of mass deportations. While the White House claimed it would lift the invocation of Title 42 in May, the Biden administration was quite willing to continue the policy after a group of 24 Republican-ruled states filed suit and obtained a preliminary injunction from a friendly federal judge requiring its continued use. An appeal of this injunction is now set for January 2023. In a separate lawsuit filed by attorneys for asylum seekers, federal District Judge Sullivan issued an order November 15 for immediate termination of the use of Title 42 against asylum seekers. He pointed to the contradiction between the administration’s claim that the pandemic is over and the continued application of an exclusionary policy supposedly justified by the pandemic. After a plea from the administration’s attorneys, Sullivan granted a six-week extension, setting December 21 as the deadline for termination of Title 42 removals. The DHS will now file an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the second-highest federal court, seeking a stay of Judge Sullivan’s order until after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans hears the separate challenge to Title 42 brought by the Republican-led states. In the other court proceeding, the Supreme Court agreed on Friday, December 9, to consider an appeal by the Biden administration to uphold a federal law that criminalizes encouraging immigrants to enter the country illegally. The law was struck down by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals last February, which found it in violation of the constitutional protection of free speech under the First Amendment.
Deportations Plunge Under Biden In US Interior: Data - Deportations have plunged by up to 100 percent in U.S. counties under President Joe Biden, according to newly released data.Deportations, or the removal of illegal immigrants, have dropped by as much as 95 percent in U.S. states, the data show. And in counties across the country, far fewer illegal aliens are being kicked out of the country.The Center for Immigration Studies, which obtained and released the data, pointed to Howard County, Texas, as an example. In the county, which has about 35,000 residents, 655 illegal aliens were removed from January through September 2019, when President Donald Trump was in office.In the same months in 2021, after Biden took office, U.S. officials only removed 189 aliens from the county.The data are for illegal immigrants arrested by local authorities, leading to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) becoming aware of them. The total drop for the group was a 70 percent decrease to 16,351. “The public safety consequences of the Biden interior enforcement policies that are being experienced in Howard County, Texas, undoubtedly are happening in hundreds of other U.S. jurisdictions,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the center, wrote in a blog post detailing the data.“State and local authorities should keep track of cases of criminal aliens who are not removed by ICE and bring these cases to the attention of ICE leadership, members of Congress, and the public. In addition, through appropriations or otherwise, the new Congress should clarify its expectations with respect to immigration enforcement in the interior, particularly involving criminal aliens, certain of whom are subject to mandatory arrest and detention under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” she added.
Biden administration approves Washington state request to offer health insurance to undocumented immigrants -- The Biden administration has approved an application by Washington state to expand health insurance access for all residents regardless of immigration status by allowing it to forgo requirements set by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury Department approved Washington’s application for a State Innovation Waiver, issued under Section 1332 of the ACA. The application for this waiver was submitted in May. A state may apply for a 1332 request if it wishes to pursue “innovative strategies” for providing affordable health care while still retaining protections offered through the ACA. The HHS secretary may approve a 1332 waiver request if they determine that the proposed plan will provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive as coverage provided without the waiver, which the Washington state plan was found to do. Washington state specifically sought to be granted an exception from a part of the ACA that excluded people living in the U.S. illegally from being eligible for qualified health plans, which are plans certified by the federal government that meet requirements set by the ACA. According to the two departments, this waiver will expand access to qualified health plans, stand-alone qualified dental plans and a state affordability program to Washington residents regardless of their immigration status.
Some Medicare enrollees getting new ID numbers due to data breach - Up to 254,000 Medicare beneficiaries’ personal information may have been compromised in an online ransomware attack at a government subcontractor, officials warned this week. Letters are being sent to the beneficiaries who were impacted by the potential data breach, said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Those affected — who represent less than 0.4% of Medicare’s 64.5 million beneficiaries — will also receive a replacement Medicare card with a new identification number in the next few weeks. “The safeguarding and security of beneficiary information is of the utmost importance to this agency,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in the announcement. “We continue to assess the impact of the breach involving the subcontractor, facilitate support to individuals potentially affected by the incident, and will take all necessary actions needed to safeguard the information entrusted to CMS,” Brooks-LaSure said. The personal information that could have been compromised include name, address, date of birth, phone number, Social Security number, Medicare beneficiary identifier, banking information (including routing and account numbers) and Medicare entitlement, enrollment and premium information. Free credit-monitoring also is being offered to the impacted individuals; the letters being sent include information on how to sign up for the service. No CMS systems were breached, and no Medicare claims data were involved, according to the announcement. The agency also is not aware of any reports of identity fraud or improper use of the personal information as a direct result of the incident. The subcontractor, Healthcare Management Solutions, experienced the ransomware attack on its corporate network on Oct. 8, according to CMS. The company handles the agency data as part of processing Medicare eligibility and entitlement records, as well as premium payments. CMS was alerted the day after the attack, and on Oct. 18, officials “determined with high confidence that the incident potentially included personally identifiable information and protected health information for some Medicare enrollees,” according to the CMS release. For its part, Healthcare Management Solutions told CNBC that it acted swiftly to take its network offline to contain the cybersecurity incident and an investigation remains ongoing. In a statement, the company said it also regrets “any concern this incident may have caused our community and will notify impacted individuals pursuant to legal and contractual obligations.” In the first half of 2022, more than 53 million individuals in the U.S. were affected by data compromises, according to Statista. In 2021, the three most affected industries were healthcare, financial services and manufacturing.White House to restart free Covid home test program - The Biden administration plans to reopen a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service to mail free at-home Covid-19 tests to households that request them, four people familiar with the matter told POLITICO. The revival of one of the government’s most popular and widely used pandemic programs comes as the administration prepares for another potential winter surge. Biden officials paused the USPS program in early September over concerns that the high demand for free tests had put the administration on pace to deplete its stockpile before winter. They warned at the time the government could not afford to purchase more tests absent new funding from Congress, and needed to preserve the “limited remaining supply” for future Covid-19 surges. More than 600 million at-home tests had gone out to households across the country by the time the program was halted.After a lull throughout much of the summer and fall, Covid cases have risen notably in recent weeks, worrying health officials that the U.S. could be on the verge of another wave. The White House now plans to announce that it’s reopening access to its stockpile of tests for a limited time as part of a broader “winter preparedness plan” it will roll out on Thursday. Households will be then able to request the tests from COVIDTests.gov starting Thursday, too.A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the program’s status, or disclose how many tests are left in the stockpile.But one person familiar with the plan told POLITICO that the Department of Health and Human Services used limited funding, leftover from the American Rescue Plan, to purchase more at-home tests that can be distributed.Weekly recorded Covid-19 cases reached a low of 261,268 in mid-October, but case counts have nearly doubled over the past two months, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. And public health experts caution that many infections are no longer logged due to the proliferation of at-home testing for the virus. Covid-19 deaths are also rising; 2,981 fatalities were recorded the first week of December, the first weekly increase since August.The U.S. suffered significant surges each of the last two winters, straining hospitals and driving labor disruptions across the country. And hospitals are already under heavy strain from an early severe flu season and a wave of respiratory syncytial virus infections.Biden health officials have insisted that the government has the tools to keep Covid under control, pointing to the widespread availability of treatments and updated vaccines. But fewer than 14 percent of eligible Americans have sought out the latest booster shot so far, including just 34 percent of people over the age of 65. States and localities in the meantime have lifted nearly all Covid precautions, and the administration has struggled to convince pandemic-fatigued Americans to remain vigilant.The federal response has also suffered from a lack of funding. Despite months of warnings that its Covid operation is running out of money, Congress has refused to allocate additional funding to help bolster stockpiles of tests, treatments and vaccines.
White House warns of possible Covid-19 winter surge: 'This is not one disease in isolation' --For Americans across the country preparing to gather and socialize with family and friends during the end-of-year holiday season, the White House has a clear warning: Covid-19 is not over, and you had better protect yourself.In an interview with CNN laying out the White House’s launch of a new public campaign on Thursday aimed at preparing Americans ahead off what is expected to be a continued rise in Covid-19 cases this winter, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha stressed that the stakes are even higher as the United States confronts a trio of threats.“This is not one disease in isolation,” Jha said, referring to the ongoing wave of Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. “The stress on hospitals and stress on health care workers is because of all the respiratory pathogens. So we are very aware that this increase that we’re seeing in Covid is in that context of one of the worst flu seasons in a decade and RSV that was quite bad.” Evidence suggests, however, that RSV has “peaked,” Jha said, with case numbers starting to come down “pretty quickly.” Still, it will be a while before the impact of the virus is diminished, he said. The Biden administration’s renewed push to encourage people to use all of the necessary tools available to keep Covid-19 at bay – getting vaccinated and boosted, making use of tests and treatments and masking up when necessary – are all part of achieving what Jha said is the White House’s ultimate goal: preventing serious illness, hospitalizations and death.As a part of its new push, the administration is restarting the free at-home Covid-19 test program, permitting each American household to order up to four free tests this winter from COVIDTests.gov. It is also offering federal resources to local health departments, putting an extra focus on high-risk individuals including by providing a winter playbook for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and permitting nursing home staff to administer vaccinations.Jha declined to predict how many Covid-19 cases there might be this winter, but said data from the past few weeks make clear that numbers have been on the rise, likely driven in part by indoor gatherings during the Thanksgiving holiday and the beginning of the winter holiday season.
Warren, Welch press Pfizer CEO on COVID vaccine price hike | The HillA pair of Democrats are pressing Pfizer about the company’s plans to raise the price of its COVID-19 vaccine. In a letter to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a senator-elect, slammed the move as “pure and deadly greed” and expressed concern it could result in other vaccine manufacturers, such as Moderna and Novavax, raising the prices of their vaccines. The Democrats asked for information about the justification for the price increase and the impact of the increase on Americans who could be required to pay high out-of-pocket costs for the vaccine. “We urge you to back off from your proposed price increases and ensure COVID-19 vaccines are reasonably priced and accessible to people across the United States,” Warren and Welch wrote. Pfizer expects to roughly quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to between $110 and $130 per dose once the U.S. government’s purchasing program ends early next year. Pfizer’s contract with the U.S. government runs through the end of the year. Federal health officials have said they anticipate shifting COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments to the commercial marketplace sometime next year. The letter comes as Congress seems unlikely to fund the administration’s request for an additional $10 billion in COVID-19 funding, which officials said is needed to help ease the transition. Vaccines will still be free to people with private insurance, though the cost will likely be reflected in premiums. Even with insurance, patients will likely see costs if they go to an out-of-network provider. Warren and Welch asked Bourla to answer questions by Jan. 9 about how much revenue and profit the company expects to bring in from the price hike as well what the difference would be if it kept the cost the same. “Pfizer has made past assurances that market pricing for a COVID-19 vaccine would be ‘unethical’ and would amount to ‘taking advantage of a situation.’ But that is exactly what the company is doing, and the impact of this price increase will fall hardest on the uninsured and underinsured,” Warren and Welch wrote.
US COVID-19 policy: “Social murder” of older Americans - The third year of the COVID-19 pandemic is coming to an end, leaving a horrifying death toll in its wake. Despite US President Joe Biden’s declaration this year that “the pandemic is over,” COVID-19 killed more than 250,000 Americans in 2022, a figure multiple times higher than the US battlefield deaths in any single year of World War I or World War II. And with cases and hospitalizations surging, the death toll will only rise. Of this year’s US victims of COVID-19, three-quarters, or 185,436 people, were over the age of 65. In the last week reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this figure rose to 92 percent. The implementation of a policy that accepts and even promotes mass death among a physically vulnerable section of the population has no modern precedent in a country claiming to be democratic. The dismantling of serious and systematic public health measures to stop the spread of Covid is viewed by powerful sections of the ruling class as an effective means of reducing the societal “burden” of caring for large numbers of elderly people. In effect, the Biden administration and the governments of the wealthiest capitalist countries throughout the world have adopted an officially unstated but none the less deliberate policy of social murder, which targets the elderly. It amounts to a form of homicidal eugenics, reminiscent of the Nazi regime’s policy of murdering handicapped people. Nearly one year ago, the Biden administration called for a “new normal” of “living with” COVID-19. During the surge of the Omicron variant, which the Biden administration declared to be “mild,” the White House called for the systematic dismantling of all remaining measures to stop the spread of the disease. The CDC called for the reduction of quarantine for those with COVID-19 to five days, encouraged states to end daily COVID-19 reporting, denigrated PCR testing and discouraged masking. The entire system of contact tracing in the United States has been dismantled. These policies, warned scientists and advocates for the disabled and retirees, would lead to mass deaths among the elderly, as social distancing became practically impossible and the virus spread uncontrollably. It quickly became clear that this was the intended outcome. The “new normal” of the pandemic is to include a substantially higher death rate for older Americans indefinitely. In an interview on January 10, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the COVID-19 death toll had an “encouraging” component: The disease was predominantly killing those who were disabled, ill and elderly. “The overwhelming number of deaths—over 75 percent—occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities, so really these are people who were unwell to begin with—and, yes, really encouraging news in the context of Omicron,” Walensky said. When the CDC director made those remarks, the share of those 65 and older among those dying each week from COVID-19 stood at 68 percent, compared to 92 percent today. The White House’s dismantling of all remaining COVID-19 protections has made it increasingly impossible for vulnerable people to avoid infection. In care homes and hospitals, providers and other workers with active COVID-19 infections have been encouraged, and, in many cases, forced to come to work, spreading the disease to vast swaths of the population, including the most vulnerable. The pronouncement in January by Dr. Anthony Fauci that “just about everybody” will get COVID-19 was less an analysis of the nature of the virus than of the consequences of the administration’s policies, and, thus, a statement of intent. The mastermind of the Biden administration’s plan for a “new normal” was Ezekiel Emanuel, the author of the notorious 2014 article, “Why I hope to die at 75,” in which he declared that “society… will be better off if nature takes its course swiftly and promptly.” Emanuel and other members of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory panel published a series of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) calling for a “new normal” of life with COVID-19 that would end measures to count cases and track infections.
DeSantis calls for grand jury investigation of COVID vaccines - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling for a grand jury investigation into alleged “crimes and wrongdoing” related to COVID-19 vaccines and setting up Florida’s own Public Health Integrity Committee. The governor’s office announced what it called “aggressive action” Tuesday after DeSantis held a roundtable discussion with physicians, researchers and victims “of adverse events from mRNA vaccines.” “The federal government, medical associations, and other experts have created an expectation that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is an ethical or civic duty and that choosing not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is selfish and harmful to others,” DeSantis’s petition for the grand jury investigation reads. The petition also alleges that it is “impossible to imagine that so many influential individuals came to this view on their own” and that the pro-vaccine individuals and companies “created these perceptions for financial gain.” DeSantis said he’s further creating the Public Health Integrity Committee because he distrusts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). White House lights up with rainbow colors after same-sex marriage bill signing McDaniel seeks to fend off RNC leadership challenge “Our CDC, at this point, anything they put out, you just assume, at this point, that it’s not worth the paper that it’s printed on. It’s not serving a useful function. It’s really serving to advance narratives,” DeSantis said at the roundtable Tuesday. The new Florida committee is set to examine federal recommendations for public health under the direction of the state’s surgeon general in order to “ensure that Florida’s public health policies are tailored for Florida’s communities,” the governor’s office said. And under the governor’s new actions, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo will also conduct “autopsy surveillance” by investigating what the office called “sudden deaths” in individuals who received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Report: Intelligence agencies didn’t move fast enough to collect Covid data - The intelligence community was not prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic and did not move quickly enough to gather information about the spread of the virus, according to a report released Thursday by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. The report looks at the intelligence community’s response to Covid-19, particularly in the early days of 2020. The intelligence agencies’ clandestine collectors largely focused on analyzing data about the virus that was already being discussed openly by public health officials and experts across the world, the report said, arguing that they moved too slowly to collect clandestine information. And the intelligence community did not begin to provide that information to senior Trump administration officials until the end of January — weeks after the virus was already circulating across the world and after international health organizations had begun tracking the virus, the report said. The U.S. reported its first case on Jan. 18 and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not issue a directive for “enhanced community-wide collection” until Jan. 29, 2020. The collectors “took too long to pivot their exquisite collection capabilities to meet senior officials’ needs to know more about the crisis,” the report said. The report also noted that “the IC is not uniquely positioned to identify new diseases that public health authorities have not yet found themselves.” Senior health officials have repeatedly said over the past two years that if the U.S. — and the rest of the world — had put measures in place to help contain and isolate the virus sooner, Covid-19 might not have spread at such a devastating pace. “Part of our aim in this report is to get the intelligence community to refocus strategically on where the threats actually are,” one of the committee’s investigators said. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a different report Thursday focusing on how the intelligence community handled the question of Covid’s origins. It accused the intelligence community of failing to adequately address the question of whether there is a potential link between Covid-19 and China’s biological weapons efforts. The Democrats’ report said the intelligence community did issue warnings about a potential global pandemic well before the World Health Organization issued such an announcement in March 2020. And despite President Donald Trump’s public remarks that the intelligence community did not speak in threatening terms about the potential pandemic, analysts did, in fact, send “dire” assessments in late January and early February, according to the report. Overall, the intelligence community needs to improve the way it prepares for and responds to global health threats, the report said. Over the years, the intelligence agencies, including the CIA, have not prioritized tracking and analyzing biological threats. And even after the last nearly three years of the Covid pandemic, the intelligence community has still not made the necessary adjustments to focus on the issue, the report said.
New York Times covers up for Biden, Trump and other COVID-19 criminals -- The front-page lead article in Tuesday’s New York Times declares that chances are “fading” for a bipartisan investigation into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Comparing the pandemic to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the article laments the failure of the US political system to investigate and draw the lessons of a catastrophe that has killed hundreds of times more Americans than 9/11. A critical care nurse administers an anti-viral medication to a COVID-19 positive patient at Kootenai Health regional medical center in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Sept. 6, 2021. [AP Photo/Michael H. Lehman/DVIDS U.S. Navy/via AP] Legislation introduced in the Senate to establish a bipartisan commission modeled on the one established after 9/11 is languishing. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Charles Schumer has not called the bill up, the legislation has not even been introduced in the House of Representatives, and the Biden White House opposes it without saying so publicly. The Times does not ask why this is the case, but clearly no section of the US ruling elite wants an honest accounting of the circumstances and political decisions that allowed millions to die around the world, including 1.1 million in the United States. The Democrats do not want such an investigation because, for all their fulminations about Trump’s anti-scientific antics—promoting fake cures and even the injection of bleach—more people have died of COVID-19 while Biden occupied the White House. Nor does the leading US newspaper want a real probe into the issues raised by the greatest public health crisis in more than a century. That is shown by its invocation of the 9/11 commission as the model to be followed. That panel, consisting of tried and tested defenders of American capitalism, covered up the role of US intelligence agencies and key US client states such as Saudi Arabia. It was a whitewash, not a genuine exposure. And if such a COVID-19 commission were to be convened, it would undoubtedly be used to promote the conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2 was created in a Chinese laboratory and released inadvertently or deliberately. The Republican Party has already made clear that when it takes control of the House of Representatives in January, such an “investigation” will be one of the first actions it carries out, a provocation aligned with the Biden administration’s confrontational policy towards Beijing and US preparations for war. The Times article poses a series of questions which a bipartisan commission should answer, ranging from the detection of pathogens, inadequate data collection, problems in the supply of masks and other public health necessities, the impact of school lockdowns and the spread of misinformation about the virus and vaccines. It poses, without suggesting any answer, what it admits is “a pressing question: Why does the United States have a higher death rate from COVID-19 than other wealthy nations?” But notably, the newspaper does not raise the most important question: What were the political considerations that drove the response of the Trump and Biden administrations to the pandemic? Why was public health subordinated to financial interests? Wall Street and corporate America demanded that production resume after the initial shutdowns forced by workers’ resistance to being infected with a deadly virus that was spreading rapidly throughout factories, offices and schools. This back-to-work and back-to-school campaign was pioneered by the Times itself, with its leading columnist, Thomas Friedman, advancing the slogan, “The cure can’t be worse than the disease.”
Biden's student-loan relief plan gets expanded review from Supreme Court -- The U.S. Supreme Court expanded a planned showdown over President Biden's student-loan relief plan, saying it will hear arguments from two borrowers who contend they are being unfairly excluded from the full scope of the program. The court was already set to hear arguments early next year from six Republican-led states that say the president lacked authority to issue the sweeping plan. The new challenge also contends the Education Department took an improper procedural shortcut by not letting the public comment on the plan before finalizing it. The plan, which could cost an estimated $400 billion, would forgive as much as $20,000 in federal loans for certain borrowers making less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 for households. About 26 million people requested forgiveness before the Education Department stopped accepting applications, and the administration says more than 40 million Americans would be eligible.
Supreme Court takes up another clash over Biden’s student debt relief plan - The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a second legal clash over President Biden’s ambitious student debt relief plan that is currently blocked by lower courts. The two cases involve an effort by the Biden administration to reinstate a loan forgiveness program that would give federal borrowers making less than $125,000 a year up to $10,000 debt relief. Arguments in the cases could be heard as early as February. It was not immediately clear if the disputes would be consolidated or handled separately. The case added Monday stems from a legal challenge brought by individual borrowers who argued the debt-relief program’s enactment was procedurally improper. A Texas-based federal judge last month invalidated the program and a New Orleans-based federal appeals court let that ruling stand, prompting the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court. Separately, a St. Louis-based appeals court halted the loan relief program in response to a challenge by six conservative-led states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Earlier this month the justices agreed to hear the administration’s appeal of that ruling, in which a unanimous three-judge panel found the debt-relief plan usurped Congress’s authority. The White House, for its part, maintains that its policy is authorized by a 2003 federal law known as the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, which both the Trump and Biden administrations have drawn upon to alleviate student borrowers’ financial strain during the global pandemic. The Congressional Budget Office estimates Biden’s plan will cost about $400 billion over 30 years. Its aim is to forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making under $125,000 annually and up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants, which assist students from lower-income families. The program has drawn numerous legal challenges including two cases that sought emergency relief in the Supreme Court earlier this year that were unilaterally rejected by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Biden signs historic legislation to enshrine marriage equality | The Hill - President Biden on Tuesday signed legislation to safeguard marriage equality after Congress, for the first time in history, approved federal protections for same-sex marriage. The Respect for Marriage Act passed the House on Thursday in a 258-169-1 vote, with 39 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the measure. The Senate cleared the measure last week in a 61-38 vote; 12 GOP senators joined on to the bill once it included an amendment outlining some protections for religious beliefs.Biden has championed the legislation, with the White House describing the Respect for Marriage Act as “personal” to him. He signed the legislation at a celebratory event at the White House with more than 2,000 attendees. “The road for the moment has been long, but those who believe in equality and justice, you never gave up,” Biden said. “Many of you standing on the South Lawn here. So many of you put your relationships on the line, your jobs on the line, your lives on the line to fight for the law I’m about to sign.” Before the bill signing, there were musical performances from artists Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper, and Biden’s now infamous remarks from a “Meet the Press” appearance in 2012 played from a loudspeaker. He later quoted himself from those remarks: “As I’ve said before, and some of you might remember on a certain TV show 10 years ago — I got in trouble — marriage, I mean this from the bottom of my heart, marriage is a simple proposition. Who do you love? And will you be loyal to that person you love? It’s not more complicated than that.”
Tom Cotton Blocks Senate PRESS Act Designed to Protect Journalists - Republican Sen. Tom Cotton on Wednesday blocked the passage of a House-approved bipartisan bill that's been heralded by advocates as "the most important free press legislation in modern times." The Senate had in recent days faced mounting pressure from journalists, press freedom groups, and others to follow the House's lead and approve the Protect Reporters From Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act, spearheaded by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). After Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Tuesday revealed in the Chicago Sun-Times that he supported fast-tracking the PRESS Act (S. 2457/H.R. 4330), Wyden took to the floor early Wednesday to try to pass the bill by unanimous consent and send it to President Joe Biden's desk. Cotton (R-Ark.) objected, claiming that "the PRESS Act would immunize journalists and leakers alike from scrutiny and consequences for their actions." "This bill would prohibit the government from compelling any individual who calls himself a 'journalist,'" Cotton continued, indicating scare quotes with his hands, "from disclosing the source or substance of such damaging leaks." Wyden pushed back against Cotton's claims, pointing to the exceptions in the law that were adequate enough to satisfy all Republicans in the House, which advanced the bill by a voice vote in September.
Warren talks crypto, student loans and 2024 - The first bill Elizabeth Warren introduced in Congress, when she was a “brand new baby senator” in 2013, was to reduce the interest rate on student loans. A decade of pressure campaigns later, Warren helped convince President Joe Biden to cancel up to $10,000 of federal student debt and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. It was one of her biggest policy wins. Then the Supreme Court blocked it.“I have no doubt about the president’s legal authority to cancel that debt, so long as the Supreme Court follows the law instead of playing politics,” Warren told Playbook during a sitdown interview at her Capitol Hill office Wednesday. Warren is ending 2022 at an intriguing juncture. Several issues she’s spent years working on — a corporate minimum tax and over-the-counter hearing aids among them — have come to fruition under Democratic control in Washington. She could leverage those wins to run for president again. Or she could — with Democrats holding the Senate, White House and the governor’s office in Massachusetts come January — make another play for a Cabinet spot. She’s already signaled that she expects to have sway in how progressives and her party as a whole approach the next election.But Warren is adamant — and "very excited" — that she’s running for reelection in 2024. When Democrats take control of the Senate, she’ll have more power to pursue the types of investigations into corporations that helped make her a household name. And she just unveiled bipartisan legislation to crack down on crypto money laundering, though she’s not telling lawmakers to return the campaign contributions they’ve taken from criminally charged FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Here are more excerpts from our interview, edited for length and clarity:
Behind-the-scenes hunt builds for McCarthy Speaker alternative - Searches for a Speaker alternative to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) are slowly building momentum as he faces opposition that threatens to sink his bid. On one side, McCarthy’s fiercest detractors are teasing that there are people interested in being a viable GOP consensus substitute for the current minority leader. On the other, members say preliminary conversations are happening among Republicans and Democrats about a possible contingency candidate if McCarthy cannot win the gavel after multiple ballots in the new GOP-majority House next month. Neither side will name names, fearing that anyone mentioned as a candidate would get intense blowback. “If somebody were to come out now and we didn’t deliver enough votes to stop Mr. McCarthy, that there would be a real potential for blowback,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus who has mounted a protest challenge to McCarthy for the House GOP nomination, a bid he is continuing as he searches for an alternative. “They want to be very careful. So I think I think people are interested. They’ve expressed it to some of us … I think people are being wary.” Biggs speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 29, 2021. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) told Fox News there are a number of candidates who have come to McCarthy’s conservative opponents privately to say they’d like to be considered for Speaker once it is clear he cannot win the votes. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has publicly called for other House Republicans to step up as an alternative. Biggs thinks there are still around 20 House Republicans members who will be “hard no’s” on McCarthy, which would be enough to deny him a majority of total lawmakers. Right now, Biggs, Good and Gaetz are part of a group of five GOP members — along with Reps. Matt Rosendale (Mont.) and Ralph Norman (S.C.) — who have said or indicated they will not vote for McCarthy or “present” on the House floor in the next Congress.
Term-limit plan sparks generational battle among House Dems -Discontent is rising among House Democrats over internal rules that could allow their committee chairs to remain in the influential posts for decades — while younger members are forced to bide their time. While House Republicans have a six-year cap for their top members on committees, the chamber’s Democrats lack term limits — and as potential rising stars look to assert themselves in the next Congress, a generational schism is threatening to burst. The vehicle for the grumbling is a recent caucus rules change proposal by Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) that would act as a form of term limits, requiring any committee chief to survive a secret-ballot vote in order to serve more than three terms. Younger Democrats who support Foster’s plan for more leadership turnover have powerful opponents, though: senior members of the Black and Hispanic Caucuses, where members have long cheered seniority-based positions that keep the chair ranks diversified. “I understand there’s a need to share, particularly with a much younger caucus that we have. But I think that penalizing members for being ranking members while they’re in the minority at the expense of an opportunity to be a chairman — I don’t think that’s fair either,” said Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who plans to vote against the change. In fact, Democrats on both sides of the term-limits debate agree that Foster’s proposal is unlikely to pass a caucus-wide vote when it’s expected to come up this week. An internal caucus panel did not recommend that House Democrats approve the change. Even so, the idea has kicked off a sometimes-awkward discussion in the caucus about the future of its leaders and where to channel younger members’ ambitions after House Democrats’ top three leaders ceded their power to a trio that’s several decades younger. A spokesperson for the incoming Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) declined to comment on the rules change.
These two pro-impeachment Republicans are not going quietly - Eight of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump following the Capitol riot are leaving Congress, either after not seeking reelection or losing primaries this year. At least two of those vocal Trump critics have made one thing clear: They aren’t going away anytime soon. GOP Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) have both launched political action committees (PACs) supporting candidates for public office and hinted at other forms of involvement. Cheney and Kinzinger were the two Republicans on the nine-member Jan. 6 select committee investigating the riot. Kinzinger announced in 2021 he wouldn’t seek reelection, while Cheney lost her August primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate. “This primary election is over,” Cheney said at the time. “But now the real work begins.” She transitioned her campaign committee into a leadership PAC, The Great Task, which ran an ad opposing Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem — both of whom lost in November. Cheney also endorsed House Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Elissa Slotkin in their successful reelection bids in Virginia and Michigan respectively, as well as Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan, who lost. Cheney told NBC News in August she was considering running for president in 2024. She said the following month, “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure [Donald Trump] is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican.”
Trump says he turned down deal to release Paul Whelan - Former President Trump on Sunday said he turned down a deal to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who’s been detained by Moscow since 2018, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout during his time in the White House. “I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals,” Trump said on Truth Social. Bout was released last week in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who spent about 10 months in Russian custody. Trump criticized the deal soon after news broke of Griner’s release, saying Whelan should have been freed instead. The Biden administration has said Russia was unwilling to include Whelan in a swap for Bout. Trump said Sunday that, although he turned down the deal with Moscow, he “would have gotten Paul out,” though didn’t explain why he wasn’t able to do so. “The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out , fast!” Trump said. Former Trump White House national security official Fiona Hill said Sunday that the deal to swap Bout for Whelan was a possibility while Trump was in office. “At the particular time, I also have to say here that President Trump wasn’t especially interested in engaging in that swap for also Paul Whelan. He was not particularly interested in Paul’s case in the way that one would have thought he would be,” Hill said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan.
McConnell blames Trump for ‘candidate quality’ issues in midterms - = Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blamed the power former President Trump exerted in GOP primaries for the “candidate quality” issues his party struggled with in key races. Speaking to reporters a week after Republicans lost the Senate runoff in Georgia, which expanded the Senate Democratic majority to 51 seats, McConnell said his party was hampered by weak candidates in several battleground states. “I never said there was a red wave. I said we had a bunch of close races,” McConnell told reporters, citing the caution flags he raised in August when some Republicans were predicting big GOP gains in Congress. “We ended up having a candidate quality [issue],” McConnell said. “Look at Arizona, look at New Hampshire and a challenging situation in Georgia as well.” McConnell noted that his affiliated super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, did intervene in two primaries in Alabama and Missouri, but he argued there was little Senate GOP leaders could do in races where Trump endorsed MAGA-style candidates or Republicans who claimed the 2020 election was stolen. The Senate Leadership Fund spent more than $4 million to oppose Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.) in the Alabama Senate GOP primary and invested more than $6 million in the super PAC Show Me Values to stop Eric Greitens from winning the Senate GOP nomination in Missouri. “Our ability to control primary outcomes was quite limited in ’22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries, so my view was do the best with the cards you’re dealt,” he said of the Senate GOP strategy of coalescing behind weak candidates who had Trump’s support, such as Herschel Walker, who lost last week to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). “Hopefully in the next cycle, we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome,” he said.
Jamie Dimon says it's good both parties' 'wing nuts' weren't elected -- JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon praised the results of last month's U.S. midterm elections, saying cooperation in Congress may be more likely since both parties' "wing nuts didn't get elected." "I think there's a good chance they will get some good things done," Dimon said in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation" broadcast on Sunday, citing accomplishments of divided Congresses under presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Dimon warned that the energy crisis could get worse, repeating a call for a "Marshall Plan" for energy. During a congressional hearing in September, Dimon told lawmakers that the U.S. isn't getting energy policy right and called for proper rules and regulations to keep energy secure now while transitioning to cleaner energy over time.
DeSantis tops Trump by 23 points among Republicans in new poll - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) leads former President Trump by 23 points among Republicans in a hypothetical GOP presidential primary, according to a poll released Tuesday. The USA Today-Suffolk University poll found that 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters prefer DeSantis, while only 33 percent would support Trump. More than 60 percent said they want a nominee who will continue Trump’s policies but is not Trump, while 31 percent want the former president to run. “Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trumpism without Trump,” said David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. Trump became the first major candidate to jump in the race for the White House in 2024 last month, but some signs have indicated his control over the GOP may be weakening. He has received blame from members of his own party for the GOP’s disappointing performance in the midterm elections. Many of the candidates he endorsed in key races lost after defeating primary opponents who were seen as more electable but less loyal to Trump. Trump has also received backlash from some Republicans over his dinner with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, both of whom have espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories. Trump said he did not know about Fuentes’s views before meeting with him. The poll also found Trump’s favorable rating among Republicans dropping from 75 percent in October to 64 percent in December. His unfavorable rating has also risen from 18 percent to 23 percent in that time. Pollsters found President Biden leading a hypothetical head-to-head match-up with Trump, 47 percent to 40 percent. DeSantis led Biden in the poll by about 4 points, 47 percent to 43 percent.
Breaking down the Jan. 6 committee’s possible referrals — criminal and beyond – The Jan. 6 select committee’s final act won’t just include recommendations for criminal charges against allies of Donald Trump. Chair Bennie Thompson indicated on Tuesday that the panel was likely to make “five or six” categories of referrals to outside entities for potential misconduct by figures in the former president’s orbit. It was the most specific detail yet that Thompson (D-Miss.) has provided about some of the committee’s most anticipated final decisions. Thompson said the announcement of the referral targets would come on Monday, when the committee convenes for what is likely to be its last public meeting. Jan. 6 committee votes to subpoena Trump. Now what? The Jan. 6 select committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Donald Trump, a remarkable bid to tie up one of its last remaining threads that’s unlikely to successfully compel the former president’s testimony. SharePlay Video “Different strokes for different folks,” quipped panel member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is leading a subcommittee that will present final recommendations on potential referrals. “Everybody has made his or her own bed in terms of their conduct or misconduct.” Though Thompson declined to specify each of the categories, here’s a look at the possibilities based on the committee’s publicly known evidence to date.
- Criminal prosecution: The select committee has long described evidence that Trump himself ran afoul of multiple criminal laws, including felony obstruction of Congress’ electoral vote-counting session on Jan. 6, 2021, and defrauding the United States.
- Campaign finance: Panel members have raised concerns about the potential misleading of campaign donors, who they said had been led to believe they were supporting election-related litigation when the money, in fact, went to a pro-Trump PAC.
- Ethics Committee: The select committee subpoenaed five Republican members of Congress, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The others were Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama. None of the five complied.
- Bar discipline: Thompson has explicitly mentioned the possibility of making referrals to various bar associations for the panoply of lawyers who aided Trump’s scheme to stay in power. Review by those organizations could result in some of those lawyers losing their licenses to practice law, or facing temporary suspensions.
- Office of Special Counsel: The independent Office of the Special Counsel is charged with investigating violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits Executive Branch officials from using their official positions and powers for political purposes.
- Inspectors general: Investigators could also elevate concerns about the government officials’ conduct to the independent watchdogs who oversee federal agencies. The Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog is already scrutinizing the Secret Service’s actions around Jan. 6.
What the Jan. 6 select committee’s final report will look like – --The Jan. 6 select committee’s final report will begin with a voluminous executive summary describing former President Donald Trump’s culpability for his extensive and baseless effort to subvert the 2020 election, according to people briefed on its contents. Drafts of the report, which the people briefed say have been circulating among committee members for weeks, include thousands of footnotes drawn from the panel’s interviews and research over the past 16 months into Trump’s activities in the frenzied final weeks that preceded Jan. 6, 2021 — when a mob of his supporters battered police and stormed the Capitol.The committee members are expected to formally approve the report at a Dec. 21 public meeting of the panel described by Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). Lawmakers will be able to propose final edits before the draft is expected to be sent to the Government Publishing Office for printing later this week. The final report, according to those briefed on it, will have eight chapters that align closely with the evidence the panel unveiled during its public hearings in June and July:
- Trump’s effort to sow distrust in the results of the election
- Trump’s pressure on state governments or legislatures to overturn victories by Joe Biden
- Trump campaign efforts to send pro-Trump electors to Washington from states won by Biden
- Trump’s push to deploy the Justice Department in service of his election scheme
- The pressure campaign by Trump and his lawyers against then-Vice President Mike Pence
- Trump’s effort to summon supporters to Washington who later fueled the Jan. 6 mob
- The 187 minutes during which Trump refused to tell rioters to leave the Capitol
- An analysis of the attack on the Capitol
A person familiar with the drafting of the report emphasized that the report itself may not be limited to an executive summary and the eight chapters and is also expected to include appendices that capture more aspects of the committee’s investigation. The complete report is expected to include investigative findings from all of the select committee’s five investigative teams, which probed Trump’s actions, the mob, the role of extremism in the attack, the money trail behind Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and law enforcement failures on Jan. 6.
Fascist Marjorie Taylor Greene boasts January 6 coup would have succeeded if she led it because “we would’ve been armed”- In a Saturday night speech at the New York Young Republican Club gala in Manhattan, New York, fascist Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (Republican) boasted that had she and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon “organized” the January 6, 2021 coup it would have been successful because “we would’ve been armed.” “I will tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I organized that,” Greene said referring to the coup, “we would have won.” “Not to mention,” Greene said, “it would’ve been armed.” On-the-ground reporters for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors the activities of fascist groups, said that after Greene’s remarks “attendees erupted in cheers and applause.” It is unclear if Donald Trump Jr., a speaker and attendee at the same event, was one of those who “erupted” in approval. Greene’s threats, which she tried to pass off as a “joke,” are deadly serious. They underscore that 23 months after the attack on the Capitol, the Republican Party has continued to transform into a fascist organization, despite the fact that some of Trump’s hand-picked “election denialists” lost their races. Furthermore, Greene’s threats express the fact that even if Trump is not the Republican nominee, the antidemocratic social forces he represents will continue to be cultivated by the ruling class within the Republican Party. Greene’s declaration was not an aberration in an otherwise “normal” Republican event. The yearly gala was organized by the president of the New York Young Republicans, Gavin Wax, and featured neo-Nazi Jack Posobiec as the co-headline speaker along with Greene. Posobiec is a former Navy officer and routinely incites fascist violence against LGBTQ persons. He is a protege of Roger Stone and began spreading the #StopTheSteal hashtag on Twitter on September 7, 2020, nearly two months before the presidential election.
Jan. 6 panel member Raskin says Greene would ‘be going to jail’ if she organized Capitol riot -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Monday said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) would “be going to jail” if she had organized the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, firing back after Greene said that “we would have won” the attack if it had been planned by her and former White House adviser Stephen Bannon. “If you and Bannon organized the violent insurrection against our government on 1/6 you’d be going to jail with everyone else convicted of seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to interfere with a federal proceeding,” tweeted Raskin, a member of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack. On Saturday, Greene responded to claims that she was somehow involved in the Jan. 6 riot, saying at a gala for the New York Young Republican Club that the Capitol insurrection would have “been armed” if she and Bannon had been behind it. “And I will tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won,” she said. The White House condemned the comments as “violent rhetoric” and a “slap in the face” to the law enforcement officers who defended the building and the lawmakers inside. At least four officers died by suicide after the riot, and more than 100 sustained injuries. On Monday, the Georgia Republican defended her comments, dismissing them as “sarcasm.” “My comments were making fun of Joe Biden and the Democrats, who have continuously made me a political target since January 6,” she said in a statement. Greene is an outspoken ally of former President Trump who backs his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. On Jan. 6, a mob of pro-Trump supporters fueled by unfounded rhetoric of a rigged electoral system stormed the Capitol to stop certification of the election.
New Documents Shed Light on CIA's Connection to Lee Harvey Oswald - A corps of researchers looking into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy say they have unearthed proof his alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was involved in an operation by the CIA mere months before the killing, reigniting questions about whether the Oswald truly was alone in his decision to kill the youngest man ever elected president.In a Tuesday press conference at the National Press Club, Jefferson Morley—a veteran of the D.C. press corps and a preeminent expert on JFK's assassination with the Mary Ferrell Foundation—told reporters that he and attorneys with the foundation obtained documentation relating to a still-classified covert operation approved by senior CIA officials three months before Kennedy's death that suggested the agency used Oswald for intelligence purposes several weeks prior to shooting."This is an extraordinarily serious claim, and it has profound implications for the official story," Morley said Tuesday morning in Washington. "The CIA knew far more about the lone gunman than then they are admitting even today. So this story deserves the closest possible scrutiny."The document, one of several researchers obtained this month as the result of an October lawsuit, is a precursor to a fuller release of documents anticipated by the National Archives this month. The mandated release of records dates to a 2021 memo by President Joe Biden's administration ordering the release of all documents related to the JFK assassination after several delays by agencies like the CIA and FBI. Attorneys for the Mary Ferrell Foundation argued that the agencies have illegally stalled the release of more than 16,000 additional documents related to the case over concerns they could potentially compromise the names of individuals and the methods used in intelligence-gathering activities more than a half-century ago.
Musk calls to prosecute Fauci, drawing swift backlash + Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Sunday called to prosecute Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden who has led the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic since it started during the Trump administration, and drew swift backlash for his comment. “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Musk said on Twitter. He later shared a meme edited to show Fauci telling Biden, “Just one more lockdown, my king.” Lawmakers and other officials jumped to Fauci’s defense online. “I’m a big fan of Dr. Fauci and how he’s calmly guided our country through crisis. Re Musk tweet? Courting vaccine-deniers doesn’t seem like a smart business strategy, but the issue is this: could you just leave a good man alone in your seemingly endless quest for attention?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on Twitter. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) wrote on Twitter, “It’s America. You can select any pronouns you damn well please. But Anthony Fauci has likely saved more human lives than any living person in the world. Shame on you.” Former CIA Director John Brennan called Fauci a “national hero” and accused Musk of stoking hatred. “ Since Musk’s controversial takeover of the social media platform, concerns about content moderation on the site have surged, with reports of an uptick in racist and antisemitic messages on the site. Musk has tried to situate himself as a champion of free speech and a mouthpiece for the public, using the Latin phrase “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which means “The voice of the people is the voice of God.” He also polled users on reinstating the banned Twitter account of former President Trump and on whether suspended users should get “amnesty.”
Twitter suspends several journalists, Musk cites 'doxxing' of his jet (Reuters) - Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently wrote about its new owner Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that rules banning the publishing of personal information applied to all, including journalists.Responding to a Tweet on the account suspensions, Musk, who has described himself as a free speech absolutist, tweeted: "Same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else," a reference to Twitter rules banning the sharing of personal information, called doxxing.Musk's tweet referred to Twitter's Wednesday suspension of @elonjet, an account tracking his private jet in real time using data available in the public domain. Musk had threatened legal action against the account's operator, saying his son had been mistakenly followed by a "crazy stalker". It was unclear if all the journalists whose accounts were suspended had commented on or shared news about @elonjet.
Elon Musk’s Twitter mass bans tech and left-wing reporters - In an act of blatant retaliation Thursday evening, Twitter suspended the accounts of leading tech journalists who have been reporting on the social media company and its billionaire owner Elon Musk. Among the purged accounts are those of Ryan Mac of the New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of the Intercept and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster. The account of the open source social media platform Mastodon was also suspended. No explanation was given by Twitter for the suspensions. NBC News reported that a spokesperson for the New York Times said the suspensions were “questionable and unfortunate” and that neither the journalist nor the Times organization had received any information about the banning of Mac’s account. “We hope that all of the journalists’ accounts are reinstated, and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action,” said Charlie Stadtlander, communications director for the Times. Some tech news sources reported that the shutdowns were connected to the Twitter decision on Wednesday to suspend @ElonJet, the account of 20-year-old Florida college student Jack Sweeney, which tracked the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s private jet based on publicly available flight information. Explaining the decision to terminate Sweeney’s account, Musk tweeted on Wednesday, “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.” Twitter then suspended more than 25 accounts that tracked planes of government agencies, billionaires and others. However, after his jet tracking account was closed, Sweeney moved it to Mastodon, a social media competitor of Twitter, and continued to post the jet location information. The journalists who were suspended had shared the Mastodon account information as part of their reporting on Twitter. In the case of the Intercept’s Lee, for example, the journalist said in a text message that before the suspension of his account he had attempted to tweet out a link to the Mastodon account that tracked Musk’s jet but was unable to and instead tweeted a screenshot. Washington Post reporter Harwell described a similar experience when he tweeted about Mastodon being kicked off Twitter. His account was terminated immediately after he posted information about how Twitter had shut down the account of its competitor and was violating free speech rights. As of this writing, Musk had not responded to requests for comment and Twitter did not respond to email inquiries by news media.
The Alarm Bells Go Off - Clusterfuck Nation by James Howard Kunstler - Twitter’s senior ranks of content moderators included over a dozen former FBI and CIA agents and analysts who let child porn run loose all over the app while surgically removing any utterance contradicting the government’s claim that mRNA “vaccines” are “safe and effective” — not to mention the effort this elite crew expended against anyone objecting to the Woke-Left’s race and gender hustles. Wouldn’t you like to know how much they were paid? Probably more than government work. Here’s another awful reality (better fasten your seatbelts): What also emerged in the tweet record of Yoel Roth, the company’s chief censor (former “Head of Trust and Safety”), begins to look like a gay mafia assault on the collective American psyche. Having gained official federal government sanction and protection, a statistically tiny homosexual demographic left in charge of the country’s main public forum has been out for revenge against their perceived enemy, political conservatives — Americans disinclined to join the cheerleading for drag queen story hours, “minor-attracted persons,” transsexuals in the military, and other LBGTQ cultural pranks. In the process, that gay mafia running the public dialogue supported every lie that the government, its protector, put out, to keep it happy and well-fed. Shocking, I’m sure… but there it is. That means they also promoted the most-deadly psy-op in world history: the Covid-19 scare and the mass “vaccination” crusade that will end up killing many millions world-wide, after destroying the economies of the Western Civ nations. The whole package looks like an attempt to turn the world upside down and inside out. Is it any wonder that so many feel the USA has gone crazy? Of course, that aroused the widespread suspicion that these now-exposed nefarious operators in social media were merely tools for some murky plutocrat elite led by the likes of the WEF, Bill Gates, and George Soros. Could that be the greatest “conspiracy theory’ of all? More likely, I hesitate to suggest, all these characters in one way or another are merely tools of history itself, as the world enters the darkest days of a Fourth Turning secular winter. As TS Eliot observed: “Humankind cannot bear too much reality.” Thus, so many sense we live in dangerous times. Everything appears to veer out-of-control, including thought itself. Disorder incites more disorder. While all this madness is going on in-country, the US government, led by the phantom president “Joe Biden,” continues to prosecute its insane proxy war in Ukraine in order to antagonize Russia. Lately the US has sent drones hundreds of miles inside Russia to blow up military airfields. How is that not an escalation of hostilities, and exactly how far do the American people want their government to take this crazy project?
Notes on FBI/Twitter Story: Link to Text Version of Twitter Files Thread by Matt Taibbi, (NB: As usual, the graphics in Friday night’s “Twitter Files” story make the entire thread too large to sneak through Gmail’s size limit. But a readable online version of the thread lives on the TK site. You can find it by clicking here.) Toward the end of work on this story a controversy blew up around the Twitter Files. I learned a little on Thursday night, and then apparently missed a whole drama that took place online Friday while I was trying to put the FBI story together. Once that story was out, I saw just a few critics weigh in before falling asleep. This morning highlights were passed on to me by friends. The gist was expressed by MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan, who’s taken over the role of Ardent Establishment Moralist from Rachel Maddow, who had a firm grip on it until she spent three years bollocking the Trump-Russia story.I actually wasn’t silent about it (see last night’s Substack piece), but even if I had been, so what? These Twitter Files stories that are coming out are getting at issues that have nothing to do with Elon Musk, Keith Olbermann, Aaron Rupar, Barney the Dinosaur, or anyone else.This is a chance for ordinary Americans to see, from the inside, how their tax dollars have been spent building an elaborate, systematized method of censorship and opinion control, with agencies like the DHS and the DOJ/FBI at the helm. These “enforcement” agencies are not fighting or investigating crime (or even, say, terror plots), they’re just collecting domestic intelligence on a grand scale, and seeking to distort the public’s perception of reality through mass moderation, via programs we’ve been told little to nothing about.Hasan believes that just as we’re getting this state-sponsored mass-censorship program in our sights, I should stop, beat my breast on Twitter about an unrelated topic every other corporate journalist in the world is already wailing about, and make the story about me at exactly the moment we’ve found good reason for people to focus their attention on agencies like the FBI and the DHS.There’s a divide in media, mostly generational, with conspicuous exceptions. The current reigning breed of press figure — Mehdi is a perfect example — imagines himself or herself to be first and foremost a political animal, someone who’s primary job is to advocate at all times for a point of view.There’s an extraordinary emphasis on “calling out,” a concept that didn’t exist when I started doing this job. A parallel example to the lunacy of last night would be the parade of people in the past weeks who insisted I had a responsibility — because we both happened to be on the Twitter Files story — to confront Bari Weiss about past actions of hers involving Columbia University and professors accused of bias against Jewish students.Because I didn’t throw a fit and walk out on a great story when Bari came on the scene, it’s evidence I’ve “aligned myself with the right.” I imagine once word gets out we were also civil and cooperative as we rummaged through the digital pile, this will be another count in the indictments against us both.This is the same bugbear that afflicted signatories of the “Harper’s Letter,” many of whom found themselves accused of hypocrisy because they co-signed a statement with (circle one) Bari/J.K. Rowling/David Frum/Katie Herzog/Jesse Singal/Others, who were deemed Bad People for reasons X, Y, Z, etc. The idea was, we don’t judge people on the basis of what they say anymore. Instead, by co-signing a statement with others, we are now responsible — indeed, we’ve implicitly endorsed — the collective actions and opinions accrued over the lifetimes of all the people whose signatures are on the same page with ours.Therefore you must not sign a statement, even if you believe in every word of it. You have to attach conditions: I won’t sign, you’re supposed to say, until the following three objectionable people are removed. You have to “call out” the very people who may have just gulped hard before agreeing to co-sign a petition with you.
Billionaire Ken Griffin sues IRS over tax disclosure - Hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin has sued the IRS and the Treasury Department over the “unlawful disclosure” of his tax information, escalating the battle in Washington over leaked tax filings of super-wealthy people including Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos. In a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, accuses the IRS of violating its “legal obligations to safeguard and protect his information from unauthorized disclosure,” and willfully and intentionally failing to “establish appropriate administrative, technical or physical safeguards” over its record system. The claims stem from Griffin’s inclusion in a ProPublica series in 2021 examining the taxes paid by top billionaires like Elon Musk and Carl Icahn, several of whom paid zero federal income taxes in certain years. ProPublica used IRS tax data provided by an anonymous source, and it’s unclear how the data was obtained. Griffin reported an average income of $1.7 billion from 2013 to 2018, ProPublica said, citing his tax returns. One ProPublica article focused on Griffin’s opposition to an Illinois ballot measure –– which he spent $54 million to oppose – which would have increased his state tax bill by over $50 million a year. Griffin was not listed as one of the billionaires who paid zero or low tax rates in any one year, and, in fact, the ProPublica tax information showed Griffin pays a higher effective tax rate than many top earners. It also showed he was the second-largest American taxpayer between 2013 and 2018. In his lawsuit, Griffin said he is “proud of his success and has always sought to pay his fair share of taxes.” He said that in or after 2019, “IRS personnel exploited the IRS’s willful failure to establish adequate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for the IRS’s data and records systems to misappropriate confidential tax return information for the highest earning U.S. taxpayers, including Mr. Griffin, and then unlawfully disclosed those materials to ProPublica for publication.” The IRS and Treasury didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The leaked tax returns sparked an uproar in Washington, which continues to escalate. The IRS inspector general and Justice Department are investigating the disclosures, but there have been no findings or charges, and Republicans say they’re frustrated by a lack of answers.
Florida pastor and his son are arrested in alleged $8 million Covid scam - A Florida pastor and his son were arrested Wednesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal Covid relief funds and attempting to use some of the money to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World. van Edwards, 64, and his son, Josh, 30, were taken into custody five months after an NBC News report raised questions over why they hadn’t been charged in the alleged scam, which federal prosecutors first identified in court papers in December 2020. A source familiar with the investigation said NBC News' previous reporting led law enforcement to prioritize the case. The case dates to April 2020, when Josh Edwards applied for a $6 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to cover payroll, rent and utilities for his family’s ministry. In the loan application, he claimed that the organization, ASLAN International Ministry, had 486 employees and a monthly payroll of $2.7 million, according to a federal forfeiture complaint.ASLAN International was ultimately approved for an $8.4 million loan.But when federal investigators showed up at the ministry's office in Orlando, the door was locked and workers at the neighboring businesses told them nobody was ever seen inside, the complaint says. A review of the ministry’s website found that the donation links were inactive and sections of text were apparently lifted from other religious sites, according to the complaint.
FTX fiasco fails to mute Congress's biggest crypto enthusiasts - The implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX empire hasn't dimmed the enthusiasm for digital currency among crypto fans in the U.S. Capitol. With skepticism about cryptocurrency growing among members of Congress, a handful of lawmakers, including Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, are trying to convince colleagues that the FTX fiasco doesn't diminish the underlying value of digital currency. "There are two conversations going on. One is FTX, and the other is digital assets," Lummis said on Bloomberg Television's "Balance of Power with David Westin. "We're conflating the two in some of these discussions."
No One Trusts the FTX Bankruptcy Case: News Outlets Intervene; Justice Department Trustee Demands Independent Examiner; SEC Orders Disclosures - By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: Two days after the disgraced crypto exchange, FTX, filed its bankruptcy petition in Delaware bankruptcy court, Wall Street On Parade published an article explaining why it was problematic that the Big Law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell somehow managed to become the legal advisor on the FTX bankruptcy process despite its prior engagements with FTX and Alameda Research, the hedge fund owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and ousted CEO of FTX. We wrote at the time: “The General Counsel of FTX.US, the FTX exchange serving customers in the U.S., is former Sullivan & Cromwell partner, Ryne Miller, who had co-chaired the law firm’s commodities, futures and derivatives group and worked at the law firm for eight years prior to joining this speculative, upstart crypto exchange… “Another Sullivan & Cromwell partner involved with FTX is Ken Li, who represented FTX.US last year in its acquisition of crypto derivatives firm, LedgerX,..”. “But of greatest significance was Sullivan & Cromwell’s representation of both Alameda Research and FTX in their joint bid to purchase the assets of bankrupt crypto exchange, Voyager Digital Holdings, last year. While Sullivan & Cromwell’s website states that it represented FTX.US in its winning bid, the filings in the court case indicate that Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers were also representing Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund that is alleged to have misappropriated customers’ funds from the FTX exchange….” Now, lots of other folks are sharing Wall Street On Parade’s skepticism of what’s happening in the Delaware bankruptcy court involving the FTX bankruptcy proceedings.Just last Friday, December 9, four major news outlets filed an emergency motion with the court asking for transparency in the proceedings. The news outlets are Bloomberg News, Dow Jones (parent of the Wall Street Journal), the New York Times and the Financial Times. The news outlet intervenors wrote as follows in their court filing: “Debtors [FTX and its more than 100 affiliates incorporated in secrecy jurisdictions like the Bahamas and Antigua] have been accused of lack of transparency in their business. That mindset appears to have carried over to this bankruptcy, as they have taken the extraordinary step of seeking to keep under seal their list of creditors, a document which, with very few exceptions, has historically been open to the public. Intervenors object to the continued sealing and redaction of information that historically has been quintessentially public in nature.” And this:“Redacting the names of the creditors will have far-reaching impact as the case progresses. Will any creditor who wants to file a motion or an adversary proceeding be entitled to do so anonymously? Would preference actions redact the names of defendants who are creditors? This will turn the entire proceeding into a farce, with only the Debtor’s name publicly spoken. This would be contrary to Congress’s ‘strong desire to preserve the public’s right of access to judicial records in bankruptcy proceedings.’ Video Software Dealers Ass’n, 21 F.3d at 26 (quoted in In re Alterra Healthcare Corp., 353 B.R. at 75). The Court has indicated that proofs of claim will not be submitted anonymously. If disclosure it inevitable, there is no point to keeping the names anonymous now.” That action by major news outlets followed a filing on December 1 by the U.S. Trustee, who is the watchdog for the U.S. Department of Justice in bankruptcy cases. The U.S. Trustee’s filing requested the appointment of an independent examiner in the FTX matter.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas - The founder and former CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was arrested Monday in the Bahamas and will be indicted in the U.S. as soon as Tuesday morning, according to U.S. and Bahamian authorities. The attorney general for the Bahamas said in a statement Monday that the Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested Bankman-Fried after notification from the U.S. of pending criminal charges against the ex-billionaire, noting that the U.S. is “likely” to request extradition. Bankman-Fried lives in the Bahamas, which is also where FTX was established and run from until its demise. “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public’s trust and broken the law,” said Attorney General Ryan Pinder. Pinder said the Bahamas will continue its own investigations into the failed cryptocurrency platform while the U.S. pursues its charges against Bankman-Fried. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said authorities in the Bahamas arrested the ex-billionaire after New York shared a sealed indictment with the island nation’s government. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said in a Twitter statement. Bankman-Fried’s arrest marks a significant turning point in the federal investigations into his leadership of FTX and whether the missteps that led to its collapse were part of a criminal scheme. FTX and its international network of affiliates filed for bankruptcy in November after the company was unable to satisfy billions of dollars in requested withdrawals from customers. Roughly 1 million FTX users have been locked out of money stored on the crypto trading platform and are unlikely to get much, if any, of it back through formal bankruptcy proceedings.
Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested following FTX collapse. Here's what happens next - Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest in the Bahamas on Monday marks the beginning of a new chapter in the FTX saga, one that will pit the former cryptocurrency billionaire against the Southern District of New York. CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin reported that the charges against Bankman-Fried include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering. The indictment remained sealed until Tuesday morning. Neither the Attorney General of the Bahamas nor the Royal Bahamas Police Force would confirm the nature of the charges against Bankman-Fried.The SEC has initiated a separate set of charges against Bankman-Fried. The agency filed a civil complaint against him Tuesday, alleging that the ex-CEO of FTX engaged in a “scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX.” The filing said Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from investors and that “unbeknownst to those investors ... Bankman-Fried was orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud, diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s customer funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire.”The charges could land Bankman-Fried in prison for decades, legal experts told CNBC. But before he ever serves time, U.S. prosecutors have to secure an extradition from the Bahamas back to New York“It is inconceivable to me that the Justice Department would have charged this case unless they were confident that they could extradite him,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, told CNBC.Mariotti anticipates an extradition will take weeks to complete. “The statement by the Bahamian government suggests that they’re going to cooperate,” Mariotti said.
Sam Bankman-Fried Has Been Charged And Accused Of “A Massive, Years-Long Fraud" - Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, has been charged with fraud by US authorities. The 30-year-old, who is also known as SBF, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday.Today, an unsealed grand jury indictment from the US Department of Justice detailed criminal charges against Bankman-Fried. He is charged with eight counts of defrauding his customers, money laundering, and violating campaign finance laws. The indictment says that Bankman-Fried and his associates “knowingly” devised a scheme to defraud customers by misappropriating funds to “pay expenses and debts of Alameda Research,” Bankman-Fried’s private crypto fund.Bankman-Fried was a major political donor who promised to contribute $1 billion in the 2022 US midterm elections — a commitment that he reneged on. However, the DOJ said that he violated campaign finance laws and intentionally misled the Federal Election Commission by funneling donations through other people.In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning filed a civil complaint against Bankman-Fried, which accused him of orchestrating “a massive, years-long fraud, diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s customer funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire.”The SEC complaint asks that Bankman-Fried pay reparations to FTX’s clients and additional fines for defrauding customers. The SEC also is seeking to bar the entrepreneur from acting as a director or officer of any company in the future.The SEC said that Bankman-Fried diverted funds to Alameda, his privately held investment fund, while assuring clients that their money was safe and that “Alameda is a wholly separate entity from FTX.” The SEC said that he “knew or recklessly disregarded that these statements were false and misleading.”The SEC said that once client funds were in Alameda, Bankman-Fried would lend them to himself and his executive team. These loans were “poorly documented, and sometimes not documented at all,” but, according to the SEC, between March 2020 and September 2022, he lent himself more than $1.3 billion, which he spent on large political donations and luxury property in the Bahamas.And even when his scheme started to spiral out of control, the SEC said, Bankman-Fried “continued to mislead investors and the public.” In early November, following public allegations that FTX would run out of money, the FTX founder said, in later deleted tweets, “FTX is fine. Assets are fine” and “FTX has enough to cover all client holdings.” The SEC said that Bankman-Fried knew at the time that FTX risked bankruptcy.
FTX spent $256 million on Bahamas real estate — now the island’s government wants it backBahamian lawyers say FTX executives Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame spent $256.3 million to buy and maintain 35 different properties across New Providence, Bahamas. Now, Bahamas regulators are trying to claw back the property from FTX’s U.S. bankruptcy protection proceedings, telling a Delaware federal judge that allowing the properties to be administered in U.S. courts would be both administratively ineffective and illegal under Bahamas law. It is the first true look behind the curtain at FTX’s mammoth real estate spending. Tens of millions were spent just at the small island development that Bankman-Fried called home, with FTX’s holding company buying at least 15 properties and one vacant lot for a combined total of over $143 million. Two of the largest apartments at that private Albany development came in at an eye-watering $30 million; another was purchased for just over $21.3 million. Bankman-Fried and Salame also invested tens of millions of dollars into land for their current headquarters building, sinking over $25 million into purchases at the Veridian Corporate Center. In April, FTX broke ground on a new headquarters, which has been on hold since the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November. Now, Bahamian regulators are fighting to get those assets back from FTX’s U.S. leadership. In a Monday night filing, the Bahamian lawyers asked a U.S. judge to dismiss the Chapter 11 proceedings for FTX’s property subsidiary. Bahamian attorneys told the court that because all of the property was in the Bahamas, and because “Bahamian law does not allow recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding for a Bahamian company” that the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings should be suspended and Bahamas regulators should be allowed to assume full control of the Bahamian real estate process.It is a move that is likely to spark pushback from FTX’s U.S. attorneys and CEO John J. Ray, who has committed to maximizing recovery for FTX clients both in the U.S. and abroad through restructuring and asset sales. U.S. and Bahamian lawyers have been tussling in court over jurisdiction, with each side crying foul at the other.
FTX hearing: 6 big revelations from House panel questioning The first House hearing on the collapse of FTX didn’t have the company’s disgraced founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested on the eve of his highly anticipated testimony. But lawmakers still drew crucial revelations about the company’s demise from John J. Ray III, a veteran of corporate bankruptcies tapped to clean up the mess left by Bankman-Fried. Ray, who has shepherded Enron and other high-profile companies through bankruptcy, laid out the stunning lack of oversight, experience and scruples that led to FTX’s demise. He also explained how hard it would be to make customers whole and how Bankman-Fried’s lengthy apologies were simply a cover for “old-fashioned embezzlement.”
- FTX collapse was Enron-like in scale but not sophistication. Ray and lawmakers frequently compared the demise of FTX to that of Enron, the Texas energy company that collapsed in 2001 and caused $11 billion in losses after years of inflating and lying about its financial holdings. While Ray said he’s unsure of FTX’s total losses, he estimated the company has already lost $8 billion of customer money. The big difference, Ray said, was how conspicuously FTX leaders were ripping off customers and mismanaging money. “Enron was really a different company. Crimes that were committed there were highly orchestrated financial machinations by highly sophisticated people to keep transactions off balance sheets,” Ray said. “This is really just old-fashioned embezzlement. This is just taking money from customers and using it for your own purpose,” Ray continued. “Sophisticated, perhaps, in the way they were able to sort of hide it from people, frankly, right in front of their eyes.”
- We don’t know how much money FTX lost or has. FTX’s lack of adequate record-keeping helped lay the groundwork for its collapse, Ray said, and has made it incredibly difficult to figure out the company’s total assets and outstanding debts. “Even in the most failed companies, you have a fair roadmap of what happened. We’re dealing with literally a paperless bankruptcy in terms of how they created this company,” Ray said, calling the lack of documentation “unprecedented.”
- No walls between FTX leaders, Alameda, customers’ money. Ray said FTX lacked basic controls any major company would impose to protect customer money, uphold terms of service and ensure FTX executives were not abusing their power.
- SBF got millions of dollars in loans from FTX — and himself. Bankman-Fried’s unfettered access to FTX and Alameda funds allowed him to take millions of dollars in personal loans from the companies he owned, Ray said. While FTX executives took roughly $1.5 billion in payments from the company, it is unclear where all that money went and for what purposes.
- FTX customer money may be too mixed up to fully sort out. Any customers of a bankrupt company will face trouble getting money back from the firm as it goes through restructuring. But FTX customers may have even slimmer odds of being compensated for their losses given the company’s lack of internal controls and reliance on volatile crypto assets.
- Tensions are emerging between Ray and the Bahamian government/ Ray and Bahamian government officials have sparred for days over what should happen to FTX assets that new company leaders may still be able to access. Ray told lawmakers Tuesday that he was unsure why millions of dollars in assets from FTX were moved after he and the company filed bankruptcy on Nov. 11. He also criticized the decision to allow roughly 1,500 Bahamas-based FTX customers to withdraw a total of roughly $100 million one day before the company filed for bankruptcy within the U.S., which would have frozen those assets.
FTX founder Bankman-Fried’s campaign finance charges ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ - FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with violating a slew of campaign finance laws on Tuesday, marking another major blow for the former crypto leader. According to the unsealed indictment, the U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleged that in addition to committing securities and wire fraud, Bankman-Fried gave a minimum of $25,000 in campaign finance donations to campaigns and political action committees “in the names of other persons.” The court also said Bankman-Fried and others conspired to make “corporate contributions to candidates and committees in the Southern District of New York that were reported in the name of another person.” The charges against Bankman-Fried in relation to campaign finance laws are notable given his status as one of the most prominent political donors in this campaign cycle. “All of this dirty money was used in service of Bankman-Fried’s desire to buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in Washington,” Additionally, a civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Bankman-Fried of using his crypto investment firm Alameda “as his personal piggy bank to buy luxury condominiums, support political campaigns, and make private investments, among other uses.” “This was a massive, massive campaign finance scheme to buy political favors,” said Craig Holman, the government affairs lobbyist for the consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen. “He’s facing some very serious consequences that could add up to 20 years in prison or more.” Earlier this month the watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission requesting that it investigate Bankman-Fried for campaign finance violations. “Taking him at his word, Bankman-Fried was able to direct at least $37 million to influence federal elections while evading federal laws that require disclosure of the true source of the contributions,” CREW’s senior vice president and chief counsel Donald Sherman said in a statement announcing the complaint last week. The complaint points to an interview Bankman-Fried gave to cryptocurrency vlogger Tiffany Fong in which he said he donated to Democrats and Republicans, but that all of his Republican donations were “dark.” “Despite Citizens United being literally the highest-profile Supreme Court case of the decade and the thing everyone talks about with campaign finance, for some reason, in practice, no one can possibly fathom the idea that someone actually gave dark. All my Republican donations were dark,” Bankman-Fried told Fong. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the f— out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight,” he said. According to Open Secrets, Bankman-Fried was the second biggest donor to Democrats this election cycle, publicly giving nearly $40 million. However, only about $235,000 in donations from Bankman-Fried was publicly listed as going to Republicans.
Bankman-Fried jolts FTX hearings with plan to skip Senate panel - After spending the past two weeks participating in media interviews, former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried is being more selective when it comes to appearing before Congress to discuss the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire. Bankman-Fried said Monday that he is "currently not scheduled" to attend the Senate Banking Committee's hearing on Dec. 14, though he will testify at a separate hearing by a House panel a day earlier. The disgraced crypto mogul said he is "open and willing" to having a conversation with the chair of the Senate committee about the hearing if his attendance is deemed important, Bankman-Fried said during a Twitter Space interview. Bankman-Fried missed a deadline last week set by the Senate committee for a response to a request to testify.
Sam Bankman-Fried ran FTX as fraud ‘from the start,’ SEC charges -- Sam Bankman-Fried ran nothing less than a “brazen,” yearslong fraud at his now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX “from the start,” which allowed him to divert billions of dollars of customer funds into his own hands to grow his sprawling empire, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in charges unveiled Tuesday. The civil complaint, which the agency filed in the Southern District of New York, said Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from investors who bought an equity stake in the exchange believing that FTX had appropriate controls and automatic risk management. The filing also alleges that customers “believed his lies” and believed the platform was secure — and subsequently sent billions of dollars to FTX. The complaint in Manhattan federal court was filed a day after Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas by authorities who were notified that a criminal indictment had been filed against the 30-year-old in the same New York courthouse. He is due to appear in court in the Bahamas on Tuesday. But from the start, the SEC claims, Bankman-Fried improperly diverted customer assets to his privately held crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. He then allegedly used those customer funds to “make undisclosed venture investments, lavish real estate purchases, and large political donations.” “While he spent lavishly on office space and condominiums in The Bahamas, and sank billions of dollars of customer funds into speculative venture investments, Bankman-Fried’s house of cards began to crumble,” the filing said. The SEC said Bankman-Fried hid those actions from FTX’s equity investors, including American investors, “from whom he sought to raise billions of dollars in additional funds.” “He repeatedly cast FTX as an innovative and conservative trailblazer in the crypto markets,” the complaint said. “He told investors and prospective investors that FTX had top-notch, sophisticated automated risk measures in place to protect customer assets, that those assets were safe and secure, and that Alameda was just another platform customer with no special privileges.” “These statements were false and misleading,” the complaint said. American regulators have been roundly lambasted by lawmakers for their inability to get ahead of FTX’s collapse, which on first blush makes SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s rapid revelation of charges appear reactive. But lawmakers have stymied Gensler’s efforts to regulate FTX and the broader industry for months. One of the loudest voices speaking out against Gensler has been Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn. Emmer was a signatory to a March 16 letter that questioned the SEC’s authority to look into “cryptocurrency and blockchain firms.” Emmer has been one of the loudest pro-crypto voices in Congress and has benefited from FTX-connected support, netting $8,700 in campaign donations from Bankman-Fried’s co-CEO, Ryan Salame. Emmer claimed in a tweet Friday that Gensler did too little to regulate crypto markets, despite questioning Gensler’s authority to do so months earlier. Neither the SEC nor Emmer were immediately available to provide further comment.
FTX CEO Ray tells lawmakers the firm engaged in 'plain old embezzlement' | American Banker— Only hours after former crypto exchange FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest for money laundering and fraud, the company's new CEO told the House Financial Services Committee that the actions around the crypto company's collapse amounted to "plain old embezzlement." Bankman-Fried planned to testify at the hearing, and would have appeared virtually, but was arrested Monday evening in the Bahamas. Instead, FTX's new CEO John J. Ray — a lawyer specializing in bankruptcies who most famously managed Enron through its accounting scandal — appeared alone, telling the panel that FTX's shoddy accounting practices has made the bankruptcy proceedings uniquely difficult. "Even with most failed companies, we have a fair road map of what happened," Ray said. "We're dealing with a literal paperless bankruptcy."
FTX's systems gave Alameda trades a secret speed edge, CFTC says - Sam Bankman-Fried's trading house Alameda Research had a secret speed advantage when executing orders on his now-collapsed FTX crypto exchange, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Alameda, which also tumbled into bankruptcy last month along with FTX, was able to skirt certain portions of the exchange's trading architecture and sidestep some automated verification processes, the CFTC said in a complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. "These advantages were not publicly disclosed" and yielded a "significant speed advantage," the CFTC said. While most or all other customers accessing the FTX platform through an application programming interface — API — "had their transaction orders routed through the FTX system, Alameda was able to bypass certain portions of the system and gain faster access to the API," according to the suit.
FTX bankruptcy means $73 million in political donations at risk of being clawed back-- At least $73 million of political donations tied to Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX may be at risk of being clawed back as bankruptcy lawyers sort through the remnants of his crypto empire in search of assets to repay creditors. The wide-ranging contributions from Bankman-Fried and two of his top lieutenants, Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh, include more than $6 million to a super political action committee for House Democrats, $3.5 million for the GOP's Senate Leadership Fund and $3 million for a fund that backs Senate Democrats. Washington's brief but intense flirtation with FTX donors as crypto executives sought to influence industry regulation may end up backfiring spectacularly, damaging the reputations of politicians who benefited from large contributions while some FTX exchange users face losing their life savings. Crypto billionaires — who came with millions in campaign cash — were able to convince many lawmakers that the nascent industry needed a light regulatory framework in order to innovate, but FTX's implosion has now cast doubt on that.
Accountant that vetted Binance's reserves halts all crypto work -- Mazars Group, the accounting firm used by the crypto giant Binance Holdings and other big players in the industry to vouch for their assets held in reserve, has halted all work for crypto clients, dealing a blow to an industry seeking to shore up confidence in the wake of FTX's collapse. The French firm suspended work for cryptocurrency firms because of indications that markets haven't been reassured by the "proof-of-reserves" reports it had published so far, according to an email from the firm seen by Bloomberg News. The firm was also concerned about intense media scrutiny, the email said. "Mazars has indicated that they will temporarily pause their work with all of their crypto clients globally," a spokesperson for Binance said in a statement to Bloomberg News on Friday. "Unfortunately, this means that we will not be able to work with Mazars for the moment." A Mazars spokesperson said the firm will issue a statement in due course, declining to comment further.
Binance's native BNB token plunges to lowest since July Over a month after the collapse of FTX, investor concern over crypto exchange Binance isn’t fading. Binance’s native token, BNB, has fallen 15% in the past week, including a drop of over 6% in the past 24 hours. BNB, first minted in 2017, is the world’s fifth most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market cap of about $39 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. It’s behind only bitcoin , ethereum , tether and USD Coin. The latest issue looming over Binance is FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings. Binance was the first outside investor in FTX. In exiting its equity position in the company last year, Binance received payment equal to roughly $2.1 billion. In an interview with CNBC’s CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao dismissed concerns that his company could have that money clawed back as FTX winds its way through bankruptcy court and trustees look to retrieve any fraudulent conveyances made by FTX to outside businesses or investors. “We are financially OK,” Zhao said, after he was asked by CNBC’s Becky Quick if the company could handle a $2.1 billion demand. Crypto investors have become skeptical of comments from top executives about the financial health of their companies. FTX founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said on Twitter that his company’s assets were fine, even as executives knew it was in the midst of a liquidity crunch that eventually forced the exchange into bankruptcy. Withdrawal demands are another area of concern. Zhao said that around $1.14 billion of net withdrawals took place on Tuesday, but tweeted that this was “not the highest withdrawals we processed, not even top [five].” On Wednesday, he said the situation had “stabilized.” Blockchain analytics firm Nansen said the withdrawal number on Tuesday reached as high as $3 billion. A Binance spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that, “we passed this extreme stress test because we run a very simple business model – hold assets in custody and generate revenue from transaction fees.” The spokesperson did not provide an immediate response to a question about the drop in BNB. Binance and FTX were intimately connected. Zhao announced publicly last month that his company was liquidating its position in FTT, FTX’s native coin, amid concerns surrounding the solvency of both FTX and its sister trading firm, Alameda Research. FTX then faced an immediate surge in withdrawal demands, and Binance stepped in with a non-binding agreement to acquire the company as part of a rescue plan. A day later, Binance backed out of the deal, stating that FTX’s “issues are beyond our control or ability to help.” Like all of the major crypto projects and companies, Binance developed its own currency. On its website, the company says people can “use BNB to pay for goods and services, settle transaction fees on Binance Smart Chain, participate in exclusive token sales and more.” Areas where BNB can be used, the site says, include payment, travel and entertainment. There’s a circulating supply of about 160 million BNB out of a total maximum supply of 200 million, according to CoinMarketCap. Bloomberg reported in June that the SEC was investigating whether the 2017 token sale amounted to a security offered that should have been registered with regulators.
Binance withdrawals slow after record customer outflows -- Customer outflows from Binance's cryptocurrency trading platform are slowing, according to blockchain data from two digital-asset analytics firms.The net outflow, the difference between the value of crypto coming into and leaving the exchange, was around $239 million in the past 24 hours, according to Nansen. The data excludes bitcoin, which Nansen doesn't track yet. That's down from the daily average of $272 million over the past week. Binance has at least $60 billion in on-chain reserves, Nansen estimates.Data from the researcher CryptoQuant shows similar trends for bitcoin flows on Binance. About 3,279 Bitcoin were withdrawn on Wednesday, down from a record high of 40,353 just two days ago.
Democrats ask GAO to study diversity among asset managers — A group of Democrat lawmakers led by Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on diversity among asset managers. While the GAO has studied the issue before, as the lawmakers note in the letter, Republicans have grown increasingly hostile to financial policies they deem "woke," underlining a growing chasm between lawmakers on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committee ahead of the new Congress. In the letter, the lawmakers asked that the GAO further study the breakdown of women- and-minority-owned asset management firms and how federal entities could increase opportunities for women and people of color in the field.
Warren, Marshall introduce crypto anti-money-laundering bill - Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., introduced legislation Wednesday that would extend existing anti-money- laundering laws and rules to cryptocurrency. The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act would extend know-your-customer rules to crypto participants, including wallet providers and miners, and would restrict financial institutions from doing business with digital asset mixers. It would also give the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network cover to implement a proposed rule that would require financial institutions to report certain transactions involving unhosted wallets. The bill, which has little chance of being passed in the waning weeks of the current Congress, comes shortly after the dramatic arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The Senate Banking Committee, which includes both Warren and Marshall, held a hearing on FTX's collapse shortly after the senators announced their legislation.
Banks must seek approval for crypto business, N.Y. regulator says -- Banks must seek and obtain prior approval before engaging in cryptocurrency-related activities, and those that already engage in such activities must immediately notify the agency, the New York State Department of Financial Services said. For banks already active in crypto, the department will seek further information and impose requirements as needed, it said in a statement Thursday. The guidance also applies to banks that use a third party to conduct any crypto-related business. As part of its review, the regulator said it would assess several areas, including the banks' business plan, risk management, corporate governance and consumer protection. "Today's guidance is critical to ensuring that consumers' hard-earned money is protected, that New York regulated banking organizations remain resilient and competitive, and that the expectations are clear for those that wish to submit proposals for virtual currency-related activity," Superintendent Adrienne Harris said in the statement.
State bank regulators pick New York's Adrienne Harris to join FSOC - Adrienne Harris will join the Financial Stability Oversight Council next year, giving New York's top bank regulator a larger role in debates over potential cracks in the system. Harris, who leads the New York State Department of Financial Services, will represent her fellow state bank supervisors on the council. The panel, led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, monitors risks across the financial system, including those stemming from banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and more recent innovations such as digital assets. Members of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors voted to appoint Harris to the role, the group said in a news release.
State bank regulators pick New York's Adrienne Harris to join FSOC - Adrienne Harris will join the Financial Stability Oversight Council next year, giving New York's top bank regulator a larger role in debates over potential cracks in the system. Harris, who leads the New York State Department of Financial Services, will represent her fellow state bank supervisors on the council. The panel, led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, monitors risks across the financial system, including those stemming from banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and more recent innovations such as digital assets. Members of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors voted to appoint Harris to the role, the group said in a news release.
NCUA clears path for more credit union-fintech lending partnerships | Credit Union Journal | The National Credit Union Administration board voted unanimously to advance a proposed rule that would loosen existing regulations and allow credit unions to participate in or purchase more member loans from fintech companies. The current regulations only allow a federal credit union to purchase loans made to its members from any source if those loans amount to less than 5% of the purchasing credit union's unimpaired capital and surplus. Board member Rodney Hood said there are several exceptions to the cap, "but they are cumbersome to understand and impose a high regulatory burden."
Fed board doubles down on limited discovery argument in Custodia lawsuit - The Federal Reserve accused Custodia Bank of "feigning ignorance" of administrative law. The Cheyenne, Wyoming-based depository said the central bank's legal arguments were "worthy of Kafka." Custodia's lawsuit against the Fed over its long-delayed application for an account with Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is picking up steam and growing contentious as the two sides exchange pointed filings in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming over discovery obligations. Last week, the Fed Board of Governors doubled down on its assertion that it did not need to go through a full discovery process, which would require it to respond to an extensive list of inquiries from Custodia.
Judge: Fed board will not be subject to full discovery in Custodia suit - The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will not be subject to a full discovery process in its ongoing legal battle with Custodia Bank. On Monday, Judge Scott Skavdahl, who is overseeing the case in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming, ruled that the central bank need only provide an accounting of its actions on Custodia's application for an account with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In his decision, Skavdahl wrote that Custodia's assertion that the Fed must go through full discovery was "borderline nonsensical." The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the decision.
Danske Bank pleads guilty to U.S. fraud, will forfeit $2 billion - Danske Bank A/S admitted to fraud and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to end a long-running U.S. probe into money laundering at its Estonia branch, an embarrassing episode that led to the ouster of top management and pushed thousands of customers to leave. The company pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to commit bank fraud and admitted providing banking services to suspicious customers — including some in Russia — through its Estonian branch despite knowing there was a risk of money laundering, the US Justice Department said in a statement. "For years, Danske Bank lied and deceived US banks to pump billions of dollars of suspicious and criminal funds through the U.S. financial system," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. The largest bank in Denmark "deliberately disregarded U.S. law" and "facilitated the laundering of criminal and suspicious proceeds" through the U.S. financial system, he said.
FDIC proposes rule to crack down on misrepresentations, adopts new arbitration guidelines - — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a proposed rule Tuesday to crack down on misrepresentations of FDIC-insured accounts by crypto companies and other bank partners while simultaneously adopting final guidelines for its internal arbitration structure. The rule proposed Tuesday provides updates to Part 328 of the FDIC's regulations regarding representation of the FDIC name and logo to keep pace with advances in digital banking. Under the proposal, depository institutions would be required to display a new digital FDIC sign to customers across all online channels just as they have long been required to display at a physical branch.The rules also state that depository institutions must provide signs that distinguish insured deposits from nondeposit products and inform consumers that "certain financial products are not insured by the FDIC, are not deposits, and may lose value" where applicable. Institutions will also be required to establish internal policies to comply with Part 328.
Small California banks, credit unions face new overdraft disclosure rules | American BankerSmall banks and credit unions chartered in California face an early 2023 deadline to make disclosures — required under a new state law — about how much revenue they generate from overdraft-related fees. Senate Bill 1415 requires all state-chartered banks and credit unions to report the amount of revenue they generate from fees charged to customers who overdraw their accounts or have transactions rejected because they lack sufficient funds. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law in September. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation recently informed institutions it regulates that they have until March 1 to submit the information. The agency plans to release the data in a publicly available report later that month.
What banks should care about in the defense spending bill - — The Senate Thursday night approved a $858 billion annual defense authorization bill, sending it to President Biden's desk just before the year-end deadline. Defense spending and other must-pass pieces of legislation have long been a way for financial policy measures to pass into law, and this bill is no exception. While the final version dropped the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, a popular cannabis banking provision, other key priorities wound up in the final bill passed by the Senate, including one long fought for by banks to hire more people with minor criminal records, and another that requires the Federal Reserve to create and maintain a public, online, searchable database of institutions that have access to a master account.
Goldman to cut thousands of staff as Wall Street layoffs intensify -source - (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group is planning to cut thousands of employees to navigate a difficult economic environment, a source familiar with the matter said. The layoffs are the latest sign that cuts are accelerating across Wall Street as dealmaking dries up. Investment banking revenues have plunged this year amid a slowdown in mergers and share offerings, marking a stark reversal from a blockbuster 2021 when bankers received big pay bumps. Goldman Sachs had 49,100 employees at the end of the third quarter after adding significant numbers of staff during the pandemic. Its headcount will remain above pre-pandemic levels, the source said. The workforce stood at 38,300 at the end of 2019, according to a filing. The number of employees that will be affected by the layoffs is still being discussed, and details are expected to be finalized early next year, the source said. The bank is weighing a sharp cut to the annual bonus pool this year, a separate source familiar with the matter said. That contrasts with increases of 40% to 50% for top-performing investment bankers in 2021, Reuters reported in January, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. "GS needs to show that its costs are as variable as its revenues, especially after a year when it provided special rewards to top managers during the boom times," The company's stock fell 1.3% in afternoon trading alongside shares of JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, which fell 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively. Goldman shares have slumped almost 10% this year. But they have outperformed the broader S&P 500 bank index, which is down 24% year to date. The latest plan would include hundreds of employees being cut from Goldman's consumer business, a source said. The bank signaled it was scaling back its ambitions for Marcus, the loss-making consumer unit, in October. Goldman also plans to stop originating unsecured consumer loans, a source familiar with the move told Reuters earlier this week, another sign it is stepping back from the business. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon, who took the helm in 2018, has tried to diversify the company's operations with Marcus. It was placed under the wealth business in October as part of a management reshuffle that also merged the trading and investment banking units. Trading and investment banking -- the traditional drivers of Goldman's profit -- accounted for nearly 65% of its revenue at the end of the third quarter, compared with 59% in the third quarter of 2018, when Solomon took the top job. The latest plans come after Goldman cut about 500 employees in September, after pausing the annual practice for two years during the pandemic, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time. The investment bank had first warned in July that it might slow hiring and reduce expenses. Global banks, including Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, have reduced their workforces in recent months as a dealmaking boom on Wall Street fizzled out due to high interest rates, tensions between the United States and China, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and soaring inflation.
Fed, FDIC extend deadline to comment on potential large-bank resolution requirements The public will have an additional month to weigh in on how banks that are large but not deemed too-big-to-fail should prepare themselves if they should, in fact, fail. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have extended the deadline to comment on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking about large regional bank resolution plan requirements by one month. Interested parties now have until Jan. 23 to submit comments to either the Fed or FDIC. BofA chief Moynihan says he likes his job, hasn't focused on Yellen's -- Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said he has no intention to leave his post, responding to a report that he's on the Biden administration's short list to replace Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen if she steps down. "It's not on my mind," Moynihan said Friday on CNBC. "I like what I do and that's why I'm doing it today." Bank of America CEO is "the best job in the world," he said. Fox Business reported Friday that Moynihan was on a short list to replace Yellen should she decide to leave.
BankThink: Credit union members deserve the same protection as bank customers | American Banker --Industry cheerleaders and trade associations representing federally insured credit unions have traditionally touted them as a better choice over banks because they serve a specific community, offer members access to financial products and services at better rates, and operate as member-owned, not-for-profits. What they don't say, however, is that a bank customer has greater levels of protection than a credit union member when it comes to cybersecurity and consumer financial protection. That's because the agency I lead, the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates, supervises and insures our nation's credit union system, lost its temporary authority over credit union vendors and service providers that Congress provided in response to the potential for Y2K disruptions nearly a generation ago. With that statutory expiration, the NCUA lacks the same authority that all other federal banking regulators have to oversee and examine the vendors that depository institutions use for critical services like information technology, loan underwriting, payments and mortgage originations. As a result, the credit union system is vulnerable to exploitation by the cybercriminals, terrorist financiers, fraudsters and other lawbreakers who threaten our nation's economic security and the financial well-being of our citizens.
In parting swipe at the CFPB, Toomey proposes appropriations process for agency's funding — At a hearing with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., proposed legislation that would put the bureau under the congressional appropriations process. The legislation, proposed alongside Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., would also put the CFPB under the leadership of a bipartisan board, similar to the structure at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chopra, appearing in font of the Senate Banking Committee for his second day of congressional appearances following a blistering hearing with the House Financial Services Committee, told Toomey that he believes that independent agencies are more able to stay clear of political influence and that Toomey's proposed board structure would allow for less accountability than the single-director structure.
Republicans preview harsh oversight of CFPB's Chopra in next Congress - In a series of blistering back-and-forths with Republican lawmakers, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra defended a series of guidance documents and other public materials released by the agency. Republicans repeatedly categorized press releases, public guidance and other content on the CFPB's website as de facto rulemakings, leading to multiple heated exchanges with Chopra. The accusations echo previous complaints about former CFPB Director Richard Cordray, who Republicans said attempted to regulate by unofficial channels rather than going through the public notice-and-comment periods. The tone of the hearing — the last one scheduled with Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., as chair — previews Republicans' political aims in the next Congress, when they will have the gavel of the committee. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the committee's chairman-elect, said that the House Financial Services Committee will pursue "aggressive oversight to rein in the unaccountable CFPB."
Can SCOTUS distinguish the CFPB's funding from other agencies'? - The latest constitutional challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hinges on whether the agency's funding through the Federal Reserve System differs dramatically from the funding of other government agencies, experts say. The CFPB asked the U.S. Supreme Court last month to overturn an appellate court decision that found agency's funding violates the Constitution's separation of powers. The CFPB has been thrown into legal and political turmoil since October, when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit found the bureau to be unconstitutional. Some experts think the CFPB's funding through the Federal Reserve — and not directly through annual congressional appropriations — could be the chink in the armor of the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB in 2010. The Supreme Court is widely expected to take the case because several justices, notably Justice Brett Kavanaugh, have voiced strong opposition to the CFPB and to the deference courts give to regulatory agencies.
Texas attorney general to rule on Citigroup's underwriting status by next month | The Texas Attorney General's office will decide by Jan. 13 whether Citigroup "discriminates" against the firearms industry, a ruling that will determine the bank's ability to underwrite most municipal bond offerings in the state. The New York-based bank has been under review by Attorney General Ken Paxton's office because of a Republican-backed state law that aims to punish financial firms for instituting anti-gun policies. In a Dec. 13 letter viewed by Bloomberg, Leslie Brock, assistant attorney general, said in order to "minimize disruption to the municipal public securities market," the office would make its determination and "promptly" announce its decision. Governments in Texas that have chosen to work with Citigroup during the review have been required to ask the bank for additional assurance that they do not run afoul of the law. The bank has been stating for over a year that it can comply with the legislation and has managed about $3.5 billion of bond sales in Texas in 2022.
BlackRock and State Street grilled by Texas lawmakers in ESG debate | American Banker - Texas lawmakers grilled finance industry executives they summoned to a remote corner of the Lone Star State for a hearing Thursday, questioning whether their environmental, social and governance policies are hindering state pension investments. The GOP-led committee on state affairs called the hearing amid growing concern in the party that financial firms are pushing a "woke" ideology with investing rules tied to ESG issues. They summoned officials from BlackRock, State Street and Institutional Shareholder Services to defend their practices before a committee made up of seven Republicans and two Democrats. Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst cited a Harvard Business Review study this year that showed ESG funds tend to lag behind the overall market.
CoreLogic rolls out climate risk analytics for real estate - CoreLogic has announced the full rollout of analytics aimed at helping government agencies and enterprises model physical risks to real estate from climate change. In addition to incorporating climate risk scores for hurricanes, storms, floods, fires and earthquakes, the cloud-based technology includes overlays for delinquencies, average median household income and other data. Its projections to date extend out through at least 2050, approximating a 30-year mortgage term. The analytics, which were built on CoreLogic's spatial data/analytics platform and include property-level financials, are in line with a growing trend toward quantifying climate risk as policymakers in the housing finance industry, and more broadly, have become focused on it.
Foreclosures surge from a year ago but slow on a monthly basis - Foreclosure starts and completions in November accelerated from year-ago levels but slowed from October, likely having peaked for 2022, Attom Data Solutions said. A foreclosure filing — such as a default notice, scheduled auction or bank repossession — appeared on 30,677 properties in November, according to the real estate data and intelligence provider's monthly foreclosure market report. The number comes out to one in every 4,580 U.S. units and represents a 57% increase from 19,479 recorded in the same month last year, but was 5% below October's total of 32,376. "We may be at or near a peak level of foreclosure activity for 2022," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at Attom, in a press release.
Mortgage delinquency rate will rise 0.5% in 2023: TransUnion - The rate at which borrowers have been marked consistently late on their mortgages is on track to increase by half a percentage point next year, according to TransUnion. The 60-day-plus delinquency rate will rise to 1.4% by year-end 2023 from an estimated 0.9% this year, the credit bureau forecast. This year's expected delinquency rate is marginally higher than last year's 0.8%. The two-month delinquencies tracked by TransUnion typically average around 2% and at their height during the Great Recession's housing crash they got into the 7% range, said Joe Mellman, mortgage business leader at TransUnion, in an interview.
CoreLogic: 1.1 million Homeowners with Negative Equity in Q3 2022 - From CoreLogic: CoreLogic: US Home Equity Gains Rose Annually in Q3 but Fell Sharply From Q2: CoreLogic® ... today released the Homeowner Equity Report (HER) for the third quarter of 2022. The report shows that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (which account for roughly 63% of all properties) saw equity increase by 15.8% year over year, representing a collective gain of $2.2 trillion, for an average of $34,300 per borrower, since the third quarter of 2021.Nationwide, annual home equity gains began to slow in the third quarter of 2022, with the average borrower netting $34,300, compared with the nearly $60,000 year-over-year gain recorded in the second quarter. Slowing prices also caused an additional 43,000 properties to fall underwater. The quarter-over-quarter decline in equity is partially due to cooling home price growth across the country, as annual appreciation fell from about 18% in June to just slightly more than 10% in October. As home price gains are projected to relax into single digits for the rest of 2022, then possibly move into negative territory by the spring of 2023, equity increases will likely decline accordingly in some parts of the country.“At 43.6%, the average U.S. loan-to-value (LTV) ratio is only slightly higher than in the past two quarters and still significantly lower than the 71.3% LTV seen moving into the Great Recession in the first quarter of 2010,” said Selma Hepp, interim lead of the Office of the Chief Economist at CoreLogic. “Therefore, today’s homeowners are in a much better position to weather the current housing slowdown and a potential recession than they were 12 years ago.”“Weakening housing demand and the resulting decline in home prices since the spring’s peak reduced annual home equity gains and pushed an additional number of properties underwater in the third quarter,” said Hepp. “Nevertheless, while these negative impacts are concentrated in Western states such as California, homeowners with a mortgage there still average more than $580,000 in home equity.”Negative equity, also referred to as underwater or upside-down mortgages, applies to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth. As of the third quarter of 2022, the quarterly and annual changes in negative equity were: Quarterly change: From the second quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2022, the total number of mortgaged homes in negative equity increased by 4% to 1.1 million homes or 1.9% of all mortgaged properties • Annual change: In the third quarter of 2021, 1.2 million homes, or 2.2% of all mortgaged properties, were in negative equity. This number declined by 9.8% in the third quarter of 2022, to 1.1 million homes or 1.9% of all mortgage properties. This graph from CoreLogic compares Q3 2022 to Q2 2022 equity distribution by LTV. There are still a few properties with LTV over 125%. But most homeowners have a significant amount of equity. This is a very different picture than at the start of the housing bust when many homeowners had little equity. On a year-over-year basis, the number of homeowners with negative equity has declined from 1.2 million to 1.1 million.
California November Existing Home Sales Down Almost 50% YoY, Prices Down YoY --From the California Association of Realtors®: Rapid interest rate increases continue to depress California home sales and prices in November, C.A.R. reports: Existing, single-family home sales totaled 237,740 in November on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, down 13.2 percent from October and down 47.7 percent from November 2021. November’s statewide median home price was $777,500, down 3.0 percent from October and down 0.6 percent from November 2021....Housing demand in California continued to fall as rising interest rates further dampened the state’s housing market in November as home sales registered the lowest annualized pace since October 2007 and the largest year-over-year sales drop in at least the past four decades, Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 237,740 in November, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2022 if sales maintained the November pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales. November’s sales pace was down 13.2 percent on a monthly basis from 274,040 in October and down 47.7 percent from a year ago, when 454,450 homes were sold on an annualized basis. The year-to-year sales decline was the biggest since 1980. Home sales have been on a downward trend for 17 straight months on a year-over-year basis. It was the fourth time in the last five months that sales dropped more than 30 percent from the year-ago level. The monthly 13.2 percent sales decline was worse than the long-run average of -0.5 percent change recorded between an October and a November in the past 43 years. Sales in all price segments dropped more than 40 percent year-over-year, with the $2 million plus price segment falling the most at 47.7percent. The most affordable market (sub-$300,000) experienced the smallest sales drop at 41.4 percent. California’s median home price declined for the third straight month, dropping 3.0 percent in November to $777,500 from the $801,190 recorded in October. November’s price was 0.6 percent lower than the $782,480 recorded last November and marked the first year-over-year price decline in 30 months. The November 2022 price was also the lowest since February 2022. Housing inventory in California continued to rise both month-to-month and year-to-year as the market entered its holiday season and home sellers remained on the sideline. The statewide unsold inventory index (UII) was unchanged from the prior month at 3.3 months in November, but it was more than doubled the level of 1.6 months recorded in the same month of last year.
Starting to Be Housing Bust 2 for Homebuilders & New Single-Family Houses – by Wolf Richter - To get rid of ballooning inventories amid spiking cancellations & plunging sales, builders try to sell to rental operations, but they pulled back too. If a homebuilder cannot sell their ballooning inventory of unsold new houses to households, at current prices and mortgage rates, amid plunging sales and soaring cancellation rates of signed contracts – topping out at 45% in the Southwest and at 38% in Texas – despite aggressive incentives such as mortgage-rate buydowns to stimulate sales and prevent cancellations, well, whom are homebuilders supposed to sell those houses to? Rental operations? That may be hard too because many have pulled back for all the same reasons as households: Prices are too high, and financing is too costly. Sales to single-family rental investors have plunged by 32% in Q3 from a year ago. So here we go with a good-luck nod… Lennar, the second-biggest homebuilder by market capitalization, has been approaching big rental landlords with an inventory list of about 5,000 houses, that it wants to offload, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. Many of the houses are in the Southwest and Southeast. They include entire subdivisions. Lennar has sold about 1,000 single-family houses to rental operators in its third quarter – and some of those houses it sold to its own rental operation. Last year, Lennar obtained $1.25 billion in equity commitments from Allianz Real Estate and Centerbridge Partners for its rental division to buy rental houses.“Our program has taken a very disciplined approach to stepping back and waiting for the market to kind of reconcile itself,” Lennar Executive Chairman Stuart Miller told analysts in September. “Contrary to what you might have thought, we’re probably selling less to our own program and more to other SFR programs outside of Lennar.” It’s across the industry: Homebuilders have pitched at least 40,000 new houses to rental operators in recent months, Jeff Cline, an executive director at commercial real-estate advisory SVN, told Bloomberg. He said that many of these houses had originally been sold to individual buyers who then canceled the purchase contract. Cancellations of signed contracts with individual buyers have spiked. According to a survey by John Burns Real Estate Consulting of homebuilders that account for roughly 20% of all new home sales, the cancellation rate spiked to 26% in October, up from a rate of 8% a year ago, and up from 11% in October 2019. The cancellation rates topped out in the Southwest at 45%, up from a cancellation rate of 9% a year ago. In Texas, the cancellation rate spiked to 39%, up from 12% a year ago (chart via Rick Palacios Jr., Director of Research at John Burns, click to enlarge):
Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 1.2% Compared to Same Week in 2019 -- From CoStar: STR: Weekly US Hotel Occupancy Nears 60% as Industry Continues To Drive Rate - U.S. hotel performance came in higher than the previous week and showed improved comparisons to 2019, according to STR‘s latest data through Dec. 10. Dec. 4-10, 2022 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):• Occupancy: 59.6% (-1.2%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): $144.79 (+15.4%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): $86.29 (+14.0%)
*Due to the pandemic impact, STR is measuring recovery against comparable time periods from 2019.The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average. The red line is for 2022, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2021. Dashed purple is 2019 (STR is comparing to a strong year for hotels). The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is above the median rate for the previous 20 years (Blue) and close to 2019 levels.
Retail Sales Decreased 0.6% in November- On a monthly basis, retail sales were up 0.6% from October to November (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 6.5 percent from November 2021. From the Census Bureau report: Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for November 2022, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $689.4 billion, down 0.6 percent from the previous month, but up 6.5 percent above November 2021. ... The September 2022 to October 2022 percent change was unrevised from up 1.3 percent. This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline).Retail sales ex-gasoline were down 0.6% in November.The second graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993. Retail and Food service sales, ex-gasoline, increased by 5.6% on a YoY basis. Sales in November were below expectations, and sales in September and October were revised down, combined.
Retail Sales Hit by Price Drops in Durable Goods, Gasoline. But Sales Rose where Prices Rose: Restaurants, Grocery & General Merchandise Stores - By Wolf Richter - Retail sales, reported today, are based on retailers’ revenues. Retail sales cover goods, not services. Prices of services have been surging, and services is where nearly two-thirds of the consumer spending goes. But prices of many goods have been falling in recent months, such as gasoline, used vehicles, electronics, household furnishings, and others. This is where retail sales dipped in November. Retail sales rose where prices rose, such as stores that sell food and beverages and at restaurants.Another factor were the “inflation checks” that some states sent to residents in the fall. In California, a big batch of electronic deposits went out in October; a second batch went out through mid-November. Another batch is going out right now; and a final batch will go out through mid-January. Some of the early funds got spent in October, adding to the surge in retail spending in October, with smaller amounts getting spent in November. Total retail sales declined by 0.6% in November from October, to $689 billion (seasonally adjusted), unwinding less than half the 1.3% jump in October (from the “inflation checks?”). Year-over-year, retail sales were still up 6.5%. And compared to November 2019, they were up 32%. The insert shows how sales zig-zagged higher, which is why one month doesn’t make a trend: The Commerce Department obtains this sales data via survey from about 5,500 retail locations, so revenue data from the company’s point of view, and not “spending” data from the consumer’s point of view. Sales by category of retailer, largest to smallest:
- New and Used Vehicle and Parts Dealers: Sales fell 2.3% for the month, to $127 billion, still up by 1.3% from a year ago, and by 20% from three years ago. This is the largest category of retailers. The CPI for used vehicles fell by 2.4% for the month, after exploding in 2021 and earlier in 2022. The CPI for new vehicles ticked up 0.4% for the month, continuing the price gains. But the number of vehicles sold continues to be beaten down by some shortages and by massive price increases in 2021 and earlier this year that now get in the way.
- Ecommerce and “nonstore retailers”: sales fell 0.9% for the month, to $109 billion, undoing the increase in the prior month. Year-over-year, sales rose 7.7%, but wait… Compared to November 2019, sales exploded by 69%! Ecommerce sales include a large spectrum of goods, from food to used vehicles, dealing with the same price drops experienced in various product categories.This category includes sales by the ecommerce operations of brick-and-mortar retailers, all kinds of ecommerce retailers, along with sales at stalls and markets:
- Food services and drinking places: Sales rose by 0.9% for the month (against CPI of food away from home +0.5%), and by 14.1% year-over-year (CPI +8.5%), to a record $90 billion. Compared to November 2019, sales were up 37%.During this boom at eating and drinking places, sales have leap-frogged food and beverage stores ($82 billion), which is quite something; and inflation at restaurants, though high, has been lower than at food and beverage stores.
- Food and Beverage Stores: Sales rose 0.8% for the month (against CPI of food at home +0.5%) and by 8.1% year-over-year (CPI +12.0%), to a record $82 billion. Compared to October 2019, sales jumped by 27%:
LA Port Inbound Traffic Down Sharply in November -- Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic.The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container).To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12-month average.On a rolling 12-month basis, inbound traffic decreased 2.1% in November compared to the rolling 12 months ending in October. Outbound traffic increased 0.9% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month.The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports). Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday, and then decline sharply and bottom in February or March depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. Imports were down 26% YoY in November, and exports were up 12% YoY. It is possible that exports have bottomed after declining for several years (even prior to the pandemic).
U.S. Business Inventories Rise 0.3% In October, Slightly Less Than Expected -- With increases in manufacturing and wholesale inventories partly offset by a dip in retail inventories, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing U.S. business inventories rose by slightly less than expected in the month of October. The Commerce Department said business inventories rose by 0.3 percent in October after inching up by a revised 0.2 percent in September. Economists had expected business inventories to climb by 0.4 percent, matching the increase originally reported for the previous month. The report showed manufacturing and wholesale inventories both increased by 0.5 percent in October, while retail inventories edged down by 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business sales advanced by 0.8 percent in October after coming in unchanged in September. Retail sales jumped by 1.3 percent during the month, while manufacturing sales increased by 0.7 percent and wholesale sales rose by 0.4 percent. Reflecting the increases in both inventories and sales, the total business inventories/sales ratio was unchanged from the previous month at 1.33.
BLS: CPI increased 0.1% in November; Core CPI increased 0.2% - From the BLS: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.1 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, after increasing 0.4 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 7.1 percent before seasonal adjustment. The index for shelter was by far the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase, more than offsetting decreases in energy indexes. The food index increased 0.5 percent over the month with the food at home index also rising 0.5 percent. The energy index decreased 1.6 percent over the month as the gasoline index, the natural gas index, and the electricity index all declined. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in November, after rising 0.3 percent in October. The indexes for shelter, communication, recreation, motor vehicle insurance, education, and apparel were among those that increased over the month. Indexes which declined in November include the used cars and trucks, medical care, and airline fares indexes. The all items index increased 7.1 percent for the 12 months ending November; this was the smallest 12-month increase since the period ending December 2021. The all items less food and energy index rose 6.0 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index increased 13.1 percent for the 12 months ending November, and the food index increased 10.6 percent over the last year; all of these increases were smaller than for the period ending October. Both CPI and core CPI were below expectations. I'll post a graph later today after the Cleveland Fed releases the median and trimmed-mean CPI.
Cleveland Fed: Median CPI increased 0.5% and Trimmed-mean CPI increased 0.2% in November - The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI and the trimmed-mean CPI: According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the median Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in November. The 16% trimmed-mean Consumer Price Index increased 0.2% in November. "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" 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 7.0%, the trimmed-mean CPI rose 6.7%, and the CPI less food and energy rose 6.0%. Core PCE is for October and increased 5.0% year-over-year. Note: The Cleveland Fed released the median CPI details here: "Used Cars" decreased at a 30% annualized rate in November. Note that Owners' Equivalent Rent and Rent of Primary Residence account for almost 1/3 of median CPI, and these measures were up between 5.2% annualized in the Northeast and 10.4% in the South with an average of close to 8% annualized. This data is lagged, and actually rent growth has slowed sharply in recent months.
Ford Jacks Up Price of F-150 Lightning for 3rd Time since EV Incentives: What You Get for Subsidizing Products Already in Hot Demand & Short Supply - By Wolf Richter - Since the $7,500 EV incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act last August, Ford hiked the Lightning price by $16,000.. I warned about this over a year ago, when the prior version of EV incentives were being pushed in Congress: You do not subsidize a product that is already in red-hot demand with short supply or no supply, with huge waiting lists and long-sold-out production runs. You’re not making this product cheaper for consumers, you’re just making it more expensive because automakers will instantly hike prices to swallow all of those incentives plus some, and that’s exactly what is now happening, and it’s going to stimulate inflationary pressures further and cause more headaches for the Fed and the economy.Ford, which builds one of the two EV pickups on the US market, announced its third price increase of its electric F-150 Lightning, bringing the total price increase since its introduction to $16,000 or 40%. Inflation here we come, thank you, Congress.Ford raised the price of the base version of the F-150 Lightning by another $4,000, or by another 8% to “starting at” $55,974. Plus destination and delivery charges.Back in May 2021, before Congress passed the EV incentives, Ford originally priced the base version of the Lightning at $39,974. Plus destination and delivery charges.In August 2022 – just as Congress was passing the “Inflation Reduction Act” that included all kinds of incentives to fuel even more inflation and enrich Corporate America, including the $7,500 subsidy for EVs – Ford hiked the price of the Lightning by $7,000, to $46,974, eating up in one gulp nearly all of the EV subsidy. So inflation just got worse LOL.Then a couple of months later, in early October 2022, Ford hiked the price of the Lightning by another $5,000, to $51,974, laughing out even louder about the EV subsidies,Then a couple of month later, meaning now, Ford hiked by another $4,000 to $55,974. Plus destination and delivery charges of $1,895, for a total MSRP of $57,869. For the cheapest version.Throughout the price-hike period, the destination and delivery charges were also hiked by about $200.Ford also jacked up the prices of its Mustang Mach E SUV in August 2022, as the $7,500 in incentives were being passed, by $3,000 to $8,000, depending on trim.Tesla increased its US prices by $2,000 to $6000 in June 2022. Prices go up because they can go up. If competition and a buyers’ strike by consumers don’t allow prices to go up, then prices don’t go up, and if automakers try to raise prices anyway, then sales plunge, and suddenly there’s oversupply, all the way up the supply chain, which brings costs down too. That’s how inflation ends.But that’s not the situation today. Today there is red hot inflation, red-hot demand for EVs, already grotesquely overstimulated consumers, who’re now getting another $7,500 from the federal government and more from state governments to buy EVs, and crank up already hot demand for EVs amid a lack of competition and very limited supply.
Diesel prices post sixth consecutive weekly drop - Diesel prices have now declined for the sixth week in a row. For the week ending Dec. 12, the U.S. average diesel fuel price fell 21.3 cents from the previous week to $4.754 per gallon, the U.S.Department of Agriculture said. That's 110.5 cents above the same week last year. This week’s decline marks the largest since Oct. 13, 2008, the USDA said, when the diesel price dropped 21.6 cents near the start of the global financial crisis. Also, this week, the diesel price was the lowest since Oct. 3, when it was $4.836 per gallon. In the grain-producing Midwest, the diesel price dropped 25.6 cents to $4.651 per gallon, the lowest price this year since March 7, the USDA said.Nearly 70% of Americans struggling to pay grocery bills, survey finds - More than two-thirds of Americans are having a hard time affording groceries as food costs continue to soar, according to new data. Retail technology platform Swiftly reported Wednesday that 69% of shoppers say they are struggling to pay their grocery bills after months of persistently sky-high inflation, and 83% currently rely on some form of coupons or loyalty program to put food on the table, according to its True Cost of a Grocery Shop survey. The study also pointed to shifts in consumer behavior. Some 74% of those surveyed said they had changed their grocery shopping habits in the last year, and 33% said they are now shopping in-store more than in years past. The average cost of everyday essentials is elevated across the board this year, but the cost of groceries is even higher. The Labor Department's latest consumer price index – which tracks the prices of a bevy of goods including gasoline, grocery, and rents – showed prices rose an average of 7.7% on an annual basis in October, hovering near a four-decade high. But the cost of food at home soared 12.4% over the same month a year ago. Some staple items rose by eye-popping amounts, with coffee up 14.8%, cereal up by 16.9%, and eggs up by a staggering 43%. Swiftly's analysis determined "food costs are becoming too expensive for the average American and are only increasing due to record inflation and ongoing economic challenges," adding, "Simply put, food costs are too high."
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decrease to 211,000 - The DOL reported: In the week ending December 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 211,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 230,000 to 231,000. The 4-week moving average was 227,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 230,000 to 230,250. The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.
Stellantis to idle Illinois plant, lay off more than 1,000 workers, citing rising costs for EVs Stellantis is shuttering its Illinois plant in February resulting in indefinite layoffs for 1,350 employees, the company said in a statement, citing increasing costs in the electric vehicle market. “Our industry has been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market,” Stellantis said in a statement. The company said it is taking steps “stabilize production” and “improve efficiency” in its North American facilities. The European carmaker said it will “idle” the assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois on February 23 and said the layoffs are expected to exceed six months. Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, said it will “make every effort” to place the laid off employees in open positions and is looking for other opportunities to repurpose the Belvidere factory. The United Auto Workers International Union said on Facebook it was “deeply angered” by the decision. The group’s president Ray Curry said it is “unacceptable” Stellantis isn’t allocating new products to the plant. The Illinois plant builds the Jeep Cherokee and will continue to manufacture the vehicle until the factory closes, but the company had no comment about the future of that make and model.
Ohio court: Insurance doesn't cover business COVID losses — A commercial insurance policy doesn’t cover the income a business lost when the governor ordered a shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ohio Supreme Court said Monday in a decision consistent with multiple court rulings nationally weighing similar questions.The state’s high court found that the temporary presence of COVID-19 in a community or at a business and the temporary presence of an infected person don’t amount to a direct physical loss that might be covered.
