week ending Apr 29

Fed’s Balance Sheet Plunges $171 Billion in Five Weeks since Peak Bank Bailout as QT Continues and Liquidity Support Cools by Wolf Richter - (graphs throughout) The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, released today, dropped another $30 billion for the week, to $8.56 trillion, bringing the plunge in the five weeks since peak bank bailout to $171 billion, as quantitative tightening (QT) continued at the normal pace and liquidity support shifts and unwinds, though First Republic seems to be sucking hard on the Fed’s teat.The new principle of separating QT from bank liquidity support was laid out by Powell during the last post-meeting press conference, where the Fed can let QT run on track in the background, while briefly stepping in as lender of last resort to a bank. Looking at it with a magnifying glass to see the details of the banking crisis: QT continued:

• MBS -$17 billion for the week, -$164 billion from peak, to $2.58 trillion. The Fed only holds government-backed “Agency MBS” where the taxpayer carries the credit risk, not the Fed.Mortgage-backed securities roll off the balance sheet primarily through the pass-through principal payments that holders receive when mortgages are paid off, such as when mortgaged homes are sold or mortgages are refinanced, and when regular mortgage payments are made.The roll-off has been below the cap of $35 billion per month because home sales have plunged and refis have collapsed, and therefor fewer mortgages are getting paid off.
• Treasury notes and bonds “roll off” the balance sheet when they mature and the Fed gets paid face value for them. Maturity dates fall either on the middle of the month or at the end of the month. Today’s balance sheet was in between. Next week, over $40 billion in Treasuries will roll off the balance sheet.
• Loans to FDIC bridge banks: -$2 billion in the week, to $170 billion. The FDIC bridge banks have been and still are the largest of the bank liquidity support programs. They took over the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The FDIC has made deals to sell a large part of the assets and transfer the deposits to other banks. It’s now auctioning off in bits and pieces the MBS and Treasury securities that the bridge banks still hold. When these deals close, the funds will go back to the Fed. When everything is said and done, this balance goes to zero:
• Repos with “foreign official” counterparties: -$20 billion in the week, to $0. They’re now paid off. This was likely the program that the Swiss National Bank used to provide dollar-liquidity support for the take-under of Credit Suisse by UBS. The Fed has for years offered these repos to foreign central banks so that they can access short-term dollar liquidity against collateral of eligible US securities that they’re holding.
• The Discount Window (“Primary Credit”): +$4 billion for the week, to $74 billion, less than half of its bank-bailout peak of $153 billion. The Fed charges banks 5.0%. Banks also have to post collateral, valued at “fair market value.” These are punitive terms for banks who can normally borrow from depositors for a lot less without having to post collateral. It’s only when banks need liquidity badly during a run on the deposits, but cannot sell their assets quickly enough without losing a ton of money, that they will avail themselves of the Fed as lender of last resort.
• Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP): +$7 billion to $81 billion. Under this new program, rolled out on March 13, banks can borrow for up to one year, at a fixed rate, pegged to the one-year overnight index swap rate plus 10 basis points. Banks have to post collateral, but valued “at par.” For banks, the terms of BTFP are still punitive, though less punitive than the Discount Window.Renewed turmoil is bogging down First Republic – First Republic Discloses it’s a Zombie – and it said that it was heavily relying on the Fed’s liquidity programs to cover the massive flight of uninsured deposits. First Republic is a substantial part of what we’re looking at here at the Discount Window and at the BTFP.This chart shows both, the loans at the Discount Window (red) and the loans at the BTFP (green):

Fed's Jerome Powell tricked by Russian pranksters posing as Zelenskiy - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell held a call with a pair of Russian pranksters posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to video shown on Russian state television. Apparently thinking he was speaking to Zelenskiy, Powell is seen on the video answering questions on topics ranging from the outlook for inflation to the Russian central bank. There were several clips lasting about 15 minutes, and it's unclear if the footage was altered. "Chair Powell participated in a conversation in January with someone who misrepresented himself as the Ukrainian president," a Fed spokesperson said Thursday. "It was a friendly conversation and took place in a context of our standing in support of the Ukrainian people in this challenging time. No sensitive or confidential information was discussed." The spokesperson added that "the matter has been referred to appropriate law enforcement, and out of respect for their efforts, we won't be commenting further." The Fed also said that the video appears to have been edited and cannot confirm it is accurate. While the comments appeared anodyne, the fact that the hoax call got through to Powell is likely to raise questions about security at the Fed. The pranksters — Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, who go by the nicknames Vovan and Lexus — have for years succeeded in tricking foreign politicians into talking to them despite their sometimes-crude impersonations. The duo are supporters of President Vladimir Putin. Back in 2018, the U.K. said it believed the Kremlin was behind a hoax call to then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. The pranksters often post the videos with the intention to embarrass Western policymakers. Earlier this year, the two shared a conversation with European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde, also impersonating Zelenskiy, according to a video they posted.

PCE Price Index: March Core at 4.6% YoY - The BEA's Personal Income and Outlays report for March was published this morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The latest headline PCE price index was up 0.1% month-over-month (MoM) and is up 4.2% year-over-year (YoY). Core PCE dropped to 4.6% YoY, still well above the Fed's 2% target rate and slightly higher than expected. On a monthly basis, core PCE is up 0.3% MoM. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) measures and tracks changes for all domestic personal consumption. Core PCE measures the changes in personal consumption less food and energy, making it less volatile than the headline PCE. The PCE Price Index is calculated using PCE data and is a key way to measure changes in purchasing trends and inflation. The adjacent thumbnail gives us a close-up of the trend in YoY core PCE since January 2012. The first string of red data points highlights the 12 consecutive months when core PCE hovered in a narrow range around its interim low. The second string highlights the lower range from late 2014 through 2015. Core PCE shifted higher in 2016 with a decline in 2017, 2019, and 2020, with a major jump in 2022.The first chart below shows the monthly year-over-year change in the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index since 2000, with a callout showing the last 12 months. Also included is an overlay of the core PCE (less food and energy) price index, which is Fed's preferred indicator for gauging inflation. The 2% benchmark is the Fed's conventional target for core inflation. Headline PCE increased 4.2% this month, a deceleration from last month's 5.0%. Core PCE increased 4.6% this month, a deceleration from February's 4.7% and above the 4.5% forecast. These are the slowest annual changes for headline and core PCE since May and October 2021, respectively.

David Stockman On Why Decades Of Inflationary Finance Are Finally Coming Home To Roost - Eventually, the inflationary credit emitted by the Fed works its way through the global economy and comes home to roost in the form of reduced domestic output and rising prices. In this regard, there is no more powerful tell than the round trip of the PCE deflator for durable goods during the past 28 years. As shown in the chart below, prices for durable goods, which are now mostly manufactured abroad, plunged continuously and by a staggering 40% between early 1995 and the Covid-Lockdown bottom in Q2 2020. There is no broad-scale deflationary gale quite like it in all of recorded history. What caused it, of course, was a one-time arbitrage of labor and other local production costs on the massively expanded global supply chain enabled by modern technology. Again, however, that wasn’t a wonder of capitalism alone. What drove the global supply chain deep into the interior of China and other ultra-low labor cost venues was the Fed’s lunatic inflation-targeting policies—originally de facto under Greenspan and then eventually (2012) official under Bernanke. The truth is, when Mr. Deng declared that to be rich was glorious and opened China’s great export factories, sound money in the US would have resulted in a continuous deflation of the drastically swollen US cost and price level that had emerged from the Great Inflation of the 1970s. Obviously, Alan Greenspan, the once and former champion of the gold standard, was having none of it. Had he permitted the nation’s swollen cost structure to deflate in order to keep domestic production competitive, he would not have been the toast of the town in Washington. He would have been vilified by the politicians because the indicated cure of soaring interest rates and shrinking domestic credit on the free market would have made financing the giant Federal deficits which emerged in the Reagan era well nigh impossible. So Greenspan pretended to be the champion of sound money by taking credit for a phony gain he was pleased to call “disinflation”. The latter amounted to deliberately depreciating the purchasing power of savers and wage earners, but just not quite as rapidly as during the worst days before Volcker. Needless to say, in a globalized economy inflationary money is quite the trickster. In the initial instance it led to the massive and relentless off-shorting of production, and the re-importing of the same goods produced abroad via the cheap labor being requisitioned from China’s vast interior rice paddies. Inflation of the dollar came back as deflation of durable goods prices! It also allowed the Fed to claim that it had vanquished inflation and that its altogether new challenge was the madness called “lowflation” or too little inflation. That’s truly when the Keynesian central bankers lost their minds.

Stellar Demand For 5Y Treasury Auction Despite Lowest Yield Since August - One day after a strong 2Y auction, moments ago the Treasury sold $43BN in an even stronger sale of 5Y paper.Stopping at a high yield of 3.500%, this was not only below last month's 3.665% but it was also the lowest 5Y yield since August 2022 when the tenor priced at 3.23%. It also stopped through the When Issued 3.506% by 0.6bps, the second straight stop through in a row.The bid to cover was also solid, rising to 2.54, the highest since January and well above the 2.49 six-auction average.The internals were also solid, with Indirects awarded 69.1% of the auction, the highest since February and above the recent average of 68.8%. And with Directs tking down 17.3%, or just under the recent average of 17.3%, Dealers were left with 13.6% of the auction, or right on top of the six-auction average. Overall, this was a very solid auction, and one which took place just as the 10Y hit session highs, thus providing buyers with at least a modest concession.

Chicago Fed: Steady Economic Growth in March - "Index points to steady economic growth in March" This is the headline for this morning's release of the Chicago Fed's National Activity Index, and here is the opening paragraph from the report: The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) was unchanged at –0.19 in March. Three of the four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made negative contributions in March, and two categories deteriorated from February. The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, increased to +0.01 in March from –0.09 in February. [more] The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index (CFNAI) is a monthly indicator designed to gauge overall economic activity and related inflationary pressure. It is a composite of 85 monthly indicators as explained in this background PDF file on the Chicago Fed's website. The index is constructed so a zero value for the index indicates that the national economy is expanding at its historical trend (average) rate of growth. Negative values indicate below-average growth, and positive values indicate above-average growth.The first chart below shows the recent behavior of the index since 2007 with a callout to the past year. The green dots show the indicator itself, which is quite noisy. The three-month moving average (CFNAI-MA3) is more useful and consistent as an indicator of the actual trend for economic activity.

BEA: Real GDP increased at 1.1% Annualized Rate in Q1 - From the BEA: Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2023 (Advance Estimate) Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent. The increase in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, federal government spending, state and local government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by decreases in private inventory investment and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased .The increase in consumer spending reflected increases in both goods and services. Within goods, the leading contributor was motor vehicles and parts. Within services, the increase was led by health care and food services and accommodations. Within exports, an increase in goods (led by consumer goods, except food and automotive) was partly offset by a decrease in services (led by transport). Within federal government spending, the increase was led by nondefense spending. The increase in state and local government spending primarily reflected an increase in compensation of state and local government employees. Within nonresidential fixed investment, increases in structures and intellectual property products were partly offset by a decrease in equipment. The decrease in private inventory investment was led by wholesale trade (notably, machinery, equipment, and supplies) and manufacturing (led by other transportation equipment as well as petroleum and coal products). Within residential fixed investment, the leading contributor to the decrease was new single-family construction. Within imports, the increase reflected an increase in goods (mainly durable consumer goods and automotive vehicles, engines, and parts). PCE increased at a 3.7% annual rate, and residential investment decreased at a 4.2% rate. The advance Q1 GDP report, with 1.1% annualized increase, was below expectations. The decrease in inventories subtracted 2.26 percentage points from GDP.

Q1 GDP Advance Estimate: Real GDP at 1.1%, Slower Than Expected - - The advance estimate for Q1 2023 GDP showed the economy grew 1.1%, a decrease from the Q4 2022 third estimate of 2.6% growth and slower than the Investing.com forecast of 2.0% growth.Here is the opening text from the Bureau of Economic Analysis news release: Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023 (table 1), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.The increase in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, federal government spending, state and local government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by decreases in private inventory investment and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased. [Full Release]Real gross domestic product (GDP) measures how fast or slowly the economy is growing and measures the inflation-adjusted value of all goods and services produced by the economy. It is considered the broadest measure of economic activity and the primary indicator of an economy's health. The Bureaus of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases real GDP data on a monthly basis. There are 3 versions released a month apart, advance, second, and final, each incorporating data that was previously unavailable. Economists can use GDP to determine whether an economy is growing or experiencing a recession.Here is a look at quarterly GDP since Q2 1947. Prior to 1947, GDP was an annual calculation. To be more precise, the chart shows is the annualized percentage change from the preceding quarter in real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product. We've also included recessions, which are determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Also illustrated are the 3.17% average (arithmetic mean) and the 10-year moving average, currently at 2.39%.

Consumers, Governments Spent like Drunken Sailors in Q1. Private Investment Plunge & Inventory Change Dogged GDP by Wolf Richter - GDP, adjusted for inflation, rose by 1.1% in Q1 from Q4, following the 2.6% increase in Q4 and the 3.2% increase in Q3, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. The major factors, all adjusted for inflation:

• Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of GDP, surged by 3.7%, the biggest increase since 2021.
• Government spending at all levels surged by 4.7%.
• The trade deficit got a little less horrible.
• Federal government: +7.8%, with national defense +5.9% and Nondefense: +10.3%.
• State and local governments: +2.9%.

But GDP was dragged down bigly by Change in investment in private inventories, which subtracted 2.3 percentage points from GDP; and Gross private domestic investment, which plunged. Consumer spending on goods and services, adjusted for inflation, surged by an annual rate of 3.7% in Q1 from Q4, the biggest increase since Q2 2021 during the stimulus money binge. Late last year, Americans had slowed their spending binge a little, but this quarter they came out of their funk, as we have seen in strong retail sales (goods) and in consumer spending in January and February (goods and services). And as we’ve seen in retail spending, Americans spent like drunken sailors on goods, which surged 6.5% annual rate from the prior quarter, adjusted for inflation, with durable goods (such as new and used vehicles and other stuff) soaring by 16.9%! Spending on services grew at a respectable but not breath-taking rate of 2.3%. Government consumption and investment jumped by 4.7% (adjusted for inflation and annualized) to a new record, and the third quarter in a row of increases, after five quarters in a row of declines. Government consumption and investment does not include transfer payments and other direct payments to consumers (stimulus payments, unemployment payments, Social Security payments, etc.), which are counted in GDP when consumers and businesses spend or invest these payments from the government. Gross private domestic investment plunged by 12.5% (adjusted for inflation, annualized), having now dropped in three of the past four quarters, having now worked of the pandemic spike.

• Nonresidential fixed investments: +0.7%:
  • Structures: +11.2%.
  • Equipment: -7.3%.
  • Intellectual property products (software, movies, etc.): +3.8%.
• Residential fixed investment: -4.2% after the 25.1% plunge in Q4.

McCarthy says Biden is ‘afraid to even negotiate’ about budget, debt ceiling - Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday that President Biden is “afraid” to negotiate about the budget and debt ceiling, blaming him for the U.S. potential default on loans. “And then he’s jeopardizing Medicare and Social Security, because, for the first time in a 10-year window, not just the Highway Trust Fund, but Medicare and Social Security becomes insolvent, so it automatically gets cut,” McCarthy told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “This rests upon his feet, not because he made a bad decision,” he continued. “The real decision is, he’s afraid to even negotiate.” McCarthy introduced a budget plan to members of his party last week that would raise the debt ceiling by over $1 trillion but also return federal spending to 2022 levels and cap growth at 1 percent annually. If the U.S. fails to raise the debt ceiling, the country could risk default by June. McCarthy and Biden met in February to discuss the debt ceiling, but have not had a meeting since. McCarthy blasted the president on Sunday over the paused negotiations, and said Republicans were the only one to put forward a plan. When asked if he threatened to let the country default, McCarthy said that he did not. “No, we’re the only ones in Washington that are actually putting a responsible plan out that will raise the debt limit,” he said. “Think about it. For more than 80 days it’s been since I sat down with the president on February 1 to negotiate, to work through this. And he’s ignored it.” “I’m beginning to wonder about the words that he says and the thoughts that he’s using, because the idea that he won’t even negotiate for more than 80 days, he is now putting the country in default,” he said. “We are the only ones being responsible and sensible about this.”

Dingell says McCarthy might not have votes to pass budget proposal - Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Sunday poured cold water on the idea that House Republicans could pass the budget proposal they laid out on the floor last week, seeking to cut spending while raising the debt limit. “I’m concerned about the budget that they put forward … and I’m not sure [Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has] the votes for it or not,” Dingell said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Because I don’t think there are some Republicans that want to vote to cut education, reduce veterans spending by 22 percent,” Dingell said. “It’s gonna hurt cancer research, it’s gonna hurt law enforcement, first responders.” McCarthy, who has been locked in a battle with the White House over the debt ceiling, released a budget last week that would see the debt ceiling raised over $1 trillion but also return federal spending to 2022 levels and cap growth at 1 percent annually. The proposal from McCarthy comes as Republicans have demanded the White House commit to future spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, which is fast approaching sometime in the early to mid-summer. The White House has said it won’t negotiate on spending cuts, and many Democrats have urged Republicans to pass a debt ceiling increase with no string attached. “Let’s get the debt ceiling done. Let’s not play games. We shouldn’t be doing it and it’s already hurting what’s going to happen to our economy,” Dingell said on Sunday.