Florida drops case against COVID-19 whistleblower Rebekah Jones in deferred prosecution agreement - On December 7, COVID-19 whistleblower Rebekah Jones signed a deferred prosecution agreement in connection with a frame-up charge of unauthorized computer use brought against her by the State of Florida in January 2021. In the agreement with State Attorney Jack Campbell in Leon County Circuit Court, the hacking charge against Jones was dismissed in exchange for signing off on the phrase, “Defendant admits her guilt of the offense(s) charged” and making a commitment to pay the Florida Department of Law Enforcement $20,000 for investigative costs. The pretrial plea deal will remain in effect for 24 months, at which point the charge of “exceeding authorized use of computer systems” will be permanently dropped and there will be no record of Jones pleading guilty to anything. Meanwhile, the agreement stipulates a series of draconian requirements including a guarantee that Jones “shall refrain from violations of any criminal law,” “will work regularly at a lawful occupation” and “see a licensed mental health professional” selected by the State of Florida “a minimum of 1 hour per month.” The vindictive and bogus computer hacking charge was originally brought against the whistleblower on the orders of the administration of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. In the early months of the pandemic, Jones was a data scientist at the Florida Department of Health and she began raising concerns about the lack of transparency within the agency about the public impact of the pandemic. Jones reported that superiors stripped her of responsibilities and that she was removed from overseeing a critical COVID-19 dashboard that she had helped to create. In May 2020, Jones was fired for refusing to manipulate COVID-19 data to bolster the pandemic-denying and anti-lockdown narrative of the far-right DeSantis administration. However, Jones refused to be silenced and created Florida COVID Action and The COVID Monitor that tracked pandemic infections and deaths in Florida and in K-12 schools across the US, respectively. She was then targeted by DeSantis, including a fascist police raid of her home in December 2020 with heavily armed officers who pointed long-guns at her children and seized her phone, personal computer and data storage devices. The state then claimed she gained “unauthorized access” to an employee messaging platform to send a group text by using her old log-in credentials. The state alleged that she instructed her former employees to “be a hero” and “speak up” against COVID-19 in a November 10, 2020 email. This was the basis of the offense of unauthorized use of a computer brought against her. Jones has steadfastly denied sending the message. On December 8, Jones published a 2,300-word scathing essay on her Substack page entitled, “State of Florida agrees to dismiss case against Whistleblower Rebekah Jones” which denounces the agreement, explains her reasons for signing it and detailing the entire history of the campaign by DeSantis and the State of Florida against her. Jones wrote, “I’m free … after I pay a $20,000 fee to police for ‘investigative costs,’ inclusive of the time they spent pointing semi-automatic weapons at my two-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son on direct orders from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.”
US Prison Labor Boosts Hundreds of Private Companies and Helps Expand the Carceral State - Tennessee, Alabama, Oregon, and Vermont voted in the November elections to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, while Louisiana did not. The votes had to do with the hundreds of thousands of incarcerated Americans forced to work for pennies an hour – and sometimes no wage at all. The four approved initiatives won’t bring about any immediate changes in the states’ prisons, but they could remove some barriers to legal challenges over the brutal treatment of prisoners. There are reasons to doubt much change will come from the votes. Colorado voters made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional in 2018, but the state’s court of appeals just recently decided that the people did not mean to abolish the state Department of Corrections’ prison labor program.Forced prison labor allows the system to grow without becoming too much of a strain on tax dollars, and it helps private companies maximize profits. The ACLU released a long report in June, Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers, that’s well worth reading in full for more details into the banality of American evil.Of the more than 1.2 million people in state and federal prisons, 76 percent are required to work or face additional punishment, including solitary confinement, loss of opportunity to reduce their sentence, loss of family visitation rights, and the inability to pay for basic necessities like bath soap.Incarcerated workers earn little pay that is often garnished and in seven states they are paid nothing at all for most jobs. Nationally, incarcerated workers produce more than $2 billion a year in goods and commodities and over $9 billion a year in services for the maintenance of the prisons where they are warehoused.The ACLU research found that the average minimum hourly wage for non-industry work is 13 cents with an average maximum of 52 cents. And being forced to work for basically nothing doesn’t just take a toll on the prisoner. From the report: Because incarcerated workers’ wages are so low, families already struggling from the loss of income when a family member is incarcerated and removed from household wage earning must step in to financially support an incarcerated loved one. Families with an incarcerated loved one, many of whom are impoverished themselves, spend an estimated $2.9 billion a year on commissary accounts and phone calls. Over half of these families are forced to go into debt to afford the costs of a relative’s conviction and subsequent incarceration.
Sexual abuse rampant in federal prisons, bipartisan investigation finds -Linda De La Rosa says her time at Federal Medical Center, a minimum security prison in Lexington, Ky., was a “living hell.” In 2019, De La Rosa was one of three women to be sexually abused by a federal correctional officer at the facility. It took three years to arrest, prosecute and convict her attacker, who is now serving a 135-month sentence. De La Rosa is one of hundreds of women in federal custody who have been sexually assaulted by Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff and officials, according to a new bipartisan report by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released in a hearing on Tuesday. Over the course of an eight-month investigation, the subcommittee found BOP employees sexually abused female prisoners in at least two-thirds of federal prisons over the past decade. The Bureau has also failed to prevent, detect and stop recurring sexual abuse in at least four federal prisons. “Our findings are deeply disturbing and demonstrate, in my view, that the BOP is failing systemically to prevent, detect and address sexual abuse of prisoners by its own employees,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), chairman of the subcommittee. The committee found that out of more than 5,000 allegations of sexual abuse by BOP employees, at least 134 were substantiated by internal investigations or by criminal prosecutions. Multiple BOP employees who admitted in sworn statements to sexually abusing prisoners also avoided criminal prosecution. Several were allowed to retire with benefits. Among the lists of agencies cited in the investigation, the report specifically mentions the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif. At Dublin, the former warden and chaplain both sexually abused female prisoners. The facility became known as the “rape club,” and the warden was found guilty of eight charges of sexually abusing incarcerated women, forcing the women to pose naked and lying to the FBI about it, the Los Angeles Times report last week. “Let me be absolutely clear: this situation is intolerable,” Ossoff said. “Sexual abuse of inmates is a gross abuse of human and Constitutional rights and cannot be tolerated by the United States Congress. It is cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and basic standards of human decency.” The women who testified before the committee on Tuesday emphasized that they did not feel safe reporting the assault to officials. When they did, retaliation was swift. “The ongoing threat of retaliation stopped me and other inmates from filing complaints, let alone timely ones,” De La Rosa testified. When she did finally report what happened to her, she was briefly transferred but ultimately sent back to Lexington. “When I returned to Lexington, all of my belongings were missing,” she said tearfully. “There were photos and letters from my son and daughter’s father, both of whom had passed. They can never be replaced. When I returned, I also learned my attacker was still working at that facility.” In his position, De La Rosa’s attacker continued to access her personal history files, recordings of her telephone calls and personal emails, all of which he then used as additional leverage to extract sexual favors and threaten her safety.
Oregon governor commutes all 17 of state's death sentences (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that she is commuting the sentences of all of the state's 17 inmates awaiting execution, saying their death sentences will be changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brown, a Democrat with less than a month remaining in office, said she was using her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences and that her order will take effect on Wednesday. “I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people — even if a terrible crime placed them in prison," Brown said in a statement. Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, leader of the minority Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives, accused Brown of “a lack of responsible judgment.” “Gov. Brown has once again taken executive action with zero input from Oregonians and the Legislature," Breese-Iverson said in a statement. “Her decisions do not consider the impact the victims and families will suffer in the months and years to come. Democrats have consistently chosen criminals over victims.” In her announcement, Brown said victims experience “pain and uncertainty” as they wait for decades while individuals sit on death row. "My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases,” she said. Oregon has not executed a prisoner since 1997. In Brown’s first news conference after becoming governor in 2015, she announced she would continue the death penalty moratorium imposed by her predecessor, former Gov. John Kitzhaber. So far, 17 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2022, all by lethal injection and all in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri and Alabama,
Philadelphia schools will require masks as U.S. COVID cases spike - (Reuters) - Public school students in Philadelphia will have to wear face coverings at school for 10 days after their winter break, officials said, as communities around the country contend with another surge of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. The mandate, which will run from Jan. 3-13, is aimed at reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses after a holiday season likely filled with more social gatherings and increased exposure, the school district said in a statement on Thursday. Philadelphia is among state and local agencies around the United States rolling out mask mandates or recommendations this month to fight a new surge in virus cases, which is expected to grow as Americans travel and socialize around the winter holidays. Health experts say the U.S. healthcare system is under strain because of a "tridemic" caused by COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said on Thursday the country was probably experiencing its worst flu season in a decade. The White House on Thursday announced that families could again order free COVID-19 tests from the government website COVIDTests.gov due to the nationwide rise in cases. read more But nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer localities are rushing to enforce strict mandates than in previous years. There is debate over the mandates' efficacy, as months of stringent public health rules early in the pandemic exacerbated the public's COVID fatigue and stoked political controversy. California's public health department on Thursday told Reuters it was urging people to wear masks, but stopping short of requiring them. Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said the triple whammy of the respiratory diseases is already straining hospitals and, reminiscent of the pandemic's earlier days, leading facilities to cancel elective procedures. While the political will to impose mask mandates may have waned, covering one's face remains the best way to avoid getting sick - and infecting others.
‘It’s like a petri dish in here’: COVID, flu and other viruses are causing Bay Area students to miss tons of school -- Absences have skyrocketed in Bay Area public schools this fall, with students out sick and missing significant learning time, even as educators are desperate to get them caught up after academic losses during the pandemic. In San Francisco, roughly 38% of the 49,000 students missed at least one day of school in the first two weeks of December — up from 29% last year and 27% before the pandemic.
Kansas school district closes for rest of 2022 due to illnesses— Osage City Schools will close for the remainder of 2022 due to widespread illnesses throughout the district. USD 420 Superintendent Ted Hessong spoke with sister station KSNT about the decision to close for the rest of 2022, starting on Dec. 14. On Monday, the school sent out a message stating that more than 40% of the student body is currently absent from school due to a variety of illnesses. Hessong said the number had grown to 46% by Tuesday. The reported illnesses include the flu, strep throat, RSV and a stomach virus. The loss of nearly half the student population, along with numerous staff members, prompted Hessong to make the decision. “It’s kinda hard to have school when half the student body is gone,” Hessong said. “We decided it was in our best interest to shut down school for the remainder of the semester.” The closure impacts the elementary, middle and high schools in USD 420. The school will open again on Jan. 3, 2023, according to Hessong.
Kentucky ranks number one for school closings in the US --Schools in Kentucky have closed due to illness at a rate three times the rest of the country combined. “For this academic year to date, illness-related school disruptions continue to be concentrated in Kentucky. Since November 4th, there have been 74 districts and 515 individual schools that have either gone virtual or closed for at least one day for that reason, with roughly 60% of the districts and 75% of the schools being from Kentucky,” according to Burbio, a data compilation company. Most of the closures have lasted for a day or two, usually because of influenza outbreaks. The spread of the flu in Kentucky is an extremely high risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The push for in-person classes, following two years of remote learning, has many students and staff falling ill to flu and colds that they might have otherwise been able to avoid in a normal year. Each district receives permission for up to 10 days of remote learning per year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. When asked about the Burbio report that puts Kentucky at such a high number, Toni Tatman, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, questioned the numbers and said they knew of no reason why Kentucky's numbers would be any higher than anywhere else. Burbio uses news stories and direct contact with over 5,000 school districts that cover about 70% of the nation's students, the CEO explained to Yahoo News. According to reports, the Kentucky Schools Boards Association shows even more closure than the Burbio report. A chart can be seen here: https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/week-of-12/5-capex Officials and medical experts have no explanation as to why Kentucky has been so particularly affected.
Some schools close to stem flu outbreaks -- but is it a good long-term solution? - - Some schools across the United States have been closing early in an attempt to stem influenza outbreaks. In Maine, students at Casco Bay High School in Portland were dismissed early on Friday, Dec. 2, due to 32% of pupils and staff members out sick with the virus, according to a news release from the school. Two other schools in the state, Harpswell Community School and Mt. Ararat Middle School, both of which are north of Portland, announced closures Tuesday, Dec. 6, "due to student illness" and will reopen Dec. 7 after the buildings are "deep cleaned."Additionally, in southeastern Kentucky, the Bell County School District, announced schools would be closed Monday, Dec. 5, and Tuesday, Dec. 6."This break will hopefully allow our students and staff to recover from all the sickness that has been going through our community," Superintendent Tom Gambrel wrote in a letter to the community. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows nearly every U.S. state is reporting either "very high" or "high" levels of flu-like activity. What's more, the hospitalization rate, which sits at 16.6 per 100,000, is the highest it's ever been at this point in the season since 2010-2011, or as far back as statistics are available. An infectious diseases expert told ABC News that school closures are not sustainable in the long-term and schools should focus on other interventions to stem outbreaks."I think what we've learned from the pandemic is that school closures are really a last resort and should be avoided at all costs because of the impact it has on kids, the broad impact on kids and their parents," Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said. Studies, including one from the Netherlands, have suggested that remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic led to learning losses and increased learning disparities among students.Brownstein said the primary focus should be on vaccination. As of Nov. 19, only 40% of children in the U.S. aged 6 months and older have received their flu shot, CDC data shows. "Flu vaccination remains the cornerstone for reducing flu in the population," he said. "The rollout has been slow this season despite potentially being the worst season of flu we've seen in a decade."Additionally, he recommended schools stress that students and staff stay home when sick, make sure everyone is practicing hand hygiene – including washing hands with soap and water – and ensuring that classrooms are properly ventilated."These are all things we should focus way before we should ever consider closing schools," Brownstein said. "Schools closures should be reserved for really challenging situations."
American Girl garners backlash over book on body image - Conservative parents and pundits threatened boycotts of the doll brand over discussions of gender in ‘A Smart Girl’s Guide: Body Image’—but others are grateful for the inclusion. A much-beloved children’s brand has been pulled into the ongoing battle over book censorship. The book, “A Smart Girl’s Guide: Body Image: How to love yourself, live life to the fullest, and celebrate all kinds of bodies” by the American Girl brand, sparked outrage amongst some parents and conservative outlets, even garnering right-wing calls for a boycott in the midst of the holiday shopping season.Released in February 2022, a synopsis of the book reads:Every girl needs to learn to live comfortably in her own skin, and this book will show the way! In these pages, a girl will find everything she needs to know about loving her unique self, staying confident through her body‘s many changes, and appreciating her body for the life it lets her live… this book is a feel-good reminder that all bodies are worthy of love and respect. Written to promote body acceptance and positivity, the 96-page book includes discussions of puberty, disabled and differently-sized bodies, as well as racism, colorism and beauty standards promoted by both international cultures and social media.But at issue is the book’s inclusive take on gender issues. This reportedly includes an image of a transgender rights flag as well as a three-page discussion of young people who might identify as non-binary or trans, “including advice on transitioning and information about puberty blocker drugs,” according to the New York Post.“If you haven’t gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body’s changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity,” a page of the text explains alongside an illustration of an adolescent speaking with their doctor.As reported by the NY Post, the discussion of gender also notes that: “The way you show your gender to the world through clothes and behaviors is your gender expression. Your gender expression can be feminine, masculine, or somewhere in between — and it might change! Maybe you’ll experiment with bright dresses and long, feminine hairstyles. Or you might try baggy shorts, plaid shirts, and a buzzed haircut. Your gender expression should make you feel at home in your body.”For some, the trusted doll brand’s detour from heteronormativity proved a bridge too far.“Incredibly disappointed in your book ‘Body Image,’” tweeted one mother (h/t NY Post). “Let these little girls be little girls. Stop the disgusting push to introduce topics too mature. It is NOT your place.” Others, like conservative podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey, called for a boycott of the brand.
Texas high school's Indians mascot has former students speaking out - Yona Ward was in the midst of reconnecting with his Cherokee culture when he heard the words, ‘Scalp’em Indians, scalp’em!” echo through the gymnasium of his high school pep rally. “I was decolonizing and getting more into the culture, and then I saw them doing the little hand chop and war chant at a prep rally,” Ward said. “I saw that and everything changed completely for me on a personal level.” The mascot at Port Neches-Groves High School, nearly 100 miles from Houston, is the ‘Indian Spirit,’ a person dressed in tribal garments to represent the spirit of the Indigenous people who inhabited the land before it was colonized. The mascot was created in 1961 and is a central component of football and community events; but historically this person is usually a white male and not of Indigenous descent. Now, there is a call for the mascot to be changed altogether. “The school board has shown they are not willing to make changes to represent the Cherokee Nation,” said Ken Doiron, a former PNG student. “They want to keep traditions they have had for decades now.” Doiron filed a grievance against her former high school Oct. 7 and asked supporters of changing its mascot to call or email the school Oct. 10, Indigenous People’s Day. More than 50 emails from community members and advocates responded to the call-in asking the school to change its mascot, “I did not think it was going to get as much attention as it did,” Doiron said. “It blew up.” In November, Doiron received a letter from PNGISD to meet with the Board of Trustees to talk about the grievance. It was a closed session, although Doiron asked it be open to the public. "We want an open and honest conversation with the administration, where we will be heard and taken seriously," she said in the grievance. "We want the administration to see community members supporting the cause," Doiron said. PNG chose ‘Indians’ as its nickname because historically, before Port Neches was founded, the land was home to the only native village in Jefferson County, according to its history on their website. “The whole school mascot name was started to honor the people whose land it was — the Karankawa tribe,” said Dariel Newman, Pearland resident and PNG alum who graduated in 1983. “They viewed upholding those traditions as honoring and paying homage to those who first inhabited that land, literally. That’s the way we looked at it when I was in school.” Newman was the Indian Spirit mascot during his senior year from 1982 to 1983 and performed at football games, halftime shows, and events in the community.
Police investigating threats made against Beachwood high school and middle school students via Instagram - Beachwood City Schools and the Beachwood Police Department are investigating threatening messages that have been sent to students at the high school and middle school through Instagram. In a letter sent Monday to Beachwood parents and guardians, Superintendent Dr. Robert P. Hardis stated that "a group of students at the high school and middle school have received, or are aware of others receiving, threatening messages through Instagram." The district's security director, C.J. Piro, and the Beachwood Police Department are investigating. According to Hardis, Piro has contacted Instagram’s parent company Meta to obtain the identity of the person who owns the account that has been making the threats. The person in question is sending an Instagram message threatening the recipient that if they don’t repost the sender’s post the recipient will be harmed. "We have become aware that at least one Beachwood student received a message from this person in early November and others have received them since," Hardis added. Hardis says while police attempt to determine who is responsible for the threatening messages, Beachwood City Schools will continue to operate as normal, "but with heightened vigilance on the part of our officers stationed at each building, as well as our administrators and staff." Anyone who has information that would be helpful to the investigation are asked to please contact your school administrator. You can read Dr. Hardis' entire letter below:
Advocates, union rep blame national teacher shortage on censorship – At a roundtable discussion hosted by the nonprofit Democracy Forward on Monday, a six-person panel warned that the newest wave of book bans and laws targeting how educators can talk about racism and sexism are hurting the teaching profession. The new efforts to control what teachers can say or give to students are pushing some to leave the profession entirely, they said, contributing to the nation’s teacher shortage. Teachers feel “handcuffed” by these new laws and efforts to remove books, one panelist said. Recent efforts to ban books and new laws targeting lessons on race and gender have pushed some instructors out of the classroom, contributing to the national teacher shortage, free speech and education advocates said during a panel discussion Monday. “What we are seeing is our teachers being handcuffed and not being able to provide the quality education that we would love to be able to provide,” Terrance Martin S., president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers and one of the six panelists at the roundtable discussion hosted by Democracy Forward. The U.S. is experiencing a major teacher shortage in public schools and after two years of online learning and COVID-19 shutdowns, burnout is the main driver behind educators’ decision to leave the profession. According to a National Education Association survey released in February, 55 percent of teachers said they planned to leave their job earlier than they had previously thought due to pandemic-related stress. And federal data suggests that the shortage won’t get better any time soon.
Student athletes should be classified employees, labor cop says - The National Collegiate Athletic Association is breaking federal law by not classifying student athletes as employees, according to the National Labor Relations Board. NLRB officials in Los Angeles determined that the NCAA, along with the Pac-12 Conference and the University of Southern California, are joint employers of athletes — an assessment that could ultimately allow student athletes to unionize. By not designating athletes as employees, the trio are infringing on those students’ labor rights, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said Thursday. “This kind of misclassification deprives these players of their statutory right to organize and to join together to improve their working/playing conditions if they wish to do so,” Abruzzo said in a statement. “Our aim is to ensure that these players can fully and freely exercise their rights.” Abruzzo issued a memo last September 2021 outlining her belief that student athletes should be treated as employees for the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act and vowed to take action to enforce that view. For decades, colleges and the NCAA have resisted attempts to rein in their control over athletes in the system. But the business model has come under intense scrutiny in recent years and has led to several court rulings that have forced major changes to how collegiate sports operate. The definition of who is and is not an employee has been the subject of fierce political debate, and has been a focus of President Joe Biden’s labor appointees. Beyond the NLRB, the Department of Labor this fall released a proposed rule to distinguish employees from intendent contractors that garnered well over 50,000 public comments. The NCAA, Pac-12 and USC will have the opportunity to settle the case, which was filed by the National College Players Association in February. If no agreement is reached, the NLRB will move to issue a complaint against the three organizations. Thursday’s development comes just hours after outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker — a former college basketball player — was tapped to be the NCAA’s next president after he leaves office in early January. The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Even if the NLRB takes further action, the case could take years to work its way through the agency’s process and end up before its five-member board, which is currently stocked with three Democratic appointees — including one who was formerly the general counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association. However, the NLRB is susceptible to ideological swings as power trades hands in Washington.
Court Rules Against Biological Females Over Connecticut Transgender Athlete Policy - A three-judge appellate panel on Friday dismissed a challenge to Connecticut's transgender athlete policy, after a group of biological females said it was unfair that they have to race against biological males who identify as female. In its decision, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City upheld a lower court judge's dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the policy, brought by four female runners opposed to letting transgender athletes compete in high school sports. According to the judges, the girls lacked standing to sue, calling their claims that they were deprived of wins, state titles and athletic scholarship articles 'speculative.'"All four Plaintiffs regularly competed at state track championships as high school athletes, where Plaintiffs had the opportunity to compete for state titles in different events," reads the ruling. "And, on numerous occasions, Plaintiffs were indeed “champions,” finishing first in various events, even sometimes when competing against (transgender athletes)." According to the judges, "Plaintiffs simply have not been deprived of a ‘chance to be champions.’" The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Council argued its policy is designed to comply with a state law that requires all high school students be treated according to their gender identity. It also said the policy is in accordance with Title IX, the federal law that allows girls equal educational opportunities, including in athletics. The American Civil Liberties Union defended the two transgender athletes at the center of the lawsuit — Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood. –AP A lawyer for the girls, Christiana Kiefer, said she and other attorneys for the Alliance Defending Freedom are considering how to respond, including a possible appeal to the US Supreme Court to review Friday's decision."Our clients, like all female athletes across the country, deserve fair competition," she told AP in a phone interview. "And that means fair and equal quality of competition, and that just does not happen when you’re forced to compete against biological males in their sports." "The vast majority of the American public recognizes that in order to have fair sports, we have to protect the female category, and I think you’re seeing that trend increasingly with states across the country passing laws to protect women’s sports. ... This is certainly not the end of the road in the fight for fairness for female athletes," Keiver added.
The Shrinking Future of Colleges, Especially the Small Ones - Interesting dilemma for higher education. I had heard that some colleges were having issues attracting students to their campuses. The high tuition and a lack of funding in the form of scholarships, grants, awards, etc. have been an issue when they do not keep up with the costs of colleges. Another issue has crept up which I was not aware of till reading it at The one-handed economist. This is one of David’s selected articles featured in Interesting Stuff, “The incredible shrinking future of college.” Author Kevin Carey at Vox’s The Highlight starts off his article telling about Division II Shippensburg University winning the Field Hockey championship. The activity on campus was in fine form with many students enjoying the activities Shippensburg had to offer. There was no hint of the underlying issues at Shippensburg University being a shrinking institution. And the problem was going to worsen. Shippensburg was just one of many institutions nationwide which would experience a decreasing enrollment. The oncoming issue in four years, was the decreasing number of students graduating from high schools, Across the nation will begin a sudden and precipitous decline, the result of a rolling demographic aftershock of the Great Recession. It hit hard across the spectrum of citizens. There was no Joe Biden then to convince a majority Democrat Congress with minority Republicans to pass an ARA, a Jobs Plan, and expanding healthcare. Funds were directed towards Wall Street and bankers to bail them out from their gambling. Mainstreet had to resign itself to 2 years of meager Unemployment until Republicans gained control and cut them off. The difference between 2008 and 2020 is very discernable.Among colleges today, the elite colleges and research universities consisting of the Princetons and the Penn States the oncoming drop off of the cliff will be no big deal. These institutions have their pick of applicants and can easily keep classes full. There could be dire consequences for everyone else.In some places, the crisis has already begun. College enrollment began slowly receding after the millennial enrollment wave peaked in 2010, particularly in regions that were already experiencing below-average birth rates while simultaneously losing population to out-migration. Starved of students and the tuition revenue they bring, small private colleges in New England have begun to blink off the map. Regional public universities like Ship are enduring painful layoffs and consolidation.
University of Houston social work dean removed, drawing social media backlash -- The University of Houston has removed the dean of its Graduate College of Social Work, in a decision some fear stems from pushback to Alan Dettlaff's progressive perspective in the field. “While this isn’t what I hoped for, I’m very proud of my time as Dean and particularly of advancing an abolitionist perspective in social work,” Dettlaff said on Twitter. “Unfortunately, the resistance to this was too great, and as a result I am no longer Dean.” The announcement immediately drew concern on social media from students and alumni who supported the dean and his mission, even as university officials steered clear of listing Dettlaff's ideology as a reason for his removal. The university confirmed on Wednesday that after seven years as dean, Dettlaff will return to the faculty to continue “his own important scholarly work, which focuses on racial disparities, improving outcomes for LGBTQ youth and addressing the unique needs of immigrant families.” “Dr. Dettlaff is a well-respected thought leader in his field and will continue to do this important work as a member of our faculty,” university officials said in a statement. “The interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost initiated the change in leadership to better align the college with the university’s academic priorities, which include growing research expenditures and elevating the learning experience for all students as UH works to realize its vision of becoming a Top 50 public university.” The announcement disheartened many in the college and in the wider social work community, especially because some thought it signaled a university-level lack of support for a progressive direction that made the school stand out. Dozens of students were simultaneously upset that they were apparently not consulted about the decision, leading 122 of them to sign and send a letter to Provost Robert McPherson. "Your decision to not treat us as stakeholders in the future of our own education was incredibly hurtful," the letter reads. "Dean Dettlaff’s abolitionist approach to social work is the reason many of us chose to attend the University of Houston, and we take great issue with his demotion from leading the direction of our college."
UAW reaches tentative agreement with the New School, calls off strike -- ACT-UAW Local 7902’s bargaining committee for part-time faculty at The New School University in New York City announced Sunday it has reached a tentative agreement with the university’s administration. Even though educators have not yet had a chance to read, discuss or even vote on the agreement, the union has called off the strike and ordered the 1,600 adjunct professors back to work immediately to begin grading as the end of the semester approaches. In a joint statement with The New School announcing the agreement, the union wrote, “The union leadership will unanimously recommend this agreement to its members, and it will now go to part-time faculty union members for a ratification vote over the next few days. In the meantime, the union has ended the strike and all university classes and events will resume as scheduled effective immediately.” The full details of the five-year contract, negotiated with assistance of a mediator, have not been released publicly, but initial reports indicate that the contract contains a 13 percent raise in the first year and that health insurance benefits will remain unchanged. The university had planned major cuts to adjuncts’ health care plan and offered an insulting 1.8 percent annual raise as a part of a “final offer.” Last week the university cut off workers pay and suspended their health care. For an adjunct making the top pay of $5,753 per semester, the 13 percent raise means they will see an increase of less than $750 over the course of the four-month semester. This will leave adjuncts with a monthly salary of about $1,600. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City is over $4,000 per month. The New School adjunct professors who make up 87 percent of the school’s teaching staff have not received a raise in four years. Since then, the cost of living has increased by nearly 19 percent, meaning that in terms of real purchasing power the new agreement leaves New School teachers with a pay cut when compared to their pay at the time the last contract was signed. So far, no additional specifics of the contract have been publicly released. When speaking with workers on the picket lines over the course of the three-week strike, adjuncts told WSWS reporters that they were also demanding changes to The New School’s hiring practices that see part-time teachers routinely fired after teaching nine consecutive semesters, since after 10 semesters, part-time faculty become eligible for full-time positions. Many veteran teachers on strike reported that the university had fired them and then re-hired them one semester later to avoid granting them full-time rights.
Democratic Socialists of America provide cover for UAW and Democrats as they move to shut down University of California strike - The United Auto Workers bureaucracy is moving rapidly to shut down the powerful strike by University of California workers after UAW Local 5810 reached a separate contract covering 12,000 postdoctoral workers and academic researchers. The union has ordered these workers to cross the picket lines of the remaining 36,000 striking graduate student teaching assistants, researchers and other workers beginning on Monday. UAW officials have repeatedly said the strength of the walkout rested in it being a “a 48,000-strong strike.” Now, the union bureaucracy has stabbed the striking workers in the back by including a no-strike clause in the deal for postdocs and academic researchers, even though the vast majority of do not want to cross the picket lines. At the same time, Local 2865 and Student Researchers United (SRU-UAW) have caved into the University’s demands to bring in a private mediator to reach a settlement. This follows the bargainers’ dropping of the most central demands of remaining striking workers, including the doubling of starting wages for teaching assistants and cost-of-living protections. There is also the danger that the UAW locals will shut down the strike as soon as they reach tentative agreements. This is exactly what the UAW bureaucracy did to end the powerful strike at the New School by 1,300 part-time faculty. There is enormous opposition to this betrayal and increasing support for the formation of a rank-and-file strike committee to take the conduct of the struggle out of the hands of the UAW bureaucracy, which has colluded with the state Democrats who control the UC Board of Regents, the governor’s mansion and both houses of the state legislature in Sacramento. Under these conditions, the Democratic Socialists of America is working overtime to cover up the role of the UAW bureaucracy, Governor Gavin Newsom and the Democratic Party.
UAW negotiators agree to mediator to impose deal on striking University of California workers - The strike of 48,000 academic workers at the University of California is in great danger, following the ratification of two tentative agreements covering the academic researcher (AR) and postdoctoral section of the workforce. United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 5810 agreed to the deal as part of the UAW bureaucracy’s deliberate effort to sow divisions among strikers and shut down the increasingly rebellious walkout. So far, the strike—the largest by educational workers in US history—has won enormous support from the working class, as well as students. Living under the burden of a monthly $2,000 paycheck in one of the most expensive places in the world, graduate student instructors are being compelled to fight for their right to live.Postdocs and ARs voted electronically on two separate tentative agreements throughout last week. The ratification of the agreement, which includes a no-strike clause, means that 12,000 members of Local 5810 will be compelled to cross the picket lines of their fellow academic workers who are members of two other UAW locals, which have not reached agreements.The aim of the UAW bureaucracy is to exert as much pressure as possible on the remaining 36,000 strikers, who, importantly, include graduate student instructors withholding grades.While union officials claimed both contracts passed by substantial margins—79 percent for the AR contract and 89 percent for the postdoc contract—less than 5,000 members out of 12,000 voted. The mass abstention was an expression of the widespread disgust with the treachery of the UAW. Prior to the vote, the University of California Rank-and-File Strike Committee (UCRFSC) called on postdocs and researchers to vote “no“ on the contract and collaborate with other striking workers to remove the UAW bargaining committees and take control of the struggle into their own hands. On the same day the agreements were passed, the UC administration announced that the remaining bargaining units, UAW Local 2865 and Student Researchers United (SRU-UAW), had accepted pre-impasse mediation. The move, which originated from the University, will likely place Darrell Steinberg—a longtime Democratic Party operator and mayor of Sacramento—as the so-called independent mediator. According to a message sent by the locals, both bargaining teams overwhelmingly voted in favor of mediation with the decision passing by 12-7 among Local 2865’s bargaining team (BT) and 15-4 among SRU-UAW’s BT. The surrender to the university’s demands is another move to sabotage the strike. Steinberg, who is close to Governor Gavin Newsom, will dictate a contract that is wholly in line with the austerity program of the state Democrats, who control every level of government, including the UC Board of Regents.
University of California strike in danger as UAW promotes Democratic Party mediation - Academic workers at the University of California are now more than one month into a historic strike—the largest ever in higher education in the US. The initially 48,000-strong strike of teaching assistants, researchers, and postdocs has expressed a powerful mood of rebellion and intransigence. Facing impossible conditions, with salaries of roughly $2,000 a month in one of the most expensive places in the world, graduate student workers speak for broad sections of the working class in their rejection of their poverty existence. Standing against these workers, however, is not simply the University of California system but the United Auto Workers (UAW) bureaucracy. At every step along the way, the UAW local bargaining teams, under the direction of national union officials, have sought to sabotage and demobilize strikers. They have removed central demands from the bargaining table, including Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA), and signed a separate deal covering 12,000 postdocs and academic researchers, in a transparent effort to divide and weaken the strike. Union officials have also sought to silence criticism from rank-and-file workers by preventing them from speaking at meetings and physically blocking them from expressing their opposition at protests. In response, academic workers have begun to rebel, flocking to alternative chat and meeting groups aimed at countering UAW misinformation and scare tactics. Workers across the campuses have formed the University of California Rank-and-File Strike Committee, which has called for the throwing out of the bargaining team and the election of a negotiating committee controlled by the ranks and committed to fight for their demands. The UCRFSC has also called for strikers to appeal directly to broader sections of the working class to fight the Democratic Party-controlled UC administration and its austerity demands. UAW officials know if they were to bring back the University’s insulting offer, it would inflame workers and lead to an overwhelming “no” vote. Because of this, the bargaining team has enthusiastically agreed to Governor Gavin Newsom selecting a so-called pre-impasse mediator. The UAW officials hope the Democratic Party’s mediator will give them some cosmetic improvement they could dangle in front of workers to try to ram through a ratification vote.
36,000 UC academic workers to vote on concessions contract agreed to by UAW - On December 16, bargaining teams for United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2865 and Student Researchers United (SRU-UAW) announced they had reached tentative agreements to shut down a strike by 36,000 graduate student workers in the University of California system. A snap vote will begin this next Monday, December 19, and will last until Friday, December 23. Midway through the fifth week the United Auto Workers (UAW) bargaining teams sent out messages announcing that progress had been made which “resulted in significant movement that is worth serious consideration.” This “significant movement” supposedly came only days after the appointment of mediator Darrell Steinberg, the current mayor of Sacramento. He sits on the Advisory Board of the UC Davis Chancellor’s Office, a flagrant conflict of interest. Bargaining teams held a caucus Thursday morning to discuss a settlement proposed by Steinberg which was formally accepted by the UAW Friday. The “significant progress” has resulted in sellouts that will do nothing to raise graduate students out of poverty or meet skyrocketing inflation. The base starting salary is only $34,000—$20,000 less than the original demand of a base starting salary of $54,000. Even then, it does not actually kick in until October 1, 2024, at the end of the life of the current contract. The lowest paid academic workers will see a tiny increase in their pay from $23,247 to $25,000 within 90 days of ratification. Then on October 1, 2023, it will rise to $29,125 a year. The offer is in fact a $9,000 climb-down from their unilateral cave-in last week, from $54,000 to $43,000 a year, which they claimed at the time would spur the UC to acquiesce to their wage demands. As can be seen, this was sheer fantasy. The BTs and their hangers-on have been touting that this new proposal was a win for international students with the incorporation of language which allows doctoral students to forego the Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition (NRST) program charges for the first three years of their doctoral studies. But considering that international students almost uniformly find the current financial burdens intolerable, codifying the current UC policy in regard to NRST is a stab in the back to every international student, most of whom are struggling financially but are expected to pay more for the same opportunities simply because of where they were born. The only thing in the proposal which is actually an improvement over past proposals is the increase in the child care reimbursement program by up to $1,000 for those on the quarter system. Yet this is only a reimbursement program, meaning students will still have to pay all costs up front, which can amount to around $2,000 a month. Students will still be on the hook for over $6,000 in child care costs each year.
US COVID death toll surges in third winter of the pandemic - The United States is entering its third COVID winter with a new surge of COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths being reported on the few COVID dashboards that continue to provide a glimpse into the state of the pandemic. The seven-day average of cases has nearly doubled since mid-October to 61,570 cases, although these figures remain unreliable and woeful undercounts. Even worse, the seven-day average in COVID deaths has turned sharply upwards again. While pre-Thanksgiving figures were trending under 300 per day, they surged to over 560 per day on a seven-day average after the holidays. Specifically, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center logged more than 1,000 COVID deaths on December 7. Hospitalizations have followed the same trend seen in deaths, having surged 25 percent to almost 38,000 admissions in the last two weeks. These are only compounding the strain on health systems from the flu and RSV epidemic. As COVID deaths turn upward from an already unacceptable level, one major demographic issue is coming more and more to the fore: the elderly, despite being the most heavily vaccinated age group, are dying in massively disproportionate numbers. For the week ending November 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that Americans aged 65 and older accounted for 92 percent of COVID fatalities. In the summer of 2021, when the vaccination campaign had attained its peak among the elderly, that figure was only 58 percent, and most of these were unvaccinated. This figure demonstrated the life-saving aspects of vaccines, particularly for those over 65. However, as the virus has continued to evolve, it has become more immune-evasive and is killing the elderly at an alarming rate, regardless of their vaccination status. Overall, those 65 and older, who make up 16.8 percent of the population, have accounted for 75 percent of the 1.07 million COVID deaths in the US, or 808,113, as of the latest figures from Statista. Those 65 to 74, who represent 10.1 percent of the population (33.67 million), accounted for 22.7 percent (244,086) of COVID deaths, or a rate three times higher than their representation. COVID wiped out 0.7 percent, or 1 in every 138 in this age group. The 75-to-84-year age group represent 4.9 percent of the population (16.21 million) and accounted for nearly 26 percent of all COVID deaths (279,276), a rate five times higher. There was one COVID death for every 58 people in this group. Those who are 85 and older paid the highest price. With around 6 million in this age demographic, representing just 1.8 percent of the US population, they accounted for 26.5 percent of COVID deaths (284,751), a rate of nearly 15 times their representation in the population. Almost 5 percent of all those over 85 and older have been killed by COVID so far, one in every 20. The meaning is clear: COVID disproportionately kills the oldest in society, and the older the person infected, the more likely the infection will be fatal. The bipartisan Trump-Biden policy of promoting mass infection of COVID amounts to “geronticide,” the deliberate culling of the elderly on a massive scale. This is not an accident, but a deliberate policy, and it is viewed as having significant benefits for capitalist society, disproportionately removing those who are regarded as a “drain” on “society’s resources,” by which the capitalists mean people who can no longer work and contribute to their profits.
Covid: BQ, XBB omicron subvariants pose serious threat to boosters - The omicron subvariants that have become dominant in recent months present a serious threat to the effectiveness of the new boosters, render antibody treatments ineffective and could cause a surge of breakthrough infections, according to a new study. The BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB and XBB.1 omicron subvariants are the most immune evasive variants of Covid-19 to date, according to scientists affiliated with Columbia University and the University of Michigan. These variants, taken together, are currently causing 72% of new infections in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The scientists, in a study published online Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Cell, found that these subvariants are “barely susceptible to neutralization” by the vaccines, including the new omicron boosters. The immune response of people who were vaccinated and had breakthrough infections with prior omicron variants also was weaker against the subvariants. “Together, our findings indicate that BQ and XBB subvariants present serious threats to current COVID-19 vaccines, render inactive all authorized antibodies, and may have gained dominance in the population because of their advantage in evading antibodies,” the scientists wrote. Although these subvariants are more likely to cause breakthrough infections, the vaccines have been shown to remain effective at preventing hospitalization and severe disease from omicron, the scientists wrote. The study examined blood samples from people who received three or four shots of the original vaccines, those who received the new omicron boosters after three shots of the original vaccines, and individuals vaccinated with the original shots who also had breakthrough infections from the BA.2 or BA.5 subvariants. For people who received the omicron boosters, antibodies that block infection were 24 times lower against BQ.1, 41 times lower against BQ.1.1, 66 times lower against XBB and 85 times lower against XBB.1 compared to their performance against the ancestral strain that emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. However, people who received the omicron boosters had modestly higher antibody levels against all of these subvariants compared with people who received three or four shots of the original vaccines, according to the study. People who were vaccinated and had breakthrough infections had the highest antibody levels of any group in the study, though neutralization was also much lower against the subvariants than the ancestral strain. The subvariants have evolved away from previous versions of omicron in dramatic fashion. BQ.1.1, for example, is about as different from omicron BA.5 as the latter subvariant is from ancestral Covid strain, according to the study. “Therefore, it is alarming that these newly emerged subvariants could further compromise the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines and result in a surge of breakthrough infections, as well as re-infections,” the scientists wrote. XBB.1, however, presents the biggest challenge. It is about 49 times more resistant to antibody neutralization than the BA.5 subvariant, according to the study. XBB.1, fortunately, is currently causing no more than 1% of infections in the U.S., according to CDC data. BQ.1.1 and BQ.1 represent 37% and 31% of new infections respectively, while XBB is causing 4.7% of new infections, according to CDC data.
What parents should know about Covid vaccine boosters for kids age 5 and under— Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the bivalent Covid-19 booster for children 6 months to 5 years old. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since recommended the booster, and now everyone 6 months and older is able to receive the updated coronavirus vaccine except kids who got three doses produced by Pfizer/BioNTech. Which young children are now eligible to receive the booster? What if kids haven’t started or completed the full series — do they now get the updated booster or the original monovalent vaccine? Can parents and guardians choose between the updated booster and the original shot? What are possible side effects? What if kids had Covid-19 already? And which families should consider the updated booster now and who could wait? To help us answer these questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician, public health expert, and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health” and the mother of two young children, ages 2 and 5.
‘Cocktail’ vaccines could offer protection against current and future SARS-CoV-2 'variants of concern' -- COVID-19 vaccinations that combine two or more distinct variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus could offer protection against both current and future 'variants of concern', say scientists at the University of Cambridge and Medical University of Innsbruck. In research published in Nature Communications, scientists show that the omicron variant of the virus is immunologically distinct from other variants such as the vaccine variant and the alpha and delta variants - that is, exposure to it has a different effect on the neutralising antibody response and hence protection to other variants. But also, sub-variants of omicron are themselves distinct from each other. Their research further suggests that a combination of infection plus vaccination could provide increased protection against future variants. Since SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in 2020, new variants of the virus have emerged as its genetic code evolves. Some of these variants threaten to spread faster, be more virulent or evade the protection of the vaccine - these are known as 'variants of concern'. Antonia Netzl, a PhD student at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, together with colleagues at Cambridge and Innsbruck, analysed data on people's immune responses to different variants and vaccinations. They used these to create 'antigenic maps' and 'antibody landscapes' to explore the differences between variants. A more recent variant of concern is the omicron variant, but since its emergence in December 2021 several sub-lineages have evolved, including BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, and BA.2.12.1. Of these, BA.5 became the dominant variant in many countries earlier this year, though new dominant variants have subsequently supplanted it. Netzl and colleagues found, using their maps, that not only was omicron immunologically distinct from alpha and delta, but its sub-variants BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5 were also distinct from each other. The antibody landscapes, an illustration of people's immune profile, allowed the researchers to see how vaccination and/or infection with another variant increased virus neutralization against other viruses.
Study indicates need for developing mucosal vaccines to induce potent immune responses at sites where SARS-CoV-2 infection occurs - In a recent study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, a team of researchers measured the antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from nasal fluid, saliva, and plasma to compare the antibody levels between blood and mucosal fluids.SARS-CoV-2 is known to enter the body through mucosal surfaces such as the nasal passages. However, most studies examining the level of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infections have measured the antibody levels in blood samples, and few have evaluated the antibody levels in mucosal fluids such as nasal secretions.Given that SARS-CoV-2 infections largely occur in mucosal tissue, the antibody levels in nasal fluids and saliva might not correlate with those in blood. Furthermore, the antibodies in the mucosa could result from antibody transudation from the plasma or the production of antibodies by plasma cells in the mucosa. Determining the differences in antibody levels in mucosal fluids and blood could aid the development of mucosal vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.In the present study, the team longitudinally measured the antibody levels in the nasal fluid, saliva, and plasma of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 before and after vaccination and vaccinated individuals who had not been infected with SARS-CoV-2. The results reported that the levels of anti-nucleocapsid antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 declined faster than the anti-spike protein antibodies in the plasma samples of unvaccinated infected individuals. Vaccination increased the anti-spike antibody levels in the plasma, while the level of anti-nucleocapsid antibodies remained the same. The anti-spike antibody levels in the nasal fluid decreased faster than in plasma.To summarize, the study measured the antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins in plasma, saliva, and nasal fluid samples of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 before and after vaccinations, as well as SARS-CoV-2-naive, vaccinated individuals.The results suggested that in unvaccinated, infected individuals, the anti-spike antibody levels in nasal fluid and saliva correlated with that in plasma, indicating the transudation of antibodies from blood to mucosa. Anti-nucleocapsid antibody levels in saliva, nasal fluid, and plasma declined rapidly compared to anti-spike antibody levels.Furthermore, vaccinations did not boost the antibody levels in nasal fluids and saliva to the same extent as in plasma, suggesting that intramuscularly administered vaccines might not be effective in increasing mucosal immunity. The results highlight the importance of developing orally and intranasally administered vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.
COVID: what we know about new omicron variant BF.7 --Since the COVID variant omicron emerged in late 2021, it has rapidly evolved into multiple subvariants. One subvariant, BF.7, has recently been identified as the main variant spreading in Beijing, and is contributing to a wider surge of COVID infections in China.But what is this new variant, and should we be worried? Although reports from China about this variant’s characteristics are concerning, it doesn’t appear to be growing too much elsewhere in the world. Here’s what we know.BF.7, short for BA.5.2.1.7, is a sub-lineage of the omicron variant BA.5.Reports from China indicate BF.7 has the strongest infection ability out of the omicron subvariants in the country, being quicker to transmit than other variants, having a shorter incubation period, and with greater capacity to infect people who have had a previous COVID infection, or been vaccinated, or both.To put this into context, BF.7 is believed to have an R0, or basic reproduction number, of 10 to 18.6. This means an infected person will transmit the virus to an average of 10 to 18.6 other people. Research has shown omicron has an average R0 of 5.08.The high transmission rate of BF.7, taken with the risk of hidden spread due to the many asymptomatic carriers, is understood to be causing significant difficulty in controlling the epidemic in China. The symptoms of an infection with BF.7 are similar to those associated with other omicron subvariants, primarily upper respiratory symptoms. Patients may have a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose and fatigue, among other symptoms. A minority of people can also experience gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhoea.BF.7 may well cause more serious illness in people with weaker immune systems.As omicron has evolved, we’ve seen the emergence of new subvariants better able to escape immunity from vaccination or prior infection. BF.7 is no different.BF.7 carries a specific mutation, R346T, in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (a protein on the surface of the virus that allows it to attach to and infect our cells). This mutation, which we also see in BF.7’s “parent” variant BA.5, has been linked with enhancing the capacity of the virus to escape neutralising antibodies generated by vaccines or previous infection.A recent study examined the neutralisation of BF.7 in sera (a component of blood that should contain antibodies) from triple-vaccinated healthcare workers, as well as patients infected during the omicron BA.1 and BA.5 waves of the pandemic. BF.7 was resistant to neutralisation, driven partly by the R346T mutation.
Specific Lots Of Detect Covid-19 Test Recalled - Detect, Inc. has recalled specific lots of the Detect Covid-19 Test citing possibility to give false negative results, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. The reliability of positive test results is not affected. The molecular, over-the-counter test is used to identify SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in self-collected nasal swabs. The recall affects a total of 11,102 tests shipped to customers from July 26, 2022 through August 26, 2022. The test was granted Emergency Use Authorization or EUA from the FDA on October 28, 2021. The affected tests include 7,382 units with lot number HB264, 1,800 units with lot number HB263, and 1,920 units with lot number HB264. The Use By Date of all recalled products is 1/1/2023. There is an increased chance that the tests from these lot numbers may give false negative results. The issue was identified after a thorough investigation by the company. However, Detect has not received any reports of false negative results related to the affected lots to date.
L.A. County hits high COVID-19 community level - Los Angeles County has again entered the high COVID-19 community level, further indication that the continuing spike in cases is starting to exert pressure on the region’s hospitals. Should hospitalization rates continue to rise this month, the county could be on track for a renewed universal mask order in indoor public settings. But it’s uncertain when such a rule might be handed down — or whether one will materialize at all. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer expressed some optimism Thursday that such a measure may be avoided. “I think it’s fair to say that I’m feeling more hopeful that our metrics might improve before they tank,” she said.However, given recent increases in coronavirus transmission and hospital admission rates, Ferrer urged residents to voluntarily mask up in indoor public settings.“We know everyone is super focused on when might this be a universal masking, indoor masking requirement, but what we really want to focus on today is: We all need to wear our mask now,” she said. “We haven’t reached that super dangerous threshold … but ... there’s just too much transmission and it’s creating a lot of risk. And the time to mitigate the risk is actually now.” L.A. County has already met one of two criteria that would trigger a new mandate: a relatively high rate of new coronavirus-positive hospitalizations. The county is now reporting 14.8 new coronavirus-positive hospitalizations a week for every 100,000 residents; a rate of 10 or more is considered particularly worrisome.The second focuses on the share of staffed hospital beds occupied by coronavirus-positive patients. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.9% of L.A. County’s staffed hospital beds are being used by coronavirus-infected patients, up from 5.6% from the prior week. However, that figure would need to be 10% or greater for a mask mandate to be on the table. Ferrer previously estimated that L.A. County might reach the second benchmark around Dec. 19. Since the county would need to exceed both metrics for two weeks, any new mandate wouldn’t have gone into effect until the first week of January, at the earliest.
Trumbull, Mahoning counties remain at 'high' level for COVID-19 — Two Northeast Ohio counties remain at the CDC's "high" community level for COVID-19. Trumbull and Mahoning counties remained in the "orange" zone (where they have been for weeks) when the state's latest coronavirus figures were released Thursday. This means health experts still recommend face masks for residents in those areas while indoors and in public. To meet the high threshold, counties must either see at least 20 new COVID hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in a given week or a combination of both 200 new cases and 10 new hospitalizations per capita. Currently, the statuses of both Trumbull and Mahoning are being exclusively driven by hospitalizations: Trumbull County saw just 113.15 new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, but 23.9 new hospitalizations. The latter figure was exactly the same in Mahoning County, which recorded 147.37 new cases per capita. By contrast, Cuyahoga County reported 16.4 new hospital admissions per capita, but stayed at the CDC's "medium" level by virtue of only 151.65 new cases. All other Northeast Ohio counties are also in the "yellow" zone, including Ashtabula, Erie, Lorain, and Medina after being "orange" just two weeks ago. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine did not enact any new mask or health mandates all previous times counties went "orange" (partly due to a controversial new law limiting his pandemic powers), and is unlikely to do so this time. However, private businesses and establishments across the state are still largely free to enact their own policies, and experts do say those in "yellow" zones may want to think about masking if either they or someone they regularly interact with is immunocompromised. The state of Ohio reported more than 16,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday, the largest seven-day increase since September and only slightly below last week's eight day figure (extended due to the previous Thanksgiving holiday).
Ohio sees new COVID-19 cases above 15,000 for 3 weeks (WCMH) – The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported 16,719 new COVID-19 cases, maintaining a nearly-doubled case count compared to last month. The heightened case rate carrying through the middle of December is still a smaller case rate than the last two years' holiday seasons. ODH's latest coronavirus report was a bump up from the past two, more consistent weeks. Ohio saw 16,061 new cases in the week prior, compared to the similar 16,091 cases in the week before that. Abducted Ohio children found during Florida traffic stop, sheriff says ODH began reporting COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccinations weekly instead of daily in mid-March after new infections slowed to a low level after the omicron wave. Over the past seven days, the state averaged around 2,338 new coronavirus cases per day. Ohio also saw a slight increase in hospitalizations, compared to two weeks prior staying essentially flat. The 636 hospitalizations reported by ODH in the past seven days -- about 91 per day -- was up just 31 from 605 last week and 607 the week prior. COVID-19 deaths also rose for Ohio, as ODH said 103 died from the virus compared to 86 deaths the week prior and 92 before that. A total of 4,493 Ohioans started the COVID-19 vaccination process in the last seven days. Another 4,001 finished vaccination by getting their second dose. Around six in 10 Ohioans are partially or fully vaccinated.
Ohio reports over 100 new COVID-19 deaths in past week - Ohio reported 16,719 new COVID-19 cases over the last seven days, bringing the state's total number of cases to 3,276,630, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard updated Dec. 15.Ohio has an average of 249.6 cases per 100,000 residents over two weeks, the Ohio Department of Health reported. The three-week average of reported cases is 16,290. The individuals who have tested positive range in age of less than a year to 111 years old; the median age is 39.The ODH reports 3,186,524 individuals are presumed recovered – defined as cases with a symptom onset over 21 days prior who are not deceased. Cuyahoga County accounts for 336,095 of the cases, 14,875 hospitalizations and 4,027 deaths.Cuyahoga County has been identified as having a “medium” community level of COVID-19 based on cases and hospitalizations by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines; get tested if you have symptoms; wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test or exposure to someone with COVID-19; and wear a mask on public transportation.As of June 13, an executive order signed by county executive Armond Budish, read in part, "In the event the CDC identifies Cuyahoga County’s community levels as ‘high,’ the county may choose to implement” mask requirements in county buildings." The ODH on Dec. 15 reported 132,210 cumulative COVID-19 hospitalizations, an increase of 636 from a week prior. A total of 14,634 individuals have been admitted to the ICU due to the coronavirus, an increase of 50 from a week prior. The three-week average of reported hospitalizations is 616. The three-week average of reported ICU admission is 43. There are currently 1,182 people hospitalized who have COVID-19 as of Dec. 15 – 178 are in the ICU, 86 are on ventilators. Ohio residents account for a total of 40,747 COVID-19 deaths, the ODH reported Dec. 15, an increase of 103 deaths from a week prior. The three-week average of reported deaths is 94.The median age of those who have died is 77.
U.S. Covid Death Rate Up By 40% - The United States has reported a whopping 40 percent increase in the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the last two weeks. Along with this, all other Covid metrics in the U.S. are on a rising trend. A 56 percent rise in Covid positive cases was reported in the country in the last two weeks, as per the latest data published by the New York Times. U.S. hospitals reported a 28 percent increase in the number of Covid patients in the last two weeks. The number of I.C.U. admissions due to the worse stage of the viral disease also increased by 22 percent. 38,324 people are hospitalized due to Covid. 4,374 of these patients are admitted in intensive care units. With 4,939 new cases of coronavirus infection reported on Sunday, the total U.S. Covid cases reached 99,417,644, as per Johns Hopkins University's latest data. The total number of people who have lost their lives due to coronavirus infection in the country rose to 1,084,450. The United States has reported 12 percent of people who are subjected to Covid tests nationwide are diagnosed with coronavirus infection. In states such as Arizona, Utah, South Dakota and Missouri, test positivity rates are above 20 percent. A total of 98,569,317 people in the U.S. have recovered from the killer disease so far, Worldometers data shows. 582 additional deaths were reported globally on Sunday, taking the total number of people who have lost their lives due to the pandemic so far to 6,653,291.>
Long Covid responsible for thousands of US deaths, report says, but true numbers are likely much higher --Long Covid leaves some people with long-term symptoms, but it can be deadly, too. It played a part in at least 3,544 deaths in the United States in the first 30 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report says. The report is the first official attempt by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics to quantify the number of long Covid deaths in the United States.Some experts say this finding is probably a significant undercount, considering that up to 30% of people who get Covid-19 go on to have long-term symptoms, according to the CDC. The research, published Wednesday, analyzed death certificates in the National Vital Statistics System from January 2020 through the end of June 2022.The research was difficult because, unlike with diseases such as cancer or diabetes, the US did not have a specific disease code to track long Covid during that time period.Not every doctor, medical examiner or coroner fills out a death certificate the same way, so the researchers had to create a program to scan more than a million death certificates for text. Because there is not one settled term to describe long Covid, they included several key terms in their search, including “chronic Covid,” “long Covid” and “post COVID syndrome.”They found that long Covid deaths made up less than 0.3% of the 1,021,487 Covid-related deaths from January 2020 through June 2022. There were some common elements among those who died, as well.The majority of people who died from long Covid were White, older and male.Specifically, 78.5% of the deaths were among non-Hispanic White people. Non-Hispanic Black people made up 10.1% of the deaths, followed by Hispanic people at 7.8%.The death rate was highest among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Natives, at 14.8 per 100,000 people. Covid-19 deaths have disproportionately been among people of color, CDC research shows, and the new report notes that more people who identify as Black or Hispanic may have died of the initial disease before they could even develop long Covid. This may account for some of the racial differences in the new findings. Studies have also found that with more barriers to health care for people of color, some people who died may not have been able to see a doctor to get an official Covid diagnosis, so it wouldn’t be recognized on a death certificate, the report said. Adults 75 to 84 accounted for 28.8% of long Covid deaths, followed by people 85 and older at 28.1% and people between 65 and 74 years old at 21.5%, the report says. In general, it is much more common for older adults to die from Covid than younger populations, CDC data shows.