McCarthy’s description for debt ceiling is bad medicine for older Americans - Republicans pledged during the State of the Union to take Social Security and Medicare off the table in debt ceiling negotiations, but Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) new plan demands that older and working Americans pay for the GOP’s miserly fiscal agenda in other ways. The House Republicans’ recently released proposal for lifting the debt ceiling would hobble federal services that seniors rely on, including customer service at the Social Security Administration. We and 30 other seniors’ advocacy groups have sent a letter to Speaker McCarthy urging the House to pass a clean bill to lift the debt ceiling, as Congress had done nearly 80 times in the past. We object to House Republicans risking a default on the federal government’s debts, which could lead to global economic catastrophe. As President Biden said in a speech last week, “A default would destroy the economy. And who do you think it would hurt the most? You! Hard working people. The middle class.” We think it’s morally and fiscally wrong to hold Americans’ financial well-being hostage to the demands of the MAGA wing of the GOP, whose agenda does not reflect the will of the majority of voters. A Washington Post/ABC News poll in February indicated that 65 percent of Americans want a clean debt ceiling bill, while only 26 percent said the Biden administration should first agree to federal spending cuts. We’ve seen this movie before. In 2011, Tea Party Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling without deep spending cuts. Despite opposition from most Democrats, the ensuing debt battle left us with automatic spending caps that still have lingering effects on the federal government, including chronic underfunding of the Social Security Administration — which tens of millions of seniors rely on for customer service. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, here they go again. House Republicans are demanding spending caps that will shortchange almost every federal agency. They propose to freeze spending at FY 2022 levels (a whopping $4.5 trillion in cuts) which would amount to an estimated 23 percent reduction for everything except the military and veterans programs. The Social Security Administration, for one, needs more — not less — funding to do its job for the American people.. Without proper SSA funding, Social Security claimants have suffered through field office closings, interminable wait times on the agency’s toll-free phone line, and lengthy delays in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) hearings. The Washington Post reported in 2017 that 10,000 SSDI claimants had died awaiting a chance to plead their cases. Now, Republicans want to cut at least 23 percent from this vital federal agency. Ironically, SSA is one of the most fiscally responsible federal agencies, with administrative costs below 1 percent. But since 2010, SSA’s operating budget has been cut by 17 percent (adjusted for inflation), while the number of beneficiaries has soared. With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, Kevin McCarthy’s party wants to gut the agency that handles their benefits. The GOP’s draconian cuts also would affect seniors’ programs under the Older Americans Act (OAA). This includes federal funding for programs like home delivered meals, in-home services, transportation, legal services, elder abuse prevention and caregiver support. Even the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program that helps low-income seniors keep their homes heated in the winter and cool in the summer would be cut under the Republican plan. These cuts aren’t fiscally responsible. They’re downright cruel.

GOP readies debt ceiling vote as Wall Street begins to panic - Investors on Wall Street are bracing for the prospect of a protracted, costly standoff in Washington over the debt ceiling, underscoring the economic risks as House Republicans prepare to vote on new legislation as soon as Wednesday.In recent weeks, two key developments — including a drop in yields on government bonds set to mature imminently — have suggested a growing panic that the GOP’s demands could cause the country to default, touching off what analysts widely believe would be another U.S. recession.The uncertainty has added to the challenge facing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as he looks to assuage some Republicans’ last-minute reservations over a bill that Democrats uniformly oppose. The GOP proposal would slash federal spending dramatically and unwind some of President Biden’s top priorities, including student debt cancellation, in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling — the statutory cap on how much the U.S. government can borrow to pay its bills.With no resolution in sight — and the deadline drawing closer by the day — some on Wall Street have started to contemplate the possibility of a default. Joseph Brusuelas, the principal and chief economist at RSM, an accounting firm, said this week that “financial markets are now moving to begin pricing in the more difficult portion of the gridlock over the debt ceiling,” adding that the uncertain state of the economy has left some investors “on edge.”The financial turbulence highlights the stakes in the nation’s capital, more than a decade after Republicans last used the debt ceiling as leverage to seek spending cuts. That 2011 fight — between ascendant, conservative tea-party Republicans and President Barack Obama — rattled the stock market, precipitated a downgrade in U.S. credit and ultimately cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.This year, McCarthy has maintained that Republicans hope to avoid default. In a speech at the New York Stock Exchange last week, he blamed Biden, who has refused to negotiate out of a belief that the debt ceiling should be raised without conditions to prevent any disruptions to the fragile U.S. economy.Two days later, McCarthy unveiled legislation that he said would preserve U.S. credit and slow the accumulation of debt. The so-called Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 would cap federal agency spending over the next decade, achieving more than $3 trillion in savings, according to GOP estimates. It would also repeal key climate investments and impose new work requirements on recipients of federal aid, including Medicaid.But McCarthy still must cobble together the necessary 218 votes for it to pass — no easy feat for a narrow majority of 222 members long troubled by its own ideological divisions. By Tuesday morning, the party appeared to have at least a half-dozen remaining holdouts, whose opposition could scuttle the bill, since Republicans only have four votes to spare.

Key Democrat fears only a market crash will resolve debt limit impasse - A key Democrat is warning this week that only a stock market collapse will break the partisan stalemate over raising the debt ceiling and preventing a government default over the summer. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a former Goldman Sachs executive and senior member of the Financial Services Committee, said the Republicans’ opposition to a debt limit hike without steep spending cuts is so entrenched that only an economy-rattling market tumble — like the crash that accompanied the financial crisis of 2008 — will shake GOP leaders to accept a bipartisan compromise. “I fear that this ends the way the famous TARP, the Troubled Assets Relief Program, got passed in 2008. And that is when the markets finally say, ‘You guys have got to stop screwing around,’” Himes said Thursday during a wide-ranging interview in his Capitol Hill office. TARP was Congress’s controversial response to the global financial crisis 15 years ago, providing $700 billion to stabilize teetering banks and restore faith in reeling credit markets. Championed by then-President George W. Bush and his treasury secretary — former Goldman CEO Hank Paulson, who warned of a global economic collapse if the funding was denied — the bill was killed in the House the first time it hit the floor in late September 2008. The surprise vote sent the stock market into a freefall, pulling the Dow down 7 percent — the steepest decline since the attacks of 9/11 — and the Nasdaq down more than 9 percent. All told, the U.S. equity market lost $1.2 trillion in a day. Four days later, after making minor changes, spooked House lawmakers passed the bill and sent it to Bush’s desk. Himes, who was first elected to Congress a month later, predicted it will require a similar scare to convince the Republicans who control the House to pass a debt ceiling increase that can also win President Biden’s signature. “Sadly, I think it’s going to take that kind of market signal to wake my ideologically frenzied friends up and just say, ‘Let’s move on and do some real stuff,'” Himes said.

McCarthy struggles to lock down votes for debt plan - Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his team are vowing to move ahead with their sprawling debt measure as soon as Wednesday, but the path to locking down votes turned murky after a day of internal deliberations. The Californian Republican spent the day holding back-to-back meetings with leadership allies and key holdouts to shore up support before a tentative vote Wednesday. By Tuesday evening, though, the GOP’s whip count remained short of the votes needed for passage, with a cohort of Midwestern Republicans demanding changes to a major tax rollback in the bill. A smaller group of conservatives is also raising concerns of their own over work requirements for certain assistance programs. McCarthy, looking to shut down potential dissenters, has repeatedly told Republicans that he won’t make changes to the bill even as he faces a cross-current of competing demands from both his right flank and agriculture-state Republicans. Altogether, that is more than a dozen members who have yet to commit to the bill — with just four votes to spare on the floor. “This week, we will pass” the debt bill, McCarthy declared to reporters after a full day of meetings. “We’re done negotiating,” added Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), a member of GOP leadership, while projecting confidence that “the whole Republican conference is going to get on board.” The GOP plan, which includes across-the-board spending cuts, stricter rules for social safety net programs and energy production incentives, has largely earned cheers across the conference despite zero expectations that it will become law. Republicans have nonetheless insisted that this week’s debt bill is their best chance to restart stagnant talks with President Joe Biden ahead of a deadline that could come as soon as June. But with a small margin of error, and potential absences among the GOP ranks, they’ll need near-unanimity among his conference to avoid an embarrassing setback that would undercut Republican efforts to force Biden to come to the negotiating table. Already, two Republicans went on record Tuesday night saying they’ll oppose the bill: Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). And Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said he is a “lean no.“ Burchett, for his part, praised McCarthy but said that he hadn’t heard from the California Republican. Instead, he heard from his team who scheduled a meeting with the Tennessee Republican — but then skipped it.

How the White House sees its debt ceiling standoff with McCarthy - There is currently no backchannel between the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Amid the simmering standoff over spending with the ticking time bomb of the debt ceiling in the background, the Republican leader and President Joe Biden are negotiating — if you want to call it that — in public. And even though the prospect of default would inflict intense pain on the country, the White House is quite confident at the moment that such a doomsday scenario is avoidable and that, politically, it holds the upper hand. But as the danger of default nears, the politics may shift and force the president to adjust course. The endgame is still hard to see, weeks or even months away depending on how quickly the nation approaches default. But the political battle entered a new phase this week when McCarthy finally put forth a legislative proposal in his speech Monday, laying out the spending cuts Republicans wanted in exchange for a one-year debt ceiling increase — and giving the White House officials something specific to attack. And attack they have. Biden’s speech Wednesday at a Maryland union hall served as a summation of his team’s theory of the case. And White House aides have made it clear they’re eager to continue talking about this, whether through emails from the press shop, Cabinet officials describing the specific impacts of proposed cuts or at the briefing room podium. On Friday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called McCarthy’s proposal a “ransom note” and emphasized a new VA analysis on the impact of proposed GOP cuts on veterans healthcare. The president’s economic agenda, the White House believes, is popular. Repealing laws that have helped the middle class and created jobs, cutting taxes for corporations and the rich, and risking default are not. Republicans, Biden asserted Wednesday, “say they’re going to default unless I agree to all these wacko notions they have. Default. It would be worse than totally irresponsible.” He reminded McCarthy of the GOP’s hypocrisy — they had no problem raising the debt ceiling three times during the Trump presidency — and of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump’s own comments decrying debt limit brinkmanship as reckless. Biden also urged the speaker to “take default off the table, and let’s have a real, serious, detailed conversation about how to grow the economy, lower costs and reduce the deficit.” According to two people familiar with the administration’s strategy, it’s not clear to anyone inside the White House if McCarthy has the votes from his own caucus to pass his bill, and it may not yet be clear to the speaker himself, who has what one person familiar with the White House’s thinking termed a “principal-agent problem.” The bill would be dead on arrival in a Democrat-controlled Senate. But the White House is signaling clearly to GOP moderates in the House: Vote to cut popular programs, including Social Security and Medicare, at your own risk. “If they pass this, we are going to hang it around their moderates’ necks,” said one person familiar with the administration’s thinking.

Why the Debt Ceiling Debate Is Also a Climate Fight - Congress is once again fighting over the nation’s debt ceiling, the legal limit on how much the United States can borrow. It’s a highly politicized battle that has threatened to paralyze the federal government almost every year for the past decade, with potentially significant long-term consequences for the U.S. economy. Now Republicans want to use it to repeal President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has become beholden to a handful of far-right GOP lawmakers, is on a quest to slash federal spending. On Wednesday, the California Republican reluctantly agreed to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion for about a year, but not without demanding major concessions from Democrats.McCarthy’s bill, called the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, would slash more than $4.5 trillion from future federal spending by limiting discretionary funds, eliminating Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and cutting financial commitments meant to revamp the Internal Revenue Service. It also targets the foundational provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats’ marquee climate law that passed last year.That bill dedicates around $370 billion to fighting climate change, largely through tax rebates and other government credits that incentivize consumers and businesses to adopt clean energy technologies and electric vehicles. McCarthy’s proposal would repeal the vast majority of those. They include the tax credits for EVs, clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel and even the credits that would reward energy providers for building more solar and wind power systems—even more so if they build them in low-income neighborhoods.McCarthy also slipped the Republican’s energy plan, known as H.R. 1, into his debt ceiling bill. That measure, which passed the House mostly along party lines last month, would speed up the federal approval of energy projects, bolster domestic oil and gas production and limit the ability of states to reject energy projects.The Limit, Save, Grow Act “would end the green giveaways for companies that distort the market and waste taxpayer money,” McCarthy said, speaking from the House floor on Wednesday. “Goldman Sachs says the savings from ending these green giveaways are as much as $1.2 trillion.”Raising the debt ceiling ensures the federal government can pay the financial commitments it has already made and is different from allocating the federal budget, which is when lawmakers decide how they’ll spend taxpayer dollars. And experts say failing to raise that limit after Congress has already made its budgetary commitments could be detrimental to the economy if the U.S. ends up defaulting on its bills. Think of it like asking your friend to pick up a soda on the way over to your house, promising to pay your friend when they arrive. But when they show up with a Coca-Cola, you decide you’ve changed your mind and don’t reimburse them. The next time you ask for a similar favor, chances are your friend won’t want to risk it. Their trust in you is shot. Similarly, Congress is now being asked to raise its borrowing limit to accommodate the purchases it has already promised to make. Failing to do so, analysts say, could spoil America’s credit score and cause financial shock waves globally.

House approves Republican debt limit plan in win for McCarthy, GOP -- House Republicans on Wednesday passed a bill to raise the borrowing limit and implement sweeping spending cuts, marking a victory for Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) after days of grueling negotiations that put the deep divisions within the GOP conference on full display. The bill — dubbed the Limit, Save, Grow Act — cleared the chamber 217-215. Republican Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Tim Burchett (Tenn.) joined every voting Democrat in opposition. The vote came hours after Republican leaders made a handful of last-minute, late-night tweaks to the legislation to lock down support from several GOP lawmakers whose opposition had threatened to sink the bill in the narrow majority. “It takes a lot of work when you have that slimmer majority,” Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, told The Hill on Wednesday. “You have to manage the questions, you have to manage the expectations of members that may have a concern, how that’s gonna impact them back home or what they have an issue with personally.” The bill faces no chance of moving in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday called it “an extremist hard-right agenda.” House Republicans, however, see the measure as their opening offer in negotiations with President Biden to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. The White House — which slammed the GOP proposal — has been adamant that it wants a “clean” debt limit increase, foreshadowing the challenge that awaits both sides in striking a deal to prevent a default. “The president can no longer ignore by not negotiating,” McCarthy told reporters following the vote. “Sen. Schumer, if he thinks he’s got a plan, put it on the floor, see if you can pass it, and then we can go to conference. But now, the president can no longer put this economy in jeopardy.” Shortly after the vote Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Biden “has made clear this bill has no chance of becoming law,” and she re-upped the administration’s stance that it wants a debt limit hike “without conditions.” The bill would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or through the end of next March, whichever happens first, in exchange for a wide range of Republican proposals to decrease government spending that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), amount to $4.8 trillion. The bill would cap federal funding hashed during the annual appropriations process at fiscal 2022 levels, while also limiting spending growth to 1 percent every year over the next decade.

Republican debt limit bill would cut pandemic funds to cities, states The high-stakes Republican debt ceiling bill that passed the House late Wednesday may mark only the first of several efforts to claw back unspent local government and state pandemic funds. Issuers "need to be on high alert that all the must-pass bills will have an iteration of the [pandemic funds] claw back, and it will get more sophisticated over time," said Emily Brock, federal liaison for the Government Finance Officers Association. House Republicans Wednesday narrowly approved the Limit, Save and Grow Act that would raise the debt ceiling through March 2024 or by $1.5 trillion, and cut $4.8 trillion in spending. The bill would rescind billions in "unobligated" pandemic funds as well as cancel billions that the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provided to states and local governments for infrastructure and environmental projects. Congress passed six pandemic relief bills in 2020 and 2021 that provided $4.6 trillion in relief and recovery funding. As of Jan. 31, 2023, the federal government had obligated a total of $4.5 trillion and spent $4.2 trillion, according to the Government Accountability Office. Of the $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program, the main pandemic program for state and local governments, roughly $349.9 billion has been obligated and $349.7 billion spent, according to the GAO. As of the end of January, $90.5 billion, or 2%, of the total pandemic fund remained available for obligation, the GAO said. Another $23.7 billion was expired. Unobligated funds include $3.7 billion of transit infrastructure grants, $5.5 billion of emergency rental assistance, and $20.6 billion from the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund. Republicans have not detailed which pandemic funds would be rescinded. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the rescissions would permanently cancel $56 billion in budget authority and $30 billion in outlays over the 2023-2033 period. "Most of the reductions would come from the Public Health and Social Service Emergency Fund and from certain infrastructure, rental assistance, community development, and disaster relief programs," the CBO said. The CBO's estimate does not include reductions for $316 billion in unexpended pandemic funding that's already subject to "legally binding financial obligations and therefore set to be spent under current law," the letter said. The legislation would repeal most of the energy tax credit provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, $3 billion in transportation grant money for projects that reconnect neighborhoods divided by highways and funds available to states for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., considers it an opening bid in negotiations as the country nears a breach of its debt limit as soon as early summer. The Senate is unlikely to take up the bill, with Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calling it "dead on arrival" and saying the Senate would stick to its position of passing a debt-limit bill without conditions attached.

Veterans sound alarm on McCarthy budget cuts -- Veterans are blasting the debt ceiling legislation passed by the Republican-controlled House this week, warning it will cut key programs and services for the nation’s retired service members. The House passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act largely along party lines in a 217-215 vote Wednesday night despite the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) warning of a drastic 22 percent cut to the department’s budget under the bill. The legislation, which is unlikely to pass a Democrat-controlled Senate and is opposed by President Biden, caps all new spending at fiscal 2022 levels, amounting to a $130 billion cut to non-defense spending across federal agencies, which would include the VA. According to a VA press release, that would mean 81,000 jobs lost in the department’s health services, 30 million fewer outpatient visits for veterans and an increase of disability backlogs by 134,000 claims, among a range of other concerns. Sarah Streyder, the executive director of the nonpartisan group Secure Families Initiative — which represents active-duty families but coordinates closely with the VA for client services — said there are already backlogs and waitlists at the VA that would be further exacerbated by the GOP budget proposal. Streyder said whether the bill passes or not, the “harm is already being done” and the legislation is a “huge ding in morale” for the military, service members and veterans. “It’s becoming politicized in a way that is so counterproductive and discouraging,” she said. “When the U.S. government sends servicemembers to war, it comes with a promise that they’ll be taken care of on the other side.” “Going against that promise is not only wrong, but it does harm the morale of actively serving families,” Streyder added.

Time for daily talks between Biden, Republicans on debt, moderate Democrat says (Reuters) - A prominent moderate U.S. House of Representatives Democrat said Friday that it is time for President Joe Biden to begin daily talks with Republicans on government spending and debt, to avoid a calamitous default. Representative Josh Gottheimer rejected Republican demands to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling only in exchange for deep spending cuts. But he joined a growing number of moderates in Biden's party who say spending, deficits and the government borrowing limit should be part of a larger conversation about the nation's fiscal health. "It's critically important that all the parties sit down at the White House with the president and start having these conversations. And they should meet every single day until they get there, together," said Gottheimer, who co-chairs the Problem Solvers Caucus of moderate Democrats and Republicans. Similar calls have come from Senators Joe Manchin and Amy Klobuchar, and from House Democrats including Debbie Dingell, Jared Moskowitz and Greg Landsman. The White House says that it will not negotiate on raising the debt ceiling, a move necessary to cover the costs of spending and tax cuts previously approved by Congress.