Long Covid's Effects Go Beyond Respiratory Issues - When Covid-19 struck Jerry Guerinot in January 2021, the stocky 77-year-old defense attorney, who already had diabetes and heart disease, developed double pneumonia and was given a 5% chance of survival. After three months in a Houston hospital, he beat those grim odds. But Guerinot’s scarred lungs and weakened immune system set him up for new infections requiring further hospitalization and rounds of physical therapy. Almost two years after getting Covid and more than $1 million in medical bills later, Guerinot says he still suffers from the virus’s devastating aftereffects. “Covid damn near killed me,” he says. “It did everything it could do to me and then some.” Virus-damaged organs and compromised immune systems are just part of Covid’s public-health legacy; there’s also a litany of secondary effects still being measured, ranging from increases in mental illness to delays in getting cancer treatment. Some doctors also blame Covid for worsening the effects of other diseases, as with the cases of flu and respiratory syncytial virus now mobbing children’s hospitals. Weekly deaths from Covid reported to the World Health Organization have dipped to levels last seen in March 2020, as the number of severe cases is cut by vaccines, antivirals and the circulation of milder virus variants. But global excess deaths have remained stubbornly high in the pandemic era.
Researchers identify molecular determinants of post-infection long-COVID- In a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers presented a transcriptome-wide assessment of blood gene expression changes that occur in acute COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and are associated with PASC (post-acute sequelae of COVID-19), commonly known as long-COVID. PASC comprises a wide range of symptoms such as fatigue, dyspnea, and taste/smell disorders that develop post-recovery and persist for long periods among a few individuals who survive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. However, the molecular basis for PASC symptomatology has not been well-characterized and requires further investigation.In the present study, researchers characterized the molecular pathways of acute responses by the host to COVID-19 that are associated with subsequent PASC development. The study comprised hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were clinically followed up after the acute COVID-19 period, for whom whole blood gene expression profiling was performed, and antibody titers were assessed. For the analysis, 567 individuals (495 individuals with COVID-19-associated hospitalizations and 72 hospitalized and healthy individuals as controls) were recruited for the Mount Sinai coronavirus disease 2019 biobank study from April to June 2020. The participants' blood samples were subjected to RNA-seq (ribonucleic acid sequencing) analysis.The team identified ≥2.0 independent PASC etiologies (clusters) of symptom sequelae that showed divergent gene expression patterns associated with plasma cells. The two clusters formed by ≥100 plasma cell DEGs, indicative of multiple PASC etiologies, were the ‘plasma cell pulmonary cluster,’ including pneumonia and other pulmonary issues, and the ‘plasma cell miscellaneous cluster,’ including sleep difficulties, nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, cutaneous rashes, and taste/smell disorders. Of note, pneumonia-related DEGs were almost completely downregulated. The IgG-associated GO terminologies were lowered in the pulmonary cluster, independent of anti-S titers, and elevated in the other cluster that depended on anti-S titers. No DEGs were found in whole blood for any PASC symptoms, and DEGs were found to overlap with the corresponding CTS markers.
Why long Covid could be 'the next public health disaster' - Sam Norpel used to present regular financial updates to C-suite executives. Now, unpredictable bouts of broken, staccato speech make that impossible for the former e-commerce executive. Despite being up to date with vaccines and boosters, Norpel, 48, got Covid-19 in December 2021, when the highly transmissible omicron variant was fueling record U.S. caseloads. She never got better — and in fact, feels worse, with a range of debilitating symptoms that make it impossible to work. Her halting speech can be triggered by something as innocuous as cold water or cool air on the skin. Extreme noise sensitivity requires her to wear noise-canceling headphones all day. She’s also endured a low-grade migraine for nearly a year, which can flare up after prolonged screen time. When it comes to her body and mind, “the computer is just slow,” said Norpel, who lives with her family outside Philadelphia. “Right now, for me, 48 [years old] feels like 78.” Norpel is one of millions of Americans with long Covid, also known as long-haul Covid, post-Covid or post-acute Covid syndrome. While definitions vary, long Covid is, at its core, a chronic illness with symptoms that persist for months or years after a Covid infection. Up to 30% of Americans who get Covid-19 have developed long-haul symptoms, affecting as many as 23 million Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Researchers think most Americans have had Covid-19 at this point. Studies suggest subsequent infections raise the chances of an “adverse” outcome, including hospitalization and death. The virus has killed more than 1 million Americans to date, and some 2,000 more die each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.. Long Covid demonstrates that the virus is taking a lingering, pervasive and perhaps even more insidious toll. Medical experts have called it “the next public health disaster in the making.” “There are just large numbers of people affected by this,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital and a dean at Baylor College of Medicine. That number will “only continue to grow” as Covid-19 continues to circulate, HHS said in a recent report. “This could be game-changing in terms of how we do medical practice, in the same way HIV/AIDs was a game-changer,” Hotez said.
‘Impressive results’ with long COVID rehab program -- A rehabilitation programme that helps people with long COVID reduce their symptoms and increase activity levels has shown “impressive” results, say scientists. It is based on a gradual or paced increase in a patient’s physical activity. Before the start of the programme, the people taking part in the programme were reporting on average three “crashes” a week where they were left physically, emotionally or cognitively exhausted after mild physical or mental exertion. Six weeks later, at the end of the programme, that was reduced to an average of one crash a week. The patients also experienced a “moderate improvement” in their ability to be active and better quality of life. The pacing programme was run by the long COVID service at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and evaluated by clinicians and scientists at the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University. The findings are reported today (16/12) in the Journal of Medical Virology. Writing in the paper, the research team say the programme, which involves a supervised increase in physical activity, has the potential to be an effective treatment option. Dr Manoj Sivan, Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds, said: “Long COVID affects around two million people in the UK and it has an impact on their quality of life and in some cases, their ability to work. It is distressing and disabling. “Post-exertional malaise or post-exertional symptom exacerbation or simply "crashes", as described by patients, is a defining and important symptom of long COVID. “When patients get a crash, they experience feelings of complete exhaustion and wipe out and are unable to resume activities for hours or sometimes days. “The findings of this research are exciting because this is the first time that crashing episodes have been used as a marker for the condition and a structured pacing programme has now been shown to substantially reduce symptoms and improve quality of life."
China's zero-Covid easing: Cases explode in Beijing leaving streets empty and daily life disrupted — Empty streets, deserted shopping centers, and residents staying away from one another are the new normal in Beijing – but not because the city, like many Chinese ones before it, is under a “zero-Covid” lockdown.This time, it’s because Beijing has been hit with a significant, and spreading, outbreak – a first for the Chinese capital since the beginning of the pandemic, a week after leaders eased the country’s restrictive Covid policy.The impact of the outbreak in the city was visible in the upmarket shopping district Sanlitun on Tuesday. There, the usually bustling shops and restaurants were without customers and, in some cases, functioning on skeleton crews or offering takeout only. Similar scenes are playing out across Beijing, as offices, shops and residential communities report being understaffed or shifting working arrangements as employees fall ill with the virus. Meanwhile, others stay home to avoid being infected. One community worker told CNN that 21 of the 24 workers on her Beijing neighborhood committee office, tasked with coordinating residential matters and activities, had fallen ill in recent days.“As our superiors are mostly infected, there’s not much work being given to us,” said the employee, Sylvia Sun. “(The usual) events, lectures, performances, parent-child activities will definitely not be held.”Beijing, which prior to the new rules was already experiencing a small-scale outbreak, is now on the front lines of a new reality for China: not since the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan have Chinese cities dealt with an outbreak without hefty control measures in place.But for a place that until earlier this month assiduously tracked every case, there is now no clear data on the extent of the virus’ spread. China’s new Covid rules significantly rolled back the testing requirements that once dominated daily life, and residents have instead shifted to using antigen tests at home, when available, leaving official numbers unreliable. On Wednesday, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) gave up trying to keep track of all the new Covid cases, announcing it would no longer include asymptomatic infections in its daily count. It had previously reported these cases, albeit in a separate category from “confirmed,” or symptomatic ones.“It is impossible to accurately grasp the actual number of asymptomatic infections,” the NHC said in a notice, citing reduced levels of official testing.Authorities on Wednesday morning reported 2,249 symptomatic Covid cases nationally for the previous day, 20% of which were detected in the capital. Those figures are also thought to be impacted by reduced testing. CNN reporting from Beijing indicates the case count overall in the Chinese capital could be many times higher than recorded.
China braces for COVID spread to countryside as holidays near - (Reuters) - China set out urgent plans to protect rural communities from COVID-19 on Friday as millions of city-dwellers planned holidays for the first time in years after the government abandoned its stringent system of lockdowns and travel curbs. China's move last week to start aligning with a world that has largely opened up to live with the virus, followed historic protests against President Xi Jinping's signature 'zero-COVID' policies designed to stamp out COVID. But the excitement that met this dramatic u-turn has quickly given way to concerns that China is unprepared for the coming wave of infections, and the blow it could deliver to the world's second-largest economy. China reported 2,157 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for Dec. 15 compared with 2,000 the previous day. The official figures, however, do not capture the whole picture as testing has dropped, and are at odds with signs of wider spread in cities where long queues outside fever clinics and empty pharmacy shelves have become a common sight. There is particular concern about China's hinterland in the run up to local Lunar New Year holidays starting on Jan. 22. Rural areas are likely to be inundated with travellers returning to their hometowns and villages, which have had little exposure to the virus during the three years since the pandemic erupted. China's National Health Commission on Friday said it was ramping up vaccinations and building stocks of ventilators, essential drugs, and test kits in rural areas. It also advised travellers to reduce contact with elderly relatives.
Chinese doctors and nurses reportedly told to work while infected as Covid surges | China Chinese doctors and nurses are being told to keep working even when infected with Covid-19, staff and residents reported, as the virus rips through the population in the wake of eased restrictions. Some hospitals in Beijing have up to 80% of their staff infected, but many of them are still required to work due to staff shortages, a doctor in a large public hospital in Beijing told Reuters, adding he had spoken to his peers at other big hospitals in the capital. All operations and surgeries had been cancelled at his hospital unless the patient was “dying tomorrow”, he said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. A senior World Health Organization official said on Wednesday that China’s flare-up started “long before” restrictions were lifted, but since the sudden shift in policy major cities in Beijing appear to have experienced a huge surge in cases of Covid-19. Authorities have said it is “impossible” to measure, since most people are not being tested. “The explosion of cases in China had started long before any easing of the zero-Covid policy,” WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan said on Wednesday. “There’s a narrative that, in some way, China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden, the disease is out of control,” he added at the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva. “The disease was spreading intensively because the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease.” In Sichuan, a doctor surnamed Li told Reuters that their tertiary hospital was “overwhelmed with patients”. “There are 700, 800 people with fever coming every day,” Li said. “We are running out of medicine stocks for fever and cold. A few nurses at the fever clinic were tested positive, there aren’t any special protective measures for hospital staff and I believe many of us will soon get infected.” Claims of rampant infections among hospital staff are also spreading across social media. One Chongqing resident said primary care in their city had “imploded”.
Number of people in hospital with Covid in England rises 22% in a week - The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 in England has risen 22% in a week, the latest figures revealThere were 6,720 people in hospital with the virus on 14 December, up from 5,501 on 7 December, according to data released by NHS England.The number of mechanical ventilation beds occupied by confirmed Covid patients rose from 129 to 150 over the same period.The scale of the increase varies by region. The number of beds occupied by Covid patients in the south-west rose from 466 to 726, a 56% increase.Prof David Strain of the University of Exeter Medical School, said most of those primarily being treated for Covid were eligible for an autumn booster vaccination but had not yet had the jab. “The hospitalisations are going up but there is also the knock on effect on staff,” he saidHospital admissions involving people with Covid have also risen. There were 5,250 in the seven days to 14 December, a 28% rise from the 4,113 in the previous week.Some patients in hospital with Covid are likely to have been admitted for a different reason, but further data from NHS England reveals that the number of people primarily being treated for Covid in acute trusts increased by 17% between 6 and 13 December from 5,096 to 5,982. The data chimes with figures from the Office for National Statistics that suggests Covid infection levels are on the rise in England again, with 1.73%, or 1 in 60, people in the community estimated to have the virus in the week ending 26 November, up from 1.60% the previous week. The rise comes as the NHS is experiencing unprecedented industrial action, with nurses at many hospitals striking on 15 and 20 December and ambulance staff on 21 and 28 December.
WA public health leaders again urge masking indoors amid ‘tripledemic’ - It’s time, Washingtonians: You should resume regularly wearing a mask indoors, if you haven’t already.The new guidance from 12 county health officers and 25 health care leaders is fueled by the region and country’s surge in viral respiratory illnesses — mainly influenza and RSV, though COVID-19 numbers are beginning to creep back up. Pediatric hospitals in particular, including Seattle Children’s, have been overcapacity for months with the highest patient volumes many longtime staffers say they’ve ever seen. The flu is expected to continue circulating for months, according to the officials’ advisory released Friday.“As health officers and health care leaders working to improve the health of Washington residents, we recommend that everyone wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask when around others in indoor spaces to protect against both acquiring and spreading these infections to others,” according to the advisory.Earlier this week, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encouraged everyone to return to familiar masking routines, especially on public transit and during airport travel, as COVID, the flu and RSV converge in a “tripledemic.”Few jurisdictions nationwide appear to be actively reconsidering mask mandates, though Los Angeles County health officials said this week a new order could be implemented in January if hospitalizations worsen, according to The Los Angeles Times. Many local health officials, including those in Oregon, Colorado, New York and Massachusetts, have started to strongly recommend people wear masks inside, however.In Washington, flu deaths continue to tick up. As of Friday, 26 residents had died from influenza, including three children.The flu is generally most dangerous for kids under 5 years old — especially those under 2 — and adults over age 65, those who are pregnant and anyone living with another health condition, including asthma, diabetes or heart disease, according to the advisory.COVID cases and hospitalizations, which had been trending lower for months, are also showing signs of increasing again, according to state data. Since the start of November, the state has jumped from about 42 to roughly 64 COVID hospitalizations per day.Because emergency rooms are so packed with patients, doctors recommend instead going to an urgent care clinic if you have non-life-threatening injuries or illnesses, including coughing, wheezing, sore throat, mild dehydration or fever. If you’re experiencing difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, severe dehydration or other urgent symptoms, doctors still recommend the ER.
Authorities are urging indoor masking in major cities as the 'tripledemic' rages - Public health officials are revisiting the topic of indoor masking, as three highly contagious respiratory viruses take hold during the holiday season. Over the past few weeks, a surge in cases of COVID, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been sickening millions of Americans, overwhelming emergency rooms and even causing a cold medicine shortage. The triple threat has been called a "tripledemic" by some health experts.Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted this past week that the simultaneous combination of viruses has been straining healthcare systems across the country. The center's map that tracks COVID-19 community levels has been showing more orange recently, a color indicating an area of "high" infection, Walensky told NPR's Alisa Chang on All Things Considered."To protect communities in those circumstances at those high levels, we have recommended and continue to recommend that those communities wear masks," she said. CDC's latest COVID-19 community level map indicates that over 9% of counties in the country were considered to have a high risk of infection. The federal agency recommends that people living in those areas practice indoor masking. Generally, children under the age of 2 are not recommended to wear face coverings.Nearly every state on the map released Friday included at least one county where the COVID-19 community level is high or medium. Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia are the only U.S. jurisdictions where all of its counties have low community levels. You can look up your county on the CDC's page here to see what the local risk level is and whether masking is advised where you live.
Children dying as “tripledemic” of COVID, flu and RSV swamps New York - In line with trends across the United States, for several weeks now cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19 and the influenza have been at high levels in New York City and New York state. COVID cases have increased by 50 percent since Thanksgiving. The state’s health department estimates that 1,595 people are now hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York City, twice as many as since the middle of September. The COVID test positivity rate for the last seven days has been about 13 percent for both city and state. Some neighborhoods in New York City have positivity rates as high as 22 percent. Deaths from COVID in the city in the last two weeks have increased by almost 200 percent, with 128 people dying in the first two weeks of December, according to the statistics compiled by the city. These figures, as they have been for months, are a drastic undercount of the actual spread of the deadly virus since most tests done with over-the-counter rapid antigen tests are not recorded by the city or the state. The most rapidly increasing variant of the coronavirus in the city is XXB, a hybrid of two BA.2 variants. XXB is known to be resistant to COVID vaccines. On November 17, New York City statistics revealed another death of a child and two more on November 28 from COVID-related causes. No politician commented on this. No official institution decried these deaths as an unnecessary tragedy, and no media outlet, besides the World Socialist Web Site, has reported it. It was left up to educators to notice and publicize the deaths on social media. This follows a months-long pattern in which pediatric deaths—at least three children also died in March from COVID—are simply concealed by the authorities. The reason is not hard to find. The actual state of the pandemic directly cuts across the “Stay safe, stay open” program of the Democratic Mayor Eric Adams and his Chancellor of Schools, David Banks, which keeps in-person learning in the schools—one of the main vectors of the disease—open no matter what. Meanwhile, flu cases now make up 13 percent of all hospital visits in the city. The state’s Department of Health (DOH) reported a 64 percent increase in influenza statewide on the week ending December 3 over the previous week with a positivity rate of 35 percent of those tested. Statewide, hospitalizations because of the flu increased by 58 percent in the same period. On Wednesday, the Biden Administration gave New York state permission to use stockpiles of the flu treatment medication Tamiflu. The DOH has reported one pediatric death from the flu this season. The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also continues to hit children particularly hard, with over 300 admitted into New York City hospitals daily, most of them under two years old. The three-week average positivity rate on PCR tests for RSV on December 10 was 7 percent statewide according to the CDC. There is no vaccine for RSV. True to the pandemic motto of the government, “do nothing until it is too late,” on Thursday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised mask use in areas of high COVID-19 transmission, such as Los Angeles and New York. On December 9, New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) advised—but did not mandate—that New Yorkers wear masks indoors. The state’s Health Commissioner Mary Bassett sent out a letter to school districts advising masking, and the city sent a simpler letter to parents of schoolchildren.
Flu-related hospitalizations rise in Ohio; U.S. sees 'significantly earlier flu season' --Flu-related hospitalizations in Ohio reached 1,424 for the week of Nov. 27 through Dec. 3, which was an increase of 263% over the previous week. The most recent data shows Ohio as one of 46 states with high activity. "CDC estimates that since Oct. 1, there have already been at least 8.7 million illnesses; 78,000 hospitalizations; and 4,500 deaths from flu," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a recent telebriefing. She said flu hospital admissions reported in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' hospital surveillance system were high for this time of year and were also "demonstrating the significantly earlier flu season" the U.S. is currently experiencing. Outpatient visits are seeing a slight decline in the state. Flu-like illnesses are approximately 9.8% of outpatient visits in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health, which is a 6% decrease from the previous week. Montgomery County is still leading the state of Ohio with a total of 474 flu-related hospitalizations, but other metropolitan areas are also seeing increases, including a total of 333 hospitalizations in Cuyahoga County and 246 in Hamilton County. Dan Suffoletto, public information manager for Public Health — Dayton and Montgomery County, said the number of hospitalizations last week did decrease, but they were still elevated for this time of year. It is still not too late to get vaccinated against the flu, he said. "Make sure you stay home when you're sick," Suffoletto said. "Test yourself for COVID as well." While Montgomery County has had the most hospitalizations, the rate of hospitalizations in Clark County exceeds other area counties. Clark County has had 145 flu-related hospitalizations, which is a rate of 106.62 hospitalizations per 100,000 individuals. Montgomery County's rate is 88.22 hospitalizations per 100,000 individuals. Butler County's flu-related hospitalizations more than doubled in a week, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Butler County increased to 118 hospitalizations during the week of Nov. 23 through Dec. 3 when the county was previously at a total of 58 hospitalizations the week of Nov. 20 through Nov. 26. Warren County has had 55 hospitalizations.
Kentucky is experiencing some of the highest flu activity in the US, the CDC reports -- Kentucky is one of a dozen areas across the country seeing the highest level of influenza activity as of the start of December. That’s according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which rated 11 states and the District of Columbia at the top of the “very high” category for flu spread for the week ending Dec. 3, using data from the Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network. Across the U.S., nearly 26,000 people were admitted to hospitals in the latest reporting week with the flu, according to the CDC. Among the nationwide flu deaths this season are 21 children, including seven pediatric deaths in the last reporting week alone. The U.S. is experiencing an early flu season this year, with climbing hospitalizations for serious infections. The seasonal virus is making its rounds as other illnesses also take off, including rising COVID-19 cases and a sharp uptick in RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) hospitalizations.. Peak flu season in Lexington typically runs from late January through early February. According to the latest weekly flu update from the Kentucky Department for Public Health, the state counted at least 7,192 new cases from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, the latest reporting period. That number is included in the seasonal toll of 23,101. Children between ages 1 and 10 account for the the largest number of cases. The total is comprised of laboratory-confirmed cases, and officials, like those with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, stress that flu is more widespread in communities than confirmed case numbers indicate. In an email on Dec. 7, the LFCHD reported there have already been six flu deaths in Lexington this season, and the area is experiencing more confirmed cases that previous seasons. “The flu is hitting hard in Lexington: There are already more total lab-reported cases in the first 9 weeks this season than in the previous 3 years combined,” Kevin Hall, the agency’s communications officer, wrote. Across the Bluegrass State, 29 people have died from the flu this season, including two younger than age 18. One additional Kentuckian has died from a flu and COVID co-infection.
Flu hospitalizations down, school outbreaks up - The number of Minnesotans hospitalized from the flu has dropped by one-third since last week, but school outbreaks and cases in long-term care facilities have risen in the most recent Minnesota Department of Health weekly influenza report.According to the report, 382 people were being treated for the flu at a hospital, which is down from 563 hospitalizations the week prior. In total, 2,306 cases have required hospital treatment so far this season.RSV hospitalizations for young children (ages 4 and under) have dropped to less than 60 cases, about 30 fewer from the previous week.The fewer hospitalizations comes at a time when Minnesota health care facilities had been reaching capacity."This is the time of the year people are congregating more indoors, and just in contact more during warmer seasons. It's just that time of the year when these illnesses spread quickly," Allina Health Vice President Clinical Officer Ryan Else told KARE 11 last week.While hospitalizations have declined across the state, school outbreaks have been reported in 117 schools, 41 more outbreaks than the week before. Cases in long-term care facilities also rose by one in the most recent report. As of last week, influenza vaccination numbers were low. MDH reported just 33% of Minnesotans had gotten a flu shot, a massive drop from 2021-22 when the CDC's FluVaxView reported a 57.7% vaccination rate for Minnesota.
America's historically bad flu season may be peaking - The U.S. has been pummeled by respiratory illness, including a harsher flu season than we've seen in years. But new data indicates the outbreak may be peaking. The CDC estimates there have been at least 13 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 7,300 deaths, including 21 pediatric deaths, from the seasonal flu. A succession of respiratory illnesses — the viruses that cause the common cold, RSV, strep, COVID and the flu — kicked off early and hit hard this season. "This is unprecedented," said Alex Davidson. an epidemiologist for Kinsa, a company that forecasts infectious disease outbreaks with help of smart thermometers. Experts believe the nationwide trend may be close to peaking. But they predict the outbreak will morph into regional waves of illness into early spring that could stress health systems and collide with COVID. "Typically what we see is, after the holidays, after Christmas and New Year's, illness starts to increase and it peaks in late January, early February and then declines," Davidson said. But with so many illnesses hitting so early in the season, flu is likely to peak closer to next week, he said. The forecast projects we'll see sustained elevated levels of multiple respiratory illnesses including COVID for some time. "Between essentially Oct. 16 and early March, we're looking at a lot of illness," Davidson said. This matches up to the experience in the clinical setting, at least at Children’s National, where a succession of respiratory illnesses hit earlier than usual, causing exponential jumps in cases, before finally starting to drop, Combs said."We have just a lot of virus out there and then we're seeing some children who are otherwise healthy kids who are just getting sicker than we'd expect," Combs said. "That's always worrying because we're thinking about where is this all going as the winter continues and we're not even through December yet," she said. Those who haven't gotten a flu shot yet should absolutely get one since it's still expected to spread for some time, leaving those who haven't yet gotten it highly vulnerable. The CDC recently reported it appears the flu shot was a good match for the strain that's circulating this year.
Dog flu symptoms listed as outbreak hits United States - — Ahead of the holiday season, those traveling may want to consider making sure their furry companions are up to date on their flu vaccines as some states are reporting outbreaks of canine influenza. WATE’s sister station KRON in San Francisco, Calif., reported about the outbreak in California, but the outbreak is taking place in other states as well. A map from dogflu.com shows recent outbreaks in California, Texas, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York.According to the Tennessee Department of Health and Tennessee Department of Agriculture, there are two strains of influenza: H3N2 and H3N8. The Department of Agriculture says the virus particles are able to travel up to 20 feet, stay on some surfaces that dogs use often, such as food bowls, for up to 48 hours and to continue to be shed for up to 28 days. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), canine influenza is highly contagious and can also be spread between dogs by direct contact and nasal secretions in addition to contaminated objects. AVMA estimates the number of exposed animals that develop canine influenza is around 80%, although the death rate of the virus is less than 10%. AVMA reports that some dogs may be asymptomatic and still be contagious, but some symptoms of canine influenza to look out for are:
- Persistent cough
- Thick nasal discharge
- Fever, often between 104-105 degrees Fahrenheit
- Lethargy
- Eye Discharge
- Reduced appetite
For dogs that are socially active, being boarded or groomed, or have an underlying health condition, the Department of Agriculture suggests vaccination. As the virus can live on human hands for up to 12 hours, one of the best ways to prevent infection, in addition to disinfecting surfaces, is hand washing.
Avian flu outbreaks impacting Wabash Valley farms --Avian influenza, or the avian flu, has returned to the Wabash Valley.So far, over 220,000 birds have been affected by the virus. Indiana officials have released information about a turkey farm in the area that had a high-risk of bird flu exposure. See: Local commercial turkey flock identified as 'high-risk' for highly contagious bird flu That's spread out across 16 different farms in seven counties. It's impacting farms here in the Wabash Valley. Martin and Daviess counties both have one outbreak. Greene County has two.
How deadly bird flu sparked explosive outbreaks in 2022 — and why it matters for global health - Throughout the last decade, the global spread of bird flu has been a growing concern in Canada, but most farms managed to avoid outbreaks. The situation changed in 2022. This year, a highly contagious strain of avian influenza tore across the country, hitting close to 270 farms and production facilities, sparking concerns over poultry shortages and exposing workers from coast to coast to a potentially deadly pathogen. So far, roughly 4.7 million domestic birds have caught the virus. That's not counting untold numbers of wild birds falling ill, whose numbers are far tougher to track. "I would describe the scope as explosive and sort of all-encompassing," said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with the Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Organization at the University of Saskatchewan. "I mean, it really is a huge problem globally, and here in Canada." And it's a brewing crisis on two fronts, both to global bird populations and potentially to human health, if this highly infectious form of the influenza virus eventually evolves to better transmit between people in the decades ahead. "Eventually it could mutate itself such that it could gain the capacity and capability to transmit from poultry to humans," said Dr. Shayan Sharif, a professor with the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in southern Ontario. "And unfortunately this is the sort of worst-case scenario that we don't want to happen." Since 2003, a particularly deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain has led to a high number of deaths in poultry and wild birds around much of the world, including Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The explosion of cases across Canada this year follows a similar pattern globally. The highly contagious strain can transmit quickly in areas with high concentrations of poultry farms, such as Canada's Western regions, and its ongoing global spread may be linked to bird migration patterns. "We can't really control migratory birds," said Sharif. Given the scope of 2022 outbreaks across much of North America, there's concern the virus is now establishing itself on this continent.
Avian influenza update: Bird keepers in England must house all poultry and captive birds until further noticeAll poultry and captive birds must be housed in England until further notice, following an increase in the number of detections of avian influenza in wild birds and on commercial premises. Bird keepers are required to shut their birds indoors and implement strict biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the threat of avian influenza, regardless of whatever type or size. Introducing these steps on farm is the most effective way in reducing the risk of disease spreading. The disease could kill your birds if these actions aren't taken. The housing measures build on the strengthened biosecurity measures that were brought in as part of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) in October 2022. The AIPZ means that all bird keepers need to take extra precautions, such as restricting access for non-essential people on site, ensuring workers change clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures and cleaning and disinfecting vehicles regularly to limit the risk of the disease spreading. The UK has faced its largest ever outbreak of bird flu with over 250 cases confirmed across the country since late October 2021. Find out more about the latest bird flu situation in England and guidance for bird keepers and the public. These measures will remain in place until further notice, and will be kept under regular review as part of the government's work to monitor and manage the risks of avian influenza. The wild bird risk across Great Britain has increased from high to very high and the risk to poultry with stringent biosecurity remains at medium. The risk to poultry with poor biosecurity is still considered high, in light of the increased number of infected premises observed during September and October and the distance of some of these, as well as wild bird cases, from the coast. All bird keepers must now follow enhanced measures at all times to prevent the risk of future outbreaks.
FSU research links common sweetener with anxiety -- Florida State University College of Medicine researchers have linked aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in nearly 5,000 diet foods and drinks, to anxiety-like behavior in mice. Along with producing anxiety in the mice who consumed aspartame, the effects extended up to two generations from the males exposed to the sweetener. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “What this study is showing is we need to look back at the environmental factors, because what we see today is not only what’s happening today, but what happened two generations ago and maybe even longer,” said co-author Pradeep Bhide, the Jim and Betty Ann Rodgers Eminent Scholar Chair of Developmental Neuroscience in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.The study came about, in part, because of previous research from the Bhide Lab on the transgenerational effects of nicotine on mice. The research showed temporary, or epigenetic, changes in mice sperm cells. Unlike genetic changes (mutations), epigenetic changes are reversible and don’t change the DNA sequence; however, they can change how the body reads a DNA sequence.“We were working on the effects of nicotine on the same type of model,” Bhide said. “The father smokes. What happened to the children?” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved aspartame as a sweetener in 1981. Today, nearly 5,000 metric tons are produced each year. When consumed, aspartame becomes aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol, all of which can have potent effects on the central nervous system.Led by doctoral candidate Sara Jones, the study involved providing mice with drinking water containing aspartame at approximately 15% of the FDA-approved maximum daily human intake. The dosage, equivalent to six to eight 8-ounce cans of diet soda a day for humans, continued for 12 weeks in a study spanning four years. Pronounced anxiety-like behavior was observed in the mice through a variety of maze tests across multiple generations descending from the aspartame-exposed males. “It was such a robust anxiety-like trait that I don’t think any of us were anticipating we would see,” Jones said. “It was completely unexpected. Usually you see subtle changes.” When given diazepam, a drug used to treat anxiety disorder in humans, mice in all generations ceased to show anxiety-like behavior. Researchers are planning an additional publication from this study focused on how aspartame affected memory. Future research will identify the molecular mechanisms that influence the transmission of aspartame’s effect across generations.
Scientists link 1 in 100 heart disease deaths to weather extremes --Exposure to extremely hot or cold temperatures raises a heart disease patient’s risk of dying, according to a new study. Combing through four decades worth of global data on heart disease patients, the authors found that such extremes were collectively responsible for about 11.3 additional cardiovascular deaths for every 1,000 such incidents. Patients with heart failure were more likely than those with other types of heart disease to face negative impacts from very cold and hot days, the authors observed, publishing their findings on Monday in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. These individuals experienced a 12-percent greater risk of dying on extreme heat days and a 37-percent increased risk of dying on extreme cold days, in comparison to optimal temperature days in a given city, according to the study. The apparent link between temperature extremes and patient outcome “underscores the urgent need to develop measures that will help our society mitigate the impact of climate change on cardiovascular disease,” study co-author Haitham Khraishah, a fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a statement. To draw their conclusions, Khraishah and his colleagues conducted a global analysis of more than 32 million cardiovascular deaths over 40 years. The study looked at deaths in 567 cities in 27 countries in five continents between 1979 and 2019. While the precise measure of weather extremes varied from city to city, the researchers defined this as the top and bottom 1 percent of the temperature at which the lowest death rate is achieved.
Extreme temperatures increase risk of heart failure deaths - According to a new study performed, exposure to extremely hot or cold temperatures raises a heart disease patient’s risk of dying. The study has been recently reported in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. The worldwide analysis of over 32 million cardiovascular deaths over four decades reported a high number of deaths on days when temperatures were at their highest or lowest compared to moderate climate days.Among the kinds of cardiovascular disease, people with heart failure were most likely to be negatively affected by very cold and very hot days, facing a 12% higher risk of dying on extreme heat days than optimal temperature days in a particular city. The extreme cold raised the threat of heart failure deaths by 37%.The outcomes were dependent on an analysis of health data from over 32 million cardiovascular deaths that happened in 567 cities in 27 countries on 5 continents between 1979 and 2019. The explanation of extreme weather varied from city to city.It was specified as the top 1% or bottom 1% of the so-called, “minimum mortality temperature,” which is the temperature at which the lowest death rate has been obtained. For every 1,000 cardiovascular deaths, the researchers found that:
- Extreme hot days (above 86 °F in Baltimore) are available for 2.2 extra deaths.
- Extreme cold days (below 20 °F in Baltimore) reported 9.1 additional deaths.
- Of the kinds of heart diseases, the highest number of extra deaths was discovered for people with heart failure (2.6 extra deaths on extremely hot days and 12.8 on extremely cold days).
While we do not know the reason why temperature effects were more pronounced with heart failure patients it could be due to the progressive nature of heart failure as a disease. One out of four people with heart failure are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, and only 20 percent of patients with heart failure survive 10 years after diagnosis."
World's largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium bursts in Berlin - An aquarium in Berlin that was home to around 1,500 exotic fish burst early on Friday, spilling 1 million litres (264,172 gallons) of water and debris onto a major road in the busy Mitte district, emergency services said. Around 100 emergency responders rushed to the scene, a leisure complex that houses a Radisson hotel, a museum, shops and restaurants as well as what the DomAquaree complex says is the world’s largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium at 14 metres (46 ft) in height. “In addition to the unbelievable maritime damage... two people were injured by glass splinters,” Berlin police said on Twitter. A spokesperson for the Berlin fire brigade said emergency responders had been unable to access the ground floor of the building due to the debris. Search and rescue dogs were being sent to the scene, he added. The spokesperson said it was still unclear what had caused the aquarium to burst. Neither the fire brigade nor the police commented on the fate of the fish. Around 350 people who had been staying at the hotel in the complex were asked to pack their belongings and leave the building, the fire brigade spokesperson said. Buses were sent to the complex to provide shelter for people leaving the hotel as outside temperatures in Berlin were around -7 degrees Celsius (19.4°F), police said. Emergency services shut a major road next to the complex that leads from Alexanderplatz toward the Brandenburg Gate due to the large volume of water that had flooded out of the building.
Judge drops all charges against former Michigan Governor Snyder for his role in the Flint water crisis - On Wednesday, December 7, Michigan Circuit Court Judge F. Kay Behm, a Democratic appointee, dismissed all charges against former Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, for his role in the Flint water poisoning. Judge Behm issued her order one day after she was confirmed by the US Senate to become a federal judge in eastern Michigan, following her nomination to the federal judiciary by President Joe Biden. Behm’s ruling marks the culmination of a protracted process spanning more than eight years in which not one public figure or elected official has been held accountable for switching the water supply for the heavily working class and low-income city of Flint in April of 2014, resulting in the lead poisoning of tens of thousands of residents. The Flint River water was so corrosive that it leached lead out of service pipe lines that fed water to the homes of Flint residents. In September 2015, a study by Hurley Medical Center found that Flint children were being poisoned by the lead. A series of articles in the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News and other media outlets published in early 2016 established that Snyder was informed of the toxicity of the Flint water supply within six months of the switch, exposing as lies his claims to have had no knowledge of the problem until much later. Despite the devastating impact on the health and lives of Flint residents, as well as the collapse of home values in the city, Snyder was charged only with two misdemeanors for willful neglect, and pleaded not guilty. The charges were brought in January 2021 during the first term of the current governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, who was reelected in last month’s midterm elections. This past October, officials who faced more serious charges than Snyder, including felony charges of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and perjury, were all let off the hook on the same grounds as Snyder, but by a higher court. Behm heard arguments calling for the dismissal of Snyder’s charges six weeks ago, on October 26.
Senate backs big land transfer for Nevada military complex (AP) — The U.S. Senate has voted for a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air training complex that will transfer of a huge swath of public land to the military. The U.S. Senate passed a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air base as part of its defense spending bill, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, that is set to finalize a historic transfer of public land to military use. The amendment designates 558,000 additional acres for military training at the Naval Air Station Fallon east of Reno. The Senate on Thursday approved as part of the annual defense spending bill what is likely to be one of the final steps in yearslong negotiations to designate 872 additional square miles (2,258 square kilometers) of land for bombing and military use to the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, which is 65 miles (104 kilometers) east of Reno. The measure also designates more than 906 square miles (2,347 square kilometers) of land for conservation, wilderness areas and other protected areas, as well as roughly 28 square miles (73 square kilometers) of land and $20 million each to two Native American tribes. Churchill County, where the training facility is located, will also receive $20 million. The Fallon complex is the Navy’s main aviation training range, supporting aviation and ground training, including live-fire exercises. All naval strike aviation units and some Navy SEALs train at Fallon before deployment.The House approved the National Defense Authorization Act last week. It now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature. The management of Nevada’s vast swaths of federal land, and the differing needs it serves, has long been a push-and-pull for different groups in Nevada that has resulted in legal battles over lithium mining, development, national monuments and endangered species designations. The training facility expansion has been under consideration for years as Nevada’s congressional delegation has introduced it time and again while trying to balance the interests of different groups, including the Navy, conservationists, counties and Native American tribes who have long considered the land to be sacred. The expansion will “improve our national security, fuel economic growth in Churchill County, and preserve important cultural heritage sites for Tribal nations,” Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement. Praise also came from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and Sen. Jacky Rosen, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Mark Amodei and Churchill County Chairman Pete Olsen. The Navy has said the expansion is critical to meeting combat training needs for modern aircraft and weapons systems that have outgrown training capabilities over the past two decades. “This critical legislation enhances our Nation’s security by allowing our Carrier Air Wings and Naval Special Warfare Teams to train in a more realistic environment and better prepare for strategic competition,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said in a statement. Several groups have historically been split or mixed on the expansion, including conservationists and some nearby tribes. Brian Sybert, the executive director for the Conservation Lands Foundation, thanked Cortez Masto, Rosen and Amodei for “crafting a delicate community compromise that has resulted in the only conservation win within this year’s NDAA.” But Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity called it “a devastating loss for Nevada wildlife.” He said the public land set to be transferred is one of the few swaths of U.S. land that is largely absent of humans. He added that even parts of the land that will still be maintained by the U.S. Interior Department will still hold combat training exercises that can harm wildlife.
Winter storm slams western U.S., bringing heavy snow to Northern California -- Heavy snow fell in the Sierra Nevada as a winter storm packing powerful winds sent ski lift chairs swinging and closed mountain highways while downpours at lower elevations triggered flood watches Sunday across large swaths of California into Nevada. More than 250 miles (400 km) of the Sierra from north of Reno south to Yosemite National Park remained under winter storm warnings either until late Sunday or early Monday. The Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe shut down some operations when the brunt of the storm hit Saturday. The resort posted video of lift chairs swaying violently because of gusts that topped 100 mph (161 kph), along with a tweeted reminder that wind closures are "always for your safety." To the south, Mammoth Mountain reported that more than 20 inches (51 cm) of snow fell Saturday, with another 2 feet (.6 meters) possible as the tail end of the system moved through the eastern Sierra. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab in Soda Springs, California reported Sunday morning that more than 43 inches (110 cm) had fallen in a 48-hour span. A 70-mile (112-km) stretch of eastbound U.S. Interstate 80 was closed Saturday "due to zero visibility" from the northern California town of Colfax to the Nevada state line, transportation officials said. Chains were required on much of the rest of I-80 and other routes in the mountains from Reno toward Sacramento. This image from a Caltrans traffic camera shows snow conditions on California SR-89 Snowman in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Calif., on Saturday. A stretch of California Highway 89 was closed due to heavy snow between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, Cali., the highway patrol said. AP Many other key roads were closed because of heavy snow, including a stretch of California Highway 89 between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, the highway patrol said. The U.S. Forest Service issued an avalanche warning for the backcountry in the mountains west of Lake Tahoe where it said "several feet of new snow and strong winds will result in dangerous avalanche conditions." Gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph) that sent trees into homes in Sonoma County north of San Francisco on Saturday could reach 100 mph (160 kph) over Sierra ridgetops on Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Heavy rain was forecast through the weekend from San Francisco to the Sierra crest with up to 2 inches (5 cm) in the Bay Area and up to 5 inches (13 cm) at Grass Valley northeast of Sacramento. Warnings and watches were also up across Southern California, as heavy rain caused localized flooding in greater Los Angeles.
A massive coast-to-coast winter storm is bringing blizzard conditions and threatening tornadoes - - A giant winter storm cutting through the US is bringing severe weather, with dangerous blizzard conditions in the Great Plains, icy weather in the upper Midwest and severe storms along the Gulf Coast Tuesday.There are more than 10 million people across 17 states under winter weather alerts as the massive storm continues to head east.The coast-to-coast storm – which walloped the West over the weekend – is expected to strengthen as it pushes eastward Tuesday, and stall across the central Plains into Thursday, snarling travel amid blowing snow and freezing rain. Meanwhile, the southern end of the storm is expected to bring late-season tornadoes along with strong thunderstorms. The Storm Prediction Center forecasts a risk of tornadoes, large hail and damaging straight line winds from eastern Texas into northern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi. A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Texas and Oklahoma until 4 a.m. A couple of tornadoes are possible, as well as ping-pong-sized hail and wind gusts up to 75 mph. The storm, which first hit the Western US with much-needed snow and rain, resulted in winter storm alerts stretching from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.In Denver, up to 5 inches of snow is expected and 50 mph wind gusts are possible.Blizzard warnings extend from just west of Denver into the Dakotas, where harsh life-threatening conditions are expected.Some areas inside the blizzard warnings could receive as much as 20 inches of snow, with winds strong enough to knock down tree limbs and cause power outages.Blizzard conditions will “ramp up” overnight in the upper Midwest, and central Plains as residents brace for “a long drawn out period of snowfall,” according to Brandon Wills, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Blizzards bury Plains as tornadoes head for South - Blizzard conditions are expected to bury much of the Northern Plains through Wednesday, as a multiday tornado outbreak threatens the South-Central U.S. The winter storm first moved onshore this weekend in the Pacific states, drenching coastal California with rain and bringing snow to the Intermountain West, according to AccuWeather. The system then shifted eastward on Tuesday, where “hundreds of thousands of square miles from the central Rockies through the northern Plains will be affected,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. Blizzard warnings were in effect on Tuesday for portions of six states: western Nebraska, northeastern Colorado, western South Dakota, southeastern: The same storm system is expected to generate severe weather — including tornadoes — across the southern U.S. through the middle of the week, according to AccuWeather. The storm will progress across northeastern Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and western Mississippi into Tuesday night.From Wednesday morning through evening, the greatest severe weather risk applies to southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi, southern Alabama and the western part of the Florida Panhandle. Already on Tuesday morning, at least two tornadoes hit northern Texas — including one near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, The New York Times reported. Passengers were briefly encouraged to shelter in place. The Office of Emergency Management in Wise County, northwest of Dallas, confirmed two injuries and “multiple reports of homes and businesses damaged.” The unrelenting winter storm system is expected to hit New England on Thursday or Friday, CBS News reported. The storm will likely bring more than a foot of snow to central and northern New England but just rains to Boston and coastal areas.
7 injured in Texas tornadoes, storms; blizzard warnings issued in 6 states as massive winter storm rocks US - A massive winter storm roaring across the West dumped up to 4 feet of snow in parts of Nevada and Idaho, fueled blizzard warnings in six other states, and spawned tornadoes that injured several people in the South. More than 25 million Americans were under dangerous weather watches and warnings Tuesday. The storm's march across the nation could last through the weekend when parts of the northeast could be blasted with more than a foot of snow, forecasters warned. "This is a 'we are not kidding' kind of storm," the South Dakota Department of Transportation tweeted as it warned of road closures across much of the state. "BLIZZARD and ICE STORM WARNINGS have been issued. Rain/freezing rain and heavy snow coupled with high winds will impact travel." The powerful storm system left some southern communities in shambles. There were multiple reports of injuries in the south, mainly in Texas and Louisiana, as tornadoes and storms tore through the region. Parts of Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas were facing blizzard conditions – snow with winds of at least 35 mph, reducing visibilities to a quarter of a mile or less – and several other states faced winter storm and ice storm warnings, the National Weather Service said. The Nebraska Department of Transportation closed stretches of Interstate 80 and Interstate 76. The Nebraska State Patrol urged people to stay off the roads. In Colorado, the weather service office in Boulder said state transportation department cameras showed "deteriorating conditions across the plains" Tuesday. The heaviest snow reported in the past 24 hours happened in the northern and western areas of the state, including 10 inches in Stoner and more than 8 inches in Steamboat Springs, according to AccuWeather. Parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota have also been dealing with freezing rain, according to AccuWeather. Residents from these states have been advised to avoid unnecessary travel due to icy roads and outages may be possible due to strong winds and as ice accumulates on power lines. Communities in South Dakota have also seen piles of snow on Tuesday with some seeing 18 inches of snow, AccuWeather said. Tornado sirens blared across much of North Texas as a line of storms tore through the Dallas area, and social media posts depicted extensive damage. The weather service office in Fort Worth confirmed Tuesday that five tornadoes touched down and as many as 12 may have occurred. Three of the tornadoes touched down in Tarrant County, one in Wise County and one west of Paris, Texas in Lamar County. "Line continues to move east producing isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail up to quarter size," the Fort Worth office tweeted. In Grapevine, 20 miles northwest of Dallas, at least five people were injured, and a Sam's Club, a Walmart and the Grapevine Mills Mall were shut down due to damage, police said. Several other businesses in the area also were damaged, police said in a Facebook post. Emergency management officials in Dallas warned wind gusts could reach 70 mph and that hail was possible. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport briefly activated a "shelter in place" program.
Severe thunderstorms spawn destructive tornadoes in southern U.S. - (several videos) Severe thunderstorms spawned destructive tornadoes in the southern United States on December 13, 2022, leaving at least one person dead and several people missing. Severe storms with all hazards, including intense tornadoes, and heavy to excessive rain that could cause flash flooding are forecast to continue across the Deep and Middle South on December 14. A child is dead, his mother is missing, another person is hurt and multiple homes are destroyed in the wake of tornadic storms that blew through the Four Forks area, Caddo Parish, Louisiana on December 13.1 “It’s really a sad, sad situation. And it’s one of the most unusual things I have ever seen,” Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator said, noting that the child’s body was found about 800 m (0.5 miles) from where the house used to be. Caddo Sheriff’s Office reports that several structures were damaged and electrical lines and trees were knocked down in the area. The few houses that were in one area were destroyed, the sheriff said. Early on, authorities reported that one woman was taken to a hospital for treatment of unknown injuries, and two people were missing.The National Weather Service Fort Worth office confirmed 5 tornadoes in North Texas — 1 in Wise County, 1 west of Paris, Texas, and 3 in Tarrant County, where 5 people were injured. According to the Grapevine Police Department, none of the injuries sustained are life-threatening.The NWS Storm Prediction Center is reporting 12 tornadoes on December 13 – 5 in Louisiana, 4 in Texas, and 3 in Mississippi. This severe weather outbreak is expected to continue on December 14 and into Thursday, December 15.The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued an Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms over the Lower Mississippi Valley through Wednesday morning. The hazards associated with these thunderstorms are frequent lightning, severe thunderstorm wind gusts, hail, and a few tornadoes.
3 are dead in Louisiana as a massive winter storm causes tornadoes across South : NPR— A volatile storm ripping across the U.S. spawned tornadoes blamed for killing at least three people in Louisiana, and the line of punishing weather threatened neighboring Southern states into the nighttime hours Wednesday. To the north, the huge storm system delivered blizzard-like conditions to the Great Plains and was expected to push more snow and ice into Appalachia and New England. The wintery blast dumped more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow in parts of South Dakota. Authorities in St. Charles Parish west of New Orleans said eight people were taken to hospitals with injuries Wednesday afternoon and one woman was found dead outdoors after a suspected tornado struck the community of Killona along the Mississippi River, damaging homes and flinging debris. "She was outside the residence, so we don't know exactly what happened," St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said of the woman killed. He added. "There was debris everywhere. She could have been struck. We don't know for sure. But this was a horrific and a very violent tornado." About 280 miles (450 kilometers) away in northern Louisiana, it took hours for authorities to find the bodies of a mother and child reported missing after a tornado swept away their mobile home Tuesday in Keithville, a rural community near Shreveport. "You go to search a house and the house isn't even there, so where do you search?" Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told reporters, noting the challenge faced by emergency responders as he toured a mile-long (1.6-kilometer) path of destruction in Keithville. The Caddo Parish Coroner's Office said the body of 8-year-old Nikolus Little was found around 11 p.m. Tuesday in a wooded area. His mother, Yoshiko A. Smith, 30, was found dead under storm debris around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. Smith's body was discovered one street over from where their home had been. Her son was found dead as far as a half-mile away, said Caddo Parish Sheriff's Sgt. Casey Jones. He said the boy's father had left to buy groceries before the storm hit. "He just went to go shopping for his family, came home and the house was gone," said Jones. When deputies arrived, they found nothing but a concrete slab.
Power cuts in seven states as deadly winter storm and tornadoes hit US - BBC News A fierce winter storm has left a trail of destruction across the southern US, devastating communities and killing three people in Louisiana. The weather has also left tens of thousands without power across six states. Several east coast states are forecast to be hit by snow and freezing rain late on Thursday and into Friday. The storm system has also brought blizzard-like conditions to the Midwest. In Louisiana, officials have so far confirmed three deaths and dozens of injuries as a result of the storm. In one incident, a 56-year-old woman in St Charles Parish near New Orleans was killed after a tornado destroyed her home. Communities across the state reported severe damage, including downed power lines and collapsed buildings. In Jefferson Parish - a suburb of New Orleans - the sheriff's office said that homes and businesses in the area had "suffered catastrophic damage". One Louisiana resident, Michael Willis, told the BBC's US partner CBS that a close encounter with a tornado near the town of Harvey was "the scariest thing" he has ever experienced. The tornado lifted him up while he was sitting in his car, a large SUV, while debris smashed through his windshield and passenger window. "It happened fast," he said. "I'm looking at wood, buildings, all in the same spin, like it's spinning with me and then it just slung me out." Earlier, Louisiana health officials confirmed that a 30-year-old woman and her eight-year-old son were found dead in Caddo Parish in the northwest corner of the state. As of 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Thursday, about 10,000 people were still without power in various parts of the state, according to the website poweroutage.us. Power outages were also reported in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. In Wisconsin alone, 60,000 people were without power on Thursday afternoon. In Florida and Georgia, millions of people were still under tornado watch as the sun rose on Thursday, with authorities warning residents of "damaging to destructive winds". A tornado watch is in effect in parts of western Florida and south-western Georgia until Friday morning. Further north, forecasters expect snow and freezing rain to continue through at least Friday afternoon across a large swathe of the country from the east coast to the Midwest. "This system is notable for the fact that it's going to impact areas all the way from California to eventually the Northeast," National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira told CBS. In South Dakota, the snow - which was nearly two feet (0.6 metres) high in some areas - prompted officials to close a 320-mile (514km) stretch of highway. Additionally, in Minnesota, the Star Tribune reported that blizzard-like conditions were likely until Thursday, with as much as 2.5 feet (0.75 metres) of snow likely by the weekend. In Canada, large parts of Ontario remained freezing rain warnings on Thursday, while snowfall warnings were issued for areas including Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
Winter Storm Diaz Blankets High Plains With Snow, Ice - Videos from The Weather Channel
Duluth hit with nearly 2 feet of snow over 48-hour span — A second round of heavy snow hit central and northern Minnesota Thursday, resulting in accumulations of nearly two feet since Tuesday, Dec. 13. The National Weather Service reported 22.7 inches of snow in Duluth, making it the eighth biggest 48-hour storm to ever hit the city. The largest storm recorded is the Halloween Blizzard in 1991, according to NWS Duluth. The snow mostly missed the Twin Cities earlier in the week, but Thursday's round dropped a couple of inches across the metro. As of noon, NWS Twin Cities reported 3.4 inches of snow at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Chanhassen had 4.6 inches. Duluth was under a Blizzard Warning from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning, but it's since been downgraded to a Winter Weather Advisory. As a result of the snow, schools in the area were closed and Duluth City Council shifted its Thursday meeting to a virtual/remote meeting. Bentleyville USA, a popular holiday destination near Lake Superior, also remained closed on Thursday.Duluth remains under a Blizzard Warning until 6 p.m. Thursday, while the metro will be under a Winter Storm Warning from midnight to 6 p.m. Thursday. The metro is expected to get between 3-6 inches.
Powerful storm continues across Northern U.S., Ice Storm Warnings issued – (aminated weather maps, et al) The powerful and massive multi-day storm continues across the Northern U.S. and in Florida on Thursday, December 15, 2022. Heavy snow, gusty winds and blizzard conditions continue across the Upper Midwest, while frozen precipitation of ice and snow begins in the central Appalachians and interior portions of the Northeast. Heavy snow and blizzard conditions persist this morning across the Northern Tier of the central U.S. beneath a deep upper-level low as a plume of warmer, moist air flows over colder temperatures around a low at the surface, NWS forecaster Putnam noted.1 This low is forecast to slowly move to the northeast across the Upper Midwest through Saturday, December 17. Snow will begin to taper off first over the Northern High Plains with little additional accumulations expected outside of the vicinity of the Black Hills. Snow is forecast to continue into the day Thursday farther east in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Additional accumulations should be generally between 100 and 200 mm (4 – 8 inches), with higher amounts of 200 – 300+ mm (8 – 12+ inches) possible in the Red River Valley and in the Arrowhead of Minnesota. Strong, gusty winds upwards of 80 km/h (50 mph) will lead to blizzard conditions for the Arrowhead of Minnesota while blowing snow will remain a concern over the High Plains even after the snow has concluded. Snow should begin to taper off for the Upper Midwest as well late Thursday night into Friday. There will be a wintry mix further east over Michigan and the Lower Great Lakes with some light snow and ice accumulations possible through Thursday evening. Snow will linger longer and higher accumulations are expected along the eastern shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie as flow turns easterly over the lakes and lake-effect snow ramps up late Friday, December 16 and continuing into Saturday, December 17. Rain, a wintry mix, and snow have begun to overspread the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas ahead of the frontal system to the west, Putnam said. Heavy rain near the coast, significant freezing rain in the central/northern Appalachians, and heavy snow for the northern Appalachians and northern Mid-Atlantic are expected through Thursday as another low pressure center forms near the coast of the Carolinas and moves up the Eastern Seaboard. Ice Storm Warnings are in effect for far northwestern Virginia, northeastern West Virginia, the far western Maryland Panhandle, and into south-central Pennsylvania. Heavy snow totals between 150 – 300 mm (6 – 12 inches) are forecast from central Pennsylvania north into interior Upstate New York. Higher totals between 450 – 610 mm (18 – 24 inches) will be possible for the Catskills and Adirondacks. Portions of central Pennsylvania are most likely to see both accumulating ice and snow. The snow will expand into interior New England on Friday as the low moves northward up the coast. Snow totals between 150 – 300 mm (6 – 12 inches), with locally higher amounts upwards of 450 – 610 mm (18 – 24 inches) for higher elevations in the Berkshires and the Green and White Mountains are expected here as well. Forecast models suggest significantly colder air is expected to push into U.S. from Canada starting on December 19 and 20 and spread to most of the country by December 25.