Yellen lays out economic war against China - As has become standard fare from Biden administration officials on the US relationship with China, a speech delivered by Treasury secretary Janet Yellen at the Johns Hopkins University last week was full of hypocrisy and outright falsifications. It was devoted to the US-China economic relationship, as Yellen claimed the US was seeking “a constructive and fair economic relationship” with the world’s second largest economy. However, she made it clear “national security” considerations dominate over all others, meaning that China must subordinate itself to “international rules” which the US determines. The main point emphasised in media coverage of the speech was Yellen’s insistence the US did not want separation from China, noting that overall trade with China was $700 billion in 2021, more than with any other country except for Canada and Mexico on its borders. While the US would continue to “assert” itself when vital national interests were at stake “we do not seek to ‘decouple’ our economy from China’s. A full separation of our economies would be disastrous for both countries. It would be destabilizing for the rest of the world. Rather, we know that the health of the Chinese and US economies is closely linked.” Financial Times columnist Edward Luce focused on this element of the speech. He noted that although she emphasised that “wherever US national security collided with economics, the former would always take priority, her address ought to be interpreted as an olive branch to Beijing.” Yellen insisted that “our national security” is an area where we “will not compromise.” As usual, this was coupled with the claim that the US was determined to protect human rights – the phrase US imperialism turns off and on as it suits its geopolitical objectives. Human rights must be protected in China but not in Saudi Arabia, for example, or in a host of other countries with dictatorial regimes with which the US has vital economic and strategic links. In pursuit of its objectives, the US has imposed a range of sanctions aimed at crippling high-tech development in China on the grounds it affects national security. “Even as our targeted actions may have economic impacts, they are motivated solely by our concerns about our security and values. Our goal is not to use these tools to gain competitive economic advantage.” At another point in the speech, she said the measures imposed against China were not designed to “stifle China’s economic and technological modernisation.” And that even though “these policies may have economic impacts they are driven by straightforward national security considerations”, “we will not compromise on these concerns, even when they force trade-offs with our economic interests.” There are two points to be made here. The first is that national security, the preparation for war, trumps everything and the technology bans are also very much directed to gain economic advantage, which is inextricably tied in with military objectives.

Biden, Yoon Agree- Response To North Korean Nuclear Attack Would Include US Nukes - As expected, Presidents Biden and Yoon unveiled the "Washington Declaration" during an afternoon joint press conference, boosting military cooperation which will include US nuclear deterrents being parked on the peninsula (previewed below)."The alliance formed in war and has flourished in peace," Biden to reporters gathered in the Rose Garden. "Our mutual defense treaty is iron clad and that includes our commitment to extend a deterrence – and that includes the nuclear threat, the nuclear deterrent." He added: "They’re particularly important in the face of DPRK’s increased threats and the blatant violation of US sanctions." Biden further called the US-South Korea alliance "the linchpin of regional security and prosperity" in the Indo-Pacific.South Korea's Yoon for his part took a tough stance in response to Pyongyang's recent frequent missile drills and nuclear rhetoric, saying "peace with North comes through superior force, not 'goodwill'" - according to AFP. Yoon also said that the response to a possible North Korean nuclear attack would include US nukes. Biden affirmed Yoon's comments... Biden: "Nuclear attack by North Korea...confused noises...will result in the end of whatever regime that would take such an action." South Korea's Yoon added that any nuclear attack by North Korea will be met "swiftly, overwhelmingly: pic.twitter.com/Wy23q3fxE9

US Warns China It Will Ramp Up Military Drills In The Region - The Biden administration has forewarned China that it plans to bolster military drills and the US presence in the region, particularly off the Korean peninsula where it's decided to send nuclear-armed submarines as extra deterrence against North Korean threats aimed at Seoul. "We are briefing the Chinese in advance and laying out very clearly our rationale for why we are taking these steps," a Biden administration official said. "We believe that non-proliferation efforts in the Indo-Pacific are in the best interest of not just the United States and other leading states, but China as well." "We'll announce that we intend to take steps to make our deterrence more visible through the regular deployment of strategic assets, including a US nuclear ballistic submarine visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s," the US official detailed further as President Biden receives his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol in Washington on Wednesday. China was further briefed on US plans to "strengthen our training, our exercises, and simulation activities to improve the US-ROK [South Korea] alliance's approach to deterring and defending against DPRK [North Korean] threats, including by better integrating ROK conventional assets into our strategic planning." "To build peace and stability on the Peninsula, during the visit, the alliance will be announcing a Washington Declaration which includes a series of steps that are designed to strengthen US-funded deterrence commitments and strengthen the clarity by which they are seen by the Korean public as well as by neighbors in the face of advancing DPRK [North Korean] nuclear missile capabilities," the official added, previewing the Yoon-Biden talks.Beijing is unlikely to react positively, given it's also been of late vehemently protesting the US-Australia AUKUS deal to produce and transfer nuclear submarines. China last month warned the countries (including the UK) that they are heading down a "path of error and danger" and that Australia is violating commitments to being a nuclear-free zone.

Biden to Send Nukes to South Korea - The US will dock nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea for the first time since the 1980s in a significant escalation that will raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula and risk provoking a response from Pyongyang.The deployment is part of an agreement announced by President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is visiting Washington. The US previously had nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea but withdrew them in 1991.US officials said the nuclear-armed submarines will only “visit” South Korea and that the US won’t permanently deploy nukes to the country. But under the deal, the temporary deployment of US strategic assets to the peninsula will become much more frequent.The US and South Korea have also agreed to increase cooperation on nuclear weapons by forming a “consultative group.” According to The New York Times, the US will give South Korea a role in strategic planning for the use of nuclear weapons in any conflict with North Korea.In exchange, South Korea has agreed not to pursue building its own nuclear weapons. Yoon previously flirted with the idea, making him the first South Korean leader to suggest Seoul could develop nukes since 1991.The agreement comes as there’s no sign of the tensions on the Korean Peninsula easing. The US and South Korea continue to conduct massive war games while Pyongyang has launched a huge number of missile tests and is warning it can develop more nuclear weapons. Yoon took office last year and vowed to take a harder line against North Korea than his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who favored Korean reunification. His visit to Washington came after leaked Pentagon documents exposed US spying on Korean officials, but Yoon said the revelation won’t damage ties.

China Denounces US Plans to Dock Nuclear-Armed Submarines in South Korea - China on Thursday denounced US plans to dock nuclear-armed submarines in South Korea, saying that the plan runs counter to the goal of a “denuclearized” Korean Peninsula.“The United States has put regional security at risk and intentionally used the issue of the peninsula as an excuse to create tension,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, according to The South China Morning Post.“What the US does is full of Cold War thinking, provoking bloc confrontation, undermining the nuclear non-proliferation system, damaging the strategic interests of other countries, exacerbating tensions on the Korean peninsula, undermining regional peace and stability, and running counter to the goal of the denuclearization of the peninsula,” she added.The submarine deployments are part of a plan to increase nuclear weapons cooperation between the US and South Korea that was announced by President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the White House on Thursday. While nuclear-armed submarines patrol waters all over the world, they haven’t docked in South Korea since the 1980s, and the move is a purposeful provocation toward Pyongyang and is sure to raise tensions. The US removed nuclear weapons it had stationed in South Korea in 1991. President Biden said the US doesn’t plan to permanently deploy nuclear weapons in South Korea under the new deal, but “visits” by nuclear-armed submarines and other US strategic assets could become frequent.

War, What Is It Good For? - Here’s what I find eerily strange: since 1945, the country with the greatest military on the planet that, in budgetary terms, now leaves the next nine countries combined in the dust, has never — and let me repeat that: never! — won a war that mattered (despite engaging in all too many spectacles of slaughter). Stranger yet, in terms of lessons learned in the world of adult culture, every lost war has, in the end, only led this country toinvest more taxpayer dollars in building up that very military. If you needed a long-term formula for disaster in a country threatening to come apart at the seams, it would be hard to imagine a more striking one. So long after his death, I must admit that sometimes I wonder what my dad would think of it all.Here’s the thing: the American experience of war since 1945 should have offered an all-too-obvious lesson for us, as well as for the planet’s other great powers, when it comes to the value of giant military establishments and the conflicts that go with them.Just think about it a moment, historically speaking. That global victory of 1945, ending all too ominously with the dropping of those two atomic bombs and the slaughter of possibly 200,000 people, would be followed in 1950 by the start of the Korean War. The statistics of death and destruction in that conflict were, to say the least, staggering. It was a spectacle of slaughter, involving the armies of North Korea and its ally the newly communist China versus South Korea and its ally, the United States. Now, consider the figures: out of a Korean population of 30 million, as many as three million may have died, along with an estimated 180,000 Chinese and about 36,000 Americans. The North’s cities, bombed and battered, were left in utter ruin, while the devastation on that peninsula was almost beyond imagining. It was all too literally a spectacle of slaughter and yet, despite ours being the best-armed, best-funded military on the planet, that war ended in an all-too-literal draw, a 1953 armistice that has never — not to this day! — turned into an actual peace settlement. After that, another decade-plus passed before this country’s true disaster of the twentieth century, the war in Vietnam — the first American war I opposed — in which, once again, the U.S. Air Force and our military more generally proved destructive almost beyond imagining, while at least a couple of millionVietnamese civilians and more than a million fighters died, along with 58,000 Americans. And yet, in 1975, with U.S. troops withdrawn, the southern regime we had supported collapsed and the North Vietnamese military and its rebel allies in the South took over the country. There was no tie as there had been in Korea, just utter defeat for the greatest military power on the planet.

Unprepared for long war, US Army under gun to make more ammo (AP) — One of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in this city built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can’t get enough of — and that the U.S. can’t produce fast enough.The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is at the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon plan to modernize and accelerate its production of ammunition and equipment not only to support Ukraine, but to be ready for a potential conflict with China.But it is one of just two sites in the U.S. that make the steel bodies for the critical 155 mm howitzer rounds that the U.S. is rushing to Ukraine to help in its grinding fight to repel the Russian invasion in the largest-scale war in Europe since World War II.The invasion of Ukraine revealed that the U.S. stockpile of 155 mm shells and those of European allies were unprepared to support a major and ongoing conventional land war, sending them scrambling to bolster production. The dwindling supply has alarmed U.S. military planners, and the Army now plans to spend billions on munitions plants around the country in what it calls its most significant transformation in 40 years.It may not be easy to adapt: practically every square foot of the Scranton plant's red brick factory buildings — first constructed more than a century ago as a locomotive repair depot — is in use as the Army clears space, expands production to private factories and assembles new supply chains.There are some things that Army and plant officials in Scranton won’t reveal, including where they get the steel for the shells and exactly how many more rounds this factory can produce. “That’s what Russia wants to know,” So far, the U.S. has provided more than $35 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine. The 155 mm shell is one of the most often-requested and supplied items, which also include air defense systems, long-range missiles and tanks. The rounds, used in howitzer systems, are critical to Ukraine’s fight because they allow the Ukrainians to hit Russian targets up to 20 miles (32 kilometers) away with a highly explosive munition. The Army is spending about $1.5 billion to ramp up production of 155 mm rounds from 14,000 a month before Russia invaded Ukraine to over 85,000 a month by 2028, U.S. Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo told a symposium last month.Already, the U.S. military has given Ukraine more than 1.5 million rounds of 155 mm ammunition, according to Army figures.But even with higher near-term production rates, the U.S. cannot replenish its stockpile or catch up to the usage pace in Ukraine, where officials estimate that the Ukrainian military is firing 6,000 to 8,000 shells per day. In other words, two days' worth of shells fired by Ukraine equates to the United States' monthly pre-war production figure.

Russia ‘will not forget or forgive’ US refusal of journalist visas Russia on Sunday accused the U.S. of denying Russian journalists visas to visit and cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council in New York, vowing that Moscow “will not forget and will not forgive” over the matter. “The country that calls itself the strongest, the smartest, the freest and the most just, has behaved in a cowardly and stupid fashion by showing what its asseverations about protecting freedom of speech and access to information are really worth,” Lavrov said in a translated statement shared by the Foreign Ministry. “Most importantly, be sure that we will not forget or forgive,” Lavrov said. The Russian journalists were hoping to cover Lavrov’s time in New York as Russia assumes the rotating chairmanship of the UN’s Security Council, according to the Foreign Ministry. Lavrov’s dig over speech freedoms comes amid controversy over Russia’s arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on allegations of espionage. The State Department has designated Gerhkovich as “wrongfully detained.”

Biden Preparing For Ukrainian Offensive To Fail - The Biden administration is preparing for the possibility of Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive failing, Politico reported on Monday.Pentagon documents allegedly leaked by Airman Jack Teixeira revealed that the US doesn’t believe Ukraine can regain any significant territory in its counteroffensive, which is expected to be launched in the spring. The information in the leaks was based on an assessment made in February. According to Politico, more current assessments also don’t expect much Ukrainian success. Two Biden administration officials said they don’t think Kyiv has the ability to sever Russia’s land-bridge to Crimea in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.The report said US intelligence "indicates that Ukraine simply does not have the ability to push Russian troops from where they were deeply entrenched." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in March that his forces need more Western weapons before they can launch a counteroffensive.The administration is expected to face criticism from hawks who believe Biden hasn’t given Ukraine enough weapons, as well as those who have been calling for the US to push for diplomacy. The US is also worried that many of its European allies will favor negotiations between the warring sides if Ukraine’s offensive fails.

Leaked documents show US asked Ukraine not to attack Russia on anniversary of invasion: report - Ukrainian officials held off on attacks in Russia on the anniversary of the start of the war in Eastern Europe after the urging of the U.S., according to a report from The Washington Post, which cited leaked NATO documents that surfaced over the last few months. The head of Ukraine’s intelligence service, the HUR, instructed an officer to get ready for “mass strikes” on Feb. 24, the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, according to a report from the National Security Agency that was included in the leaks. But American officials, worried about escalating the war with a strike in Russian territory and chancing an intense response, urged Ukrainian officials to back off the strike, according to the documents. A classified report circulated by the CIA two days before the anniversary of the war said the HUR “had agreed, at Washington’s request, to postpone strikes.” The leaked documents showcase the extent to which U.S. officials are involved in shaping military policy in the war in Ukraine, throwing their weight around to avoid a strike. The Hill has reached out to the CIA for comment on the report. The U.S. has been the largest supporter of Ukraine in the war, providing tens of billions of dollars in military and economic support to the country as it tries to face back the invasion by Russia. The level of support from the U.S. government has begun to be a thorn issue in Congress, with a faction of Republicans souring on the U.S. spending on Ukraine. The leaked documents, which reportedly show NATO intelligence on the war in Ukraine, have been at the center of a federal investigation. A 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member, Jack Teixeira, was arrested and charged with being the source of the leak last week.

Limit access to most secret US documents, Senate intel panel head says - (Reuters) - Too many people have access to the U.S. government's closest secrets and a central entity should oversee the classification process, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Sunday, addressing leaks of documents in an online chat group. A U.S. Air National National Guardsman was charged on April 14 with leaking classified documents online in what is believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, told ABC News that "once we get to that highest level of classification, we maybe have too many folks taking a look at them, over 4 million people with clearances." The Virginia senator's powerful position gives weight to his recommendations as President Joe Biden's administration examines the handling of intelligence and looks for ways to clamp down on future leaks. The United States has numerous intelligence gathering entities and Warner said the situation needed to be dealt with. "We need somebody fully in charge of the whole classification process and I think for those classified documents there ought to be a smaller universe," he said. As an example, Warner said the National Security Agency has suffered leaks in the past and internal controls limit the copying of documents. The Pentagon has called the latest leak a "deliberate, criminal act." Warner also said that not everyone handling a document needs to see the whole document and that just seeing the header could be enough.

Iran seizes Texas-bound oil tanker, Navy says -Iranian forces on Thursday seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker that was bound for Texas, according to the U.S. Navy. The Navy’s 5th Fleet said the oil tanker Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman, which lies between the Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. The American naval fleet said the merchant ship issued a distress call, and the U.S. is monitoring the situation. “Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” the 5th Fleet said in a statement. “The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker.” It was not immediately clear why the IRGC seized the vessel, but the U.S. says Iran has seized five commercial vessels in the Middle East in the past two years. The Gulf of Oman lies in the backyard waters of Iran. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated after indirect talks over reviving a deal to halt Tehran’s nuclear buildup have largely failed. Washington has also accused Iran of supplying explosive drones to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine. The U.S. deploys boats and forces in the Middle East region to protect oil tankers and other traffic. Lately, those deployments have also included unmanned vessels, or drone boats.

Iran TV airs footage of commandos seizing US-bound tanker (AP) — Masked Iranian navy commandos conducted a helicopter-borne raid to seize a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, footage aired by Iran’s state television showed Friday. The capture on Thursday of the Turkish-managed, Chinese-owned Advantage Sweet represents the latest seizure by Iran amid tensions with the U.S. over advancing nuclear program. While Tehran says the tanker was seized over it running into another Iranian vessel, it has provided no evidence yet to support the claim — and the Islamic Republic has taken other ships as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. The footage showed the commandos descending on the deck of the Advantage Sweet by ropes from a hovering helicopter. A photograph showed one commando with his fist in the air after apparently taking the vessel. The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet has said the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years. “Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” it added. The vessel’s manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was “being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute.” All the ship’s 24 crew members are Indian. “The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority,” the firm said. “Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger.”

Senators urge Biden to enable agency to seize tankers of Iran oil (Reuters) - As Iran's oil exports rise despite U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program, senators from both parties urged President Joe Biden to enable a federal government agency to seize Iranian oil and gas shipments. Senators Joni Ernst, a Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said in a letter to Biden that the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office has not been able to seize an Iranian oil shipment for more than a year. HSI's enforcement has been curtailed by policy limitations within the Department of Treasury's Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture, the senators said in the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since the activation of HSI's enforcement program in 2019, it has seized nearly $228 million in Iranian crude and fuel oil linked to Iran's Quds Force, the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the senators said. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes while the United States suspects Tehran wants to develop a nuclear bomb by enriching uranium. Iran's mission to United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Iran's oil exports have reached their highest level since the reimposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018, Iranian oil minister Javad Owji said last month. He said that 83 million more oil barrels were exported in the last year than the previous year. The letter, signed by 12 senators, was sent on the same day that the U.S. Navy said Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman, the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels. Iran's army said it had seized the tanker after it had collided with an Iranian boat.

House Votes Down Resolution to Withdraw from Somalia --The House on Thursday voted down a War Powers Resolution introduced by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) that would have directed President Biden to remove all US troops from Somalia within one year, except those guarding the US embassy.The resolution failed in a vote of 102-321. It received support from 52 Republicans and 50 Democrats.While the resolution was led by Gaetz and had six Republican co-sponsors, it also received support from progressive Democrats. During the debate on the floor, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) argued in favor of the resolution.“Members of Progressive Caucus leadership will vote for the Somalia war powers resolution,” a congressional staffer told The Intercept ahead of the vote.US operations in Somalia have escalated since President Biden ordered the deployment of up to 500 troops to the country last year, although Gaetz said there are 900 US troops there. The US-backed Mogadishu-based government also launched an offensive against al-Shabaab last year, leading to an escalation in fighting on the ground.While there has been an escalation of the war over the past year, there’s been a recent lull in US airstrikes. The last US strike in Somalia that was reported by US Africa Command took place in February.“The United States has had a military presence in Somalia since 1992, but it’s been a costly and mostly fruitless endeavor. Somalia is entrenched in violence and political instability that has persisted for decades, and there seems to be no end in sight,” Gaetz said on Thursday. The bill was the second War Powers Resolution led by Gaetz, who has vowed to continue introducing similar legislation to force debate on US interventions in the Middle East and Africa. He hinted on the floor that the next resolution might cover US operations in Niger.