Severe winter storm blasting Northeast, Midwest with heavy snow, blizzards -- A destructive winter storm that's unleashed blizzard conditions and freezing rain on much of the country while spawning deadly tornadoes in the U.S. South began impacting the Northeast on Thursday night. More than 40 million people across the U.S. were under winter storm warnings or advisories Thursday, as the severe storm caused widespread power outages and travel chaos across several states.An estimated 32,500-plus customers were without power in Minnesota, along with nearly 30,000 others in Wisconsin early Friday as the storm dumped heavy snow across the states, causing school closures.Outages were also reported in Pennsylvania (over 17,700 customers), West Virginia (more than 16,300) and Virginia (almost 10,000), according to poweroutage.us. Meanwhile, NOAA preliminary snowfall data shows that from 8am Tuesday through 9pm Thursday ET, 29 inches fell in Finland, Minnesota; Chadron, Nebraska, saw 24 inches and both Herdsfield and Lisbon in North Dakota recorded 15.5 inches."Significant travel hazards persist across parts of the Upper Midwest due to snow and blowing snow," per a National Weather Service update early Friday."Heavy snow will move across the Northeast, with lake effect snow downwind of the Great Lakes continuing through the weekend. Mixed precipitation continues in the Central Appalachians." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in a statement Thursday urged everyone in impacted regions to "avoid unnecessary travel" with some parts of the state forecast to see over a foot of snowfall from Thursday through Saturday. Up to two inches per hour could fall in some places, she noted.
Record-breaking snow and coldest air mass of the season hit Japan - - Heavy sea-effect snow and the coldest air mass of the season are affecting Japan this week, forcing authorities to issue blizzard warnings for parts of the country. On Wednesday, December 14, The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned people to be on alert for violent winds, high waves, and disruptions to public transportation and traffic caused by blizzards and snowdrifts. Maximum instantaneous wind speeds of 122 km/h (75.8 mph) were recorded in Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture on December 14, followed by 104 km/h (64.6 mph) in Niigata City. Sukayu in Aomori Prefecture, known as the snowiest place in Japan, accumulated 145 cm (57 inches) of snow on the ground by December 15 — 132% of normal. On the same day, Shumarinai recorded 127 cm (50 inches) of snow on the ground — 117% of normal, and Hijiori 97 cm (38.2 inches) — 146% of normal. Heavy sea-effect snow continued into Friday, December 16. In 48 hours, Hijiori registered 134 cm (52.7 inches), surpassing the previous December record of 107 cm (42.1 inches). During the same period, Obanazawa recorded 104 cm (40.9 inches) — also setting a new December record, while Shinjo recorded 89 cm (35 inches), making it an all-time record and 390% of normal. The record-breaking snow comes after the country experienced its warmest autumn (September – November) since records began in 1898.
Rare winter sandstorm hits Beijing, China - A rare winter sandstorm swept over northern China on Monday, December 12, 2022, causing Beijing to suffer its worst bout of air pollution in nearly two years. This is the latest sand and dust warning signal issued by Beijing since 2015. A thick cloud of dust blanketed the capital Beijing on December 12, causing the air quality index (AQI) of PM10 particles to hit 999 — meaning it exceeded the top of the scale, far beyond the point deemed hazardous to health.1 Concentrations of PM10 particles exceeded 561 micrograms per cubic meter by 08:00 LT, according to Beijing’s environmental monitoring center. That figure is more than 10 times the daily average guideline of 45 micrograms per cubic meter set by the World Health Organization.1 Sandstorms, originating in Mongolia, also hit northern Hebei and Shanxi provinces, western Gansu, and central and western Inner Mongolia on Monday, state-run news agency Xinhua said. Beijing Meteorological Observatory issued a blue dust warning signal early Monday morning. “From the perspective of the same period of the year, it is relatively rare for Beijing to have obvious dust weather in December,” the observatory noted.2 “This is also the latest sand and dust warning signal issued by Beijing since 2015.” In general, such obvious sand and dust weather in December is relatively rare. Generally, the weather is cold at this time, and the soil in the sand source is frozen or covered with snow, so it is not easy to produce sand. The obvious dust weather in Beijing this time is still affected by the cold air, and the strong wind transports the sand and dust from the upstream sand source to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.
Severe floods hit Namibia after 3 months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours - Unusually heavy rainfall hit Namibia’s capital Windhoek on December 14, 2022, damaging buildings, including a police station, and sweeping away vehicles. Large parts of Wernhil Park Shopping Centre were underwater, with customers reporting that when they returned to their cars, they found them submerged.1 Damage to roofs resulting in water leaks has also been reported, while fast-flowing rivers have caused havoc in the suburbs and informal areas of the city. According to data provided by WMO, Windhoek recorded 95 mm (3.7 inches) of rain on December 14, which is more than 3 months of its average December rainfall (30 mm / 1.1 inches).2 Severe weather has also affected areas of the Ohangwena Region in the north of the country on December 14 when 5 people died in a burning house in Oneifiyo village, Epembe Constituency after it was struck by lightning.
Severe floods and landslides hit Kinshasa, leaving more than 140 people dead, DR Congo - (videos)At least 141 people died in floods and landslides caused by heavy rains that hit several outlying districts of the capital Kinshasa (population 15 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo, on December 13, 2022. The floods are described as some of the worst to ever hit the city. Search and rescue operations are still in progress and the number of fatalities could still rise. According to the latest reports, 38,787 households had been flooded and about 280 houses had collapsed, while the N1 highway connecting Kinshasa to the main seaport of Matadi had been severely damaged. The prime minister’s office said in a statement that the road could be closed for 3 – 4 days. Health minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani Mbanda told the Reuters news agency that the ministry had counted 141 dead but that the number needed to be cross-checked with other departments.1 City police chief General Sylvano Kasongo said that the bulk of people dead were on hillside locations where there had been landslides.2 Congo’s government spokesman Patrick Muyaya posted images showing a major road that appeared to have subsided into a deep chasm, with crowds staring at the damage. “On National Road 1 there is a big hole. Only pedestrians can pass. We do not understand how the water cut the road,” said local resident Gabriel Mbikolo.3
Malaysia rescuers race to find survivors of deadly campsite landslide (Reuters) - A landslide killed at least 16 people, among them children, as they slept in their tents at a campsite in Malaysia on Friday, officials said, as search teams scoured thick mud and downed trees for more than 20 people still missing. The landslide in Selangor state bordering the capital, Kuala Lumpur, occurred before 3 a.m. (1900 GMT), tearing down a hillside into an organic farm with camping facilities. Among those killed were three children and 10 women, according to the fire and rescue department. The cause of the landslide was not immediately clear and there had been only light rain in the area. Camper Teh Lynn Xuan, 22, said one of her brothers was killed and another was being treated in hospital. "I heard a loud sound like thunder, but it was the rocks falling," she told Malay-language daily Berita Harian. "We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us. Luckily, I was able to leave the tent and go to someplace safer. My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves." The disaster struck about 50 km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur in Batang Kali town, just outside the popular hilltop area of Genting Highlands, known for its resorts, waterfalls and natural beauty. Pictures posted on the Father's Organic Farm Facebook page show a farmhouse in a small valley, with a large area where tents can be set up. There were 94 people caught in the landslide but 61 were found safe, with 17 still missing, according to the Malaysia National Disaster Management Agency.
5 people killed, 15 injured after large structure collapses during severe hailstorm, Bolivia - At least 5 people have been killed and 15 others injured after an intense hailstorm hit Bolivia’s Achacacha Municipality, Omasuyos Province on December 10, 2022. The intensity of the storm destroyed the roof of a large structure in the middle of the graduation ceremony for students in the Santiago de Pecharía community of the Achacachi Municipality. The collapse left at least 5 people dead and 15 others injured.
The Arctic Is Becoming Wetter and Stormier, Scientists Warn - As humans warm the planet, the once reliably frigid and frozen Arctic is becoming wetter and stormier, with shifts in its climate and seasons that are forcing local communities, wildlife and ecosystems to adapt, scientists said Tuesday in an annual assessment of the region. Even though 2022 was only the Arctic’s sixth warmest year on record, researchers saw plenty of new signs this year of how the region is changing. A September heat wave in Greenland, for instance, caused the most severe melting of the island’s ice sheet for that time of the year in over four decades of continuous satellite monitoring. In 2021, an August heat wave had caused it to rain at the ice sheet’s summit for the first time. “Insights about the circumpolar region are relevant to the conversation about our warming planet now more than ever,” said Richard Spinrad, administrator of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We’re seeing the impacts of climate change happen first in polar regions.” Temperatures in the Arctic Circle have been rising much more quickly than those in the rest of the planet, transforming the region’s climate into one defined less by sea ice, snow and permafrost and more by open water, rain and green landscapes. Over the past four decades, the region has warmed at four times the global average rate, not two or three times as had often been reported, scientists in Finland said this year. Some parts of the Arctic are warming at up to seven times the global rate, they said. Nearly 150 experts from 11 nations compiled this year’s assessment of Arctic conditions, the Arctic Report Card, which NOAA has produced since 2006. This year’s report card was issued on Tuesday in Chicago at a conference of the American Geophysical Union, the society of earth, atmospheric and oceanic scientists. Warming at the top of the Earth raises sea levels worldwide, changes the way heat and water circulate in the oceans, and might even influence extreme weather events like heat waves and rainstorms, scientists say. But Arctic communities feel the impacts first. “Our homes, livelihoods and physical safety are threatened by the rapid-melting ice, thawing permafrost, increasing heat, wildfires and other changes,” said Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer, an author of a chapter in the report card on local communities, the director of climate initiatives for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and an Inupiaq from Kotzebue, Alaska.
Strong explosion, pyroclastic flows at Lascar volcano, Chile - A strong vulcanian explosion took place at Lascar volcano, Chile at 15:36 UTC on December 10, 2022.
- Lascar is a composite stratovolcano located in Chile’s Antofagasta region. It is the most active volcano in northern Chile, ranking No. 14 in the Volcanic Risk Ranking of Chile
- The last eruption at this volcano took place in 2017 (VEI 2)
- The largest historical eruption took place in 1993, producing pyroclastic flows to 8.5 km (5.3 miles) NW of the summit and ashfall in Buenos Aires
The Argentine Mining Geological Service (SEGEMAR) through its Argentine Volcano Surveillance Observatory (OAVV), in conjunction with the Chilean Southern Andes Volcano Observatory (OVDAS), reports the technical alert level of the Lascar Volcano was increased to Yellow on December 10, 2022. The change in technical alert level is associated with the explosive event recorded at 12:36 local time (15:36 UTC), which was correlated with a long-term seismic event ( LP) associated with the fluid dynamics inside the volcano, whose energy reached 320 cm² and which generated an eruptive column that reached 6 000 m (20 000 feet) above the crater level — 11.5 km (38 000 feet) a.s.l., with a dispersion of ash in the southwest direction. The explosion generated pyroclastic flows that affected the sectors near the crater of the volcano. The recorded pyroclastic flows were short-range, toward the north and southeast flanks of the volcano. It should be noted that according to the information provided by the Volcanic Ash Warning Center (VAAC) Buenos Aires, the volcanic ash plume headed toward Chilean territory. lascar volcano eruption december 10 2022 bg Image credit: OAVV Due to the characteristics of the registered event and considering the historical instrumental record for this volcano, it is not possible to rule out the occurrence of explosions similar to the one registered, considering a potential danger area of 3 km (1.8 miles) around the active crater of the volcano.
Multiple M-class solar flares erupt from AR 3165 – (video) Multiple M- and C-class solar flares were detected on December 14, 2022, with the strongest being M6.2 at 14:42 UTC. While several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were produced, none of them appears to be Earth-directed. Solar activity reached moderate levels in 24 hours to 12:30 UTC on December 14, with four M-class flares.1 The largest was an M2.4 at 07:40 UTC from Region 3165 (S20W44, Dso/beta). Region 3165 also produced an M1.1 flare at 11:59 UTC. There was also an M1.1 at 08:31 UTC and M1.4 at 09:27 UTC from old Region 3153. A Type II radio sweep (925 km/s) was associated with the M1.1 and CMEs were observed associated with both M1 flares from 3153. None of them were Earth-directed. There was an additional CME associated with a filament eruption centered near S40W30. This event was first visible in C2 imagery near 04:30 UTC. Modeling of this event shows it did not appear to have an Earth-directed component. At 12:31 UTC, a fifth M-class solar flare — measuring M4.1 — erupted from Region 3165. The strongest solar flare of the period — M6.2, erupted at 14:42 UTC. The source was also AR 3165. This flare did not have any associated radio sweep signatures, nor was a CME clearly observed in available coronagraph imagery. However, there is some evidence in GOES-SUVI imagery of potentially, weak disruption due to some associated coronal dimming in the area of the source region.2 This event was followed by M3.2 at 14:59 UTC, M2.2 at 17:12 UTC, M1.3 at 20:50 UTC, M2.2 at 20:58 UTC, M1.3 at 21:39, and M4.5 at 22:06 UTC, all from AR 3165. The total number of M-class flares to 23:59 UTC on December 14 was 11. A total of 7 M-class flares were registered from midnight to 17:12 UTC on December 15, all of them from AR 3165:
World’s first carbon border tax lands in Europe - --In a global first, the European Union reached a preliminary agreement today to impose a carbon tax on imported goods.The move is intended to help European industries avoid being undercut by cheaper goods made in countries with weaker greenhouse gas emission rules.The proposal has already upset supply chains around the world and rankled E.U. trading partners, including U.S. manufacturers that worry the plan will make it more challenging to export goods to Europe. High-emitting developing countries in particular have expressed frustration.But the deal has also prompted other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, to consider implementing their own border adjustment taxes. Democratic lawmakers in the United States have likewise proposed a similar border tax system.And European officials say the tariff would be key for shoring up efforts to combat the climate crisis. The E.U. is one of the largest players in international trade, along with China and the U.S.The deal was reached after all-night negotiations among European national governments and the European Parliament, capping off a year of talks. The plan is slated for adoption in the next few weeks, along with a larger legislative package aimed at slashing planet-warming pollution.Companies importing products such as cement, steel, iron, fertilizer and hydrogen would be required to buy certificates to cover all the carbon dioxide emissions associated with those goods, such as their production and transportation.Notably, the provision includes indirect emissions, or the carbon pollution from the electricity used to manufacture the imported goods. The bulk of emissions from certain goods, such as aluminum, comes from the huge amounts of electricity used in production. The tax comes amid heightened trade tensions between Europe and the U.S. after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers generous tax credits for electric vehicles made in the U.S. and free-trade allies. European leaders have argued that the boon unfairly disadvantages the continent’s manufacturers.
European Union reaches landmark agreement on a pollution tax for imports - Plans for the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism took a significant step forward Tuesday morning after a provisional deal between the Council of the EU and members of the European Parliament was reached. In a statement, the Parliament said the CBAM levy would be established “to equalise the price of carbon paid for EU products operating under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the one for imported goods.” Under the plans, firms importing into the EU will need to buy “CBAM certificates.” These will be used to make up the difference “between the carbon price paid in the country of production and the price of carbon allowances in the EU ETS,” the statement said. The CBAM will cover a range of goods and sectors such as electricity, fertilizers, aluminum, cement, steel and iron. It has also been broadened to include hydrogen and other products like bolts and screws. “Only countries with the same climate ambition as the EU will be able to export to the EU without buying CBAM certificates,” Tuesday’s statement said, adding that the plans had been designed to fully comply with World Trade Organization rules. The new rules, it said, would “ensure that EU and global climate efforts are not undermined by production being relocated from the EU to countries with less ambitious policies.” The European Parliament’s statement described the new bill as being “the first of its kind.” It is set to apply from October 2023, with a built-in transition period. In practice, the plan means countries not aligned with the EU’s climate goals would be forced to cut emissions if they want to export goods into the EU, or stump up extra cash for certificates. “CBAM will be a crucial pillar of European climate policies,” Mohammed Chahim, a member of the European Parliament, said. “It is one of the only mechanisms we have to incentivise our trading partners to decarbonise their manufacturing industry.” In its own statement, the Council of the EU (government ministers from each EU country) said Tuesday’s agreement still had to be confirmed by the European Parliament, EU member states’ ambassadors, and then “adopted by both institutions before it is final.” The CBAM is a significant cog in the EU’s broader goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by the year 2030, compared to 1990. Plans for the mechanism have previously drawn ire from major economies such as China. The CBAM is also being formulated at a time when the EU has raised concerns about the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act.
For better or worse, billionaires now guide climate policy - They are not elected to any office. But in the fight against global warming, the world’s billionaires have more influence than many heads of state.As government struggles to move quickly to contain greenhouse gases, ultrawealthy investors and philanthropists are increasingly grabbing the reins, using their fortunes to guide the transition to cleaner energy toward their favored projects and market strategies.They are men with household names like Jeff Bezos (net worth: $113 billion, according to Forbes), Mike Bloomberg ($77 billion) and Bill Gates ($106 billion), along with other billionaires who have lower profiles but equally large climate ambition. Their role as shadow policymakers has grown amid the evolution of the Biden administration climate agenda and the recent U.N. Climate Change Conference in Egypt, known as COP27, where their projects were on prominent display.“This kind of hobbyist approach has become a big factor in the way we are addressing climate change,” said David Victor, co-director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative at the University of California at San Diego. “Is this the ideal way to do it? No. The ideal way would be large publicly oriented programs. But that is not happening anywhere in the world.”“In some cases the billionaires are making real progress,” Victor said. It is a growing point of tension in the climate movement, as the pursuits of billionaires come under heightened scrutiny more broadly. Some of the recent financial and philanthropic misadventures of figures such as crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried and Tesla founder Elon Musk are leading the public to ask whether these people are as well-equipped to solve the planet’s problems as they claim — or if they are using their influence to steer public policy toward vanity projects.Many of these men have benefited from the same industrialization they are now purporting to save us from. In a recent report, Oxfam International found that 125 billionaires create more emissions through their investments and lifestyle than all of France. “They need to pay up, and not as philanthropy,” said Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a climate activist from the Philippines. “What they are doing is not solidarity or aid. They should not be praised for this. Their greed has caused the global climate crisis.” Bill Gates on Climate Change, Covid and Whether He Has Too Much Influence But billionaires are nevertheless stepping into the void, holding themselves out as uniquely well positioned financially and intellectually to meet a challenge that they say has become too big for government, burnishing their legacies as planet-savers along the way.
Energy giants, Bill Gates back effort to map 'clean' hydrogen - Many of the world’s largest energy companies and a Bill Gates-led group are joining an industry-led initiative to measure and map the emissions footprint of “clean” hydrogen, underscoring the financial stakes linked to the fuel’s climate profile.The Open Hydrogen Initiative (OHI) was convened earlier this year by the Gas Technology Institute, S&P Global Platts — which is now S&P Global Commodity Insights — and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) (Energywire, Feb. 17). Since then, the Inflation Reduction Act established the first-ever production tax credits for lower-carbon hydrogen, lifting expectations among investors and advocates of the fuel.The list of members in the initiative announced this morning include Gates’ Breakthrough Energy; investor-owned utilities such as National Grid PLC, Dominion Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp.; oil and gas producers such as EQT Corp., Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp.; and advocates at Hydrogen Forward, the Renewable Hydrogen Alliance and the Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition. Academics and think-tank researchers from the Clean Air Task Force, the Bipartisan Policy Center, Columbia University, Stanford University’s Hydrogen Initiative and the government of Alberta, Canada, also are among the new backers. The initiative wants to tap companies’ knowledge to create protocols for measuring, reporting and verifying the greenhouse gas emissions associated with hydrogen production — including for methods that are rarely used now but could emerge because of the climate law’s incentives, such as those that use processed waste as a feedstock. Once the protocol is complete, the group plans to use it to create an open-source catalog of hydrogen facilities’ emissions.The initiative’s conveners say that level of transparency will be necessary to reassure global investors that “clean” hydrogen is really as clean as sellers claim.With laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, “you’re starting to put a price on [hydrogen’s] emissions. You’re starting to put a dollar sign on them, because they matter,” added Gant. “You need to have something like what OHI is doing that has evolved and is accepted globally.” In September, the initiative began looking into the blind spots and gaps in current models for emissions accounting, according to GTI and S&P Global. By the fourth quarter of 2023, its conveners hope to have a beta version of the measurement tool completed so it can be demonstrated on hydrogen production facilities in the United States.Eventually, the protocols could become a useful tool for regulators as well, said OHI’s organizers. “This is a fundamentally necessary step to put us on the path to hydrogen accounting,”
Biden administration announces $2.5 billion loan to help GM and LG make EV batteries The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office will announce Monday that it is issuing a $2.5 billion loan to help start three lithium battery manufacturing hubs in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. The DOE loan programs office will loan the money to Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of General Motors and South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solutions making batteries to power electric vehicles. General Motors has pledged to go all-electric by 2035, phasing out conventional gas and diesel-powered engines. In a statement, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the DOE loan would “jumpstart the domestic battery cell production needed to reduce our reliance on other countries to meet increased demand.” “DOE is flooring the accelerator to build the electric vehicle supply chain here at home – and that starts with domestic battery manufacturing led by American workers and the unions that support them,” Granholm said.
Ahead of shift to EVs, auto industry makes slow progress on efficiency - American automakers are starting to reduce tailpipe emissions again after several years of stalled improvements in fuel efficiency, according to new federal data released Monday, a product of the Biden administration restoring rules eased by Trump officials. U.S. passenger cars and light duty trucks are on course to get about 5% more efficient in the most recent model year, 2022, averaging more than 26 miles per gallon for the first time, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA released these estimates Monday as part of an annual report on the country’s auto fleet, a leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions.The data shows the industry made very little progress on efficiency from model year 2016 through 2021, as cheap gasoline prices lured new buyers to purchase sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, making them the dominant choice for consumers. Nationwide fuel economy gained just 5% in that span, at a time when a deal with automakers originally struck during the Obama administration was supposed to require gains of more than 20%.“It seems since the previous administration announced their intent to rollback … standards, automakers have basically done nothing,” said Chris Harto, a senior policy analyst for transportation and energy at Consumers Reports. “Policy is playing a role. If policy was driving automakers to do more, they would do more.”Cars and trucks from model year 2021 — the most recent with complete data, according to the EPA — averaged 25.42 miles per gallon, up slightly from the 25.38 of model year 2020 and higher than the figure for model year 2016, 24.7.At the behest of industry executives, the Trump administration had eased efficiency rules on passenger cars and trucks, saying changing consumer demands were making the old standards impractical. The Obama administration had made those rules — following rules first pushed by California — a cornerstone of its climate agenda, its primary response as the transportation sector become the country’s top source of emissions. Passenger cars and trucks alone accounted for 15% of all U.S. emissions in 2020, according to EPA data.
Exclusive: Biden preparing to fund overseas mining projects - The Biden administration is looking at funding roughly a dozen mineral projects overseas in a bid for more resources used in lower-carbon technologies. Supporting more mining overseas could ease a raw material squeeze hurting electric vehicles, but it could also have a side effect: giving Biden’s foes fodder against him for rejecting mines at home. Jose Fernandez, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, said in an interview the administration is mulling “around a dozen” mineral projects around the world for potential federal financing. It’s one way the administration is responding to the rapidly rising demand for EV battery minerals like lithium — an issue that's raising prices. This money may be distributed through the Mineral Security Partnership, a Biden program leveraging international relations to address U.S. mineral supply concerns. The partnership includes Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Commission. Part of its work will include mineral projects around the world “potentially receiv[ing] financing from the U.S. and/or other MSP partners,” a State Department spokesperson confirmed. This includes mining, mineral processing and recycling projects. Federal funding will be available via two agencies: the Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation, which is already funding a nickel mining project in Brazil. The big picture: Unless something drastic changes, the world would need to mine a lot more to rid itself of fossil fuels. EVs and solar panels rely on unique metals produced in only a few places. Most of the supply is currently controlled by China. Tech innovation and recycling won’t be enough to resolve this — at least not as fast as scientists recommend we cut carbon emissions. Some of these minerals, like graphite, are hard to find in the United States, per E&E News. Fernandez said the program "is what we believe is the best way to address" the problem that "we're going to need an exponential amount of rare earths and critical minerals, above what we have today." The program's success will mean “raising the level of investment and [doing] it in a way that benefits these countries and would be sustainable.” : The partnership is talking with American carmakers, including Ford, General Motors, Rivian and Tesla. They’re also talking to at least two U.S. lithium mining firms, Albemarle and Piedmont Lithium. These companies are members of a State Department “clean energy resources” committee formed in March that Fernandez said is involved with the partnership. Fernandez declined to specify companies the partnership is considering for potential financial support.
California Speeds Up Strategy to Reduce Climate Emissions (1) California aims to accelerate its climate strategy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2045 while shifting its economy away from fossil fuels under a plan a state regulator adopted Thursday. The plan aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 48% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, a bolder goal than the previous 40% target. The state would build no new gas-fired power plants, increase funding for mass transit, and reduce oil and gas consumption to less than one-tenth of current demand. The plan adopted by the California Air Resources Board, the state’s air regulator, also calls for capturing and storing carbon dioxide, both through natural means, such as forests, and a variety of carbon capture technologies. “Implementing this plan will achieve deep decarbonization of our entire economy, protect public health, provide a solid foundation for continued economic growth, and drastically reduce the state’s dependence on fossil fuel combustion. It will clear the air in our hardest hit communities,” Liane Randolph, who chairs the air board, said in a statement. The California Air Resources Board estimates the plan would cut air pollution by 71%. The plan also is projected to create 4 million new jobs and save $200 billion annually in health costs from pollution. California’s largest utility and several environmental advocates expressed support for the accelerated plan ahead of the vote, but some had reservations. The board’s plan “allows for a wide range of decarbonization strategies, and will help deliver carbon neutrality through significant economy-wide emissions reductions and carbon removal,” said Carla Peterman, Pacific Gas and Electric’s executive vice president of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer. “We’re really thrilled about the opportunity—to get to 100% clean energy much faster—that’s laid out in this plan,” said Laura Deehan, state director for Environment California. “Our biggest concern is a continued over-reliance on carbon capture technologies that are unproven.”
Wealthy Governor’s Company to Pay Nearly $1 Million for Chronic Air Pollution Violations — www.propublica.org -- The owner of one of Birmingham, Alabama’s oldest industrial plants has agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine after releasing excessive amounts of toxic air pollution into nearby historic Black neighborhoods, according to a proposed consent decree filed Friday in a Jefferson County court.If the consent decree is approved by a judge, the Jefferson County Board of Health’s $925,000 penalty against Bluestone Coke would be the largest fine in the agency’s history. But it represents a small fraction of the more than $60 million in fines the company could have faced for its alleged violations. The consent decree would not require Bluestone to admit to wrongdoing.The plant was the subject of a ProPublica investigation in September that revealed how Bluestone, owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, repeatedly failed to make crucial repairs to the facility. The lack of timely maintenance accelerated the release of cancer-causing chemicals into the air that neighboring residents breathedIn August 2021, after finding Bluestone in rampant violation of its air pollution rules, the Jefferson County Department of Health denied the company’s request to renew its permit to operate. The board that oversees the Health Department also sued Bluestone, alleging that the company’s operation of the plant was a “menace to the public health.” Because of the scope of repairs needed, the plant, which for more than a century has processed coal into a fuel called coke, has been idle since October 2021. Bluestone will be able to work toward reopening the plant once a judge signs off on the deal.In the generations before Bluestone acquired the plant in 2019, people living in the area — some of them forced to reside there because of racist housing policies in the 20th century — faced exposure to levels of contaminants in the air and soil that have ranked among the worst in the nation. The pollution has stained the facades of nearby houses a dark charcoal, helped drive down home values to as little as $1,000 and sickened so many residents that families feared letting children play outside.The coke plant was part of a cluster of industrial facilities on the city’s north side that became a symbol of environmental injustice in the South. Government agencies across the region have struggled to reduce the harm to working-class communities of color due to disproportionate exposure to industrial pollution, according to Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former environmental justice official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.Environmental experts have told ProPublica that any penalty under $1 million would be shockingly low.
Long-duration energy storage has attracted more than $58B in global commitments since 2019: WoodMac- Long-duration energy storage projects, or LDES, have attracted more than $58 billion globally in private and public commitments since 2019, according to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie.If all commitments for projects advanced, 57 GW of LDSE would be installed, according to the research and consultancy group, or about three times the global energy storage capacity deployed this year. “However, most long-duration energy storage technologies are still nascent and technology developers will struggle to scale cost-effectively before 2030,” the analysis said.Wood Mackenzie’s “Long-duration energy storage report 2022” analyzes the worldwide LDES industry, including Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.“To accelerate the energy transition, more renewable energy sources will be used for generating power, but this in turn presents challenges for the reliability and stability of the power system,” said Kevin Shang, senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie and lead author. “Some technology solutions exist today, but they are far from meeting society’s power needs.”Long duration energy storage technology makes it possible for wind, solar and other renewables to match supply with demand. Fossil fuels are currently used to balance supply and demand.The technology, capable of providing energy for eight to about 100 hours, can be a low-cost solution to enable a grid with more renewable sources, the Wood Makenzie report said. “This is why companies and governments have significantly increased their commitment to the LDES market,” it said.Pumped hydro storage is the only LDES technology deployed on a large scale and will continue to dominate the market until 2030, the report said.Wood Mackenzie’s analysis shows a geographical disparity in the development of the LDES market. The deployment of vanadium redox flow batteries and compressed air energy storage has accelerated rapidly in China due to strong policy support.“In the western hemisphere, the U.S. continues to invest in and build its LDES industry, with companies actively pushing for innovation, and promoting pilot and demonstration projects,” Shang said. “In contrast, most European countries have been less enthusiastic.”
Power companies rush to install batteries in Texas, California, amid concern over grid reliability --— Within three years, a surge of new large-scale battery projects is expected to come online on Texas and California's power grids, as developers seek to store electricity produced by those state’s sprawling wind and solar farms. The Department of Energy estimates that 21 gigawatts of storage capacity will plug into U.S. power grids before 2026, more than two and half times the amount now in operation. Almost 8 gigawatts of batteries are expected to be built in Texas.The boom in battery development comes as weather dependent wind and solar energy becomes an increasingly large part of the U.S. power grid, requiring an alternate power source when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.As renewable energy has grown over the past decade, natural gas-powered turbines have shouldered a lot of that load. But as lithium-ion battery prices have come down in recent years — at the same time natural gas prices have increased — power utilities are increasingly looking to large batteries to fill the gaps. The boom coincides with growing concern about the reliability of the U.S. power grid amid changing weather patterns linked to climate change. Texas suffered a days long deadly blackout in 2021 after a winter storm caused power plants and natural gas wells to freeze. Batteries could theoretically help provide power when generators go down, said Michael Webber, an energy professor at the University of Texas.But driving investor interest is a state power market in which wind energy in the Panhandle and West Texas frequently exceeds the capacity of transmission lines serving the state’s population centers, he said. If a power company can store electricity in off peak hours and deploy it when demand is at its highest, there is profit to be made.“You get these opportunities for big swings in price from low to high,” Webber said. “We’re going to build batteries all over, quite frankly.”In Texas the burgeoning battery market is dominated by two startup firms, according to federal records. Broad Reach Power in Houston has 14 projects totaling 2.2 gigawatts coming online through 2024, and Austin-based SolarPro, a solar developer, has nine projects totaling 4.1 gigawatts coming online through 2025.Many more battery projects could be coming, with 79 gigawatts in pending projects at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's grid operator. Many of those projects have yet to secure financing or other milestones, but they represent one-third of all the generation now in development on ERCOT's grid. Helping them along, Congress included a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act passed this year that will allow battery projects to claim the same investment tax credit as solar developers. “You had some people anticipating (the tax credit), so they were getting projects in the queue so were ready when the policy happens," Katofsky said. "It's a bit of a gamble, but all this stuff is."
Feds investigating multiple reports of recent utility company sabotage - Federal authorities are investigating a number of recent reported acts of sabotage on utility companies, a senior law enforcement source told ABC News. The move comes in the wake of substations being riddled with bullets in North Carolina, leaving tens of thousands without power for days. After the incident, the utility companies reached out to federal authorities in recent days to investigate, the source said. The most recent potential case of sabotage occurred in South Carolina. According to multiple law enforcement sources, an individual opened fire near a Duke Energy facility at the Wateree Hydro Station in Ridgeway. The individual used what appeared to be a long gun and then sped away. No one was injured and there has been no reported damage to the station at this time. There is also no indication the attacks are coordinated at the moment. A $75,000 reward has been offered in the North Carolina case, in Moore County, where two electrical substations were shot at. "This was a malicious attack on an entire community, and it plunged tens of thousands of people into darkness. They knew what to do to disable this substation ... But we know that people are very frustrated here, and that's very understandable," said the state's governor, Roy Cooper. No arrests have been made and no motive has been announced in that case.
Fusion energy, the 'holy grail' of clean power, a step closer to reality - The Department of Energy plans to announce Tuesday that scientists have been able for the first time to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain — a major milestone in the decades-long, multibillion-dollar quest to develop a technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power. The aim of fusion research is to replicate the nuclear reaction through which energy is created on the sun. It is a “holy grail” of carbon-free power that scientists have been chasing since the 1950s. It is still at least a decade — maybe decades — away from commercial use, but the latest development is likely to be touted by the Biden administration as an affirmation of a massive investment by the government over the years.
Fusion energy breakthrough by US scientists boosts clean power hopes -- US government scientists have made a breakthrough in the pursuit of limitless, zero-carbon power by achieving a net energy gain in a fusion reaction for the first time, according to three people with knowledge of preliminary results from a recent experiment. Physicists have since the 1950s sought to harness the fusion reaction that powers the sun, but no group had been able to produce more energy from the reaction than it consumes — a milestone known as net energy gain or target gain, which would help prove the process could provide a reliable, abundant alternative to fossil fuels and conventional nuclear energy. The federal Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which uses a process called inertial confinement fusion that involves bombarding a tiny pellet of hydrogen plasma with the world’s biggest laser, had achieved net energy gain in a fusion experiment in the past two weeks, the people said. Although many scientists believe fusion power stations are still decades away, the technology’s potential is hard to ignore. Fusion reactions emit no carbon, produce no long-lived radioactive waste and a small cup of the hydrogen fuel could theoretically power a house for hundreds of years. The US breakthrough comes as the world wrestles with high energy prices and the need to rapidly move away from burning fossil fuels to stop average global temperatures reaching dangerous levels. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the administration of president Joe Biden is ploughing almost $370bn into new subsidies for low-carbon energy in an effort to slash emissions and win a global race for next-generation clean tech. The fusion reaction at the US government facility produced about 2.5 megajoules of energy, which was about 120 per cent of the 2.1 megajoules of energy in the lasers, the people with knowledge of the results said, adding that the data was still being analysed. The US department of energy has said energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and under-secretary for nuclear security Jill Hruby will announce “a major scientific breakthrough” at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Tuesday. The department declined to comment further. The laboratory confirmed that a successful experiment had recently taken place at its National Ignition Facility but said analysis of the results was ongoing. “Initial diagnostic data suggests another successful experiment at the National Ignition Facility. However, the exact yield is still being determined and we can’t confirm that it is over the threshold at this time,” it said. “That analysis is in process, so publishing the information . . . before that process is complete would be inaccurate.” Two of the people with knowledge of the results said the energy output had been greater than expected, which had damaged some diagnostic equipment, complicating the analysis. The breakthrough was already being widely discussed by scientists, the people added.
Nuclear fusion just passed a major milestone: Generating more energy than used to create the reaction -- On Tuesday, the head of the Department of Energy and other federal scientific leaders announced that a fusion reaction run at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved net energy, meaning the reaction generated more energy than was put in to initiate the reaction. It is the first time humankind has achieved this landmark. Fusion is the way that the sun makes power, but recreating a useful fusion reaction here on earth has eluded scientists for decades. Achieving net positive energy paves the way for fusion to move from a lab science to a usable energy source, although large scale commercialization of fusion could still be decades away. Fusion is particularly attractive given the increasing urgency of climate change because if it can be commercialized at scale, it produces no carbon emissions, nor does it produce the long-lasting nuclear waste associated with nuclear fission, which is the type of nuclear energy used to make energy today. “Monday, December 5, 2022 was an important day in science,” Jill Hruby, the National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator, said at a press conference announcing the news on Tuesday in Washington D.C. “Reaching ignition in a controlled fusion experiment is an achievement that has come after more than 60 years of global research, development, engineering and experimentation.” Reaching ignition means the fusion experiment produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy that used to drive the reaction. Since the experiment, the team has been analyzing data to be able to make this official announcement. “This is important. Earlier results were records, but not yet producing more energy out than was put in,” Andrew Holland, the CEO of the industry’s trade group, the Fusion Industry Association, told CNBC. “For the first time on Earth, scientists have confirmed a fusion energy experiment released more power than it takes to initiate, proving the physical basis for fusion energy. This will lead fusion to be a safe and sustainable energy source in the near future.” In the experiment on Dec. 5, about two megajoules (a unit of energy) went into the reaction and about three megajoules came out, said Marvin Adams, Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration. “A gain of 1.5,” Adams said.
‘New’ Nuclear Reactors Will Make Us a Guinea Pig Nation - “Guinea Pig Nation: How the NRC’s new licensing rules could turn communities into test beds for risky, experimental nuclear plants,” is what physicist Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled his presentation on November 17. Already, Lyman said, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has moved to allow the construction of nuclear power plants in thickly populated areas. This “change in policy” was approved in a vote by NRC commissioners in late July. For more than a half-century, the NRC and its predecessor agency, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, sought to have nuclear power plants built in “low population zones”—because of the threat of a major nuclear plant accident. But this year the NRC substantially altered this policy. The lone NRC vote against the change came from Commissioner Jeff Baran, who in casting his ‘no’ vote wrote, “Multiple, independent layers of protection against potential radiological exposure are necessary because we do not have perfect knowledge of new reactor technologies and their unique potential accident scenarios . . . . Unlike light-water reactors, new advanced reactor designs do not have decades of operating experience; in many cases, the new designs have never been built or operated before.” He cited the NRC criteria, which declare that the agency “has a longstanding policy of siting nuclear reactors away from densely populated centers and preferring areas of low population density.” Under the new policy, he noted, a “reactor could be sited within a town of 25,000 people and right next to a large city.” “The central issue,” says Lyman in an interview following his presentation, “is that the NRC is accepting on faith that these new reactors are going to be safer and wants to adjust its regulations accordingly, to make them less stringent—on faith.” The industry’s new line of smaller nuclear power plants—including what it calls the “small modular nuclear reactor”—are much more expensive than existing light-water nuclear power plants. The older, more common nuclear power plants are large and cooled by plain water, whereas the new “advanced” plants are more costly, in part because they are cooled by various other substances. Weakening safety standards will, of course, make it easier to build and cheaper to operate these pricey reactors. The proposed changes are a demonstration of one of the NRC’s nicknames—the “Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission.”
Bill Gates-backed nuclear project in Wyoming delayed because Russia was the only fuel source -- TerraPower’s advanced reactor demonstration will face delays of at least two years because its only source of fuel was Russia, and the Ukraine war has closed the door on that trade relationship. The Bill Gates-backed company is planning to build its first reactor in the frontier-era coal town of Kemmerer, Wyoming and had hoped to finish it by 2028. “In February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused the only commercial source of HALEU fuel to no longer be a viable part of the supply chain for TerraPower, as well as for others in our industry,” Chris Levesque, the CEO of TerraPower, said in a written statement sent to the company’s newsletter recipients on Wednesday. “Given the lack of fuel availability now, and that there has been no construction started on new fuel enrichment facilities, TerraPower is anticipating a minimum of a two-year delay to being able to bring the Natrium reactor into operation,” Levesque said. Terrapower’s advanced nuclear plant design, known as Natrium, will be smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, and is slated to cost $4 billion, with half of that money coming from the U.S. Department of Energy. But the plant depends on high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU. The existing fleet of nuclear reactors in the United States runs uranium-235 fuel enriched up to 5%, the Department of Energy says, while HALEU is enriched between 5% and 20%. The United States does not have the enrichment capacity to supply commercial amounts of HALEU fuel and so TerraPower had “assumed the use of HALEU from Russia for our first core load,” Levesque wrote. Since the war broke out in February and it became clear that Russia could no longer be a reliable trade partner, TerraPower, the Department of Energy and other stakeholders have been looking for alternate sources of HALEU fuel. They are also pushing lawmakers to approve $2.1 billion to support HALEU production, according to Levesque. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, a Republican, thinks it’s a wake-up call for the U.S. “America must reestablish itself as the global leader in nuclear energy,” Barrasso said in a written statement. “Instead of relying on our adversaries like Russia for uranium, the United States must produce its own supply of advanced nuclear fuel.” Barrasso sent a letter to Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., requesting a hearing about the availability of HALEU. Barrasso also sent a letter to the Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to urge the United States to move faster in securing a source of HALEU. The Department of Energy has “sufficient stockpiles of excess and previously used uranium to meet TerraPower’s needs,” but it has “yet to process sufficient amounts of this excess uranium into HALEU,” Barrasso said in the letter to Granholm. “At this point, no single pathway will likely be sufficient to meet TerraPower’s schedule.”
DeWine should veto drilling threat to state parks falsely labeled 'green energy' - Ohio Capital Journal -- Ohioans love their state parks. I’ve been to seven this year. Had lots of company. The log of daily visitors is surging at the parks. Overnight stays jumped 26.5% from 2017 to 2021. Try booking a campsite or cabin in the summer — or fall. Everybody wants one. The lure of solitude and escape in the natural beauty of Ohio state parks is potent and getting more so.But so is the lure for expanded fracking and oil and gas development in our treasured state oases after state lawmakers slipped an early Christmas present to the fossil fuel industry in a totally unrelated bill about food safety and poultry sales. In the dark of the night, Ohio Senate Republicans quietly added two amendments to House Bill 507 that would clear the way for industrialized polluters to camp out in our state parks.Without any public notice or input, GOP legislators did their friends in the Ohio Oil and Gas Association a solid with provisions forcing Ohio to grant lease applications for more natural gas drilling on public lands and state parks. The prerogative of a state agency to nix approval of fracking operations on state land was slyly tweaked into a requirement to give the go-ahead for drilling applicants casing a state park near you.Adding insult to (CO2, methane, and toxic waste) injury, the Ohio Senate also tucked an Orwellian twist in the House legislation that would reclassify natural gas as “green energy” — a legal definition scientifically reserved for renewable energy generated from natural sources such as solar, wind, water. Natural gas is no such thing.But the Republican fossil fuel cabal in the state senate surreptitiously broadened that legal meaning to include not only natural gas (which is mainly methane, a strong greenhouse gas) but any source of energy that “is more sustainable and reliable relative to some fossil fuels.”Sounds vague enough to greenlight a whole bunch of drilling rigs leaking large quantities of methane emissions that pollute the air along with diesel fumes from massive truck transportation and machinery operations and accumulate an enormous amount of wastewater with the potential to contaminate groundwater or cause earthquakes in surrounding areas. The rich and powerful fossil fuel industry wins again. Political payoff at the public expense. Ground Zero in Ohio for greedy oil and gas titans is the state’s largest park nestled in the heart of rural Guernsey County. Fracking for the potentially abundant deposits of Marcellus and Utica shale that lie beneath Salt Fork State Park has long been a goal of energy companies eager to tap into a possible gold mine of natural gas.The oil industry wants to turn the natural landscape and wonder of Salt Fork into an industrialized zone of well pads, new access roads, pipelines, and other fracking infrastructure that destroys the otherwise lush playground of 17,229 acres.
Ohio’s ‘Frackgate’ controversy predicted backlash to drilling under state parks -- Barkcamp State Park is among the few places where visitors can experience Ohio’s forests as they existed before European settlement. Once the site of a historic logging camp, today it’s a destination for camping, fishing and other outdoor recreation. It’s also a place that could see new pressure for oil and gas development if Ohio lawmakers approve lame-duck legislation this month that would remove barriers to drilling under public lands. Neither supporters nor critics have singled out specific parks that could be of interest to the industry, but a planning document from a previous governor’s administration reveals at least three areas where oil and gas extraction might occur. They include Barkcamp, as well as Wolf Run State Park and Suncreek Fish State Forest. That document — a strategic communications plan developed by members of the Kasich administration and Ohio Department of Natural Resources in 2012 — ignited a political controversy known as Frackgate after it became public two years later. It also predicted the backlash that would be likely to follow any proposal to drill under state parks.“Vocal opponents of this initiative will react emotionally, communicate aggressively to the news media and online, and attempt to cast it as unprecedented and risky state policy,” the communication plan said. Ohio law for more than a decade has said an agency “may” lease land for oil and gas drilling. House Bill 507,, which passed the Ohio Senate last week without any public testimony on its last-minute amendments, would change that to say the agency “shall” lease the land “in good faith.” If the bill becomes law, “the state agency essentially has to — must — lease the land when the oil and gas company shows up at the door and demands the lease,” said attorney Nathan Johnson, director of public lands for the Ohio Environmental Council. In his view, the amendment would give free rein to oil and gas companies, with few safeguards for competing public interests or the environment.The same legislation would also declare natural gas to be “green energy.” A 2011 law created an oil and gas leasing commission and outlined a framework for it to decide whether to grant permits for drilling and to enter into leases through a competitive bidding process. Lawmakers passed the bill, and Gov. John Kasich signed it roughly a year before another law opened the state to widespread fracking and horizontal drilling.By the summer of 2012, members of the Kasich administration, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and others put together the strategic communications plan before potentially moving ahead with drilling at Barkcamp, Wolf Run and Sunfish Creek. All three are located in counties that are among Ohio’s top seven oil and gas producers.The communications plan became public in early 2014 and resulted in outcry from the Sierra Club, the Ohio Environmental Council, ProgressOhio and other groups. Days later, Kasich said he had changed his position about drilling on state public lands. A pro-industry newsletter predicted “Frackgate” would remain an issue in Ohio for a while.
Ohio ‘green’ natural gas bill motivated by ESG investing concerns - The author of an Ohio amendment that would classify natural gas as “green energy” said he hopes the legislation can help companies meet ESG investing standards.ESG refers to environmental, social and governance practices. ESG investing generally limits financing choices to companies or funds that meet certain criteria for those categories. The practice has been around for decades but recently has become a political boogeyman for conservatives who denounce it as “woke capitalism.” Ohio state Sen. Mark Romanchuck, a Republican from Ontario, told the Energy News Network he hopes having the “green energy” language in Ohio law might help large users of natural gas meet ESG standards.“I don’t know if it will work,” Romanchuk added. Romanchuk said he doesn’t think there is “anything magical” about using the word “green,” and there is uncertainty about its potential legal impact. Unlike an earlier version, the amendment to House Bill 507 specifically says it would not allow natural gas projects to qualify for renewable energy credits.That hasn’t quelled criticism from climate and clean energy advocates, who say the vague legislation — approved by the state Senate last Wednesday without any public testimony — could have wider implications for the way natural gas is marketed and regulated in the state. “In terms of how the ‘green energy’ amendment might impact regulatory decisions and investments, I think everyone is still trying to fully understand that,” said Neil Waggoner, who leads the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Ohio. The Senate moved “quickly and foolishly,” he said, in a way that prevented opponents from offering any testimony on the proposal.The Ohio Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee last Tuesday tacked the proposal and other amendments onto an unrelated bill about rules for poultry farmers regarding baby chicks. Now, along with the “green energy” provision, the bill includes provisions that would require state agencies to open parks and other public lands to oil and gas drilling, plus other amendments. The bill version passed by the Senate states: “‘Green energy’ includes energy generated by using natural gas as a resource.” It also defines green energy as an energy source that either releases reduced air pollutants or “is more sustainable and reliable relative to some fossil fuels.”
Ohio House Declares Natural Gas 'Green' Energy | RTO Insider - Ohio lawmakers, dominated by Republican majorities, OK'd legislation declaring green energy “includes energy generated by using natural gas as a resource.”
Ohio Legislature Opens Door for E&P on State Lands, Stamps 'Green Energy' Label on Natural Gas -- A bill qualifying natural gas as green energy and allowing state agencies to lease land to develop oil and gas has passed the Ohio legislature and was awaiting a signature from Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Under current Ohio law, state agencies are not automatically required to lease land for oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) activities. Ohio Oil and Gas Association President Rob Brundrett told NGI that “Ohio’s had the law on the books that you’re able to lease state lands for over a decade, and one of the things that was supposed to happen during this time period was the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission was to provide a rule framework for that to happen.”In September 2021, the legislature adopted Section 155.34 to state code, requiring the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to establish a standard lease form by which state agencies could enter into contracts with E&Ps. The commission had not adopted a framework within the 120-day timeframe set in Section 155.34. “There’s been starts and stops over the last decade…The commission met last December, but then it hadn’t met again until this December,” Brundrett said. At its latest meeting, however, the commission adopted a draft standard lease form as required by Section 155.34. The form is now available for public comment through Jan. 13. “There’s another meeting scheduled tentatively in February, so we’re hopeful that by the springtime we’ll have a framework that will be able to go through the rules process and get put in place in 2023.”In the meantime, the Ohio Senate added Section 155.33 to House Bill (HB) 507, “kind of like a stopgap,” Brundrett said. HB 507 was initially introduced and later passed the state’s House as legislation solely dealing with agriculture. Section 155.33 alters Ohio’s Revised Code so that state agencies no longer “may,” but “shall lease, in good faith, a formation within a parcel of land” for oil and gas development. “The amendment (HB 507) is basically kind of like the stopgap,” Brundrett said. “…Over the last decade, there’s been issues that come up where a company is trying to put a drill package together that has partial state lands in it, and so they want to be able to try and negotiate that lease because it’s faster to do it that way…“So this amendment sort of creates that process to do it until the rules are promulgated from the land commission. Once the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission rules are finalized, then the law will revert to those rules and the law change will basically be moot at that point,” Brundrett said.
Report: Nearly $100 Billion Invested for Ohio Shale --– Ohio’s shale gas industry has led the nation in growth for the past four years due to large Utica and Marcellus shale deposits, according to a new report released Friday by JobsOhio and Cleveland State University.The Ohio Shale Investment Report shows that the natural gas and oil industry has put nearly $100 billion in investments into the state. An investment of $2.5 billion was invested between last July and December alone, the report found.“Our natural gas and oil energy industry is something Ohioans can be proud of,” said George Brown, executive director of Ohio Oil Gas Energy Education Program. “This report shows not only all the work the men and women of this industry are doing, but the immense benefits that are brought to communities across Ohio.”The JobsOhio/CSU studies have been taking place since 2011, analyzing the natural gas and oil industry’s investments in relation to Utica Shale formation.Since the beginning of the series of study, an estimated $97.8 billion has been invested in the state of Ohio through December 2021.Other report highlights:
- Total estimated royalties spent on Ohio properties during the second half of 2021 were nearly $1.2 billion (14% higher than the first half of the year)
- 86 new wells were listed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as “drilled,” “drilling” or “producing” during the second half of 2021 (16.2% higher than the first half of the year)
- Ascent Resources and Encino Acquisition Partners Ohio were the top producers during the time period in the state
“The cumulative investment in shale gas development over time has brought thousands of jobs to hard-working Ohioans and affordable energy to residential and industrial consumers,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO. “Ohio has the resources, the regulatory environment, the talent, and the central location to continue to evolve as an international player in shale-related productivity.”Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program said it is important to acknowledge the potential in Ohio as the current energy crisis continues. The organization believes Utica shale can both provide the nation with better energy opportunities and be used as an economic tool. The full report can be accessed here.
New EPA Rules on Methane Could Be a Win for Ohio's Economy -- The Environmental Protection Agency has released rules which would for the first time require regular inspections of all methane-emitting oil and gas production sites throughout the country. Groups backing the new rules said they will also pave the way for more jobs in Ohio's the natural gas industry.The rules are an update to standards the Biden administration released last year.Sarah Spence, executive director of the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum, said in addition to cleaner air, the changes could mean more employment in the methane-capture business, particularly in the state's Utica Shale region."We're already headquarters for two manufacturing firms and five service firms that deal in methane mitigation," Spence pointed out. "I think these rules will allow those companies to grow and to hire more Ohioans to work for them in those areas." In 2014, Ohio implemented laws requiring oil and gas operators to check for and fix equipment leaks to reduce air pollution. The nation's oil and gas industry emits at least 13 million metric tons of methane a year, according to research from the Environmental Defense Fund. Energy developers have said methane-capture equipment is costly, especially for smaller producers. Isaac Brown, executive director of the Center for Methane Emission Solutions, noted there is a burgeoning market for companies to provide technologies to help oil and gas companies address emissions."Jobs can be created to help companies comply with these rules," Brown emphasized. "Because these rules will result in more product being saved that can be brought to market, producers can also actually see their profits increase."
How EOG's Move into Ohio Utica Shale Will Affect Midstream | Marcellus Drilling News -- In 2020, EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in Trinidad and China), sold *all* of its Marcellus assets, which were located in Bradford County, PA, to Tilden Resources for $130 million (see EOG Resources Sells Marcellus Assets for $130M, Exits Basin). EOG left the M-U building, so to speak. But the company couldn’t stay away. In November, we told you that EOG admitted to stealthily amassing 395,000 net acres in the Ohio Utica for very little money (see EOG Resources Accumulates 395K Acres in Ohio Utica for Under $500M). EOG calls its new position the “Ohio Utica combo play.” We later told you what the company means by that phrase (see EOG Resources has “Double Premium” Plans for Ohio Utica). Today we tackle the topic of how EOG’s Utica combo play will affect the midstream in Ohio.
We're not being protected from toxic brine - The Steubenville Herald-Star – Randi Pokladnik - Since fracking first appeared in the Appalachian counties of Southeastern Ohio, residents have witnessed the green rolling hills become an industrial landscape. Today, fracking wells, compressor stations and pipelines are now a major part of that landscape. The rural roads are now congested with dangerous truck traffic. Local residents must dodge semi-trucks carrying sand and chemicals to fracking well pads and brine tankers transporting produced fluids away from the sites to Class II injection wells. Those produced fluids are innocuously referred to as brine even though the oil and gas industry as well as regulators know this fluid is much more than just a mixture of halide salts. This waste contains flowback water — a chemical cocktail of benzene, arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, PFAS and many other proprietary chemicals. The liquid waste also contains toxic metals, radioactive materials and brine resulting from contact with the ancient rock formation that is being fracked. According to a 2018 study out of Dartmouth College, in just hours, radioactive Radium 226 and Radium 228 can be leached out of the rock and into the saline solution. As the waste is pulled to the surface to be disposed of, the water-soluble radioactive isotopes hitch a ride as well. During a June public meeting with Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources, the risks of transporting this toxic fluid on our state, county and township roads was questioned. The response of ODNR was to deflect the responsibility on to Ohio’s Department of Transportation. […] In 1983, an agreement between Ohio and U.S. EPA gave Ohio authority over the oil and gas waste disposal program. Sadly, the state has shown time and time again it cannot carry out these responsibilities, failing to protect the citizens of the state from this toxic brew. These failures include: A poor enforcement record, incidents of wastes migrating from the injection formation and unlawful waste disposal. The well disposal program excludes citizens from participating in permit decisions. Low-income Appalachian Ohioans are being disproportionately affected as the majority of disposal wells are located in their communities. “More than 18 billion gallons of waste fluid from oil and gas is generated annually in the USA” according to the American Petroleum Institute. Horizontal unconventional wells can contain water soluble Radium-226 in concentrations ranging from 40 to 26,000 pCi/L. The safe drinking water standard for Ra-226 and Ra-228 is 5 pCi/L. This toxic radioactive waste is being pushed down injection wells in Ohio. In addition, much of the waste injected into Ohio’s Class II wells comes from neighboring states, including Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Recently, the Buckeye Environmental Network, the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and several frontline grassroot groups, petitioned the United States Environmental Protection Agency to rescind the primacy granted to ODNR’s Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for permitting and monitoring Class II injection wells in the state of Ohio. This is because the ODNR has failed to meet the basic requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act and failed to carry out its environmental justice obligations under federal law and Executive orders.