Ex-NSA boss won $700,000 Saudi consulting deal after Khashoggi death - Retired NSA director won lucrative consulting deals with Saudis, Japan -- Retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Presidents Obama and George W. Bush, secured $2 million in consulting deals with foreign governments after leaving office, including a $700,000 contract to advise Saudi Arabia on cybersecurity after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, newly released records show.Alexander’s consulting firm also won a $1.3 million contract from the government of Japan to provide advice on cyber issues, according to additional documents obtained by The Washington Post as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.Details of those lucrative contracts are among records disclosed by the Pentagon for the first time about retired generals and admirals who have leveraged their military service over the past decade to obtain work from foreign governments. The disclosures by the Pentagon came in response to The Post’s lawsuit and demands from Congress, which has scheduled a hearing on the issue Wednesday.In an investigation last year, The Post found that more than 500 retired U.S. military personnel — including scores of generals and admirals — had accepted employment from foreign governments, mostly as contractors in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression. Under federal law, retired service members must obtain permission before they can accept any compensation from foreign powers, out of concern that the payments could compromise their allegiance to the United States. The U.S. government withheld virtually all information about the foreign jobs until The Post won a two-year legal battle with the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the State Department.The latest batch of records shows that Alexander, who led the nation’s largest intelligence agency from 2005 to 2014, reported the most foreign compensation of any retired U.S. service member since 2012. The second-highest earner has been retired Navy Vice Adm. William Hilarides, 63, who since 2016 has won naval consulting contracts from the government of Australia worth up to $1.6 million, according to figures released last week by the Australian Department of Defense.Hilarides served as a key adviser to the Australian government over the past 18 months while it finalized a landmark deal with the United States and Britain to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. On Tuesday, Australia announced that it has tapped Hilarides for a new high-profile assignment: to lead a review of the size and structure of the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet.

Greene silencing leads to new pledges of civility --The silencing of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) after she called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar in a hearing has led to a pledge for a more civil House Homeland Security Committee going forward — a standard lawmakers may struggle to meet as they gear up for the secretary’s impeachment. When Mayorkas appeared before Congress this week, Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) accused him of intentional disruption at the border and said his answers to prior questions show “incompetence.” Rep. Clay Higgins told Mayorkas it was “shameful what you brought upon our country.” Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) accused him of being smug. Numerous lawmakers accused him of lying before Congress — an argument both Mayorkas and Democrats refute. But while others accused Mayorkas of being dishonest, Greene on Wednesday explicitly labeled him a liar, something Green determined violated House rules on impugning someone’s character. A hearing that began with a fiery opening statement from Green ended with a call to “dial the rhetoric down in the country and apparently in the committee.” “We don’t have to despise someone because they disagree with us. We don’t have to disparage someone because they disagree with us,” he said in closing the hearing. It was a commitment he made after a sidebar with ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who repeatedly described the panel’s discourse that day as unbecoming for a committee with such a serious jurisdiction. Whether that moment can be met already appears in doubt for a committee that contains many members eager to impeach Mayorkas — a process that involves holding him personally responsible for the Biden administration’s approach to the border. Green was chastised early in the meeting by Democrats, who pointed to a story in The New York Times reporting he told donors to “get the popcorn” ready ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.And Republicans on the panel have offered mixed assessments of whether they believe the tone of the hearing was inappropriate. Greene called the decision to silence her for the rest of the hearing unfair, noting that numerous Republican speakers before her accused Mayorkas of lying to Congress, even if they did not label him as a liar directly.

Ocasio-Cortez says Greene, not McCarthy, is ‘running the caucus’ - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday argued Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — not Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — is calling the shots in the Republican caucus. “Speaker McCarthy, in order to become Speaker, had to cut some deals we still don’t know the details on. Do you think he’s actually running his caucus? Or do you think someone else is?” host Jen Psaki asked Ocasio-Cortez on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “He’s not,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Pressed on who she does think is running the show, she added, “I think you’ve got Marjorie Taylor Greene running the caucus.” Greene “makes very common public statements to that effect,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Every time something irks her, she communicates that McCarthy is doing her bidding. And — and I think that this is something that is quite clear. I think that Speaker McCarthy is stuck between having to please the most racist and heinous elements of his party with having to maintain a majority. And he is choosing to side with the extremists.” 3,000 migrants begin protest march in Mexico Trump suggests Putin ‘got a little more ambition’ after US withdrawal from Afghanistan McCarthy won the Speakership earlier this year after several days and 15 rounds of voting. He reportedly made concessions to conservative holdouts in order to get the votes he needed to take the top House slot. Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday also said she’s not sure McCarthy will have the votes to pass his debt limit proposal. “And I think that that’s actually the political situation that we’re in right now, is that he’s, kind of, brought up himself up a creek without a paddle,” the New York congresswoman said.

U.S. senators call for trade crackdown on Canada over dairy quotas, digital policies -- A pair of senior U.S. senators is urging the Biden administration to get tough with Canada for "flouting" obligations to its North American trade partners. Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Sen. Mike Crapo lay out their concerns in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The letter says American dairy producers still aren't getting the access to the Canadian market they're entitled to under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It also describes Canada's planned digital services tax as discriminatory and raises similar concerns about new legislation to regulate online streaming and news. All three, the senators say, would give preferential treatment to Canadian content and deny U.S. tech companies fair access to the market north of the border. The letter comes after meetings this week in San Diego between U.S., Canadian and Mexican trade emissaries, as well as the North American Leaders' Summit in Mexico City earlier this month. The USMCA, referred to in Canada as CUSMA, has been at the centre of a number of bilateral and trilateral disputes since it went into effect in the summer of 2020. "Three years later, it is disappointing that Canada and Mexico have failed to come into full compliance with the agreement — and, in some cases, have flouted their obligations," the senators write. "USTR must take decisive action to ensure full compliance with the agreement and with dispute settlement panel findings. It is critical to ensure that every chapter of USMCA is fully and timely enforced." Canada and Mexico have their own issues with how the U.S. is interpreting the deal, which was signed in 2018 after protracted trilateral efforts to replace NAFTA. As the Mexico City summit wrapped up, a dispute panel ruled against the U.S. over how it interprets the rules that determine the origin of core automotive components. It remains unclear whether the U.S. plans to comply with that decision.

Manchin co-sponsors bill to undo Biden solar tariff freeze | The Hill - Sen. Joe Manchin has joined Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in co-sponsoring a bill that would restore solar power tariffs suspended by President Biden, the latest break between the West Virginia Democrat and the leader of his party on energy. The resolution is the Senate version of a House bill invoking the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows a simple majority of Congress to override executive branch rules. The House is expected to vote on its version of the bill this week, while Biden has already vowed to veto it if it reaches his desk. “The United States relies on foreign nations, like China, for far too many of our energy needs, and failing to enforce our existing trade laws undermines the goals of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to onshore our energy supply chains, including solar,” Manchin said in a statement. “I cannot fathom why the Administration and Congress would consider extending that reliance any longer and am proud to join this CRA to rescind the rule.” Biden has defended the suspension of tariffs as necessary to buy the U.S. time to build up renewable energy capacity as it seeks to transition away from fossil fuels. The senator, who has always been to the administration’s right on environmental issues, has stepped up salvoes against its energy policies in recent months, backing two other CRA resolutions targeting them and saying he would vote for a hypothetical repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate package he shepherded through the Senate last year. Another red-state Democrat up in 2024, Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), has also called for the resumption of the tariffs, although it’s unclear whether he will vote for the CRA resolution. Brown’s office also confirmed he would back the resolution Wednesday. “The president got this one wrong. I’ve always stood up to presidents of both parties to fight for fair trade and a level playing field for Ohio workers, which is why I will support Congressional action to end the Administration’s waiver of solar tariffs,” Brown said in a statement.

Anti-China fervor could slam U.S. solar industry, climate goals - As lawmakers work to isolate China by pressuring U.S. companies to abandon suppliers there, the fervor to undercut a rival threatens to undermine the transition to green energy at home. Solar companies have become the latest clean tech sector to find itself in the crosshairs as Democrats, in particular, grow anxious that taking anything other than a hard line against China will cost them voter support. Momentum in Congress is escalating to reimpose steep trade tariffs that were suspended by President Biden last summer, a White House effort to give the industry time to move supply chains onshore.The outcome of this unfolding political drama could have major consequences — not just for solar energy companies, but also for homeowners hoping to add solar panels to their roofs, motorists wanting to charge electric vehicles with clean power and utilities trying to reduce their carbon footprints.It also reflects the challenge of rapidly transitioning to clean power while growing jobs at home, a mainstay of the Biden agenda. If a current or future Congress were to abruptly cut off access to Chinese factories and mines, the United States would lose access to materials crucial for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries powering the U.S.energy transition.“Climate targets and green technology are becoming collateral damage,” said Jim Kapsis, a former adviser at the Treasury Department and founder of the Ad Hoc Group, which advises climate tech start-ups. “We haven’t figured out what we are willing to acquire from China and what we absolutely need to secure for ourselves. Politically, that answer has not yet been arrived at. Until it is, this is going to be a bumpy ride.”Only weeks ago, the solar tariffs legislation — now headed for a House vote on Friday — was largely dismissed as a GOP messaging bill, a measure lawmakers could pass knowing Biden would veto it. While Biden still plans to block it, the growing Democratic support for it is unnerving clean tech executives, who are now bracing for similar bills to follow.Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), who represents a battleground state where Biden won by 80,555 votes in 2020, is one of the Democrats now inclined to support reviving the solar levies.“I think China’s got to be held accountable,” Casey said in an interview. “I’m worried without that, we’re not going to have that kind of accountability.”But if tariffs were reimposed, leaders in the U.S. solar industry say the impacts to jobs and climate targets would be devastating.