Natural Gas the Answer to Reducing Emissions, Argues CNX in 'Appalachia First' Plan - Natural gas should be viewed not as a bridge fuel, but as a catalyst to the energy transition domestically and abroad, according to the new “Appalachia First” vision unveiled by CNX Resources Corp. The Pittsburgh-based firm, which produced 1.67 Bcfe/d from the Marcellus and Utica shales during the third quarter of 2022, is arguing against a renewables-focused strategy for the region. “The nation and world are waking up to stark energy realities: energy scarcity, deterioration of our power grid and energy inflation stoking wider inflation,” said CEO Nick Deluliis. “Policy often relies too heavily on applications such as wind, solar and electric vehicles that can present large life cycle carbon footprints, require supply chains stretching thousands of miles, are costly and face serious challenges when scaling in regions like Appalachia. [Actionable Insight: Did you know that NGI is one of only two Price Reporting Agencies that include trade data from the Intercontinental Exchange? Find out more.] “If we don’t get energy and climate policies right, our economic competitiveness will be stifled, the environment will be worse off, and we will end up enabling our adversaries to wage war and forcing leaders to negotiate energy supplies from dictators and despots.” He cited that natural gas has driven a 40% reduction in Pennsylvania’s electricity-related carbon emissions since 2005, and that gas’ share of the PJM Interconnection LLC electricity mix grew from 14% to 38% between 2011 and 2021. Over the same span, the combined contribution from wind and solar grew from about 1% to just under 4%. “There is a better, simpler and more logical way,” Deluliis said. “Appalachia can be the launchpad to a more efficient and sustainable future catalyzed by lower carbon intensity natural gas. This proud region and its people should be the solution to deliver reliable and affordable energy – our region’s abundant energy resources can and must be used more effectively to prioritize the improvement of the human condition, the environment, the nation and the world.” This approach, Deluliis said, represents “a clear roadmap to transform key sectors of our economy and workforce while also changing the world for the better.” According to CNX, Appalachia should leverage its immense gas reserves to bolster the region’s economy while reducing emissions. Appalachia has the potential to “transform the sectors of aviation, plastics, rail, cargo, mass transit, trucking, and fleet and passenger vehicles by displacing higher-carbon fuels with locally produced natural gas,” the company said.
US Gas Leak at Equitrans Well in Pennsylvania Adds Climate Pressure - While diplomats in Sharm El-Sheikh were hammering out a historic agreement last month to help developing nations cope with the crippling consequences of a warmer planet, one of the biggest US climate disasters in recent years was unfolding in a rural corner of Pennsylvania. A leak from a 1 5/8-inch (4.1 centimeter) vent on a natural gas storage well operated by Equitrans Midstream Corp. was discovered on Nov. 6 and lasted for 13 days, allowing more than 1 billion cubic feet to escape. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, has a devastating impact on the climate if released directly into the atmosphere, where it has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in its first two decades. That single Equitrans release effectively erased emissions gains from about half of the 656,000 electric vehicles sold in the US last year. The incident is one of the biggest blows to the credibility of the US gas industry since the Aliso Canyon leak that began in late 2015 in California and lasted more than 100 days. The magnitude of the Equitrans release, and the operator’s inability to halt it quickly, intensifies scrutiny on an industry the International Energy Agency has said must do more to curb deliberate and accidental releases if it wants to play an active role in the energy transition. Leaks are one of the main climate risks facing gas suppliers, and a new generation of multispectral satellites has made it easier to spot major emissions, leading to a greater understanding of just how pervasive they are. Bloomberg News has used satellite observations since July 2020 to identify about 70 methane releases linked to the energy and waste sectors from Argentina to Turkmenistan, including almost two dozen in the United States. The coverage has triggered government investigations in the US and Bangladesh, but most methane releases worldwide still go unreported. “The fact that massive releases are persisting even in regions where they're properly quantified speaks to the scope of the challenge,” said Antoine Vagneur-Jones, head of trade and supply chains at research company BloombergNEF.
A century-old law poses problems for New England’s energy supply this winter and there’s a push to find a way around it - — A century-old federal law designed to protect the US maritime industry is having a chilling effect in New England in the wake of the Ukraine war, helping drive up home heating oil prices and threatening to cause supply shortages that could become severe enough to trigger rolling blackouts if this winter is much colder than usual. Known as the Jones Act, the law requires that any goods transported between US ports be carried on domestically built and owned ships manned by American crews. That means foreign tankers can bring shipments to Boston from abroad but not from the Gulf Coast. And since the war has strained global shipping capacity, those stringent requirements are becoming a significant obstacle to delivering heating oil and liquefied natural gas to New England because there is only a small fleet of US commercial vessels available and limited ability to bring in the fuels by pipeline.“If it gets cold, the lights are going to go out,” predicted Sean Cota, head of NEFI, a Massachusetts-based organization of independent heating oil dealers in the region. “There’s no way you can move enough energy via pipeline, trains, and trucks to make up what would be needed in vessels if it’s cold.”Cota and other industry officials, including Joe Nolan, chief executive of Eversource, New England’s largest utility, joined all six New England governors in calling for President Biden to temporarily suspend the Jones Act. Doing that, they argue, would allow foreign tankers to carry shipments from Gulf Coast facilities to ports in Boston and the Northeast.But the Biden administration has been noncommittal and would have a tough time helping because of the red tape required for any exemptions. For one, a waiver must be “in the interest of national defense.” Moreover, recent changes now require a waiver for each shipment, which requires complicated assessments of the individual circumstance, rather than a blanket exemption that could extend to a sustained number of deliveries.
Natural gas project including pipeline between Springfield, Longmeadow up for public comment - A virtual public comment session is being held Wednesday evening on a natural gas project, which includes a new pipeline between Longmeadow and Springfield, Massachusetts. The state's Energy Facilities Siting Board is reviewing the proposal by the utility company Eversource. It calls for a new gas delivery station in Longmeadow and the pipeline, which would run from that facility to another in Springfield. The company said the project is needed to back up an existing pipeline, which is more than 70 years old. Naia Tenerowicz is an organizer with the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition. She said the organization has many concerns about the project, including what the possible leak of chemicals from natural gas could do to the environment. "Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas,” Tenerowicz said. “This is going to increase the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that we'll have in Springfield, which will worsen the climate crisis." Eversource spokesperson Priscilla Ress said alternative sources of energy are not ready yet to handle the load if something were to happen to the current natural gas supply. "We see clean energy as absolutely...that is the future, but in the meantime, we have a mission to make sure that we are serving our customers and making sure that they have a reliable source of energy," Ress said. The siting board will also take written comments on the proposal through Jan. 2, but some have already been coming in. State Sen. Adam Gomez, of Springfield, wrote to the board to express his opposition. "I continue to remain opposed to the pipeline in which the Eversource Project would degrade air quality, increase the risk of fires and explosions in the community, contribute to detrimental climate change, and increase our reliance on fossil fuels," Gomez wrote.
Senate to vote on Manchin's permitting overhaul - Sen. Joe Manchin will get a floor vote on his environmental permitting overhaul, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday. It’s a move that will roil environmental groups, but the bill has a shaky outlook on the floor, with an unusual partnership of progressives and Republicans ready to oppose it. Manchin’s legislation will be considered as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act. It’s an attempt to uphold a bargain the West Virginia Democrat made with leadership to vote on his reform of permitting laws for energy projects in exchange for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act in August. “We’re gonna vote on that amendment. As you know, Republicans have blocked it in the House, even though permitting reform is something that they’ve always supported in the past,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “So I hope they’ll help us.” Some Senate Republicans have already said they would support Manchin’s bill, but others are maintaining their opposition. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, both indicated Tuesday they would vote against the amendment. Manchin’s proposal would make it easier to permit energy projects across the board, including fossil fuels and renewables. It would also authorize the Mountain Valley pipeline, a contentious project that has long been a top priority for Manchin and other West Virginia lawmakers. But he’s had trouble building a coalition to support it. Progressives are furious that Democrats would consider legislation to speed permits for fossil fuel projects, while Republicans oppose Manchin’s attempt to give the federal government more power over transmission permitting.
West Virginia gas pipeline permitting battle not over in Congress --— Efforts to complete a big natural gas pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia have been dealt another setback. Efforts to get this item in the National Defense Bill failed Thursday night, but senators fight on. National Defense Bill nears passage; includes benefits to West Virginia At issue is a bill in Congress to speed up the permitting process for energy projects. In this case, that could fast-track the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which runs from northern West Virginia to southeast of Roanoke, and eventually into North Carolina. Supporters say it will offer enormous amounts of natural gas to fuel this country, and sell to our allies overseas. “Part of that is what they call energy security, energy independence. you cannot be a superpower in the world if you do not have energy independence. And you can’t be secured if you don’t have energy independence,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D) West Virginia. “I don’t think it’s dead in other words. I think it’s something we will have to come back to, time and again until we are successful,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R) West Virginia. Senators could add another amendment to the overall spending bill, to include the pipeline permitting, before a final vote next week. A similar amendment failed in the Senate Thursday night. Many environmentalists oppose the measure out of concerns over air and water pollution. Last week, the controversial Keystone Pipeline had a leak in Kansas, that dumped thousands of barrels of oil in that state. The temporary spending bill to keep the government open only lasts for one week. So you can expect this pipeline measure may be added to the entire spending bill when it comes up for a final vote next week.
US FERC to act on backstop transmission siting, long-running gas pipeline disputes - The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is poised to act on transmission siting, key pipeline rate disputes, and two important natural gas pipeline certificates at its last meeting of the year Dec. 15, potentially Democrat Richard Glick's final session as chairman. Glick's nomination to serve a second five-year term has been stalled by US Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat-West Virginia, who announced in November that he is not "not comfortable" holding a confirmation hearing for US President Joe Biden's pick to continue helming the commission. Glick must leave FERC if he is not confirmed before the 117th Congress adjourns. As FERC chairman, Glick has launched multiple important rulemakings designed to speed the expansion of the US electric transmission system. Momentum in those proceedings could slow next year with FERC evenly divided along a 2-2 partisan split. Glick has sought buy-in from state utility regulators who play a central role in the siting and permitting of power lines needed to accommodate more renewable energy. Meanwhile, the US Congress clarified in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that FERC has backstop siting authority when states either fail to act on or deny applications for transmission projects sited in national-interest corridors designated by the US Department of Energy. The legal status of FERC's backstop siting authority on transmission has remained in limbo since the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in 2009 that the commission read too much into its authority granted under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Glick has stressed that FERC's members do not want to use the commission's backstop siting authority if that can be avoided. Nevertheless, the commission listed what appears to be a proposed update (RM22-7) to its backstop siting regulations as the first item on its Dec. 15 meeting agenda. The agenda notice indicates that the regulations would apply to developers who petition FERC to exercise its backstop siting authority, a step that no party has taken since the 4th Circuit ruling. FERC is also poised to act on a complaint (EL22-34) filed by the Office of Ohio Consumers' Counsel against efforts by the American Electric Power Service, American Transmission Systems, and Duke Energy Ohio to receive a 50-basis point return on equity for participating in a FERC-jurisdictional regional transmission organization.
Energy Transfer Cleared to Start Service on Gulf Run Pipeline in Louisiana - Federal regulators have cleared Energy Transfer LP (ET) to start service on the 1.65 Bcf/d Gulf Run natural gas pipeline system in Louisiana, opening a path to meet increasing demand along the Gulf Coast and in international markets. The project is underpinned by a 1.1 Bcf/d commitment from anchor shipper Golden Pass LNG, which is under construction on the Texas coast. FERC, which authorized the project last year, approved ET’s request to start service. The 42-inch, 135-mile system will receive natural gas from ET’s intrastate and interstate pipeline network, including production from the Haynesville, Marcellus, Utica and Barnett shales and the Permian Basin. Gulf Run consists of two zones, one connecting the Carthage Hub to the Perryville markets, and another that extends south to connect with Golden Pass and ET’s Trunkline system. The Zone 1 segment has bi-directional flow capabilities, allowing it to deliver significant volumes to Perryville as well as Golden Pass and the Trunkline system. The Golden Pass liquefied natural gas terminal remains on track to start production in 2024, when the first of three liquefaction trains is expected to start ramping up. It is scheduled to enter full service sometime around 2025. The project is a joint venture of QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil. Along with Venture Global LNG Inc.’s Plaquemines LNG export project, which was sanctioned this year and is expected to come online in 2025, Golden Pass would boost peak U.S. export capacity to more than 18 Bcf/d from current peak capacity of about 14 Bcf/d.
Energy Transfer Announces Gulf Run Transmission Is In Service -- Dallas-based Energy Transfer LP today announced its subsidiary, Gulf Run Transmission LLC has received FERC approval to place the Gulf Run pipeline in service delivering domestically produced natural gas from key U.S. producing regions to meet the rapidly growing demand along the Gulf Coast and international markets. The newly constructed 135-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline in Louisiana has a capacity of 1.65 Bcf/day, with potential growth opportunities. Gulf Run receives natural gas from Energy Transfer’s extensive intrastate and interstate pipeline network, including production directly from the Haynesville Shale. Volumes originating from all the major natural gas basins in the U.S. have access to the pipeline, including the Permian Basin, the Barnett Shale, the Marcellus and Utica shales, East Texas, the Arkoma and the Anadarko basins. The pipeline consists of two zones. Zone 1 connects the Carthage Hub to the Perryville markets and Zone 2 extends south and connects to Golden Pass Pipeline and to Energy Transfer’s Trunkline system. The Zone 1 segment has bi-directional flow capabilities, providing the ability to deliver significant volumes to Perryville as well as to the Golden Pass and Trunkline systems. Energy Transfer owns and operates approximately 120,000 miles of pipeline and related infrastructure across 41 states transporting natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined products. Energy Transfer operates more than 8,800 miles of pipeline in Louisiana. Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) owns and operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of energy assets in the United States, with a strategic footprint in all of the major U.S. production basins. Energy Transfer is a publicly traded limited partnership with core operations that include complementary natural gas midstream, intrastate and interstate transportation and storage assets; crude oil, natural gas liquids (“NGL”) and refined product transportation and terminalling assets; and NGL fractionation. Energy Transfer also owns Lake Charles LNG Company, as well as the general partner interests, the incentive distribution rights and 28.5 million common units of Sunoco, and the general partner interests and 46.1 million common units of USA Compression Partners, LP
Here's where Louisiana's LNG facilities will be located Liquefied natural gas is a booming industry in Louisiana, and it’s only set to grow in the coming years. Three of the nation’s seven LNG export terminals are already in operation here, and 10 more new facilities are scheduled to be open by the end of the decade, if all goes to plan. Another one is in the works but doesn't have an announced timeline yet. The new projects are in various stages. Some are under construction, while others are still awaiting federal or state permits. Others have received their permits but have yet to move forward as their parent companies wait to make a final investment decision. The projects are underway amid high demand for LNG worldwide. Industry supporters say it's the best way to transition from dirtier fuel sources like coal and to wean Europe off Russian natural gas following the country's war in Ukraine. However, environmental advocates say natural gas is still a fossil fuel that spews out far too many emissions to be considered a clean energy source. Here is a map of Louisiana’s existing and proposed LNG facilities and where they will be located should they come to fruition as expected.
New natural gas storage facility coming to Spindletop Beaumont -— A new natural gas storage facility is coming to Spindletop in Beaumont, allowing for more jobs and economic growth in Southeast Texas. Caliche Development Partners bought the Golden Triangle storage facility in November and they're hoping to expand their operations. At this moment, the facility has two salt caverns that store natural gas, but the dome can hold up to nine caverns. In 1901, Spindletop changed Beaumont forever. "Beaumont is the cradle of the oil and gas industry here in our state and because of that, there's a tremendous amount of infrastructure here," said CEO of Caliche Development Partners, David Marchese. "This is the top of the facility. Underneath this wellhead about 2,000 feet underground is a formation the size of the Empire State Building," Marchese said. The cylinder-shaped formation stores natural gas, which is usually stored underground. Darrell Hall, Vice President of Operations with Caliche, has worked on the Spindletop dome for 15 years. "A lot of new businesses have come on. Caliche came in, they brought a lot of excitement to the dome and went from mostly all natural gas or gas liquids to our storage to to liquid storage," Hall said. Under the new management, the facility is also expected to expand.
January NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract Closed at $6.587 on Monday, December 12th - Monday, December 12th saw the January NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $6.874, nearly sixty-three cents above Friday’s closing price of $6.245. Moving higher prior to the open and recording a near two-week intraday high of $6.934 out of the gate, weekend forecasts all but solidified the end of month bullish forecasts while adding the possibility of frigid air moving in from Canada. Pulling back as the day drew on, crossing midday at $6.848 and marking the intraday low of $6.521 at 2:15PM, January closed higher on Monday at $6.587. As of 7:10AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up 19 cents; Natural Gas was up 17 cents; Heating Oil was up three cents; and Gasoline was up one cent.
Natural Gas Futures Rally, but Warmer Weather Models Trim Early Gains; PG&E Cash Hits $75 - After five straight days in positive territory, natural gas bulls may struggle to keep momentum going amid continued weather model volatility. Though they managed to eke out another substantial price increase on Tuesday, warmer trends in the weather models took a hatchet to early gains. The Nymex January gas futures contract reached a $7.105 intraday high but eventually settled at $6.935/MMBtu, up 34.8 cents on the day.Spot gas prices also moved up sharply on Tuesday, with ongoing chilly weather and supply constraints fueling a surge to $75.00 in Northern California. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. jumped $2.365 to $14.000. After pummeling the West Coast, a major winter storm is expected to dump more than two feet of snow in parts of the central United States this week. The accompanying spike in heating demand has kept traders on edge awaiting clarity on additional cold blasts expected to blanket the Lower 48 beginning next week. So far, the models have been choppy, trending colder or warmer daily.As of midday Tuesday, the Global Forecast System model remained the coldest, but it shed a handful of heating degree days (HDD) to align better with the European model, according to NatGasWeather. The forecaster said the first in a series of frigid blasts is expected to sweep across the United States this weekend. Overnight lows could plunge more than 10 degrees below zero across the northern half of the country and into the upper teens in Texas and the South. While this would likely result in strong national demand, NatGasWeather pointed out that the data are not not quite as cold as they had been. That said, the models remained impressively cold with an Arctic blast hitting the Lower 48 next Wednesday through Christmas Day (Dec. 21-25), that would send overnight temperatures in the Midwest and Plains more than 20 degrees below zero. The firm cautioned, though, that trends once viewed as bullish late in the 15-day outlook have had the tendency to warm as they roll into the front of the forecast. As such, the system needs close monitoring since there’s potential the Arctic front advances deep into the southern United States, particularly Texas, NatGasWeather said. The forecaster noted that grid stability in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) could be in play given the crippling cold. Meanwhile, Mobius Risk Group said HDDs are expected to be more than 60 higher than the 30-year norm — not to mention more than 140 higher than a year ago. As such, there is a strong possibility that 2022 will end with less than 3 Tcf in storage. Of course, the market also continues to look for clues as to when Freeport LNG may return. The liquefied natural gas exporter has targeted late December for a restart of its terminal on the upper Texas coast. On Tuesday, it stuck to that timeline even after FERC sent a 16-page letter asking it to address dozens of issues before operations can resume. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent two separate documents requesting information on 64 questions, only one of which was made available to the public because of security reasons.
U.S. natural gas futures decline by 7% - On Wednesday, U.S. natural gas futures fell by roughly 7% as a result of expectations for less chilly weather than had been anticipated in late December and after failing to overcome significant technical price resistance for the third straight day. Meanwhile, as freezing weather and snowfall cover portions of California and gas pipeline failures and limits restrict supplies into the region, U.S. West Coast power and gas prices have almost tripled over the previous few weeks and were on track to record multiyear annual highs. Even though production was on course to reach a two-month low due to extreme weather from North Dakota to Texas, futures prices dropped as some oil and gas wells froze. In the upcoming weeks, the cold weather should require utilities to draw more gas from storage than typical. Gas stockpiles were roughly 1.6% below the seasonal average for the previous five years (2017–2021). Front-month gas futures ended the day at $6.430 per million British thermal units, down 50.5 cents or 7.3%. (mmBtu). For the third day in a row this week, the market made an attempt to push the contract over the 200-day moving average but was unsuccessful. At the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in Europe and the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia, gas was trading for $41 and $33, respectively, per mmBtu (JKMc1). Average gas output in the Lower 48 States of the United States has increased to 99.7 bcfd so far in December, up from a monthly record of 99.5 bcfd in November, according to data source Refinitiv. On a daily basis, however, production was expected to decrease by 2.3 bcfd to a preliminary two-month low of 97.3 bcfd on Wednesday due to well freeze-offs brought on by frigid weather that has blanketed sections of Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. The daily output would have decreased by the most since mid-October.
U.S. natgas jumps 8% as LNG exports rise, some wells shut due to cold | (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 8% to a two-week high on Thursday in a volatile week of trade on a bigger than expected storage draw, an increase in gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and a drop in output as extreme cold from North Dakota to Texas caused oil and gas wells to freeze. Prices spiked despite forecasts for milder weather and lower heating demand in late December. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities pulled 50 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas from storage during the week ended Dec. 9, exceeding the 45-bcf decline analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compared with a decrease of 83 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2017-2021) average decline of 93 bcf. Last week's decrease cut stockpiles to 3.412 trillion cubic feet (tcf), or 0.4% below the five-year average of 3.427 tcf for this time of year. Traders said the biggest uncertainty for the market remains when Freeport LNG will restart its LNG export plant in Texas. Despite the Freeport shutdown, the amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants hit 13.0 bcfd on Thursday, the most since June 4 - four days before Freeport shut. That is because the nation's six other big export plants were operating near full capacity. In a volatile week of trade, front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 54.0 cents, or 8.4%, to settle at $6.970 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Nov. 29. So far this week, gas prices have jumped over 5% on Monday and Tuesday and dropped over 7% on Wednesday. Gas futures were up about 84% so far this year as much higher global prices feed demand for U.S. exports due to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to Russia's war in Ukraine. Gas was trading at $42 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in Europe and $33 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia. Data provider Refinitiv said average gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states rose to 99.6 bcfd so far in December, up from a monthly record of 99.5 bcfd in November. On a daily basis, however, output was on track to drop about 3.4 bcfd over the past three days to a preliminary two-month low of 97.2 bcfd on Thursday as freezing weather blankets parts of Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota, causing well f
Bone-Chilling Cold Takes Toll on Production, Driving Weekly Natural Gas Prices Higher - Natural gas prices exploded higher during the Dec. 12-16 trading period amid the first intimidating cold blast to hit the Lower 48 since the start of winter. With production curtailments to boot because of wellhead freeze-offs, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. jumped $4.070 to $11.645. Natural gas futures ended the week in positive territory – barely – as wild swings occurred throughout the week with seemingly every run of the weather models. At Friday’s close, the January Nymex gas futures contract settled at $6.600, up only 1.3 cents from Monday’s settlement. Notably, the prompt month had surged as high as $7.105 earlier in the week. With frigid air penetrating the West Coast resulting in continued solid gas demand, massive price spikes continued throughout the region during the Dec. 12-16 trading week. The price gains are significant since they are on top of what were record levels the prior week. PG&E Citygate, in the northern part of California, led the way as prices hit a fresh high of $75.00 on Tuesday. Cash prices experienced swings in both directions in the days since, ultimately averaging $8.980 higher week/week at $35.890. Prices also were strong in Southern California, where the SoCal Border Avg. picked up $10.495 on the week to average $37.050. The rally extended across the Desert Southwest and into the Rockies as markets throughout the western United States competed for limited supplies. As previously detailed by NGI, significant cold has slammed the region this winter. Bitter temperatures along with heavy snowfalls, gusty winds and widespread rain have fueled heating loads much earlier in the year than normal. Importantly, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) in the summer of 2021 reclassified 51 Bcf of storage inventories to cushion gas, rather than working gas. Without replenishing those stocks, utilities have few molecules they can call on to meet heightened demand. But that doesn’t mean they won’t pull on what is available. Meanwhile, there’s also a shortfall of pipeline capacity to move gas from the Permian Basin and the Rockies westward toward California and the Pacific Northwest. Against that backdrop, El Paso Natural Gas – the primary conduit for moving Permian gas west – has often restricted gas flows because of maintenance. The pipeline also has had a standing 600 MMcf/d curtailment in place since an explosion last year. “The bottom line: pipeline explosions and the related extended forces majeure, not to mention old-fashioned bottlenecks, have eroded what flexibility was left,” said RBN Energy LLC’s Sheetal Nasta, managing editor. Given that all it’s taken for West Coast prices to soar to such historic heights was a little cold weather and upstream gas limitations, gas supply constraints out West are getting worse, according to Nasta. “It’s likely the market will continue to see constraint-driven pricing during high-demand periods and during frequent outages as legacy infrastructure ages, at least until there is some relief in the way of incremental pipeline capacity.”
Coast Guard Monitors Oil Spill Response Near Lake Charles, Louisiana - The Coast Guard is monitoring the response to an oil spill in the vicinity of Calcasieu Point Landing near Lake Charles, Louisiana, Wednesday. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Lake Charles pollution responders received a report at approximately 8:15 a.m. Monday of an unknown quantity of oil in the water in an industrial canal north of Choupique Island. Coast Guard pollution responders dispatched to the location alongside representatives from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office Marine Division, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), and the Lake Charles Fire Department. On-scene investigators ascertained that the discharge escaped from the secondary containment at Martin Energy Services. Personnel from Martin Energy Services secured the source of the spill and estimated that approximately 3,500 gallons of used lubricant oil entered the water. The oil spill response organization hired by Martin Energy Services, OMI Environmental Solutions, placed over 2,000 feet of boom and contained the oil spill along the banks of the Lake Charles Industrial Canal. LDWF personnel rescued seven oiled pelicans from the site of the spill. Environmental assessments are still ongoing. The Coast Guard temporarily halted traffic along the Intracoastal Waterway during the initial assessment and cleanup; however, the Intracoastal Waterway is not impacted and has since been reopened to marine traffic.
Oil Wells Creeping into Texas Cities Herald Shale Era Twilight - Each morning when Michael Quinn pulls into the parking lot of the luxury apartment complex he manages in West Texas, an unsightly vision blots the horizon: a 24-foot-high insulated wall. The barrier, covered in a sand-colored tarp, is designed to muffle noise from an oil-well site across the road. The wall, and an accompanying surge in urban drilling, is the latest sign that America’s shale fields are reaching middle age. An uptick in drilling within the city limits signals that the very best rock in one of the world’s most prolific oil fields has already been tapped. In the shale boom’s early days, with so much crude-soaked land up for grabs elsewhere in the Permian Basin, there was little reason to deal with the red tape needed to bore underneath populated areas. But with over two-thirds of the Permian’s premium land now drilled, producers are seeking more permits than ever to burrow beneath Midland and its 130,000 residents. Observers have long been predicting shale’s demise or heralding its rebirth. But this time is different: After years of honing their craft to boost output, producers in the Permian’s two main zones are pumping less oil per foot drilled in each new well, not more. Output guidance from Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. has shown that US shale growth is coming in at the low end of expectations. Analysts say the Permian could reach a production plateau within five years. That’s a problem that reaches far beyond Texas. US shale, led by the Permian, has provided 90% of global oil output growth in the past decade, according to research firm Enverus. It made the US the biggest producer ahead of Saudi Arabia. A shale slowdown means the world can no longer rely on the US to be its swing oil supplier, capable of ramping up or down quickly to temper a volatile market. It complicates the Biden administration’s efforts to tame pump prices, and it hands more power back to OPEC as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upends oil and gas supply. US shale’s spectacular growth — adding more crude to global markets from 2012 to 2020 than the entire current production of Iraq and Iran combined — had become a thorn in the eye of OPEC, which saw its market dominance threatened like never before. But US output tumbled at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and is still about 1 million barrels a day below the record 13 million reached in early 2020. Next year, growth is likely to be around 560,000 barrels a day, according to Enverus. That’s despite crude prices averaging more than $90 a barrel this year, far above what producers need to break even. Skyrocketing costs for labor and equipment, as well as pressure to return more cash to shareholders, are partly to blame for drillers’ restraint. Rising interest rates, meanwhile, likely herald the end of cheap money for shale producers looking to finance even modest growth plans. But a new, more troubling trend has emerged in recent weeks: The rock itself is yielding less oil. Wells drilled this year produced between 8% and 13% less oil per lateral foot than a year earlier, according to BloombergNEF, the first major reversal after a decade of productivity gains. Pioneer Natural Resources Co., one of the biggest Permian operators, recently overhauled its drilling plan after executives were “not satisfied” with its well performance this year. Laredo Petroleum Inc. said some of its production was hurt by interference from other wells nearby. A higher proportion of drilling is now done by private companies, which aren’t beholden to shareholder pressure to boost buybacks and dividends. But that’s contributing to lower productivity, Private producers tend to have less-desirable acreage, he said. Some public and private companies are using a method known as multi-zone development, which means they’re drilling several layers of shale at once to improve efficiency, but in doing they’re also tapping their less-productive rock. BMO estimates that most of the top-tier land has already been developed in the Permian and in the Bakken of North Dakota, the top-producing shale regions. That leaves explorers with a lower inventory of the most valuable yet-to-be-drilled sites. “We’re going to run out of inventory in the next four to six years,” “We probably saw it earlier in other shales, which is why we left those other shales and moved so much activity into the Permian. It’s now rearing its ugly head in the Permian.”
Fourth Strongest Quake In Texas History Rattles Nation's Largest Fracking Region - A magnitude 5.4 earthquake rattled parts of the Permian basin on Friday. The area is the largest oil-producing region in the US, located in West Texas -- and has more fracking operations than anywhere in the world. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck northwest of Midland around 5:35 pm local time, and three minutes later, a tremor of magnitude 3.3 followed. It's the second time in 30 days that a sizeable quake has hit the West Texas region. The last was Nov. 16, when a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit the area. "I thought it was the wind until I realized the wind wouldn't be making the light fixtures sway. Midland will get tremors that are rarely even felt but that was a full blown earthquake," someone in West Texas tweeted. On Friday evening, the National Weather Service's Midland tweeted: "We just felt an earthquake here at the office! While we don't actively monitor or track earthquakes ... but this would be the 4th strongest earthquake in Texas state history!" Earthquakes have been linked to fracking operations. Latest data via Bloomberg shows shale oil production in Permian Basin has jumped to a record high.
The U.S. Shale Boom Is Officially Over- The days of explosive growth in U.S. shale oil production are over. American oil production is rising, but at a much slower pace than it did before the 2020 crash, and at lower rates than expected a few months ago. The new priorities of the shale patch – capital discipline and a focus on returns to shareholders and debt repayments – have coupled with supply chain constraints and cost inflation to drag down U.S. oil production growth. The Biden Administration’s mixed signals to the American oil and gas industry are not motivating U.S. producers, either. Many are reluctant to commit to spending more on drilling when there isn’t any medium-to-long-term vision of how the U.S. oil and gas resources could be used to boost America’s energy security and help Western allies who depend on imports. This year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and various analysts have been downgrading their forecasts of crude oil production for 2022 and 2023. Although the EIA still expects output to set a new annual average record next year, it has significantly revised down its projections since the start of this year.Oil firm executives, for their part, say the U.S. Administration’s policies and anti-oil rhetoric, inflation, contractor time delays, and regulatory uncertainty are negatively impacting drilling and production planning.The EIA expects U.S. crude oil production to average 11.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2022 and 12.4 million bpd in 2023, which would surpass the record high set in 2019, per the November Short-Term Energy Outlook. Despite the expectation of a record output next year, the EIA has downgraded the numbers several times in 2022 so far. The latest cut is a massive 21% reduction in the growth estimate, according to calculations by Reuters.In the October forecast, the EIA had already downgraded the average production estimate for 2023 to 12.4 million bpd from the September forecast of 12.6 million bpd.“Lower crude oil production in the forecast reflects lower crude oil prices in 4Q22 than we previously expected,” the administration said in October.Weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which upended global energy markets, Enverus Intelligence Research expected U.S. oil production growth to accelerate in 2022 above around 900,000 bpd.However, inflation and supply-chain delays from the second quarter onwards have materially worsened the outlook on U.S. crude oil production growth. Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR) cut this month its forecast for U.S. production growth, due to “the headwinds created by oilfield services limitations, the risk of recession and reduced performance from wells drilled recently in the Permian Basin.” Therefore, the Lower 48 oil production forecast has been significantly downgraded and EIR now expects growth of around 450,000 bpd exit-to-exit in 2022 and 560,000 bpd growth for 2023.
With U.S. shale oil boom over, can world production climb? -- Prior to the pandemic-induced downturn in world oil production, U.S. oil production growth was responsible for 98 percent of the increase in world production in 2018. Almost all of that growth resulted from rapid increases in shale oil production which accounted for 64 percent of U.S. production. Fast forward to today when OilPrice.com has declared that "The U.S. Shale Boom Is Officially Over." The reasons cited mostly have to do with management "discipline" regarding capital expenditure in favor of shareholder payouts and complaints about "anti-oil rhetoric" and "regulatory uncertainty." But there might just be another reason for the slowdown in shale oil production in the United States: There isn't as much accessible and economical shale oil underground as advertised. Earth scientist David Hughes laid out his case for this view in his "Shale Reality Check 2021." (For a summary of Hughes' report, see my piece from December 2021 entitled, "U.S. shale oil and gas forecast: Too good to be true?") There may be other sources of oil worldwide that will somehow make up for the significantly lower growth in U.S. shale oil production. But no other source seems set to provide the kind of growth U.S. shale oil provided, that is, 73.2 percent of the global increase in oil production from 2008 through 2018. The world has actually been getting along with less oil for some time now. World oil production proper (crude oil including lease condensate) peaked on a monthly basis in November 2018 at 84.58 million barrels per day (mbpd). In August 2022 production was 81.44 mbpd. That's after a pandemic-induced shock that saw production fall to 70.28 mbpd in June 2020. Neither the U.S. shale oil companies nor OPEC seem ready to increase production significantly (assuming that they can). Russia, among the world's top three producers, is under heavy sanction and may not be able to produce more oil for export anytime soon. (Again, it is not certain that Russia can significantly increase production. Except for the pandemic-induced drop Russia has long been on a production plateau of between 10 and 11 mbpd.) No doubt some new oil savior will be announced soon whether credible or not. In the meantime, the world economy will be faced with limited oil supplies that do not simply grow to meet our fantasies of what we want. The result will be high prices, that is, higher than has been historically the case. A recession won't change this dynamic and, in fact, may reinforce it as oil companies are likely to reduce drilling activity when demand for oil slumps. That will make it doubly difficult for those companies to supply growing demand coming out of the next recession. This is the way things might very well be for a long time if not indefinitely. Many of us who foresaw this day said that we would only see peak world oil production in the rearview mirror. It may take a few more years to determine if November 2018 marked the all-time peak.
U.S. shale oil output to keep growing, at snail's pace – EIA (Reuters) - Oil output from the Permian shale basin in January is set to touch a record 5.6 million barrels per day (bpd), the U.S. forecast on Monday, but the increase is a third of September's pace. Output in the biggest US shale oil basin is set to rise by about 37,000 bpd, the smallest gain in seven months based on projections from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its monthly drilling productivity report.Gains slowed as some of the largest firms are warning of overworked oilfields and less productive new wells. Overall U.S. output is forecast to reach a record 9.32 million bpd in January, according to the EIA, up only 94,500 bpd over the prior month. In August, the month-over-month increase was 207,500 bpd. Legacy oil production change, which excludes output from new wells, will show steeper declines in all major shale producing regions in January. Production from new wells, defined as one that began producing for the first time in the previous month, also is expected to fall. In the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana, the EIA forecast oil output next month will rise 21,000 bpd to 1.22 million bpd, the largest total since November 2020. In the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas, output will rise 10,000 bpd to 1.24 million bpd in January, its highest total volume since April 2020. Natural gas production also is expected to grow by 535 million cubic feet per day to a record 96.28 billion cubic feet of gas per day. U.S. gas production is rising sharply amid growing global need for the fuel. In the biggest shale gas basin, Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, January output will rise to 35.53 bcfd, the highest since hitting a record 36 bcfd in December 2021. Gas output in the Permian and the Haynesville field in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas will rise to record highs of 21.39 bcfd and 16.41 bcfd in January, respectively. EIA said producers drilled 1,005 wells in November, the most since March 2020. Total drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) wells rose by 22 to 4,443 in November, the first monthly increase since June 2020.
Regulators order Keystone Pipeline to investigate after 14,000 barrels spill in Kansas - Kansas Reflector --— Federal regulators have ordered operators to temporarily shut down part of the Keystone Pipeline in northern Kansas after it spilled 14,000 barrels of crude oil. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a corrective action order, its strictest enforcement, Thursday evening. It orders the pipeline’s operators to conduct an investigation before they can resume operations. In a statement Friday, TC Energy, which owns the 2,687-mile Keystone Pipeline, said it had been working closely with regulators, local officials, landowners, tribal nations and the community at-large. The spill occurred close to Washington, Kansas, near the Nebraska border, dumping oil into Mill Creek. Environmental Protection Agency coordinators were dispatched to the scene Thursday along with state and local crews. TC Energy said in a news release Thursday evening that the segment of Mill Creek where the oil spilled had been isolated to prevent it from flowing downstream. The EPA said Friday the oil was contained within three miles of the pipeline burst and no drinking water had been impacted. Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club in Kansas, said it was a “shame that this has happened once again on the Keystone Pipeline.” “It’s a shame because Mill Creek will probably never be the same,” Pistora said. The corrective action order says TC Energy must determine the root cause of the failure that caused the oil spill Wednesday, review 10 years of inspections and create a remedial work plan that assesses the risk of spills at other points along the pipeline.
Kansas oil spill is Keystone pipeline's biggest ever, according to federal data - — A ruptured pipe dumped enough oil this week into a northeastern Kansas creek to nearly fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, becoming the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years and surpassing all the previous ones on the same pipeline system combined, according to federal data.The Keystone pipeline spill in a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles northwest of Kansas City, also was the biggest in the system's history, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The operator, Canada-based TC Energy, said the pipeline that runs from Canada to Oklahoma lost about 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons. The spill raised questions for environmentalists and safety advocates about whether TC Energy should keep a federal government permit that has allowed the pressure inside parts of its Keystone system — including the stretch through Kansas — to exceed the typical maximum permitted levels. With Congress facing a potential debate on reauthorizing regulatory programs, the chair of a House subcommittee on pipeline safety took note of the spill Friday. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report last year said there had been 22 previous spills along the Keystone system since it began operating in 2010, most of them on TC Energy property and fewer than 20 barrels. The total from those 22 events was a little less than 12,000 barrels, the report said.TC Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the spill has been contained. The EPA said the company built an earthen dam across the creek about 4 miles downstream from the pipeline rupture to prevent the oil from moving into larger waterways. Randy Hubbard, the county's emergency management director, said the oil traveled only about a quarter mile and there didn't appear to be any wildlife deaths.The company said it is doing around-the-clock air-quality checks and other environmental monitoring. It also was using multiple trucks that amount to giant wet vacuums to suck up the oil.Past Keystone spills have led to outages that lasted about two weeks, and the company said it still is evaluating when it can reopen the system.
UPDATED: Keystone pipeline system remains offline due to 14,000-barrel oil spill into creek | Upstream OnlineCanadian pipeline owner and operator TC Energy has shut down its 622,000 barrels per day Keystone Pipeline System and is responding to an oil spill into a Kansas creek. TC Energy estimated 14,000 barrels of oil has been spilled from the pipeline system in the latest incident. That volume is larger than the total 11,975 barrels of oil that had been released from Keystone in prior spills since 2010, according to a US Government Accountability Office report published in July 2021. . The emergency shutdown of the line happened around 20.00 local time on 7 December after alarms were triggered and pressure dropped in the system, the company said. “We have shut down the Keystone Pipeline System and mobilised people and equipment in response to a confirmed release of oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, approximately 20 miles [32 kilometres] south of Steele City, Nebraska.” “The system remains shut down as our crews actively respond and work to contain and recover the oil,” The affected segment has been isolated and we have contained downstream migration of the release, the company added. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said TC Energy reported the discharge of crude oil from its pipeline early on the morning of 8 December. The EPA said surface water at Mill Creek had been impacted, adding “at this time, there are no known impacts to drinking water wells or the public”. Agency on-scene co-ordinators, state and local responders were on the scene along with a TC Energy response crew, the EPA said. Bloomberg and Reuters quoted unnamed sources as saying TC had declared force majeure over the outage. TC Energy’s statement said it is working to make appropriate notifications, including to its customers and regulators. It is not clear when the company will reopen the line, but it said its current primary focus is the health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding community and mitigating risk to the environment.
TC Energy says has not found cause of Keystone oil pipeline leak – Canada’s TC Energy said on Sunday it has not yet determined the cause of the Keystone oil pipeline leak last week in the United States, while also not giving a timeline as to when the pipeline will resume operation. TC shut the pipeline after more than 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into a creek in Kansas on Wednesday, making it one of the largest U.S. crude spills in nearly a decade. “Our teams continue to actively investigate the cause of the incident. We have not confirmed a timeline for re-start and will only resume service when it is safe to do so, and with the approval of the regulator,” TC said in an update posted to its website. The pipeline operator said that it has more than 250 people working on the leak, including third-party environmental specialists, adding that it is continuously monitoring air quality and presently there are no indications of adverse health or public concerns. Crews are also preparing for rain forecast to begin on Monday, TC said. The 622,000 barrel-per-day Keystone line is a critical artery shipping heavy Canadian crude from Alberta to refiners in the U.S. Midwest and the Gulf Coast. Keystone’s shutdown will hamper deliveries of Canadian crude both to the U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma and to the Gulf, where it is processed by refiners or exported.
Keystone pipeline has now leaked more oil in the US than any other since 2010: report -- On the heels of another spill last week, the massive Keystone pipeline has now leaked more oil than any other pipeline since 2010, according to a new report from Bloomberg.With more than 26,000 barrels of crude oil spilled in the last 12 years, the hazardous liquid pipeline system has come under controversy after some two dozen accidents and takes the top spot for most spillage in the last 12 years, Bloomberg reported. Keystone leaked an estimated 14,000 barrels into a creek in northeastern Kansas last week, spurring TC Energy to shut down the massive vein while the company tries to contain the oil and recoup what was lost. The U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has issued a corrective order to operator TC Energy, requiring the company address the current Keystone leak, develop and submit “restart plan” to resume operations for approval, and submit quarterly reports moving forward. The 2,687-mile hazardous liquid pipeline runs from Hardisty, Alberta, in Canada through the Midwest U.S. to Port Arthur, Texas. According to data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last year, Keystone has carried more than 3 billion barrels across the U.S. since 2010, but “the severity of its spills has worsened in recent years.” The pipeline saw 22 accidents from 2010 to 2020, which isn’t unlike other pipelines — but six of those met agency criteria for an incident “impacting people or the environment,” according to the GAO.
The Keystone Pipeline has had at least 3 significant spills in the last 5 years. Here's what to know. - A small Kansas county became a site of a significant pipeline failure last week as the Keystone Pipeline leaked an estimated 14,000 barrels of crude oil into a creek — the largest spill in its history. Now, officials are scrambling to clean up the mess made by the system, which stretches more than 2,600 miles from Canada to the U.S. And it isn't the first time they've had to do so. The Keystone Pipeline has had nearly two dozen accidents since it went into service in 2010, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a history similar to other oil pipelines. There are dozens of "significant" oil pipeline incidents every year in the U.S., according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, costing more than $3 billion and leading to the deaths of six people since 2002. More than 719,000 barrels of crude oil have been lost in that time, with each barrel being about 42 gallons. It's not uncommon for smaller-scale oil pipeline breaches to occur in the U.S. But what makes the Keystone Pipeline different, the GAO said, is that its incidents have only gotten worse.While most of the 22 accidents at the pipeline over the past 12 years resulted in fewer than 50 barrels of oil being released each time, four incidents stand out. In two separate instances in two different states, 400 barrels, or more than 16,000 gallons, of oil spilled out of the pipeline – in Ludden, North Dakota, in 2011 and in Freeman, South Dakota, in 2016.Then in the past five years, the pipeline has had two larger accidents, aside from the most recent one, that pushed the pipeline's performance below nationwide averages. Before last week, there were two – one in 2017 and the other in 2019 – that were big enough to affect people or the environment, according to the hazardous materials administration's standards. The Keystone Pipeline was shut down mid-November 2017 after it leaked an initial estimate of 210,000 gallons of crude oil in Amherst, South Dakota, according to the GAO. It was one of the largest on-shore oil spill in the nation since 2010, according to the Associated Press, and months later, it was determined to be nearly twice as big as originally thought. A spokesperson for TransCanada Corp., the owner of the pipeline now called TC Energy, said five months after the fact that the pipeline had actually spilled about 407,000 gallons of crude oil into surrounding farmland, with the GAO saying last year that 6,592 barrels of oil were released. Despite taking months to clean up, the pipeline resumed 12 days after the leak began. Not even two years later, a tiny town of fewer than 200 people became the site of another massive leak nearby. The pipeline sprung a leak near Edinburg, North Dakota, in October 2019, forcing the pipeline to halt the transport of oil. While state regulators initially expected the leak to affect about 22,500 square feet, they later determined it was almost 10 times bigger than that – 209,100 square feet, according to the AP. According to the GAO, 4,515 barrels of oil were released in the incident, with officials telling the AP that an estimated 383,000 gallons of oil had been leaked. The latest major incident started last week, when TC Energy officials announced on Dec. 8 that an estimated 14,000 barrels had been spilled in Washington County, Kansas — more than all the crude oil pipeline spills in 2021 combined, according to federal data. With each barrel being 42 gallons, that would come out to more than half a million gallons of crude oil seeping into the surrounding area.
As pipeline operator searches for cause of Kansas oil spill, residents await cleanup - The operator of a pipeline system that spilled thousands of barrels of crude oil into a north-central Kansas creek last week has said it is still unclear what caused the incident, the largest in the history of the Keystone pipeline. The pipeline failure, which occurred in Washington County on Wednesday night, caused over 14,000 barrels of crude oil to flow into Mill Creek, equivalent to over 500,000 gallons or about the size of a water tower. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the U.S. Transportation Department ordered TC Energy — which operates the pipeline over its 2,700 mile run from Alberta, Canada, to Oklahoma — to shut down the 96-mile segment that includes Washington County. In the USDOT order dated Dec. 8 and signed by Alan Mayberry, an associate administrator for pipeline safety, the agency mandates TC Energy take the segment offline until it takes action to address public health and environmental concerns. That includes a submitted analysis of what went wrong, testing and a plan for how to restart operations. Given the unknown nature of what went wrong and those issues which "may have caused the failure remain present in the pipeline and could lead to additional failures," Mayberry wrote that continuing to operate the portion of the pipeline "without corrective measures is or would be hazardous to life, property, or the environment, and that failure to issue this Order expeditiously would result in the likelihood of serious harm." In a statement released over the weekend, TC Energy said it had a crew of 250 specialists on the scene and that continuous air monitoring was underway. The company said there is presently "no indication of adverse health or public concerns" and the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that drinking water had not been contaminated as part of the spill.
Company starting to recover oil from Kansas pipeline spill - (AP) — The company operating a pipeline that spilled about 14,000 bathtubs’ worth of oil into a Kansas creek during a test for potential problems is recovering at least a small portion of the crude. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Canada-based TC Energy has recovered 2,598 barrels of oil mixed with water from the 14,000-barrel spill on a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. Each barrel is enough to fill a household bathtub. Last week’s rupture in Kansas forced the company to shut down the Keystone system, and it hasn’t said when it will come back online. The company said it is working around-the-clock to suck up spilled oil using trucks equipped with what essentially are large wet vacuums. No one was evacuated, and officials said no drinking water was affected. The company has promised to fully comply with demands from regulators and to work until it has “fully remediated the site.” Concerns that spills could pollute waterways spurred opposition to plans by TC Energy to build another crude oil pipeline in the same system, the 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) Keystone XL, across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. President Joe Biden’s cancelation of a permit for the project led the company to pull the plug last year. Last week’s spill was the largest on the Keystone system since it began operating in 2010 and the largest onshore spill since a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture in North Dakota leaked 20,600 barrels in September 2013, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The agency’s pipeline safety arm last week ordered TC Energy to take corrective action. The order said TC Energy was running an in-line inspection using a device inside the pipeline that was some 80 miles (129 kilometers) past where the pipeline ruptured. Such devices are designed to fit tightly inside and are known as “pigs” because early wooden ones squeaked as they went through. Three university petroleum engineering instructors who reviewed the regulators’ order ahead of Associated Press interviews pointed out the testing, which federal guidelines call for doing at least once every five years.
No timeline for Keystone crude pipeline restart as TC Energy continues cleanup -- The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has not set any timeline for restart of the shutdown Keystone pipeline, spokesperson Darius Kirkwood said Dec. 13, even as the operator TC Energy continues with cleanup activities and puts more resources on the ground. PHMSA also does not have any timeline for completing the investigation it is carrying out into the 36-inch pipeline leak, Kirkwood said in an email. TC Energy continues with response and remediation efforts at the Keystone Pipeline System and has so far recovered 2,598 barrels of crude oil and water, it said late Dec. 12, adding vacuum trucks and multiple booms are set up downstream of the release point to contain the oil from moving downstream. Oil has not breached the containment area and "we now have over 300 individuals on site, including third-party experts, to support containment and incident response," TC Energy said in its Dec. 12 update. In its corrective action order issued Dec. 8, PHMSA said crude leaked following a "failure" in the Keystone pipeline nearly three miles east of Washington in Kansas. Neither PHMSA nor TC Energy has so far divulged the cause of the leak into the Dec. 7 incident that resulted in some 14,000 barrels of crude being spilled.
Keystone pipeline break spilled diluted bitumen, complicating cleanup (Reuters) - The oil spilled from TC Energy Corp's (TRP.TO) ruptured Keystone pipeline was diluted bitumen, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday, adding complications to the cleanup. The 622,000 barrels per day (bpd) pipeline was shut last week after it spilled 14,000 barrels of oil in rural Kansas, including into a creek. Bitumen tends to sink in water, making it harder to collect than oils that float. The parts of the pipeline carrying oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois opened on Wednesday at reduced capacity. The ruptured portion that extends from south of Steele City, Nebraska, to a storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, remains closed. Bitumen from Canada's oil sands is a dense, thick form of oil that shippers dilute with lighter oils so it can move through pipelines. The resulting product is called dilbit for short.
Company reopens most of pipeline following Kansas oil spill - (AP) — The operator of a pipeline with the largest onshore crude oil spill in nine years has reopened all of it except for the stretch in Kansas and northern Oklahoma that includes the site of the rupture. Canada-based T.C. Energy said in a statement Wednesday night that its Keystone system has restarted operations from Canada to southern Nebraska and from there to south-central Illinois. It also is operating the pipeline from northern Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast. The Dec. 7 spill forced the company to shut down the Keystone system and dumped about 14,000 barrels of heavy crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. Each barrel is 42 gallons, the size of a household bathtub. “The affected segment of the Keystone Pipeline System remains safely isolated as investigation, recovery, repair and remediation continues to advance,” the company said in a statement. “This segment will not be restarted until it is safe to do so.” Last week’s spill was the largest on the 2,700-mile (4,345-kilometer) Keystone system since it began operating in 2010 and the largest onshore spill since a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture in North Dakota leaked 20,600 barrels in September 2013, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The crude carried by the pipeline is extracted from tar sands in western Canada, can sink in water and can be harder to clean up than more conventional crude oil, according to experts and environmentalists. A 2016 National Academies of Sciences studysaid the tar sands oil has an “exceptionally high density” compared with other crude oils that can “pose particular challenges when they reach water bodies.” Company and officials have said no drinking water supplies were affected, the oil didn't reach larger waterways and no one was evacuated. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that four dead animals and 71 dead fish had been recovered.
Ecology fines barge company for oil spill in Salish Sea -A barge company that spilled fuel into the Salish Sea has been fined $38,500, the Washington State Department of Ecology announced Wednesday, Dec. 14. The barge, carrying 1.55 million gallons of high-sulfur fuel oil, marine gas oil and ultra-low sulfur diesel, spilled an unknown amount of fuel due to open hatches during high-seas transport, according to a news release from Ecology. The barge, operated by Olympic Tug & Barge, Inc., a subsidiary of Centerline Logistics, was being transported from the Parkland Refinery in Vancouver, B.C., to Commencement Bay in Tacoma, Feb. 7, 2021. When it arrived in Commencement Bay, tug crews noticed fuel had “splashed out” of the tanks and was in the water. The company was fined for spilling oil in water and negligence, as it had either failed to close the two of the hatches before departure, or were unaware the hatches had opened during transport, the news release said. There are no reported signs of damage to the natural environment in the Salish Sea, and 267 gallons of oil were recovered from the vessel’s deck.
Safety concerns preceded oil well blowout -- The idle oil well that blew out Dec. 2 north of California Avenue, badly injuring a Bakersfield oil field worker, twice prompted safety concerns earlier this year — first as part of a cluster of bores whose elevated pressure readings led to an emergency work order in May, then again after a rupture boomed at the site in June. State regulators warned the well's owner in April about excessive pressure at seven of its facilities in the Fruitvale Oil Field, later characterizing them as presenting "an immediate danger to the surrounding area," including homes, parks, commercial centers and an elementary school. Bakersfield-based owner E&B Natural Resources Management Corp. resisted the state order to cap the well, telling regulators it was addressing the situation and intended to reactivate the facility after idling it in September 2015. The company later agreed to permanently plug it and the others. Remedial work was underway at the well, located just west of Easton Drive in a dirt lot behind a police training facility, when authorities say a sudden release of high pressure at about 8:30 a.m. hurtled Leonardo Andrade, an employee of Bakersfield oil field contractor MMI Services Inc. Andrade's wife has said he suffered internal bleeding and severe leg injuries. Cal/OSHA has since opened investigations of the two companies, both of which were the target of fines by the agency last year for alleged safety problems after separate oil field accidents. The penalties remain under appeal. Little investigation was done after a smaller accident at the same well shortly before 8 a.m. on June 24. According to the Bakersfield Police Department, at least two callers reported a loud bang, with one telling of light smoke at the lot. Responders with the Bakersfield Fire Department concluded the boom resulted from a "mechanical malfunction" in which a pressurized rubber line running from an oil rig at the site suddenly burst. No one was reported hurt. The agency said it did not know what company was performing the natural gas release at the well. The well had been included in E&B's state-mandated plan for managing and capping idle wells. The company told regulators last spring it plugged wells it owns in the same oil field in 2019 and 2021, and that it was planning to properly abandon two more by the end of this year.
Biden May Soon Approve Huge Alaska Oil Drilling Project --When Joe Biden was a candidate to be his party’s nominee for President, he ran as one of the biggest foes of fossil fuels ever to make a credible run for the White House. He pledged to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050, ween the country off dirty sources of energy and “end fossil fuel.” He canceled the high-profile Keystone XL pipeline, took millions of acres of possible drilling off the table by scrapping leases to oil and gas companies, and banned imports of Russian oil. He even threatened oil firms with a windfall tax and likened them to war profiteers.Environmental groups went gaga over his rhetoric and action alike, buoying his political alliances and giving climate change activists heart after years of broken promises.And yet, a unique alignment of political and geological confluences may spur Biden in the coming days to do something that will leave those same green allies seeing red.Biden’s administration is nearing a final decision on a potentially game-changing oil and gas project that has now been under consideration across five presidencies. The proposed Willow project in the northeast section of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska would produce 180,000 barrels of oil each day, create $10 billion in tax and royalty revenues, and create 2,000 construction jobs and 300 permanent ones. The massive project would require as many as five drilling sites, a processing facility, 50 miles of new roads, seven bridges, and an airstrip. Local groups, including those representing Alaska Natives, as well as labor unions and the state’s congressional delegation, have all championed the project as a source of good union jobs and money for Alaska’s North Slope. But environmental groups and some Native American groups from the Lower 48 oppose the ConocoPhillips project, citing an Interior Department analysis that estimates it would emit at least 278 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime and during construction. It also would endanger the local wildlife like polar bears. On Thursday, a coalition of environmental groups—represented by a PR firm with deep ties to the Biden Administration—plans to rally at Lafayette Square across from the White House before delivering another 90,000 comments in opposition to the proposal, which they liken to 76 coal plants running for a year. (Industry groups heartily reject this comparison, noting it compares a lifetime of direct and indirect emissions from Willow with one coal plant’s annual emissions.)
Coast Guard identifies oil spill south of Prince Rupert - Oil is leaking again from the sunken United States Army Transport (USAT) Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski vessel in Grenville Channel, about 100 kilometres south of Prince Rupert, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) stated on Dec. 1. Guardians noticed a “small amount” of oil on the water near the wreck site this September and October, the coast guard stated. They completed an assessment of the site and found three leaks releasing slow but consistent drops of oil into the marine environment. The CCG is working with Gitga’at and Gitxaala First Nations who have created an Emergency Coordination Centre with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) along side the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to address the spill, a social media post stated. The wreck is in a difficult location on the edge of a rocky shelf with challenging currents, tides and weather patterns. The ship itself is also badly deteriorating in some areas. These factors create a safety risk to the coast guard that they must consider in their plans to respond to the incident, a spokesperson wrote. “While the current amount of marine pollution upwelling from the shipwreck is minimal, it is possible the amount could increase. The Canadian Coast Guard is taking action now to assess and contain the immediate threats posed by the wreck to prevent long-term damage to the environment.” The Zalinski ran aground and sunk in Grenville Channel in 1946 while travelling from Seattle to Alaska. The vessel lies upside down in 27 metres of water and has had multiple small oil leaks.
Cleanup continues at oil spill site near Meadowbank Mine- Monitoring efforts continue at the site of an oil spill that occurred more than a week ago near Meadowbank Mine, according to a spokesperson for the federal Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. “There is no indication that fuel has entered any freshwater body or exited the immediate spill area,” Vincent Gauthier told Nunatsiaq News on Thursday, adding that a water resource officer has been to the site of the spill. On Nov. 28, a tanker truck rollover led to the spill onto an all-weather road near the gold mining complex owned by Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Meadowbank is located about 110 kilometres by road from Baker Lake. The company originally estimated it to be 20,000 litres in size, but the federal government has provided a revised estimate of about 29,000 litres. That’s enough oil to fill the 40-litre tanks of 725 passenger cars. Agnico Eagle stated on Nov. 29 that the driver was not injured and the company had started an investigation into the incident. Kivalliq Inuit Association released its own statement Dec. 1, advising that trenches have been dug in an effort to contain the spill. It noted the spill has spread approximately 30 metres beyond the road, and that the closest body of water is 600 metres away. The remaining fuel was pumped into another tanker.
European Gas Storage Still On Target Despite Cold Weather - Increased month-on-month heating demand in Europe due to colder temperatures did not hurt the continent as both businesses and households changed their behavior. Wood Mackenzie said that colder temperatures across Europe have increased month-on-month heating demand by 20% in December, but a behavioral change in households and services means the amount of gas used in these sectors is 16% lower than previous average consumption patterns for similar temperatures. Despite the recent cold weather, Europe is still on track to end this winter with gas storage levels at 38% and looks set to meet the 2023 European Union target of having inventories up to 90% by November next year. “Gas demand has decreased by 10% in 2022, equivalent to 50 bcm. In 2023, gas demand will continue falling, albeit at a slower rate year-on-year, under normal weather conditions. Demand in the residential sector will reduce by 12% compared to the five-year average, however, it will be like levels in 2022 as this was a relatively warm year. Demand in the industrial sector will reduce by an additional 7%. Gas demand in the power sector will fall by 4% as renewable build-out continues to grow and despite nuclear and hydro output remaining weak,” Penny Leake, Wood Mackenzie research analyst for European gas, said. “From April to October 2023, there will be up to 25 billion cubic meters less Russian gas. But with storage levels reaching 38% at the end of this winter, Europe’s requirement to refill storage levels next summer will fall by 19 bcm compared to the corresponding period of 2022. This, combined with 9 bcm additional LNG imports, will help hit the 90% gas storage capacity target set by the EU.” “The EU and UK combined are projected to import 164 bcm of LNG in 2023, a record high, and 13 bcm more than 2022. This will be supported by accelerated regasification capacity projects that are currently underway and will help Europe’s storage levels refill by next summer,” Leake added. “Prices will need to remain high to keep demand low and to attract LNG. However, if Europe’s storage levels reach 38% by March as forecasted, there is a downside risk to the current forward curve, which is trading at $40/million British thermal units (mmbtu). Part of this reduction will also be facilitated by increased regasification capacity in the Netherlands and Germany, helping reduce bottlenecks from gas piped flows from the UK to the continent, helping TTF ease to levels closer to NBP and DES LNG prices,”
Kremlin: No decision yet on repair of Nord Stream gas pipelines --- (Reuters) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that no decision had been made yet on whether to go ahead with a repair of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines that were damaged by explosions in September. He was commenting on Canada’s plans to revoke a sanctions waiver that allowed turbines for Nord Stream 1, Russia’s biggest gas pipeline to Europe, to be repaired in Montreal and returned to Germany. “Only repairs can affect Nord Stream now. Or launching the only surviving line of Nord Stream 2,” Peskov told reporters. “The repair has yet to come to fruition. No decisions were made in this regard.” He said Russia was not aware of the results of investigations into the pipeline blasts by Sweden and Denmark. Moscow, without providing evidence, has blamed the explosions on Western sabotage. “We do not know anything about the results of the investigation yet. We do not know to what extent the countries in whose economic zone this sabotage took place will still insist on getting to the bottom of the truth,” Peskov said. Peskov added there was no decision on whether to start gas exports via the intact part of the Nord Stream 2 line. Construction of Nord Stream 2, designed to carry Russian gas to Germany, was completed in September 2021, but was never put into operation after Berlin shelved certification just days before Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine in February.
China Sees $10 Billion In LNG Tanker Orders In 2022 Three of China’s shipyards won almost a third of this year’s orders to make new LNG carriers, Reuters said on Monday. China’s shipyards—only one of which has experience building new LNG tankers—are getting a significant piece of the pie for new LNG carriers, which hit a record this year at 163 orders. The orders that China’s shipyards are seeing tripled this year, to 45, and some of China’s shipmakers that only recently became certified to build the LNG tankers, are even seeing foreign orders for the first time ever. China’s LNG tanker orders this year are valued at nearly $10 billion—about five times the order value of last year, Clarksons Research showed, cited by Reuters. South Korean shipyards usually get a large share of the LNG tanker orders, but they are already at capacity as they try to service Qatar’s North Field expansion. This has created a backlog for South Korean shipyards, and has increased costs to build LNG tankers. The end result is that even foreign buyers who look favorably on South Korea’s ability to design and build LNG tankers free from problems are now giving a serious look at China—even for companies that have zero experience with the intricacies of LNG shipbuilding. “As more Chinese gas traders engage local shipyards, they will be forced to climb the learning curve and eventually grow the whole industry,” Li Yao, founder of Beijing-based consultancy SIA Energy, told Reuters. As of late November, Chinese shipyards had orders for 66 LNG tankers, bringing its total to 21% of all global LNG tanker orders, worth some $60 billion. LNG tankers are notoriously difficult to build, and typically take more than two years to complete.
Why Supertanker Rates Are Suddenly Crashing - Earlier in the year, supertanker freight rates hit record levels as traders scrambled to park crude in storage to take advantage of a record gap between spot and future prices shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Freight rates for very large crude-oil carriers (VLCC) along the Middle East Gulf to China route reached as high as $180,000 a day while VLCC time charter rates for floating storage jumped to as much as $120,000 per day. But the situation has now reversed with supertanker rates plunging sharply. According to Bloomberg, ships capable of hauling 2 million barrels of crude are now earning about $38,000 a day, down 62% from just weeks ago after OPEC+ cut production and reduced releases from US reserves lowered seaborne volumes, Bloomberg reports.“Clearly OPEC+ cuts and waning SPR releases would both be short-term volume headwinds. They cut production from the first of November and you would expect some lag, and we are seeing activity in the Middle East cooling off somewhat. That’s the simple explanation,”Lars Bastian Ostereng, an analyst at Arctic Securities has told Bloomberg. Lower freight rates are encouraging some crude to travel longer distances. For instance, Bloomberg has reported that a South Korean refiner bought 2 million barrels of U.S. crude for March arrival. Meanwhile, offers for long-haul U.S. cargoes for delivery to Asia have declined partly due to lower shipping costs. But things could not be more different in the natural gas arena. Demand for LNG floating storage and regasification units (LNG-FSRUs) has increased sharply this year, with Europe facing an energy supply squeeze as Russia has progressively cut pipeline gas flows. Demand for LNG imports has intensified after the ruptures on the key Nord Stream pipeline system quashed any prospect of Russia turning its gas taps back on. This has forced dozens of countries in Europe to turn to FSRUs or floating LNG terminals, which are essentially mobile terminals that unload the super-chilled fuel and pipe it into onshore networks. Currently, there are 48 FSRUs in operation globally, with Rystad Energy revealing that all but six of them are locked into term charters.According to energy think-tank Ember, the EU has lined up plans for as many as 19 new FSRU projects at an estimated cost of €9.5bn.
Uzbekistan halts gas exports to China as winter demand spikes Authorities in Uzbekistan have ordered state-run gas producer Uzbekneftegaz and Russia's Lukoil, the second-largest gas producer in the country, to temporarily halt exports of natural gas to China as the country deals with a wave of blackouts and disruptions to local gas networks. Speaking earlier this week in the capital Tashkent, Bekhzot Narmatov, the executive chairman of gas pipeline operator and distributor Uztransgaz, said producers have been asked to redirect gas supplies originally destined for export to the domestic distribution network. Gas consumption has been much higher than expected because of a prolonged spell of subzero temperatures, Narmatov said, with authorities even stopping the sale of natural gas as motor fuel to drivers to free some gas for other sectors of the country’s economy. Gas exports were already expected to decline sharply this year against 2021, as the commissioning of a major gas-to-liquids plant and the construction of gas-fired power and heat stations drove up domestic demand, he said. Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry earlier forecast exports of about 3.3 billion cubic metres of gas in 2022.
Crude production starts at Johan Sverdrup phase 2 |-- Norwegian state-controlled Equinor has started production from the second phase of its giant Johan Sverdrup field in the country's North Sea, as planned. The entire field is now on stream, Equinor said today, reiterating that at plateau it will produce 720,000 b/d, with an aim to boost output to 755,000 b/d. The 440,000 b/d phase 1 came on stream in October 2019. Johan Sverdrup has 2.7bn bl of oil equivalent (boe) in recoverable volumes, according to Equinor, which operates the field with a 42.6pc stake. Lundin Energy holds 20pc, state-owned Petoro 17.4pc, independent Aker BP 11.6pc and TotalEnergies has 8.4pc. "Johan Sverdrup accounts for large and important energy deliveries, and in the current market situation, most of the volumes will go to Europe," said Equinor's executive vice president for projects, drilling and procurement Geir Tungesvik. Freight programmes for December showed the start-up of Johan Sverdrup phase 2 boosting North Sea crude loadings to their highest in more than a year. Loadings from the field were scheduled up by 9pc on the month at 640,000 b/d. Crude from Johan Sverdrup is transported by pipeline to Mongstad, and its gas goes to Norway's 97.6mn m³/d Karsto processing plant. The entire field development has a breakeven price of less than $15/bl, Equinor said. The firm expects CO2 emissions of 0.67kg/bl throughout the life of the field, as five platforms receive power from shore. Equinor said this will help to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.2mn t/yr, which equates to 2.5pc of Norway's annual emissions. Electrification is an important measure to develop the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, said Marianne M. Bjelland, Equinor's vice president, exploration and production for the Johan Sverdrup and Martin Linge areas.
Europe Diesel Stockpiles Set to Swell - Stockpiles of diesel-type fuel in northwest Europe are set to rise — though by slightly less than previously expected — ahead of an upcoming ban on Russian supplies. Inventories will reach 215 million barrels before plunging early next year to their lowest in data going back to 2011, according to a forecast from Wood Mackenzie Ltd. European Union sanctions will all but cut off seaborne deliveries from Russia — currently the bloc’s single biggest external supplier — from early February. The increases in December and January are smaller than previously forecast, due to a downward revision to this month’s refinery processing because of deteriorating margins. While it’s normal for Europe’s diesel stockpiles to rise during winter, the upcoming EU sanctions make this season’s builds particularly important. Once Russian barrels are gone, the bloc will have to find more fuel from other sources. Stockpiles offer a useful buffer as new supply chains develop. The economics of importing diesel from east of Egypt’s Suez Canal have improved, helped by weaker Asian prices, according to James Burleigh, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie. March is currently forecast to be the tightest month because it follows both the embargo on Russia and northwest Europe’s seasonal demand peak, he said. “After that, the tightness will ease as trade flows re-balance and demand wanes into the summer months.” Refinery processing in northwest Europe rose to 6.1 million barrels a day in November, though was limited by the delayed return of some French plants after strike action and the shutdown of crude distillation units at BP Plc’s giant Rotterdam refinery. It’s forecast to reach 6.16 million barrels a day this month.
Europe Imports Huge Amounts of Diesel | Rigzone Europe is bringing in diesel cargoes from around the world at close to a record pace ahead of the coming ban on shipments from its biggest external supplier. In the first 10 days of this month, the UK and European Union imported more than 16 million barrels of diesel-type fuel via ship — a rate that, if continued, would make December’s total the second-highest since at least the start of 2016, according to data provided by Vortexa Ltd. and compiled by Bloomberg. Europe is structurally short of diesel and has long relied on others for imports. With much of December’s arrivals coming from Asia and the Middle East, the shipments provide a glimpse into how the region might get by after EU sanctions banning seaborne deliveries from Russia take hold in February. Close to half of December’s diesel imports so far — about the same ratio as November’s — came from Russian shipping facilities. That means the EU still has a long way to go before it completely weans itself off the country’s fuel. It remains to be seen whether early December’s staggering level of imports will be maintained. Forward-looking data from Vortexa currently puts average arrivals for Dec. 1-15 at about 1.8 million barrels a day. If that were to continue through year’s end, the final month of 2022 would see the highest deliveries since at least 2016 — surpassing the October surge, when strikes at French refineries led to an import jump. The overwhelming majority of non-Russian deliveries of diesel-type fuel into the UK and EU are coming from the Middle East and Asia — including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and India. More are en route, including a supertanker that recently loaded at least some diesel in the Middle East and now is sailing for Rotterdam. Russia’s primary non-EU diesel buyer is Turkey, which also is an exporter. Turkey potentially could function as a middleman, importing Russian diesel for domestic consumption and exporting product made in its own refineries to Europe, according to consultancy Facts Global Energy. The majority of diesel exports from Russian facilities still flow to the EU, much of it to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp area, northwest Europe’s oil trading hub. December is the last month that traders of ICE Gasoil — Europe’s main diesel futures market — will be allowed to deliver physical Russian fuel into storage locations in the ARA region through these contracts. That potentially creates an incentive for anyone looking to sell Russian barrels this way to get it done quickly. Not all Russia-made fuel is always exported from the country’s ports — some can be shipped via other countries, and that isn’t included in the statistics used here.
India imports record 1.7 m b/d of Russian crude in November - India imported a record 1.7 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil from Russia in November with inbound shipments surging to a record high ahead of the European Union’s (EU) December 5 import ban and the G7 price cap, S&P Global Commodity Insights said on Monday. “While Russian crude flows to the EU slumped 308,000 b/d to average a record low of 464,000 b/d in the month (November 2022), Indian refiners stepped up their buying of Russian oil by 272,000 b/d to a record 1.17 million b/d,” S&P said. According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, the seaborne exports of crude oil from Russia averaged at 3.07 million b/d in November with China and India accounting for 68 per cent of the share, which is higher than the share of the two Asian countries in October. In October, Russia seaborne exports of the key commodity averaged at 3.09 million b/d with both the Asian energy guzzlers accounting for 58 per cent of the share. A senior official from an oil marketing company (OMC) said refiners have contracted high volumes in anticipation of the disruptions due to the price cap and sanctions. Besides, many are taking advantage of the January 19 window.
US Heavy-Handedness Forges Russia-Iran-India Ties - India already rebuffed US pressure to cut ties with Russia. Now it appears ready to at least partially ignore US sanctions on Iran. Back in 2017, India got roughly 11 percent of its oil from Iran, and the two countries were steadily increasing economic ties. Then the Trump administration slapped sanctions back on Iran, and New Delhi caved to US pressure to halt oil imports and other cooperation. That could soon change. According to The Cradle: Faced with a burgeoning demand for oil and gas amid the global energy crisis and recent oil cuts by the OPEC+, India now looks poised to resume oil imports from Iran, defying US sanctions, The Cradle learned from sources in Tehran and New Delhi.Interestingly, India’s petroleum minister Hardeep Puri hinted at it during his visit to Washington in October, saying New Delhi will buy oil from wherever it has to. Russia, as we know, is already shipping oil to India, despite strong US pressures.It remains to be seen if India goes through with the plan, especially considering Washington’s warning shot in September when the US sanctioned Mumbai-based Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited for shipping Iranian petrochemical products to China (reportedly the first Indian company sanctioned by the US for dealing with Iran). US sanctions on Iran’s oil exports deprive India of cheap Iranian oil, forcing it to look elsewhere, including buying more expensive US energy exports. India is now the largest oil export destination for the US. Still, New Delhi likely isn’t in a big rush, as it has already emerged as a big winner from the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as India is indispensable to both the US and Russia. Washington needs New Delhi to help control China’s rise and Moscow needs it as an outlet due to western sanctions. For months now India has been getting Russian oil at a discount and selling some to the EU at substantial profits. According to Michael Tran, global energy strategist at RBC Capital Markets: India is buying record amounts of severely discounted Russian crude, running its refiners above nameplate capacity, and capturing the economic rent of sky-high crack spreads and exporting gasoline and diesel to Europe. In short, the EU policy of tightening the screws on Russia is a policy win, but the unintended consequence is that Europe is effectively importing inflation to its own citizens. This is not only an economic boon for India, but it also serves as an accelerator for India’s place in the new geopolitically rewritten oil trade map. What we mean is that the EU policy effectively makes India an increasingly vital energy source for Europe. Indian-Russian integration is likely to accelerate despite US pressure and Ukraine throwing fits. Fuelled by a surge in import of oil and fertilizers, India’s bilateral trade with Russia has soared to an all-time high of $18.2 billion over the April-August period of this financial year, according to the latest data available with the Department of Commerce. That makes Russia India’s seventh biggest trading partner — up from its 25th position last year. The US, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Indonesia remain ahead of Russia. The increased trade with Russia is a primary driver bringing New Delhi and Tehran closer together – largely a result of US efforts to sever Europe from Russia. According to Reuters, at the end of November Moscow sent India a list of more than 500 products it wants India exporting to Russia, “including parts for cars, aircraft and trains.” The report added: Indian imports from Russia have grown nearly five times to $29 billion between Feb. 24 and Nov. 20 compared with $6 billion in the same period a year ago. Exports, meanwhile, have fallen to $1.9 billion from $2.4 billion, the source said. India is hoping to boost its exports to nearly $10 billion over coming months with Russia’s list of requests, according to the government source.
Flood of Russian Crude Heads to Asia After EU Ban Kicks In - Almost 90% of Russia’s seaborne crude headed to Asia in the week to Dec. 9. Russia has all but ceased to be a supplier of crude oil to Europe. A European Union ban on imports of Russian crude by sea came into force on Dec. 5, effectively closing off its closest oil market, which took roughly half the country’s supplies at the start of the year. With the exception of a small volume delivered to Bulgaria, seaborne flows of Russian crude to the bloc have halted.
Chinese oil demand faces bumpy road to recovery as Covid curbs ease -Oil demand in China is expected to pick up as the world’s largest crude importer pivots away from its strict Covid Zero policy, although analysts caution that it may take time for gains to kick in. Energy Aspects Ltd. boosted its first-quarter outlook by 260,000 barrels a day, according to a Dec. 12 note from analysts including Jianan Sun. The revision centers on gasoline and jet fuel as mobility increases, with the latter expected to rise to about 750,000 barrels a day from a low base of 450,000 barrels. Increased energy consumption in Asia’s biggest economy following the abrupt shift in policy may help to support futures prices that are on course for a back-to-back quarterly drop, with global benchmark Brent well down from the peak seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, a potential surge in infections in China as curbs are lifted could make for near-term disruption. “People’s will to go out may still be conservative in the next one or two months as most cities have yet to see big outbreaks,” Zhang Xiao, an analyst at OilChem, told a webinar, adding that gasoline usage may actually drop near term as people opt to stay home to avoid infection or to recover “The market will wait at least till March to see a recovery in gasoline demand.” China’s shift comes at a complex time in energy markets. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies recently opted to slash supply as global growth slows, traders are tracking the impact of the Group of Seven’s price cap on Russian oil exports, and central banks are still battling inflation. The International Energy Agency, which advises major economies, bolstered its forecasts for global demand in 2023 by 300,000 barrels a day, citing factors including surprising resilience in China. Usage will grow by 1.7 million barrels a day next year to average 101.6 million a day, it said in a report this week. There’s also guarded optimism from Vitol Group, the world’s biggest independent oil trader. Demand in China may recover as early as the second quarter, according to Mike Muller, head of Asia, who said this week there will probably be a “Nike-swoosh or J-shaped” rebound in transport-fuel usage
Number of oil tankers waiting to pass through Istanbul strait falls to 13 The recent buildup in traffic in the Black Sea eased on Monday, as the number of tankers waiting to pass through Istanbul’s Bosporus on the way to the Mediterranean fell to 13 from 17 a day earlier, a shipping agency said. In a new measure that has been in force since the start of this month, Türkiye is requiring vessels to provide proof they have insurance in place for all circumstances covering the duration of their transit through its straits or when docking at Turkish ports. Five tankers were scheduled to go through the Bosporus southbound on Monday, the Tribeca shipping agency said. The number of ships waiting in the Black Sea to pass through the strait had stood at 20 on Friday. The average waiting time for tankers decreased to 2.8 days from 4.2 days a day earlier, the Tribeca data indicated. The average waiting time peaked at above six days last week. Türkiye’s maritime authority said it would continue to keep out of its waters oil tankers that lacked appropriate insurance letters. On Sunday, the authority said four tankers, carrying some 475,000 tons of oil, had provided the necessary insurance letters according to regulations, facilitating their passage through the strait on Monday. In a statement, the authority also said it removed five oil tankers from the country’s territorial waters via the Dardanelles, further south than the Bosporus, as they could not provide confirmation letters for their insurance. At the Dardanelles, two tankers were scheduled to pass through southbound on Monday, while seven tankers were waiting to be scheduled, Tribeca said. The Transport and Infrastructure Ministry’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs last week said the insurance checks on ships in its waters were a “routine procedure” and stressed it was unacceptable to pressure Türkiye over the measure. The regulation came into effect before the G-7, the European Union and Australia agreed to bar shipping service providers like insurers from helping export Russian oil unless it is sold at an enforced low price, or cap, to deprive Moscow of wartime revenue.
Russia Claims Price Cap Won’t Seriously Hit Its Oil Production | Russia’s oil production will not fall off a cliff now that the EU-G7 price cap on Russian crude has come into effect, Russia’s First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said on Thursday. “Most markets are available for our oil based on adequate market principles, while any fluctuations in oil production that may occur, are not critical and will not exceed those registered in the spring,” Sorokin told reporters in Moscow today, as carried by Russian news agency TASS. Russian oil output dipped in the spring immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but later stabilized by June. Still, Russia is estimated to have been around 1 million barrels per day (bpd) below its OPEC+ oil production quota since then. Analysts expect a further decline in Russian output due to various hurdles for its exports now that the $60 a barrel price cap is in place. Russia’s central bank has said that the price cap could result in another shock to the Russian economy. Commenting on this, Sorokin said, “It should be noted here that the analysis presented in the publication contained a remark saying that the opinion of experts may not coincide with the regulator’s view.” “Overall, we do not share the opinion that the introduction of a price cap is an event that will lead to major consequences for the Russian economy,” he added. Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak – who is in charge of Russia’s oil policy and attends the OPEC+ meetings –– said that Russia may have to reduce its oil production due to uncertainties, but noted that the “decline will not be very significant.” As of October, Russia had yet to find markets for an additional 1.1 million bpd of crude and 1 million bpd of diesel, naphtha, and fuel oil which will be banned in Europe by early February, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its Oil Market Report in November. “For crude oil, no significant buying from Russia outside China, India, and Türkiye has appeared despite massive discounts. A further rerouting of trade should help ease pressures but a shortage of tankers is a major concern, especially for ice-class vessels required to load out of Baltic ports during winter,” the agency added.
Russia Price Cap Impact Not Clear Yet -- Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the impact of European sanctions on Russian crude oil and the cap that the Group of Seven nations has imposed on the price of Russian barrels is not clear yet. “In terms of sanctions and price caps, these have not yielded clear results yet,” the prince told a forum in Riyadh on Sunday, held following the country’s 2023 budget announcements last week. “Some of these measures were only implemented on Dec. 5 and we can now see the state of uncertainty in the implementation. There are many measures that have not been verified and it will continue to change or be modified in line with the political requirements.” The G-7 last week slapped a price ceiling on Moscow’s oil exports, a move that Washington insists is purely about Russia: keeping its oil flowing while starving it of funds for the war in Ukraine. Introduced in tandem with a European Union ban on seaborne Russian crude, any nations still buying must pay $60 a barrel or less, or lose access to key shipping services supplied by EU and G-7 firms. OPEC+ — a 23-nation coalition that is led by Saudi Arabia and Russia — met to discuss policy earlier this month and agreed to hold output steady, having decided in October to cut supply by two million barrels a day in a move that angered the US. Oil soared after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February, with benchmark Brent topping $127 a barrel. But it’s since slumped below $80 as slowing economic growth in the US and Europe, and lingering coronavirus curbs in China, stoke demand concerns. Adding to that weakness is a view among traders that the price cap was set high enough to ensure Russia won’t need to rein in output. Despite this, Russian president Vladimir Putin said his country may cut its oil production in response to the price cap and that a decision on Russia’s response will be made within the next several days, according to comments broadcast on state Rossiya 24 TV on Dec. 9. Asked about the threat to cut oil production by Russia, the prince told reporters today: “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Russia’s response to the price cap also adds another layer to the uncertainty surrounding the actual impact the measures could have on global markets, the Saudi energy minister told the forum. “What will the reaction be, what they can possibly do and whether it will be similar to what has been done with gas, will the practices when it comes to crude oil be similar or different, is also mysterious,” he said. “These tools were created for political purposes and it is not clear yet whether they can achieve these political purposes.“ Other uncertainties on the global economy as we walk into 2023 include the impact on the Chinese economy from easing Covid restrictions and central banks’ actions to tame inflation. “The central banks now are controlled by the tendencies to curb inflation no matter the costs – these will have negative impacts on the growth of global economies.” he said. The OPEC+ alliance decision to cut production by two million barrels a day on Oct. 5 was proven to be the correct one when recent developments are taken into consideration, he said, adding that the alliance will continue to focus on stability in the year ahead.
Price Cap Will Take a Few Months for Traders to Understand -The price cap is a new mechanism that traders did not properly price in, and the new paradigm surrounding Russia’s ability to move crude on the market will take a few months for traders themselves to understand. That’s according to Louise Dickson, a senior analyst at Rystad Energy, who made the comment in a statement sent to Rigzone. In the statement, Dickson highlighted that the oil market has been subject to many “artificial forces” over the past three years, such as “extreme OPEC+ quotas, unbounded stimulus, and unprecedented inventory releases”. “In terms of price we seem to be at an inflection point,” Dickson told Rigzone. “$75 per barrel oil has upside pressure if Russia retaliates with production cuts, but likely has more downside spin as the murky macro backdrop of 1Q23 unfolds,” Dickson added. “It is still our belief that oil demand will swing back in 2023, spurred first and foremost by the re-opening of China, both in terms of oil consumption and in terms of easing of supply chain inflationary triggers,” the Rystad analyst continued. Dickson noted in the statement that the futures curve has been undergoing “significant flattening” over the past few months and said “the flip towards contango was inevitable as we approached 1Q23, a shoulder season for oil demand coupled with what we forecast to be the worst of the recession impact”. At the time of writing, the price of Brent crude oil is trading at $75.66 per barrel. Brent’s highest 2022 close, so far, was seen on March 8 at $127.98 per barrel, and its lowest 2022 close, so far, was seen on December 9 at $76.01 per barrel. On December 3, the European Council decided to set an oil price cap for crude oil and petroleum oils, and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, which originate in or are exported from Russia, at $60 per barrel. The cap, which became applicable as of December 5, will limit price surges driven by extraordinary market conditions and drastically reduce the revenues Russia has earned from oil, the council noted. On October 6, the council adopted a decision prohibiting the maritime transport of Russian crude oil, also as of December 5, and petroleum products, as of February 5, 2023, to third countries, and the related provision of technical assistance, brokering services or financing or financial assistance.
Russia Sets Up Oil Transfer Site in Baltic Sea - Russia has set up a site in the Baltic Sea to allow it to transfer refined fuels from one vessel onto another in a bid to help it overcome a stretched tanker market before the onset of European Union sanctions. The site, near the port of Ust-Luga, will allow ship-to-ship transfers of fuels, including diesel, according to a statement at the website of Rosmorport, the nation’s agency regulating and providing maritime services in the country’s seaports. Its establishment was ordered by Russia’s Transport Ministry in September. The International Energy Agency said in its Oil Market Report on Wednesday that the strategy will allow smaller tankers to discharge onto bigger ones that can then carry the fuels further afield. Historically, most of Russia’s diesel from the port of Primorsk — the country’s main Baltic exporting facility — has gone to Europe in cargo sizes of about 30,000 tons. But with the EU banning seaborne imports from early February, bigger tankers, more suited to long-distance trading, will likely be required. The ship-to-ship, or STS, site will allow for those cargo accumulations. It’s not clear how much the approach will also help Russia to deal with a possible shortage of tankers that are built for icy conditions. Ust-Luga usually declares ice conditions later than Primorsk, according to Richard Matthews, head of research at E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd. This means that, for a while, ice-class tankers will potentially be able shuttle fuel from the most difficult ports to nearby Ust-Luga for an STS transfer, rather than carrying it all the way to its final destination. Still, Ust-Luga can experience ice in winter. And with more Russian cargoes being shipped over longer distances — for both crude and refined fuels — the pressure on ice-suitable ships will mount unless a solution is found.
Rosneft reports $889m loss from assets ‘transfer’ in Germany - Russia’s oil giant Rosneft said Wednesday its profit over the past nine months had been badly hit by the seizure of its German-based refineries by Berlin. “In 3Q 2022, the most significant negative impact on income came from the transfer of the company’s assets in Germany... which resulted in the recognition of an additional loss of 56 billion rubles (around $889 million),” Rosneft said in a statement. Between July and September, the company “continued to be negatively affected by external factors and illegal restrictions”, including the transfer of assets in Germany, Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin said in the statement. Berlin in September took control of Rosneft’s German subsidiaries, which account for about 12 percent of oil refining capacity in the country, and placed them under the trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency. Germany has also pledged to end Russian oil imports by the end of the year as Europe seeks to wean itself off Russian energy supplies since the start of the Ukraine offensive. But Rosneft said it had increased its deliveries to Asia by a third and “fully compensated for the decline in supplies to European buyers”. Despite the heavy loss, Rosneft’s ruble revenue in the first nine months of 2022 increased by 15.7 percent year-on-year to the equivalent of $102.3 billion.
Russian court asked to offer Shell an exit route from Salym joint venture -- Russian state-controlled oil producer Gazprom Neft is reportedly seeking an orderly exit for Shell from their Salym joint venture in West Siberia.According to an arbitration court filing in Moscow released into the public domain earlier this week, Gazprom Neft subsidiary GPN Salymskiye Proyekty has requested that the court amend an earlier ruling and permit Shell to take full control of its 50% stake in Salym Petroleum Development (SPD).SPD operates a group of three Salym oilfields in West Siberia’s Yamal-Nenets region and holds an exploration and development licence for a prospective block in the same region.GPN Salymskiye Proyekty earlier this year obtained a court order that imposed restrictions on Shell’s shareholder rights to sell or otherwise manage or dispose of its stake in SPD.The company had accused Shell of attempting to undermine the financial stability of the joint venture and disrupt its normal operations by refusing to lift oil cargoes held under its equity interest in SPD.GPN Salymskiye Proyekty now wants the court to grant Shell permission to pass its shareholding in the venture to another subsidiary of the Russian oil producer, GPN Middle East Projects, after the UK supermajor regains its shareholder rights.
ExxonMobil lets contract for Uaru development offshore Guyana -ExxonMobil has let a subsea contract to Saipem SPA for Uaru oil field development in Stabroek block, offshore Guyana, the service provider said in a release Dec. 15 (OGJ Online, Apr. 27, 2021). The contract includes design, fabrication, and installation of subsea structures, risers, flowlines, and umbilicals for a large subsea production installation. Saipem was previously awarded four subsea contracts by ExxonMobil Guyana for prior developments in Liza Phase 1 and 2, Payara, and Yellowtail, and will perform operations by using its vessels, including FDS2 and Constellation. Uaru, in the eastern portion of the block at a water depth of around 2,000 m, will target 1.319 billion boe and is expected to come online end-2026 (OGJ Online, Oct. 26, 2022). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator of the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek block with 45% interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Ltd. holds 25%.
Saipem Wins $1.2 Billion In Offshore Deals - Italian contractor Saipem has been awarded new contracts in Guyana and Egypt for a total amount of approximately $1.2 billion. The first contract has been awarded by ExxonMobil Guyana, subject to government approvals, for the UARU oil field development project, located in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana at a water depth of around 2,000 meters. Saipem said that the contract scope includes the design, fabrication, and installation of subsea structures, risers, flowlines, and umbilicals for a large subsea production facility. The company, which was previously awarded other four subsea contracts by ExxonMobil Guyana for prior developments in the same area, namely Liza Phase 1 and 2, Payara, and Yellowtail, will perform the operations by using its vessels, including FDS2 and Constellation. Subject to the necessary government approvals, project sanction by ExxonMobil Guyana and its Stabroek block coventurers, and authorization to proceed with the final phase, the award will allow Saipem to start some limited activities, namely detailed engineering, and procurement. It is worth noting that ExxonMobil made more than 30 discoveries on the Stabroek block since 2015, and it has ramped up offshore development and production at a pace that far exceeds the industry average. ExxonMobil’s first two sanctioned offshore Guyana projects, Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2, are now producing above design capacity and achieved an average of nearly 360,000 barrels of oil per day in the third quarter. A third project, Payara, is expected to start up by the end of 2023, and a fourth project, Yellowtail, is expected to start up in 2025. Environmental authorization for Uaru is underway. By the end of the decade, ExxonMobil expects Guyana’s oil production capacity to be more than one million barrels a day. The second contract awarded to Saipem was given by Petrobel for the transportation, installation, and pre-commissioning of 170 kilometers of umbilicals for the Zohr Field. The umbilicals will be installed between the central control platform and the subsea field, connecting to the existing subsea production systems. The offshore campaign is planned to start during the third quarter of 2023. The Zohr field is believed to be the largest-ever gas discovery in Egypt and the Mediterranean. In August 2019, production from the field reached more than 2.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day, roughly five months ahead of the development plan.
Nigeria's oil output rose to 1.185 mln barrels per day in November - (Reuters) - Nigeria’s oil production rose to 1.185 million barrels per day (bpd) in November from 1.014 million barrels in October, figures from the country’s petroleum regulator showed. Oil production fell to less than 1 million barrels a day (bpd) in August, the lowest in years due to increased crude oil theft and vandalism of pipelines, forcing some companies to curtail or stop production. Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said Nigeria is working to meet its OPEC oil production quota of 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of May next year.
‘Nigeria Local Content Law Growing Indigenous Oil Industry Capacity’ - Chairman of Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), Mr. Abdulrazaq Isa, has stated that the 27-member indigenous oil and gas exploration and production group is a product of the Nigerian Content policy of the Federal Government which is a clear testimony that the policy has recorded huge success. “The emergence of the strong indigenous Exploration and Production companies is a testament to the successful local content policy. There is no better or clearer way to demonstrate that Nigerian Content is working”, said Isa during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 11th Practical Nigerian Content Forum (PNC) which took place in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State recently. The IPPG Chairman said that Government’s effort in deepening local content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry is paying dividends and it is imperative that the effort is sustained and greater focus placed on bridging the capacity gap and addressing funding challenges. “Nigerian-owned companies are beginning to play more active roles across the industry. Indigenous companies are now penetrating areas that were once solely dominated by foreign players’, Isa said. He reaffirmed IPPG’s commitment to full compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGIC) Act adding that the group will continue to partner with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), as it aims to strengthen in-country capacity and increase Nigerian Content, and all relevant stakeholders for the benefit of the industry as well as Nigeria. The IPPG states that the theme of the conference – “Deepening Nigerian Content Opportunities in the Decade of Gas” underscores the importance of re-positioning Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in the face of the ongoing global energy transition as well as divestment of assets by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria.
Nigeria loses $680m to gas flaring yearly -- Ahead of the 2023 general elections, stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have urged Nigerians to identify and vote candidates who are environment-conscious and have the political will to enact laws that will mitigate the effect of gas flaring in the country. The stakeholders made the call following a revelation that the country was losing about $680m to the menace annually. They spoke at a political dialogue themed “Accountability for Gas Flared and Clean Energy Advocacy Project,” organised by the Centre for Transparency Advocacy, in conjunction with other cluster organisations, and sponsored by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), The Project Monitoring Officer of Murna Foundation, Bashir Mukthar, in his remarks said that the country loses $680m annually in penalty fees to International Oil Companies (IOCs), due to discrepancy in the reported volume of gas flared declared. Mukthar attributed this to lack of adequate technology to track the exact volume of gas being flared, as the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has to rely on figures provided by the IOCs, who usually under-declare in order to evade payment of adequate penalty fees. ICD’s Programme Manager, Ufuoma Asheshe, described gas flaring as the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction. She said that CSOs must engage Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to prevail on politicians to see how they could include in their agenda, efforts to tackle gas flaring in the country when elected. “There must be political will on the part of our leaders to tackle gas flaring,”Asheshe said. While decrying the effect of gas flaring, Asheshe said that reports indicated that Nigeria was one of the top seven gas-flaring countries in the world. She added: “Nigeria is a major gas flarer/global Green House Gas Emission. Only in 2018 and 2019, Nigeria lost $680m to gas flaring.
Israel Opens Bids For Offshore Gas Explorations In North - The Israeli Ministry of Energy on Tuesday launched a bid round to provide licenses for offshore natural gas explorations in northern Israel, trend reports citing xinhua . The area offered for bidding includes 20 exploration blocks in four zones, totaling 5,888 square kilometers, much larger in size than the nearby active gas fields Leviathan and Tamar, the ministry said in a statement. The bid round was launched amid the global energy crisis and many countries' strategy of diversifying natural gas supply, and the increasing recognition of the importance of natural gas in enabling renewables, the statement said. The purposes are mainly to increase the certainty of natural gas supply to Israel, expand competition between suppliers, reduce consumer prices, and connect more industrial plants with natural gas, it said. The working period for the blocks offered includes two drill-or-drop decision points after three and five years, and it may be extended up to seven years from the date of the award.
‘He got hit over the head with a pipe’: Qatar offshore attack survivor’s family tell of ‘complete shock’ after murder -- The father of an offshore worker who survived a deadly attack in Qatar has spoken of his relief to have his son back in Scotland. Chris Begley, 38, has returned home after being released from a Middle Eastern hospital, following the violent incident onboard the Seafox Burj platform. He was bludgeoned over the head with a weapon – possibly a pipe – before fellow workers restrained his alleged attacker. Another man, who has not been named, was found dead in the room. A third man, believed to be from the north-east, has been detained and is currently being questioned by Qatari police over the alleged murder on Monday. All three men were contractors for Film-Ocean Ltd, based at the Balmacassie Commercial Park in Ellon. Details of the circumstances surrounding the death have not been released, however unconfirmed accounts have spread rapidly across social media and via WhatsApp. They claim the three men, all reportedly Scots, had been sharing a room onboard the Seafox Burj. It’s claimed a body was discovered in the sleeping quarters. Mr Begley’s father Dennis, 64, said: “They all work together. There’s been no animosity between any of them. This seems to be completely random. “There wasn’t any bad feeling among them or anything like that. That’s why it’s pretty bizarre. There was no indication of any problem or anything within them. “There certainly wasn’t any ill feeling among any of them so I don’t know what’s happened.”
Saudi Arabia to build $11bn petrochemical complex with France’s Total -- Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco will join forces with French supermajor oil company TotalEnergies to build a new petrochemicals complex valued at $11 billion, to start operations in 2027. According to a statement released by the French oil giant on 15 December, construction on the Amiral complex is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023. It will be owned and operated jointly by Aramco and TotalEnergies.The Amiral complex will be integrated into the existing Saudi Arabia Total Refining and Petrochemical (SATORP) refinery located on the kingdom’s eastern coast, allowing it to convert off-gases and naphtha, as well as ethane and natural gasoline, into higher-value chemicals. Last year, Aramco and TotalEnergies launched a joint project to “significantly upgrade” a network of 270 service stations across the kingdom. The French supermajor is looking to cement its foothold in West Asia.France has been leading the charge to secure energy resources from the Gulf, hoping to avert a major disaster after the EU lost access to Russian oil and gas in the wake of a wide range of western sanctions imposed on the Kremlin. In July, French President Emmanuel Macron rolled out the red carpet for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). After their meeting, the Elysee Palace issued a statement saying Macron “underlined the importance of continuing the ongoing coordination with Saudi Arabia with regards to the diversification of energy supplies for European countries.” Earlier that same month, Macron signed a strategic partnership agreement with the UAE for fuel and gas supplies, as Paris moves to reduce its dependency on Russian gas, which accounted for about 17 percent of its supplies before the war in Ukraine. As part of its bid to secure energy resources back home, France has also been bolstering its armed presence in war-torn Yemen.
Xi of Arabia and the petroyuan drive - By Pepe Escobar - Xi Jinping has made an offer difficult for the Arabian Peninsula to ignore: China will be guaranteed buyers of your oil and gas, but we will pay in yuan… It would be so tempting to qualify Chinese President Xi Jinping landing in Riyadh a week ago, welcomed with royal pomp and circumstance, as Xi of Arabia proclaiming the dawn of the petroyuan era. But it’s more complicated than that. As much as the seismic shift implied by the petroyuan move applies, Chinese diplomacy is way too sophisticated to engage in direct confrontation, especially with a wounded, ferocious Empire. So there’s way more going here than meets the (Eurasian) eye. Xi of Arabia’s announcement was a prodigy of finesse: it was packaged as the internationalization of the yuan. From now on, Xi said, China will use the yuan for oil trade, through the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange, and invited the Persian Gulf monarchies to get on board. Nearly 80 percent of trade in the global oil market continues to be priced in US dollars. Ostensibly, Xi of Arabia, and his large Chinese delegation of officials and business leaders, met with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to promote increased trade. Beijing promised to “import crude oil in a consistent manner and in large quantities from the GCC.” And the same goes for natural gas.China has been the largest importer of crude on the planet for five years now – half of it from the Arabian peninsula, and more than a quarter from Saudi Arabia. So it’s no wonder that the prelude for Xi of Arabia’s lavish welcome in Riyadh was a special op-ed expanding the trading scope, and praising increased strategic/commercial partnerships across the GCC, complete with “5G communications, new energy, space and digital economy.” Foreign Minister Wang Yi doubled down on the “strategic choice” of China and wider Arabia. Over $30 billion in trade deals were duly signed – quite a few significantly connected to China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects.And that brings us to the two key connections established by Xi of Arabia: the BRI and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). BRI will get a serious boost by Beijing in 2023, with the return of the Belt and Road Forum. The first two bi-annual forums took place in 2017 and 2019. Nothing happened in 2021 because of China’s strict zero-Covid policy, now abandoned for all practical purposes. BRI not only embodies a complex, multi-track trans-Eurasian trade/connectivity drive but it is the overarching Chinese foreign policy concept at least until the mid-21st century. So the 2023 forum is expected to bring to the forefront a series of new and redesigned projects adapted to a post-Covid and debt-distressed world, and most of all to the loaded Atlanticism vs. Eurasianism geopolitical and geoeconomic sphere.Also significantly, Xi of Arabia in December followed Xi of Samarkand in September – his first post-Covid overseas trip, for the SCO summit in which Iran officially joined as a full member. China and Iran in 2021 clinched a 25-year strategic partnership deal worth a potential $400 billion in investments. That’s the other node of China’s two-pronged West Asia strategy.The nine permanent SCO members now represent 40 percent of the world’s population. One of their key decisions in Samarkand was to increase bilateral trade, and overall trade, in their own currencies.
Gulf producers lead on OPEC+ cuts, Saudi crude output at 6-month low: Platts survey - The OPEC+ oil producer alliance shrank crude output by 700,000 b/d in November, the steepest monthly decrease since April when Russian production plunged due to sanctions, the latest Platts survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights showed. OPEC’s 13 countries produced 28.87 million b/d, a fall of 850,000 b/d from October, while Russia and eight other allies pumped 13.70 million b/d, up 150,000 b/d. The overall decrease came as the alliance began implementing its 2 million b/d cut to quotas to counter economic headwinds. But with many members, including Russia, vastly underperforming their targets already, the actual physical cuts were always likely to be far less. The gap between the group’s quotas and actual production remained fairly wide at 1.89 million b/d in November, the survey showed. But this is a huge improvement compared with October, when the shortfall reached 3.273 million b/d. Iran, Libya and Venezuela are exempt from quotas under the OPEC+ agreement. In total, only 14 of the 22 countries in the coalition actually reduced production last month, the survey found. Gulf producers Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq led the way, with all of them carrying out hefty cuts, as demand concerns have led to a very bearish sentiment in the oil markets. These four producers cut a cumulative total of 780,000 b/d last month, accounting for almost all of the group’s supply reduction. Saudi Arabia cut output by a weighty 440,000 b/d, averaging 10.46 million b/d last month, its lowest since May. The kingdom significantly reduced exports and also drew steadily from its crude inventories, survey panelists said. Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has reiterated that the group of major oil producers is focused on maintaining current quotas through end-2023 but remains ready to intervene if needed. The UAE also saw a sharp fall in its exports, with production slumping 130,000 b/d last month, while Kuwait trimmed output by 120,000 b/d, the survey found. Iraqi crude output fell 90,000 b/d to 4.49 million b/d in November as exports from the federal region and also from the semiautonomous Kurdistan region dipped. OPEC’s second-largest producer also drew from its crude inventories, survey panelists said.
OPEC Production Fell In November, But 3 Members Actually Boosted Output - OPEC’s crude oil production fell by an average of 744,000 barrels per day, according to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report released on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia’s November production fell by the most among its members, by 404,000 bpd, to 10.474 million bpd—Saudi Arabia’s lowest monthly average since May 2022. Other significant production decreases were realized by the United Arab Emirates, which saw a decrease of 149,000 bpd in November, landing at 3.037 million bpd; Kuwait, which saw a dip of 121,000 bpd to 2.685 million bpd; and Iraq with a loss of 117,000 bpd to 4.465 million bpd. Overall, OPEC’s average production for November fell to 28.826 million bpd—the lowest average production level since June. While the overall production was significantly lower for November and largely in line with OPEC’s plan to reduce output in response to market conditions, a handful of members increased their production. Libya’s production also decreased by 32,000 bpd, to 1.133 million bpd. Earlier this week, Libya’s oil minister said its oil production was 1.2 million bpd. “We hope to return to 2010 levels, which was 1.6 million bpd, within two or three years,” Oil Minister Mohamed Oun told reporters on Monday. Libya lifted its force majeure on oil and gas last exploration last week in hopes of luring foreign oil companies back into the country that has seen significant unrest in recent years. Angola, Gabon, and Nigeria went the other way, increasing their production by a collective 132,000 bpd. While OPEC saw its overall crude production fall, non-OPEC liquids production, according to OPEC’s latest report, increased month on month in November by 800,000 bpd to 72.7 million bpd. This figure is also 2.1 million bpd higher than the same month last year. This means that OPEC’s share of crude oil in the global production mix slipped by 0.7%, to 28.4% in November from the month prior.
Column-Investors Abandon Bullish Oil Positions As Recession Nears: Kemp - Portfolio investors were heavy sellers of petroleum for the fourth week running as the smooth introduction of the Russia price cap brought the weakness of the economy and oil demand into sharper focus. Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 30 million barrels in the six most important petroleum-related futures and options contracts over the seven days ending on Dec. 6. Fund sales have totalled 221 million barrels over the four most recent weeks, according to position records published by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The combined position has been cut to just 358 million barrels (12th percentile for all weeks since 2013) down from 579 million barrels (47th percentile) on Nov. 8. Crude positions have already been hit hard, limiting the scope for further selling, but liquidation spread to refined products, especially the middle distillates that are the key industrial and transport fuels. Fund managers sold NYMEX and ICE WTI (-5 million barrels), Brent (-4 million), U.S. gasoline (-5 million), U.S. diesel (-11 million) and European gas oil (-5 million). As a result, the net position in Brent fell to just 95 million barrels (5th percentile), the lowest since the first and second waves of the coronavirus epidemic were ranging in 2020. But that weakness is now spilling over into middle distillates, until recently the strongest part of the market because of the low level of inventories. The net position in U.S. diesel and European gas oil was cut to 49 million barrels (41st percentile) from 75 million barrels (62nd percentile) on Nov. 8. Bullish long positions outnumbered bearish short ones by a ratio of 2.92:1 (52nd percentile) down from 5.40:1 (81st percentile) four weeks earlier. U.S. distillate fuel oil inventories remain below the pre-pandemic seasonal average but the deficit has narrowed sharply over the last eight weeks, taking much of the heat out of the market. Slowing manufacturing growth, rising interest rates, conflict between Russia and Ukraine, sanctions and persistent inflation have created a poisonous cocktail for oil consumption and distillates. The extremely low level of hedge fund positions in crude has created upside price risk if and when managers attempt to rebuild bullish positions. But until some of the negative factors weighing on consumption are resolved, many managers are likely to remain cautious about re-entering the market.
Analysts Explain Plunge in Oil Positioning Index Standard Chartered’s crude oil positioning index has fallen for four consecutive weeks, according to a new report from the company, but its analysts think very little of the fall is due to the active opening of new short positions, the report revealed. “It is primarily due to the closing out of existing longs,” Standard Chartered analysts stated in the report. “It does not appear to us that speculators have been adopting a new and far more bearish narrative or specific negative views about oil market fundamentals. Instead, we see the plunge in the index as reflecting the final abandonment of a series of hypotheses that had encouraged speculative longs,” the analysts added. “These range from a tightening of the market due to pent-up demand and a lack of spare output capacity through to imminent supply gaps when EU sanctions on Russian crude oil became effective, in the interim passing through background noise on super-cycles, predictions of $380 per barrel oil and a series of incorrect views about OPEC policy,” the analysts continued. In the report, the analysts noted that they think the closing out of longs is largely due to the abandonment of the latest of these views and added that “in addition, many traders are now cutting back on risky positions before year-end”. “For the first time in 2022 no new focal point has emerged to seamlessly continue what has been the dominant ‘rolling-crisis’ narrative, leaving crude oil prices prey to more top-down, macro-led concerns and the associated correction in prices,” the analysts stated. Last week, analysts at Standard Chartered highlighted in a separate report that speculative positioning in oil was as bearish as during the early weeks of the pandemic. “The crude oil index stands at -70.3, the lowest since mid-April 2020, about a week before WTI prices settled at a negative price. The index has fallen by 57.4 over the past three weeks; this is the largest three-week fall since February 2020, just before the temporary collapse of the OPEC+ agreement,” the analysts stated in that report. In its most recent report, Standard Chartered analysts revealed that their crude oil money-manager positioning index had fallen 2.7 week on week to a 31-month low of -73.0. At the time of writing, the price of Brent crude oil stood at $81.58 per barrel. Brent was trading at more than $98 per barrel last month.Oil prices are bouncing higher at the start of the week's trading - Oil prices rose more than 1% in early Asian trade on Monday as a major pipeline carrying crude oil between Canada and the United States remained closed as Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut production in response to the West imposing a cap on Russian oil export prices. Brent crude futures were up 83 cents, or 1.1%, to $76.93 a barrel by 00:20 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $71.92 a barrel, in up 90 cents, or 1.3%. Canadian company TC Energy said on Sunday it had not yet determined the cause of the Keystone pipeline oil spill last week in the United States, without providing a timetable for when the pipeline will resume operations. The Keystone Line, with a production capacity of 622,000 barrels per day, is a major thoroughfare for transporting Canadian heavy crude from Alberta to refineries in the US Midwest and Gulf Coast and for export. Meanwhile, Putin said on Friday that his country, the world’s biggest energy exporter, could reduce its oil production and would refuse to sell oil to any country that imposes a price ceiling on Russia agreed by the G7 countries . ANZ Group analysts said in a note that although the uncertainty surrounding the EU sanctions on Russian oil and the associated price cap keeps price volatility high, the sanctions have had little impact on global markets so far. Last week, Brent and WTI crude saw their biggest weekly losses in months, hitting their lowest levels since December 2021 on concerns about the global recession and the impact on oil demand.
Oil Wavers as Economic Headwinds Counter Supply Risks - Crude and gasoline futures nearest delivery slipped early Monday as investors balanced concerns over the health of the global economy next year, clouded by inflation headwinds in the United States and Eurozone, against falling supplies from OPEC+ nations as Russia threatens to cut production in response to the G7's price cap on its oil. Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut the country's oil production "as much as needed" in response to a G7 plan to deny insurance and other maritime services to Russian oil shipments unless the oil is being sold at or below a $60-barrel (bbl) ceiling that took effect last week. Putin's comments were his first indication of the Kremlin's response to EU sanctions and the associated oil price cap. Russian crude oil exports in early December remained as high as at any other point this year, according to private shipping data, with any drop due to the sanctions expected to be visible only later in the first quarter 2023. Even then, analysts forecast Russian oil production unlikely to decline by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) compared to earlier calls for 3 million bpd. Putin acknowledged that for now Russia is relatively insulated from the price cap because "the ceiling they have suggested is in line with the prices we are selling it today." Russian crude benchmark Urals is currently trading $27 bbl below the global benchmark Brent that fell Monday morning to $75.30 bbl. Oil futures traded modestly higher overnight after a private survey found OPEC+ production fell by 700,000 bpd in November -- the sharpest drop since April 2020. In financial markets, the U.S. dollar was mostly unchanged against a basket of global currencies and equity futures on Wall Street rose slightly Monday morning, with investors squarely focusing on the U.S. Consumer Price Index report due out Tuesday morning and the Federal Reserve meeting that concludes with a final rate decision of the year on Wednesday. Near 7:30 a.m. EST, January West Texas Intermediate futures slipped $0.30 to $70.75 bbl, February Brent futures on ICE falling $0.50 to $75.58 bbl. NYMEX January RBOB futures decline $0.0213 to $2.0348 gallon and January ULSD futures gained $0.0170 to $2.8107 gallon.
Oil Rises as Traders Scoop up Bargains - Traders swooped in to buy oil at the lowest price this year, as markets digested the fact that a key North American crude pipeline remains shut with no timeline for reopening. West Texas Intermediate rose 3% to settle above $73 a barrel. Oil rallied Monday after prices plunged 11% last week to settle at the lowest price in 2022. Last week, crude closed below its nine-day relative strength index for three days, breaching a technical indicator that suggests oil is oversold and presents a good buying opportunity for some traders. Meanwhile, TC Energy Corp. is continuing recovery efforts at its shuttered Keystone pipeline, that links fields in Canada to refiners on the US Gulf Coast. A date for a restart hasn’t yet been set, according to a statement on Sunday. Refined products also recovered this morning, with gasoline futures rising 1.2% after touching a new low for the year overnight. Crude is on track for its first back-to-back quarterly decline since mid-2019 as the demand outlook sours and thin liquidity exacerbates price swings into the year-end. December was expected to be a rocky month with sanctions on Russian oil shipments taking effect, but the weakening demand outlook — led by risks to global growth — has weighed on prices. As the oil market has softened in recent days, both Brent and WTI have at times traded in contango. The bearish market structure indicates plentiful crude supply over the short term. Russia’s ability to export crude oil without as many disruptions as traders anticipated has left markets softer, Francisco Blanch, head of commodity and derivatives research at Bank of America said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We have a bit of a soft patch right here; contango is happening but it is very front-loaded,” said Blanch. “You have a modest surplus you need to adjust for, and that’s exactly what the market has done.” Prices: WTI for January delivery rose $2.15 to settle at $73.17 a barrel in New York. Brent for February settlement rose $1.89 to settle at $77.99 a barrel. Following the imposition of the price cap on Russian crude and related curbs, a backlog of tankers waiting to haul oil through Turkey’s vital shipping straits built up amid a dispute over insurance cover. That now appears to be clearing, with a port agent tally on Sunday showing 19 tankers waiting to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, down from a total of 27 on Saturday.
Oil up $2/bbl on supply risks amid ongoing Keystone outage (Reuters) -Oil prices settled up about $2 a barrel on Monday on supply jitters, as a key pipeline supplying the United States closed and Russia threatened a production cut even as China's loosening COVID-19 restrictions bolstered the fuel demand outlook. Brent crude futures settled at $77.99 a barrel, gaining $1.89 or 2.5%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $73.17 a barrel, rising $2.15, or 3%. Last week, Brent and WTI fell to their lowest since December 2021 as investors worried a possible global recession could hurt oil demand. The potential of a prolonged outage of TC Energy Corp's Canada-to-U.S. Keystone crude oil pipeline helped turn prices around. "Keystone Pipeline repair appears to be taking longer than expected (and) upping the possibility of further stock draws at Cushing," Traders worried about how long it would take to clean up and restart the Keystone oil pipeline after more than 14,000 barrels of oil leaked last week, the largest U.S. crude oil spill in nearly a decade. TC Energy shut the pipeline after the spill was discovered late last Wednesday in Kansas. The company told officials in Washington County, Kansas, that they have not yet determined the cause or timeline for a restart. Officials were excavating around the 622,000 barrel-per-day Keystone line, a critical passageway for heavy Canadian crude shipped to U.S. refiners and to the Gulf Coast for export. The outage is expected to shrink supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub, and delivery point for benchmark U.S. crude oil futures. Seven analysts polled by Reuters estimated, on average, that overall crude inventories dropped by about 3.9 million barrels in the week to Dec. 9, a preliminary Reuters poll showed. Bank of America Global research said Brent could rebound past $90 per barrel on the back of a dovish pivot in the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy and a "successful" economic reopening by China.
Oil Updates — Crude prices rise on US supply concerns; Libyan oil production at 1.2m bpd | Arab News - Oil prices rose for a second day on Tuesday as a key pipeline supplying the US, the world’s biggest crude consumer, remained shut and on expectations loosening COVID restrictions in China, the second-biggest user globally, will boost demand. Brent crude futures rose $1.03, or 1.32 percent, to $79.02 per barrel by 08.10 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 96 cents, or 1.31 percent, to $74.31. The closure of TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone Pipeline, which ships about 620,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude from Alberta to the US, has tightened supplies and raised the prospect that inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub will decline. Cushing is also the delivery point for the WTI crude futures contract. Keystone has remained shut since a 14,000-barrel leak in the US state of Kansas reported on Dec. 7. TC Energy has not released a timeline for a restart of the line, which carries crude to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf Coast. Libya is producing about 1.2 million barrels per day of oil, Oil Minister Mohamed Oun told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting organized by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. “We hope to return to 2010 levels, which was 1.6 million bpd, within two or three years,” he added. He added that he hoped that Libya’s decision to lift force majeure on oil and gas exploration, which was announced last week, would encourage foreign oil companies to return to the country. Meanwhile, figures from Nigeria’s petroleum regulator suggested that the country’s oil production rose to 1.185 million bpd in November from 1.014 million barrels in October. . A European Commission plan for a gas price cap risks reducing liquidity in Europe’s gas market, posing a threat to how it functions, the head of trading at Norwegian oil company Equinor told Reuters, but its own gas deliveries will not be affected. The aim of the cap is to shield European consumers from the surge in energy prices they have faced since Russia invaded Ukraine, and which has helped to fuel inflation. For Equinor, the biggest concern is what happens to the liquidity in the gas market, Helge Haugane, Equinor’s head of gas and power trading, said in an interview.
Pipeline to the U.S. Remained Shut Amid What Potentially Could Be One of the Coldest Cold Snaps - Oil futures rose on Tuesday, as an important pipeline to the U.S. remained shut amid what potentially could be one of the coldest of cold snaps in decades. This, along with Russia suggesting it might cut production and a cooler than expected U.S. inflation reading pressured the U.S. dollar, which in turn provided support to oil priced in dollars. Oil prices are still down about 15% over the past month and are near the levels from the start of the year, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring. Rising interest rates and an economic slowdown in China as it copes with renewed COVID outbreaks continue to weigh on the market. January WTI rose $2.22, or 3%, to settle at $75.39 a barrel. Brent Crude for February delivery gained $2.69 per barrel, or 3.45% to $80.68. RBOB Gasoline for January delivery gained 7.99 cents per gallon, or 3.84% to $2.1609, while ULSD for January delivery gained 12.37 cents per gallon, or 4.17% to $3.0922. US crude oil prices are now 6.7% higher since the week began, marking one of the largest two-day gains of the year. The price-surge follows a six-session streak of declines through Friday, when WTI crude closed at $71.02 a barrel, the lowest closing price since Dec. 20. Part of the reason for this week's rebound in oil prices is a weaker dollar. Crude prices often move inversely to sharp swings in US currency because oil is bought and sold in dollars. OPEC stuck to its forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2022 and 2023 after several downgrades, saying that while economic slowdown was "quite evident" there was potential upside such as from a relaxation of China's zero-COVID policy. In its monthly report, OPEC said oil demand in 2023 will increase by 2.25 million bpd or about 2.3% after growth of 2.55 million bpd in 2022. Both forecasts were unchanged from last month. While keeping the annual demand growth forecasts steady, OPEC cut the absolute demand forecasts in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The report also showed that OPEC's production fell in November after the wider OPEC+ alliance pledged steep output cuts to support the market amid the worsening economic outlook and weakening prices. OPEC said its oil output in November fell by 744,000 bpd to 28.83 million bpd. Officials said cleanup of the biggest U.S. oil spill in nearly a decade will take at least weeks to complete following a meeting with Keystone pipeline owner TC Energy Corp on Monday. TC closed the pipeline after the spill of roughly 14,000 barrels of crude was discovered in a creek last Wednesday in Washington County in Kansas. There is still no official timeline for a restart of the 622,000 bpd pipeline, which will need approval from regulators.
WTI Slides After Big Surprise Crude Build - Oil prices extended yesterday's gains today, ending at their highest in a week, as colder weather forecasts in the US boosted prospects for energy demand, and a soft CPI print sent the dollar notably lower (and raised optimism among some that a soft landing was still possible).Compounding bullish sentiment, China’s ambassador to the US said the country will continue relaxing its pandemic curbs and will welcome more international travelers soon, lifting demand prospects in the world’s top oil importer. Additionally, OPEC urged “vigilance and caution” on its members as it reduced estimates for the amount of crude the group will need to pump in the coming months.“As the year 2022 draws to a close, the recent global economic growth slowdown with all its far-reaching implications is becoming quite evident,” OPEC’s Vienna-based research department said in its monthly report.“The year 2023 is expected to remain surrounded by many uncertainties, mandating vigilance and caution.” The last few weeks have seen notably consistent product builds and crude draws and all eyes are on the API data tonight for signs of a product demand picking up. API
- Crude +7.819mm (-3.913mm exp) - biggest build since 10/7
- Cushing +640k
- Gasoline +877k
- Distillates +3.9mm
After four weeks of sizable draws, the last week saw an unexpectedly large crude inventory build. Products also yet another weekly build...
WTI Tumbles After Massive Crude Build - - Oil prices extended gains this morning, despite the across-the-board builds reported by API last night, following comments from the IEA cautioning that prices could rally next year amid a tightening market “Positioning is now much less distorted than it has been for a while, and hence, perhaps for the first time in six months, short-term risk-reward is now skewed toward higher prices,” Standard Chartered analysts including Emily Ashford wrote in a report. Given the big builds reported by API, all eyes will be on the official data now (especially considering the massive SPR draw last week) as inventories have slipped. DOE
- Crude +10.23mm (-3.913mm exp) - biggest build since March 2021
- Cushing +426k
- Gasoline +4.496mm
- Distillates +1.364mm
API reported builds across the board last night (after 4 straight weeks of sizable draws) and official DOE data confirmed it with a massive 10.23mm barrel build in crude stocks. Additionally there were builds at Cushing and in products... Total US Crude stocks (ex-SPR) rebounded from their lowest since March (and near the lowest since 2018), but given the collapse in the SPR, total inventories must be near record lows.SPR released 4.7 million barrels (~675,000 b/d). That's the largest weekly release since early October. It puts the SPR at just 382.3 million barrels, the lowest since January 1984...
Oil up third day in row, boosted by U.S. pipeline outage, cold and Fed - Oil prices rose for a third day in a row as traders looked beyond a big weekly build in U.S. crude inventories to focus instead on the shutdown of Canadian pipeline Keystone, which is vital to refiners in the country’s West Coast. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will start its long-awaited pivot on monetary tightening by slowing rate hikes for the first time since March also boosted sentiment in oil, as it did in other risk assets. Adding to the market’s upside were stronger demand outlooks for oil from producer group OPEC+ as well as the International Energy Agency, which oversees the interest of consumers, A rise in road and air traffic in China after a reopening of cities placed under coronavirus lockdowns also contributed to the fervor of an oil market emerging from its sharpest weekly loss in nine months. The result was a rally of 3% or more in U.K.-origin Brent oil and U.S. West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude for a second day in a row. That set the two benchmarks up about 8% on the week, after last week’s plunge of almost 12%. Brent crude settled up $2.02, or 2.5%, at $82.70. It rose about 6% in the past two sessions. The global crude benchmark fell $9.47, or 11% last week, hitting a low of $75.14 — a bottom not seen since Dec 23, 2021. WTI for delivery in January settled up $1.89, or 2.5%, at $77.28. Like Brent, WTI rose a cumulative 6% in the past two sessions. The U.S. crude benchmark ended last week down $9.28, or 11%, making it its worst week since the week ended March 25. WTI’s session low for last week was $70.11 — a bottom not seen since Dec 21, 2021. This week’s rally in oil came amid the closure of the 622,000 barrel-per-day Keystone pipeline carrying Canadian heavy crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast of Mexico. Canada's TC Energy shut the pipeline on Wednesday after it was found to have leaked more than 14,000 barrels of oil in Kansas last week, in the largest U.S. oil spill in nearly a decade. No timeline has been given on how long it would take to clean up and restart the pipeline. Risk appetite in oil got a further boost as traders expected the Fed to announce later on Wednesday an increase of 50 basis points for the central bank’s December rate decision — after four back-to-back jumbo hikes of 75 basis points from June through November. On the demand outlook front, producer group OPEC+ said it expects oil demand to grow by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) over next year to 101.8M bpd, with potential upside from China, the world's top importer. Paris-based oil consumers’ alliance IEA said it saw Chinese oil demand recovering next year after a 400,000 bpd contraction in 2022. The alliance raised its 2023 oil demand growth estimate to 1.7M bpd for a total of 101.6M bpd. On the U.S. oil inventory front, crude stockpiles rose for the first time in five weeks as refiners slowed work last week after massively turning out fuel products ahead of the winter, data from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, showed. Crude inventories rose by 10.231M barrels during the week ended December 9, the EIA said in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report, after a cumulative draw of 26.86M barrels over five previous weeks. Refineries operated at 92.2% of their operable capacity last week, versus 95.5% in the previous week to December 2, the EIA said. Gasoline stockpiles rose by 4.496M barrels during the week to December 9, after a 5.32-million-barrel build the previous week. Gasoline is the top automobile fuel in the United States. Inventories of distillates, meanwhile, rose by 1.364M barrels last week, compared with the rise of 6.159M the week before. Distillates are refined into diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships as well as fuel for jets. Supply of finished motor gasoline in the marketplace was at 8.255M barrels per day last week, down by 103,000 barrels per day. Distillate fuel oil, meanwhile, saw a rise of 218,000 barrels per day to 3.768M barrels per day. Kerosene-type jet fuel saw a build of 377,000 barrels per day, to reach 1.386M barrels daily.
Oil Steadies on Partial Restart of Keystone, USD Advance -- Oil futures flipped between modest gains and losses early Thursday as investors parsed through Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's hawkish comments as the central bank doubles down in its fight against inflation, lifting the U.S. dollar index off a seven-month low in overnight trade, while a partial restart of the shuttered Keystone pipeline that was halted last week due to a leak further pressured the oil complex. TC Energy said late Wednesday that it has restarted operations on sections of the pipeline that were unaffected by the line rupture, including the lines that extend from Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska, and from Steele City to the refining center in Illinois at Wood River and Patoka. A segment of the pipeline that brings oil from Steele City to the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub and further south to the Texas refining center won't be restarted until it is safe to do so, and after the company receives approval from federal regulators. The company said it continues to investigate the spill. The 610,000-bpd Keystone pipeline was shut down Dec. 7 after a leak was detected in Kansas, leading to a spill of 14,000 bbl into a nearby creek, which has already become the largest onshore U.S. oil spill in over a decade. A weeklong shutdown of the Keystone pipeline limited the flow of heavy crude oil to Gulf Coast refiners, which need a steady diet of heavy crude to offset the light oil from the Permian to produce middle-of-the-barrel distillate fuel. U.S. Energy Information in its inventory report released Wednesday said refiners in the Gulf Coast cut utilization capacity by 3% during the week-ended Dec. 9. The disruption has yet to show an impact on inventory levels at the Cushing hub, with EIA reporting a 426,000 bbl build last week that lifted stocks there to 24.4 million bbl. Commercial crude oil inventories last week jumped 10.2 million bbl during the week-ended Dec. 9, contrary to expectations for a 3.1 million bbl drawdown. The supersized build was, in part, realized on the back of a 4.7 million bbl transfer of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the commercial side. In financial markets, the U.S. dollar clawed back some of Wednesday's losses against a basket of foreign currencies to trade 0.58% higher at 104.345, further pressuring the front-month West Texas Intermediate contract. Greenback's move higher follows the Federal Open Market Committee's announcement of a 0.5% increase in the federal funds rate at the conclusion of its Wednesday meeting, in line with market expectations and a stepdown from the 0.75% rate hikes from the previous four meetings. However, the focus remained with FOMC's economic projections that showed a rather bleak outlook for the economy next year, with GDP growth expected to expand by just 0.5%, down from their 1.2% growth outlook in September. FOMC expects the national unemployment rate to rise to 4.6% next year compared with a 3.7% jobless rate in November. For context, that would translate into 1.6 million Americans losing their jobs next year. What's more hawkish, median projections for the peak federal funds rate is now seen ending 2023 at 5.1%, up from 4.6% in September's projections. The federal funds rate is now in a 4.25% to 4.5% target range, meaning the central bank is projecting to lift the key overnight borrowing rate by another 0.75% over the course of 2023. On an annualized basis, inflation was still above 7% in November -- more than three times greater than the Fed's goal. Near 7:30 AM ET, January WTI futures traded little changed at $77.30 bbl, and February Brent futures on ICE were also near unchanged at $82.70 bbl. NYMEX January RBOB futures slipped $0.0136 to $2.2444 gallon and January ULSD futures declined $0.0454 to $3.2313 gallon.
Oil prices slid 2% as dollar firms and central banks hike interest rates - Oil prices slid about 2% on Thursday as traders worried about the fuel demand outlook due to a stronger dollar and further interest rate hikes by global central banks. After rising for three straight days, Brent futures fell $1.49, or 1.8%, to settle at $81.21 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.17, or 1.5%, to settle at $76.11. "Crude prices edged lower as ... global recession risks increased after a wave of central banks delivered another strong round of tightening. Oil’s recent rally (ran) out of steam as risk aversion runs wild," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at data and analytics firm OANDA. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the U.S. central bank will raise interest rates further next year, even as the economy slips toward a possible recession. On Thursday, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank raised interest rates to fight inflation. U.S. stock indexes fell sharply as the Federal Reserve's guidance for protracted policy tightening quelled hopes the rate-hike cycle would end anytime soon. "The oil price is under pressure today as the Fed's hawkish guidance for its monetary policy sparked renewed concerns about economic growth, lifting the U.S. dollar and sending commodity prices down," said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng. A stronger U.S. dollar makes oil more expensive for those using other currencies. U.S. retail sales fell more than expected in November, but consumer spending remains supported by a tight labor market, with the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreasing by the most in five months last week. In China, the world's second biggest economy, lost more steam in November as factory output slowed and retail sales extended declines, the worst readings in six months, hobbled by surging COVID-19 cases and widespread virus curbs. Also pressuring oil prices, Canada's TC Energy said it was resuming operations in a section of its Keystone pipeline, a week after a leak of more than 14,000 barrels of oil in Kansas triggered a shutdown.
Oil Prices Tank 3% As Contract Rollover Nears -- Oil prices slid by 3% early on Friday, erasing the gains from earlier this week, as the contracts are set for rollover and central banks say much needs to be done to curb inflation despite the less aggressive hike rates this week. As of 9:37 a.m. ET on Friday, the front-month U.S. benchmark contract WTI Crude was trading down 3.35% at $73.45. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was down 3.42% on the day to $78.42, slipping below $80 per barrel again after having reached $82 per barrel earlier this week. Brent at $78 per barrel is the lowest level in a year, lower than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Inventory builds across the board in the United States also weighed on oil prices this week, as well as the policy statements from the Fed and other major central banks such as the European Central Bank (EBC) and the Bank of England, which said the taming of the inflation – which may have already peaked – needs continued monetary policy tightening and the rates at the end of the tightening cycle could end up higher than initially estimated.The Fed raised by half a percentage point the federal funds rate on Thursday, ending the several consecutive 0.75 percentage point increases, for now. The Bank of England and the ECB also raised rates by 0.50 percentage points, with the UK rate hike being the ninth consecutive increase since December 2021.The ECB said on Thursday that “interest rates will still have to rise significantly at a steady pace to reach levels that are sufficiently restrictive to ensure a timely return of inflation to the 2% medium-term target.” Oil reversed some of the strong gains seen earlier in the week, “after the Fed’s hawkish tilt was followed by a slew of other G10 central banks, especially the ECB which highlighted the struggle to get inflation under control,” Saxo Bank said on Friday. “Given the current focus on recession potentially hurting demand, a supply side struggle may not positively impact prices until the second quarter, and with that in mind, the price of Brent may settle into a range below $90 until then,” the bank’s strategy team added.
Oil Trims Losses after DOE Announces Start to SPR Refill -- Oil fell more than 2% on Friday, although all petroleum contracts moved off intrasession lows after U.S. Department of Energy announced it would start repurchasing crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to replenish emergency stockpiles after a yearlong sales program aimed at stabilizing oil prices. "This repurchase is an opportunity to secure a good deal for American taxpayers by repurchasing oil at a lower price than the $96 per barrel average price it was sold for, as well as to strengthen energy security," said DOE in a statement released Friday. The initial buy-back would begin with a bid for 3 million bbl to be delivered in February to the SPR storage facility in Beaumont, Texas, with no decision yet announced for additional purchases. In October, the Biden administration announced a plan to replenish the SPR using fixed-price forward purchases of crude oil compared to conventional contracts that DOE said exposes producers to volatile crude prices. The program intends to repurchase crude oil for the SPR when the price of West Texas Intermediate is at or below about $67 to $72 bbl. Initial repurchases were intended for delivery in 2024 or 2025. President Joe Biden in March approved emergency sales from the SPR of 180 million bbl of crude after Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to the price of global benchmark Brent to jump above $130 bbl. DOE said it sold that oil for an average of $96.25 bbl. In reaction to the announcement, West Texas Intermediate for January delivery trimmed earlier losses to settle the session at $74.29 bbl, down $1.82 bbl, and international crude benchmark February Brent fell $1.49 bbl for a $79.04 bbl settlement. NYMEX January RBOB futures declined $0.0345 to $2.1323 gallon and January ULSD futures nosedived $0.1635 to a $3.1199 gallon settlement. Underlying Friday's lower settlements are reports of a steep economic contraction in China after an unprecedented wave of COVID cases pushed its healthcare system to the brink of collapse. Authorities are actively discouraging people from seeking help at a hospital. This has led to panic buying from everyday painkillers to simple grocery items as citizens are resorting to at-home medications. Anecdotal reports show megacities like Beijing and Hong Kong have turned into ghost towns as most residents fell sick or are simply scared to catch the virus. On Dec. 7, authorities in Beijing suddenly lifted all COVID controls in favor of a "let it rip" approach, surprising traders and experts alike. Some studies suggest nearly one million people will die in the coming months because of Beijing's sharp policy U-turn. In the immediate term, the surge in COVID cases will likely lead to a bumpy reopening for China's economy, now mired with a "stop and go" approach the West faced a year ago when Omicron cases surged before eventually leveling off in the spring. As a result, China's economic activity in the first quarter of 2023 is likely to be underwhelming. Analysts estimate that China's demand is lagging somewhere between 700,0000 bpd and 1 million bpd below its pre-pandemic norms.
Oil rally stalls after 4% weekly gain on Keystone closure and SPR repurchase - Blame it on the central banks, but oil’s comeback rally after its worst week since March has been snuffed out by renewed fears of recession and higher-for-longer interest rates in the U.S. to Europe — despite this week’s support from the shutdown of Canadian oil pipeline Keystone, which supplies crude to refineries in the United States U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in January settled Friday’s trade down $1.82, or 2.4%, at $74.29 per barrel. Earlier, WTI, as it is known, hit an intraday low of $73.33. For the week, it rose 4% after a 11% drop last week, like Brent. The U.S. crude benchmark fell to as low as $70.11 a week ago — hitting a bottom not seen since Dec 21, 2021. U.K. origin Brent crude for delivery in February settled down $2.17, or 2.7%, at $79.04 per barrel. Earlier, Brent hit a session low of $78.30. For the week though, the global crude benchmark was up 4% after the 11% slump in the week prior that took a barrel of Brent to as low as $75.14 — a bottom not seen since Dec 23, 2021. Recession fears aside, weighing on oil Friday were fears that China’s coronavirus contagion could get out of hand again amid reports of rising fatalities in the world’s largest oil importer. “If COVID spreads freely and many people cannot get care, we estimate that in the coming months 1.5 million Chinese people will die from the virus,” The Economist said. On the positive side, there was just modest support for the market on Friday from news that the Biden administration will start refilling the heavily drawn-down U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, from February with an initial purchase of 3M barrels. The administration has drawn down some 200M barrels from the SPR over the past year, sending inventories in the reserve to 38-year lows, as it attempted to bridge a global supply deficit in crude caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and consequent sanctions on Moscow. Reliance on the SPR accelerated after the White House approved a 180M-barrel draw over a six-month period beginning in May. Brent crude hit 14-year highs of almost $140 a barrel in early March, just after the Ukraine invasion, while U.S. pump prices of gasoline hit record highs of $5 per gallon by June. As of Friday, Brent was trading under $75 per barrel while gasoline at U.S. pumps averaged $3.18 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association — although some areas in the United States with refineries in their proximity had gasoline at under $3 a gallon due to cheaper costs of transporting the fuel. News of the SPR’s refilling, which oil bulls had widely anticipated to re-energize oil prices, came amid a renewed hawkish tone by the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England that dampened risk appetite across markets. The stance by the global central banks reignited fears that a recession might be inevitable for the U.S. economy and accelerate the one already happening in Europe. The positive tone in oil was also offset somewhat on Friday by a Biden administration official saying the SPR would also loan out 2 million barrels to domestic energy companies to relieve any supply shortage caused by the Keystone pipeline’s closure. The 622,000 barrel-per-day Keystone pipeline is a critical artery shipping heavy Canadian crude from Alberta to U.S. refiners in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast. It has been closed for a week now, after causing what officials say is the largest U.S. oil spill in a decade. Under the SPR loan arrangement reported Friday, companies will immediately receive an x-amount of barrels from the reserve to resolve the supply crunch emanating from the Keystone crisis and return them much later, at a mutually-agreed time. “It’s a smart hedge, if you ask me,” “Instead of announcing a massive purchase that would take care of the entire 180 million barrels that were drawn down the last six months, the administration chose to just begin with a 3 million barrel purchase. The positive impact on the market will be minimal, just as U.S. consumers at the pump would have liked.”
MENA oil exporters set for fiscal surplus in 2023: report - Credit metrics in oil-exporting sovereigns in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will be supported by another year of fiscal and external surpluses in most cases, based on Fitch Ratings’ assumption that Brent crude oil averages $85 a barrel and that production levels broadly stabilise, Fitch Ratings said. MENA oil exporters’ growth will be much weaker in 2023 as oil output stabilises, following a sharp rebound in 2022 when Opec+ countries unwound Covid-19 pandemic-era cuts for much of the year, before a new much smaller cut in November, it said. Slower global growth in 2023 could prompt further Opec+ cuts if the oil market shifts decisively into surplus, but concerns persist about potentially tight supply, including related to Russia, Fitch Ratings said. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) non-oil growth will retain some momentum but will slow, from 4.5% on average to 3%, given spillovers from oil prices, higher interest rates and weaker global growth; some post-pandemic gains in 2022 will also fade in 2023. In MENA non-oil economies, credit fundamentals in many countries face risks from high debt burdens and tight external financing conditions amid higher global interest rates; domestic interest rates will also remain high given inflation trends, it said. Growth is likely to be weaker in most cases, affected by lacklustre global trade, higher interest rates, limited fiscal space and risks to particular sectors, including tourism. Multilateral and bilateral financial support is an important mitigant in some countries, alongside some progress with economic and fiscal reforms, the agency said. Fitch Ratings said it added two Positive Outlooks in 2022, for Ras Al Khaimah and Saudi Arabia. Of the 15 MENA sovereigns that Fitch rates, only Egypt is on Negative Outlook, while Lebanon and Tunisia do not have outlooks as Fitch typically does not assign outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of 'CCC+' or below. Lebanon remains in default. Tunisia is rated ‘CCC+’, upgraded in December from ‘CCC’.
Iran publicly hangs second anti-government protester after show trial - In a gruesome attempt to intimidate the populace, Iranian authorities executed an anti-government protester early Monday morning—the second such execution in four days—and publicly circulated photos of his corpse hanging from a construction crane. Twenty-three-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged “in the presence of a group of Mashadi citizens,” reported the Islamic Republic judiciary’s own Mizan news agency. A court in the northeastern city of Mashhad had convicted Rahnavard of stabbing and killing two Basij security officers and wounding four others in an incident it termed a “terrorist attack.” According to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights, Rahnavard “was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions after a grossly unfair process and a show trial.” He was hanged just 23 days after his arrest. Four days earlier, Mohsen Shekari became the first person to be executed for his role in a three-month-long wave of protests that has been the target of ruthless state repression and punctuated by violent clashes between some protesters and security forces. Shekari, also just 23, paid with his life for what an Iranian court said were the crimes of participating in the blocking of a Tehran street and stabbing a Basij security guard, who survived the attack and required just 13 stitches. While the authorities claimed Shekari had confessed, his relatives said he was not allowed legal representation, his trial was held in a closed court, his face showed signs of bruising and his body had not been released. In neither case did the Islamic Republic authorities link their two victims, at least publicly, to the “outside entities,” meaning US imperialism, Israel, and the Saudi absolutist monarchy, which they accuse of fomenting the protests. .
Iranian forces shooting at faces and genitals of female protesters, medics say - Iranian security forces are targeting women at anti-regime protests with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, according to interviews with medics across the country. Doctors and nurses – treating demonstrators in secret to avoid arrest – said they first observed the practice after noticing that women often arrived with different wounds to men, who more commonly had shotgun pellets in their legs, buttocks and backs. While an internet blackout has hidden much of the bloody crackdown on protesters, photos provided by medics to the Guardian showed devastating wounds all over their bodies from so-called birdshot pellets, which security forces have fired on people at close range. Some of the photos showed people with dozens of tiny “shot” balls lodged deep in their flesh. The Guardian has spoken to 10 medical professionals who warned about the seriousness of the injuries that could leave hundreds of young Iranians with permanent damage. Shots to the eyes of women, men and children were particularly common, they said. One physician from the central Isfahan province said he believed the authorities were targeting men and women in different ways “because they wanted to destroy the beauty of these women”. “I treated a woman in her early 20s, who was shot in her genitals by two pellets. Ten other pellets were lodged in her inner thigh. These 10 pellets were easily removed, but those two pellets were a challenge, because they were wedged in between her urethra and vaginal opening,” the physician said. “There was a serious risk of vaginal infection, so I asked her to go to a trusted gynaecologist. She said she was protesting when a group of about 10 security agents circled around and shot her in her genitals and thighs.” Traumatised by his experience, the physician – who like all medical professionals cited in this article spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals – said he had a hard time dealing with the stress and pain he witnessed. “She could have been my own daughter.” Some of the other medical professionals accused security forces, including the feared pro-regime Basij militia, of ignoring riot control practices, such as firing weapons at feet and legs to avoid damaging vital organs. One doctor from Karaj, a city near Tehran, said security forces “shoot at the faces and private body parts of women because they have an inferiority complex. And they want to get rid of their sexual complexes by hurting these young people.” The ministry of foreign affairs was approached to comment on the allegations made by the medics but has yet to respond.
Russia using more Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine infrastructure: think tank --Russia is deploying a “significantly higher number” of Iranian-made drones to attack critical infrastructure in Ukraine than it did in previous weeks, according to an updated analysis from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Ukraine’s Air Force Command said on Saturday that Russian forces launched 15 attacks with the Iranian Shahed-136 and 131 drones, targeting infrastructure in Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa.About 10 of the drones were shot down, while the rest reached their targets. Facilities in Odesa were severely damaged.Russia had not launched a similar number of Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine in three weeks, according to the ISW.“The increased pace of Russian drone attacks may indicate that Russian forces accumulated more drones over the three-week period of not using them or that Russia has recently received or expects soon to receive a new shipment of drones from Iran,” the ISW said in its analysis.
Ukraine's Odesa Without Power After Russian Drone Attack - The southern Ukrainian city of Odesa was left without power Saturday following a night-time attack by "kamikaze drones" launched by Russia, authorities said. "As of now, the city is without electricity," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said on messaging app Telegram. Only critical infrastructure including hospitals and maternity wards had access to electricity. "The situation remains difficult, but is under control," Tymoshenko said. The Black Sea port of Odesa was a favourite holiday destination for many Ukrainians and Russians before President Vladimir Putin sent troops to pro-Western Ukraine on Feb. 24. Maksym Marchenko,the governor of the region of Odesa, said Russia had attacked the city with "kamikaze drones" overnight. "As a result of the strike, there is no electricity in almost all districts and communities of our region," he said. Two drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defence units, Marchenko added. On Friday, Kyiv said southern regions of the war-scarred country including Odesa were suffering the worst electricity outages days after the latest bout of systematic Russian assaults on the Ukrainian energy grid. Russia fired dozens of cruise missiles at key infrastructure in Ukraine on Monday, piling pressure on the country's already ailing grid after repeated attacks. Russia began targeting Ukraine's infrastructure foloowing a series of military defeats. On Thursday, Putin vowed to keep battering Ukraine's energy grid despite an outcry against the attacks that have plunged millions into cold and darkness.
Russia's hunt for weapons and ammo in Iran and North Korea is a sign of 'desperation' and that 'things are not going well' in Ukraine, US officials say - Russia's search for weapons and ammunition from countries like Iran and North Korea is a sign of President Vladimir Putin's "desperation" and the struggle his troops are facing in Ukraine, US officials said. Citing intelligence, the Biden administration said back in July that Iran was preparing to send drones to Russian forces and a month later, the first batch of drones arrived in Russian hands — only to experience technical difficulties. And as recent as this week, reports indicated that Russia has been looking into securing ammunition from North Korea because Western sanctions are causing a supply shortage for Putin's war efforts in Ukraine. British intelligence similarly noted on Tuesday that international sanctions are impacting Russia's stock of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and hamstringing its operations on the battlefield. "It does demonstrate and is indicative of the situation that Russia finds itself in, in terms of its logistics and sustainment capabilities as it relates to Ukraine," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the possibility of Russia acquiring arms from North Korea. "We assess that things are not going well on that front for Russia," he continued. "So the fact that they're reaching out to North Korea is a sign that they're having some challenges on the sustainment front."
Putin’s war on Ukrainian power grid reveals more than he’d like- --On Oct. 10, Putin started a campaign against the Ukrainian power grid. He launched about $5 billion worth of long-range missiles in several strikes numbering 70-100 missiles each and managed to leave parts of Ukraine without power for several hours and sometimes even days.His attack is a failure and testifies not to the might of the Russian military machine, but rather to Putin’s inadequacy as a military planner.It’s worth recalling that Putin attacked civilian targets in Ukraine from the start; he carpet-bombed Mariupol to the ground. So why did he switch from relatively cheap carpet bombing to expensive multimillion dollar missiles? Because of air defense. His bombers nowadays will be shot down. It’s as simple as that. So, he uses missiles, many of which are also shot down — and increasingly so, thanks to new Western deliveries. The Ukrainian military shot down over 85 percent of the Russian missiles (60 out of 70) in the attack of Dec. 5. “You have to be insane to spend expensive missiles in such a way on an adversary with intact air defense system,” says Alexei Arestovich, 47, military expert and the advisor to the office of President Zelensky.If Putin is restricted to missiles, then why not target something military? It would appear the Russian army simply isn’t any good at finding military targets, which have a nasty habit of moving around and getting camouflaged. The whereabouts of a power grid can be Google-mapped.Here’s the thing: The Ukrainian power grid was built back in Soviet times to survive a thermonuclear war; it’s incredibly redundant and well-protected. There’s no way a non-nuclear warhead will blow the concrete casing that shields the generating facilities. Transformers are much softer targets, and Soviet engineers knew that as well. They couldn’t shield the transformers, so they put them as far apart as possible. A Soviet substation invariably occupies a much bigger space than its U.S. counterpart; every piece stands apart from the other, with incredible redundancy built into the system and capacities for rerouting.A cheap Iranian Shaheed-136 drone will hardly kill a transformer. More likely, it will damage the coolant system, which will be fixed in a day or two. A missile can do the job, but it’s unlikely it will severely damage more than two, which cost anywhere from $3 million to $8 million apiece. An X-101 missile costs $13 million, an X-555 $7.5 million, a Kalibr $6.5 million. But the biggest problem for Russia isn’t the price of the missiles: It’s their replacement — it takes up to nine months to deliver one.
Ukraine war live updates: New Russian missile attack rocks country, hits power grid -- A new wave of Russian missile attacks hit the capital Kyiv and the wider country on Friday morning. After air raid sirens sounded in several cities, with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later confirming that explosions had been heard in at least two areas of the capital. The morning volley of rocket attacks came after the EU approved new sanctions against Russia on Thursday. There was also news that the U.S. was due to expand combat training for Ukrainian troops. The training will focus on the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany during the winter months, according to AP. The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, has said that important infrastructure has been knocked out following Russia’s latest missile attack. “There is colossal infrastructural destruction, first of all, the energy system,” he said, according to a Google translation of his Telegram posts. “I ask you to be patient with what is happening now. I know that there is no light in your houses, no heating, no water supply ... We will do our best to quickly restore what the Russian aggressor has done. Other reports say that the entire city of Kharkiv is currently without power, and emergency shutdowns have been implemented across the country.
China's economy faltered before major Covid policy shift, retail sales and unemployment data show China’s Covid-battered economy slumped in November before its leaders abruptly eased pandemic restrictions, paving the way for a reopening that economists say will be bumpy and painful. On Thursday, a series of indicators pointed to a slowdown in economic activity last month. Retail sales declined 5.9% in November from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It was the worst contraction in retail spending since May, when widespread Covid lockdowns, including in the country’s richest city Shanghai, pummeled the economy. Industrial production only increased 2.2% in November, less than half of October’s growth.Investment in the property sector, which accounts for as much as 30% of China’s GDP, plunged by 9.8% in the first 11 months of the year. Property sales by value plummeted by more than 26% Unemployment worsened, rising to 5.7% last month, the highest level in six months. “In November, Covid outbreaks spread to most parts of the country, forcing residents to cut travel and stay at home, which hit consumption heavily,” Fu Jiaqi, a statistician at the NBS, said in a statement on Thursday accompanying the data release. He noted that consumption activities involving personal interaction, for example travel or dining, were greatly affected. Catering sector revenues declined 8.4% last month.Sales of big-ticket items — such as cars, furniture, and high-end consumer electronics — also contracted sharply, as consumers were wary of spending amid worries about a weak economy. Spending on household appliances and telecoms devices plunged more than 17%. Car sales dropped over 4%.
China’s new space station opens for business in an increasingly competitive era of space activity - On Nov. 29, 2022, the Shenzhou 15 mission launched from China’s Gobi Desert carrying three taikonauts – the Chinese word for astronauts. Six hours later, they reached their destination, China’s recently completed space station, called Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace” in Mandarin. The three taikonauts replaced the existing crew that helped wrap up construction. With this successful mission, China has become just the third nation to operate a permanent space station. China’s space station is an achievement that solidifies the country’s position alongside the U.S. and Russia as one of the world’s top three space powers. As scholars of space law and space policy who lead the Indiana University Ostrom Workshop’s Space Governance Program, we have been following the development of the Chinese space station with interest. Unlike the collaborative, U.S.-led International Space Station, Tiangong is entirely built and run by China. The successful opening of the station is the beginning of some exciting science. But the station also highlights the country’s policy of self-reliance and is an important step for China toward achieving larger space ambitions among a changing landscape of power dynamics in space. The Tiangong space station is the culmination of three decades of work on the Chinese manned space program. The station is 180 feet (55 meters) long and is comprised of three modules that were launched separately and connected in space. These include one core module where a maximum of six taikonauts can live and two experiment modules for a total of 3,884 cubic feet (110 cubic meters) of space, about one-fifth the size of the International Space Station. The station also has an external robotic arm, which can support activities and experiments outside the station, and three docking ports for resupply vehicles and manned spacecraft. Like China’s aircraft carriers and other spacecraft, Tiangong is based on a Soviet-era design – it is pretty much a copy of the Soviet Mir space station from the 1980s. But the Tiangong station has been heavily modernized and improved. The Chinese space station is slated to stay in orbit for 15 years, with plans to send two six-month crewed missions and two cargo missions to it annually. The science experiments have already begun, with a planned study involving monkey reproduction commencing in the station’s biological test cabinets. Whether the monkeys will cooperate is an entirely different matter.
The $80tn “hidden debt” and what it really means - Every publication of financial statistics ought to have the same picture on the cover — Goya’s “The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters”. It would help to deter the tidy-minded truth seekers who are reliably driven mad by the crazy world of financial accounting. People, for example, like Harvey Jones of the Daily Express, who reacted to the recent BIS Quarterly Review article on off-balance sheet FX forwards by concluding that “the world faces financial meltdown, with losses potentially exceeding the total number of US dollars in circulation”. That’s not true, by the way. It’s an understandable shock reaction, though. For a normal person or company, finding out that you’ve got more debt than you thought you had is a horrible thing — quite apart from anything else, it raises the immediate question of how you’re going to pay it. If the global financial system really was running on a macro-scale version of Sam Bankman-Fried’s sloppy spreadsheets, that would be a reason to panic. But the BIS doesn’t claim this; there’s no suggestion that anyone has been failing to record actual transactions. Their research is composed of an argument that some financial instruments should be classified as debt, and some clever work interpreting the gaps between different data sets to estimate how much difference it would make to global balance sheets if they were. Calling something debt is a choice, That means that the joke once attributed to Abraham Lincoln is relevant. “If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Four, because calling a tail a leg doesn’t mean it is one”. The state of the world is what it is; if we were to decide to increase our estimate of the amount of debt in it by $80tn, then we would need to make an exactly offsetting adjustment in the extent to which every trillion dollars of global debt worried us. Accounting is, unfortunately, a business of compromise. There are two things you want to get from an accounting system: 1) Accurate reflection of the underlying economics. 2) Consistency across different economic entities. Brief consideration of these two principles immediately leads to the conclusion that in any even moderately complicated system, you can’t get all that you want. So any accounting system is a trade-off — it’s a choice that you make, reflecting how much consistency you need and how much inaccuracy you’re prepared to tolerate. Which in turn is going to be driven by the purpose that you’re going to use the numbers for. The BIS’ estimate that there is about $80tn worth of off-balance sheet “debt” is fundamentally a consequence of the fact that the BIS doesn’t choose the accounting standards, and consequently the accounting standards are designed for purposes other than theirs.
Is Canada Euthanizing the Poor? - Simons, a Canadian fashion and home decor retailer, released a three-minute film in October showcasing the planned assisted death of a sick Canadian woman. The 37-year-old used Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) to die on Oct. 23 after dealing with complications from Ehlers Danlos syndrome, a group of inherited disorders that affect the connective tissue supporting many body parts. While Simon’s tries to paint an uplifting picture of an individual’s decision to end their life in order to sell fashion and home decor, there are some serious questions about Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), its intentions, and effects.So what exactly is MAiD? From Global News: Enacted in 2016, Canada’s first MAiD legislation required that death be “reasonably foreseeable.” However, based on subsequent legal challenges, the legislation was ruled unconstitutional and the rules were changed. Starting last year, anyone who has a “serious and incurable illness, disease or disability” that is irreversible with “enduring and intolerable” suffering became eligible. In theory there are safeguards: applications have to be approved by two doctors, the process takes at least 90 days, and those who cite inadequate financial and social support are not supposed to be approved. Next year, the country is set to allow people to be killed exclusively for mental health reasons. It is also considering extending euthanasia to “mature” minors — children under 18 who meet the same requirements as adults. Back to the woman featured in the Simons’ ad for a moment. She gave an interview to CTV News back in June describing how she wanted to live but couldn’t afford care to improve her quality of life. This is what is at the heart of the debate in Canada. (Most US coverage of the program only mention financial issues in passing, like this Sept. 18 story from the New York Times titled “Is Choosing Death Too Easy in Canada?” It mentions “economic and housing challenges” exactly once at the end of the nineteenth paragraph.)Both mental illness and disability are oftentimes inseparable from severe financial stress. There is evidence that poverty can cause or worsen mental illness, as well as physical ailments.So we acknowledge that poverty is pain, but rather than relieving that pain, offer death, is that not just killing poor people?
Norwegian Actress Faces 3 Years In Prison For Saying Men Can't Be Lesbians - Hate speech cases across Western Europe are growing more outrageous by the year, with the latest example out of Norway reaching new heights of absurdity. This as various countries' laws get narrower and narrower over what can or cannot be said regarding 'gender identity'. A woman in Norway is being threatened by the government with a stiff prison sentence for the alleged "hate speech crime" of pointing out that a man cannon become a lesbian. What's more is that the filmmaker and actress currently under investigation by Norwegian authorities, Tonje Gjevjon, is herself a lesbian - and quite a prominent personality in popular culture as well. On the other side, is a "transgender female" who claims to be a "lesbian mother" named Christine Jentoft, who has a history of publicly denouncing people for 'transphobia'. Gjevjon’s offending words which triggered outrage were previously posted to Facebook as follows: "It’s just as impossible for men to become a lesbian as it is for men to become pregnant. Men are men regardless of their sexual fetishes," the post stated. She was then informed on November 17 that there's now a formal criminal investigation which was opened by prosecutors for allegedly violating national laws related to protecting "gender identity and gender expression".
Scope of right-wing terrorist network in Germany comes into focus - Five days after the largest raid in the history of post-World War II Germany, it is becoming increasingly clear how extensive the right-wing terrorist network is against which it was directed. On December 7, some 3,000 special police force officers searched 150 properties across Germany. Since then, 25 people have been held in pre-trial detention, and 29 others are under investigation. The federal prosecutor accuses them of being members or supporters of a terrorist organization. But they are only the tip of the iceberg. The right-wing terrorist network, which draws on the milieu of Reichsbürger, QAnon supporters, so-called “lateral thinkers” (Querdenken) and coronavirus deniers, is estimated to number in the tens of thousands. It includes members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and other far-right parties and reaches deep into the state security apparatus and social elites. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (as Germany’s domestic secret service is called) numbers the supporters of the monarchist and anti-democratic Reichsbürger at 23,000 alone, 2,000 more than a year ago. It considers 10 percent to be prepared to use violence. Reichsbürger (literally, Citizens of the Reich) dispute the legitimacy of the post-war Federal Republic of Germany and believe that the German Reich (Empire), founded in 1871, continues to exist. Acts of violence repeatedly come from their ranks, 239 being registered in the last year alone. In the spring, for example, a Reichsbürger supporter in Baden-Württemberg deliberately ran over a police officer during a traffic check. Another fired an automatic rifle at approaching officers who wanted to confiscate the illegal weapon. Nevertheless, the judiciary and police handle Reichsbürger, who also have numerous supporters in the state security apparatus, with kid gloves. Last week’s raid was apparently carried out because the Interior Ministry and the chief federal prosecutor’s office feared imminent attacks against state institutions, which would also have endangered the lives of high-ranking government officials and politicians. The German parliament Bundestag building, the Reichstag Building photographed through a slit in a blind at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. Officials say thousands of police have carried out a series of raids across much of Germany against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the state in an armed coup. [AP Photo/Markus Schreiber] Those arrested are said to have planned to invade the Bundestag along the lines of the American coup plotters of January 6, 2021, capture members of parliament and government, trigger riots across the country and then carry out a coup. Chief federal prosecutor Peter Frank said the group was pursuing the goal of eliminating democracy in Germany “by using violence and military means.” Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (Social Democratic Party, SPD) said the investigations provided “a glimpse into an abyss of terrorist threats from the Reichsbürger milieu.” In the meantime, numerous details have been released to the public about those arrested, whose names the chief prosecutor only disclosed in the form of initials. Many of them have been known for their right-wing extremist views and activities for years or decades. A striking number were or are members of the military or the state security apparatus. In any case, it soon became clear that the authorities were by no means as surprised about the “abyss of terrorist threats” as Interior Minister Faeser now claims.
The Night of the Pen Knives – The Olaf Scholz Plot Exposed as Putz, Not Putsch - No German currently employed by the country’s mainstream or internet media dares to disbelieve that dawn raids last Wednesday by 3,000 armed police and troops, capturing 130 premises and arresting 25 individuals – conducted in secret in front of dozens of press photographers and reporters – was a successful strike against the German state’s internal and external enemies. The official press release by the federal prosecutor adds that another 27 individuals have been targeted but not yet captured. “In addition, premises of non-suspects are searched,” the federal government statement said.Even the leftwing Berlin newspaper, Junge Welt, reported its conviction that the operation was “reminiscent of the 1920s: A nobleman, military personnel and a judge belonging to the AfD wanted to instigate a coup with a group of Reich citizens.”The light of Hamburg has gone blind. No one in Germany is remembering the operation of June 29-July 1, 1934: that’s when Adolph Hitler, already chancellor but not yet fuhrer, with Heinrich Himmler of the SS, and Goebbels, arranged the liquidation of his critics and opponents led by Ernst Röhm, who was accused of receiving a large bribe from France to replace Hitler in a coup. Operation Hummingbird, Goebbels called it, to remove several dozen of the “politically unreliable”. The Night of the Long Knives the operation has been called ever since.Speaking for Scholz, the German federal prosecutor’s office has announced the plotters were a terrorist organization planning to overthrow the state “through the use of military means and violence against state representatives; this also included commissioning killings.” The German Interior Minister of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party said the arrests prevented an “abyss of terrorist threat”. The Free Democratic Party in Scholz’s ruling coalition declared: “This is not about Germany at all, it is in truth about the destruction of parliamentary democracy.” The spokesman of Die Linke, the German left opposition, said the raid was “further evidence of the worrying presence of a militant, armed and internationally networked right-wing scene in Germany.” Reported immediately by Financial Times, the Japanese propaganda organ in London, Scholz had struck against “the threat posed to western states by far-right extremism turbocharged by radical conspiracy theories such as QAnon”. The Washington Post uncovered experts to reassure Germans who have received Covid-19 vaccinations or who are Jewish that they are now safe from the “alleged plot to topple the German government, led by a self-styled prince, a retired paratrooper and a Berlin judge, had its roots in a murky mixture of post-war grudges, antisemitic conspiracy theories and anger over recent pandemic restrictions.”The New York Times uncovered not only a German plot but evidence of how farsighted the New York Times itself had been in advance. “Among the items uncovered was a list containing 18 names of politicians considered enemies, possibly to be deported and executed, among them Chancellor Olaf Scholz, people familiar with the raids told The New York Times, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. This was the latest of a series of plots discovered in recent years of extremist networks preparing for a day the democratic order collapses, a day they call Day X, the subject of a New York Times podcast series last year.”In Warsaw the Poles are laughing.
Mastermind of tax scam gets eight years in prison - Hanno Berger, a German lawyer dubbed the mastermind of Cum-Ex, was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in part of a sprawling tax scandal that's robbed billions of euros from government coffers and embroiled some of Wall Street's biggest names. Berger was found guilty of three counts of aggravated tax evasion in a judgment at a Bonn court on Tuesday, according to the DPA newswire. Prosecutors had sought nine years. He was on trial for allegedly having participated in transactions that cost the government €278 million ($295 million). Once Germany's most profitable tax attorney, Berger fled the country in 2012 when his Frankfurt law firm was raided. After more than nine years in Switzerland, he was extradited in February. He's also standing trial in another German court case. If he's also convicted there, the term is likely to be increased.
ECB supervisor: 'fraught' environment calls for strong risk management, collaboration - One of Europe's top bank supervisors is preaching vigilance for institutions on both sides of the Atlantic amid what she sees as a "fraught" economic environment. Bank profits are high and capital levels are too, but Elizabeth McCaul, a member of the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank's supervisory board, said the fault lines are clear. Supply chain issues, rising costs and elevated leverage are weakening the quality of assets on bank balance sheets. Meanwhile, external risks to the banking sector, ranging from cryptocurrencies to climate change, are in need of tighter controls, she said. "It's the type of environment I've seen a lot in my career, and it's the type of environment where you have the sense that there can be an accident," McCaul told American Banker last week. "You don't know where that accident will be. … So it means that you have to have your institutions very focused on strong risk management practices."
Tens of thousands of UK National Health Service nurses strike for first time - Tens of thousands of nurses began two days of strikes on Monday. It is the first mass strike by nurses in Britain for over 100 years and the first ever in the National Health Service (NHS). Nurses walked out at 76 hospitals and health centres for 12 hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The second strike takes place December 20. Nurses and supporters flooded pickets lines in many parts of the country. At the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, the picket was more than 100 strong. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members are demanding a pay increase of almost 20 percent—inflation, based on the current RPI measure (14.2 percent), plus 5 percent. The government awarded one million NHS staff employed under its Agenda for Change contracts a uniform £1,400 backdated from last April—just 4 percent on average to health workers. UK nurses are paid less than in most European Union countries, the US and Australia. The nurses’ strike is the most politically significant of a wave of strikes across the public and private sectors that began in the summer. The strike was provoked by the Conservative government, which wants the defeat of nurses to further its plans to destroy much of the NHS and hive off the most profitable sectors to the private sector—depriving millions of workers of life-saving services built up over 70 years. Their plans to crush the NHS workers, numerically the largest section of the working class with massive popular support, includes mobilising hundreds of soldiers to run ambulance services. Years of systematic underfunding, with £400 billion required just to plug cuts over the last decade, have left the NHS chronically under-resourced and understaffed. The government’s “let it rip” COVID policy, responsible for the deaths of over 212,000 people, resulted in the deaths of over 1,500 health and social care workers.
Metro Bank fined £10 million for misleading on risk levels -Metro Bank and two of its former senior managers were hit with penalties by the U.K.'s financial watchdog for knowingly giving investors misinformation linked to the lender's capital adequacy. Metro Bank was fined £10 million ($12.2 million) after it published incorrect information on its risk-weighted assets, an important measure for regulatory capital requirements, in its third quarter trading update on Oct. 24 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday. The regulator said the bank knew that the figure was wrong and failed to qualify or explain it. Craig Donaldson, former chief executive officer of the bank, and ex-chief financial officer David Arden were provisionally fined £223,100 and £134,600, respectively, for being "knowingly concerned" of the breach, the watchdog said. The pair have referred their case to a tribunal to decide whether to uphold the fines, but the bank has not.
Bank of England calls for 'urgent' global action after near-collapse of UK pension funds — The Bank of England on Tuesday called for “urgent international action” from regulators on non-bank financial institutions after it was forced to rescue U.K. pension funds in September. A number of pension funds were hours from collapse when the central bank intervened in the long-dated bond market. It came after a series of massive moves in interest rates on U.K. government debt exposed vulnerabilities in liability-driven investment (LDI) funds, which are held by U.K. pension schemes. LDIs — commonly used in final salary pension plans and other fixed-income schemes — look to cover current and future liabilities by acquiring assets and generating returns. Most are highly leveraged and often use long-dated U.K. government bonds, known as “gilts,” as collateral to raise cash. At the time of September’s bond price crash on the back of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ disastrous “mini-budget,” long-dated bonds comprised around two-thirds of Britain’s roughly £1.5 trillion ($1.86 trillion) in LDI funds. LDIs were forced to sell gilts, which in turn pushed down prices. This sent the value of their assets below that of their liabilities, meaning the pension funds holding them risked falling into insolvency.In its latest financial stability report published Tuesday, the Bank said had it not acted, “the stress would have significantly affected households’ and businesses’ ability to access credit.” Its temporary emergency bond-buying program allowed LDI funds time to shore up their liquidity positions and ensure the country’s financial stability.The Bank emphasized the need for regulators across jurisdictions to strengthen the resilience of the sector, saying “there is a need for urgent international action to reduce risks in non-bank finance.”The central bank said it will begin an “exploratory scenario exercise” focused on non-bank financial institutions in order to better understand and mitigate the associated risks.“The resilience of this sector needs to be improved in a number of ways to make it more robust,” the Bank concluded.
Two-year-old killed by household mould exposes UK-wide public health crisis -Last month, a coroner ruled that the death in December 2020 of two-year-old Awaab Ishak had been caused by “prolonged exposure” to mould spores in his family’s rented flat. Awaab was initially hospitalised with flu-like symptoms and difficulty breathing. He was readmitted to urgent care two days after being discharged, suffering respiratory failure, and died of cardiac arrest. A pathologist told the inquest into his death that Awaab’s throat was swollen enough to hinder his breathing, with exposure to fungi the most likely cause. The child’s parents, Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin, had complained about the mould to landlords Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) for three years, even requesting rehousing. A health visitor also raised concerns, asking for the rehousing request to be prioritised. RBH were dismissive, writing the problem off as “unsightly” but not a serious risk,and placing what senior coroner Joanne Kearsley called “too much emphasis… on the cause of the mould being due to the parent’s lifestyle.” The housing association failed to address the lack of adequate ventilation in the property. The housing association’s head Gareth Swarbrick was eventually sacked by the RBH board, but only after public outrage at his refusal to step down. Awaab’s unsafe home was one of many on the estate run by RBH. According to the Mirror, the association received 106 complaints about mould and damp in the year after Awaab died. An investigation by Manchester Evening News this August found another three households on the same estate who said their children had been hospitalised with issues related to damp and mouldy homes, with reporters shown letters from GPs advising families to move. The BBC described other properties with mould that resembles “black slime on the walls”. The inquest into Awaab’s death unleashed a torrent of similar reports from across the country, in council, housing association, social rented and private rented properties under local authorities of all political stripes. The common factor is that they are occupied by working-class families left to rot by negligent landlords in poorly built, insulated and maintained homes which they can barely afford to heat.
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