Exclusive: Biden would veto legislation to block solar tariff waivers (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will veto congressional efforts to overturn his solar tariff waiver for four Southeast Asian nations for two years, the White House said on Monday. In June, Biden waived tariffs on solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in an effort to create a "bridge" while U.S. manufacturing ramps up enough to supply the domestic projects needed to achieve climate change goals. Today, those four countries make up about 80% of U.S. panel supplies. Domestic manufacturers, however, say the tariffs are needed now to compete with cheap panels made overseas. The repeal effort aims to support those companies. Last week a U.S. House of Representatives committee voted in favor of restoring the tariffs on the solar panels from the four countries, reversing Biden's suspension. That legislation, which both Democrats and Republicans support, is expected to come up for a full vote in the House as soon as this week. In a statement, the White House said it "strongly opposes" the resolution and would veto it if it passes. Reuters was first to report the president's pledge to veto the legislation earlier on Monday. The White House argues that Biden's policy has worked and points to an increase in domestic solar manufacturing capacity since Biden came into office. "This legislation would sabotage U.S. energy security," Ali Zaidi, Biden's national climate adviser, told Reuters. "It's not about slowing things down. It's about fundamentally undermining our progress towards increased energy security and having the tools we need to attack the climate crisis," Zaidi added. The U.S. is on track to increase domestic solar panel manufacturing capacity eight-fold by the end of 2024, another White House official said. Biden does not plan to extend the tariff waivers after the 2-year period has concluded because domestic manufacturing has taken off.

House votes to restore solar panel tariffs paused by Biden (AP) — The House voted Friday to reinstate tariffs on solar panel imports from several Southeast Asian countries after President Joe Biden paused them in a bid to boost solar installations in the U.S., a key part of his climate agenda. The 221-202 vote sends the measure to the Senate, where lawmakers from both parties have expressed similar concerns about what many call unfair competition from China. Biden has vowed to veto the measure if it reaches his desk. The House vote would overturn Biden’s action last year pausing threatened tariffs that had led to delays or cancellations of hundreds of solar projects across the United States. Twelve Democrats joined 209 Republicans to support the override measure. Eight Republicans and 194 Democrats opposed it. Some U.S. manufacturers contend that China has essentially moved operations to four Southeast Asian countries — Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia — to skirt strict anti-dumping rules that limit imports from China. A Commerce Department inquiry last year found likely trade violations involving Chinese products. Biden halted the tariffs for two years before the Commerce investigation was completed. The White House said Biden’s action was “necessary to satisfy the demand for reliable and clean energy” while providing “certainty for jobs and investments in the solar supply chain and the solar installation market.″

Senate votes to overturn Biden truck pollution limit - The Senate on Wednesday passed a Republican-led effort to undo a Biden administration rule that aims to cut pollution from heavy-duty trucks. The vote was 50-49. Sen Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted with Republicans to get rid of the rule. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has been absent from the Senate amid health issues, did not vote.The rule in question aims to cut down on emissions of pollutants called nitrogen oxides that can harm the respiratory system and are also components of acid rain. The EPA says it will prevent as many as 2,900 premature deaths and 18,000 fewer cases of childhood asthma annually by 2045. Republicans, however, say it is overly burdensome for the trucking industry and could worsen inflation. “Additional inflationary burdens on the trucking industry will mean that any product transported by trucks — whether it’s food, clothing, or other commodities — each one of those products will cost more,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said in a floor speech Wednesday, according to a copy of her prepared remarks. Manchin announced ahead of the vote that he would join the Republicans in trying to undo the regulation. “The Biden Administration wants to burden the trucking industry with oppressive regulations that will increase prices by thousands of dollars and push truck drivers and small trucking companies out of business,” he said in a written statement. “When our country faces record-high inflation and vulnerable supply chains, we cannot let the EPA continue to seize unrestrained power and create regulations that devastate our economy.” Despite its passage, the resolution is not expected to ultimately prevail. The White House said Wednesday that President Biden would veto the effort, and it is unlikely to be able to win the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. “Heavy-duty vehicles and engines contribute to pollutants that threaten public health. Over time, the final rule will prevent hundreds of premature deaths, thousands of childhood asthma cases, and millions of lost school-days every year for the tens of millions of Americans who live, work, and go to school near roadways with high truck volume including truck freight routes,” the White House said Wednesday.

Granholm backs Mountain Valley pipeline -The Biden administration has thrown its weight behind the Mountain Valley pipeline, a major natural gas project favored by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and opposed by environmental advocates.The 303-mile pipeline and other natural gas projects like it will “play an important role” in supporting the transition to clean energy and in safeguarding the energy system, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholmsaid in a letter Friday evening to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.“Energy infrastructure, like the MVP project, can help ensure the reliable delivery of energy that heats homes and businesses, and powers electric generators that support the reliability of the electric system,” Granholm said in the letter.The letter comes as the administration is planning to release new rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Those rules are expected to require coal and natural gas generators to include technologies to capture most of their planet-warming emissions (Climatewire, April 24).“I think the timing is interesting in that it’s ahead of the release of the new power plant rules, in the sense that it’s an indication that the administration is still supportive of the role of natural gas,” said Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute and a former White House climate aide.First proposed in 2015, the $6.6 billion pipeline has faced a number of legal setbacks over the years and opposition from hundreds of landowners in West Virginia and Virginia.The lead developer, Equitrans Midstream Corp., says the project is intended to address congestion on the natural gas pipeline system by delivering needed gas to mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states.Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has repeatedly called on federal agencies such as FERC to support Mountain Valley. Last fall, his office included language in an energy permitting package to direct agencies to issue all outstanding permits.That permitting package did not advance in Congress, although lawmakers are currently debating permitting issues again. Manchin has vowed to reintroduce his bill.

Biden Admin Further Endorses Disastrous MVP While Claiming to Support Environmental Justice --Climate advocates on Monday denounced the "hypocrisy" of the Biden administration, which doubled down on the White House's push for the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline late last week, just as President Joe Biden was pledging a renewed commitment to environmental justice. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Friday, reiterating the administration's support for the 303-mile natural gas pipeline stretching across West Virginia and Virginia. The $6.6 billion project by Equitrans Midstream Corporation was first proposed in 2015 and approved by FERC in 2017, but a number of legal challenges have kept it from being completed. The energy secretary wrote to the four FERC commissioners that while the panel has already "completed its regulatory authorizations for the MVP project," the White House requests that "if there is any further commission-related action on this project, it proceeds expeditiously." "Natural gas—and the infrastructure, such as MVP, that supports its delivery and use—can play an important role as part of the clean energy transition," added Granholm. "As extreme weather events continue to strain the U.S. energy system, adequate pipeline and transmission capacity is critical to maintaining energy reliability, availability, and security." "Secretary Granholm's letter is an environmental justice disgrace that arrived hand-in-hand with Biden's environmental justice executive order." While Granholm presented the quick completion of the project as part of the solution to "extreme weather events" that scientists have linked to the climate crisis, advocates across the Appalachian region and the U.S. have for years warned that the MVP will only contribute to the climate emergency as it would likely cause leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can trap about 87 times more heat than carbon dioxide in its first two decades in the atmosphere. The companies behind the pipeline construction have also committed"at least 46 narrative water quality standards violations," Bloomberg Law reported earlier this month, and have violated its construction permit at least 139 times in two years. The local grassroots group Appalachian Voices has warned that in addition to exacerbating the climate emergency through methane emissions, the MVP would endanger nearby communities, as the "steep, unstable slopes" it's being built on make it susceptible to landslides and pipe ruptures. "Explosions happened on two separate pipelines in similar terrain in 2018," said the group, adding, "The MVP would disproportionately impact low-income communities, elderly residents, and Indigenous sites." Granholm sent the letter to FERC on the same day that Biden signed an executive order at the White House pledging to coordinate "the implementation of environmental justice policy across the federal government." He also opened the Office of Environmental Justice, tasked with ensuring the government recognizes and mitigates the disproportionate impacts that pollution and the climate emergency have on low-income communities, Indigenous tribes, and people of color. The irony of Granholm's timing was not lost on environmental justice advocates, who had reacted to Friday's announcement with cautious optimism.

Granholm’s Mountain Valley pipeline support creates firestorm - Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s endorsement of the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline on Monday is putting environmentalists on high alert and stirring speculation about how the move will affect the project and congressional permitting negotiations. “This has all the hallmarks of a backroom, Faustian deal with Joe Manchin,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California, a senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said Monday. Widespread confusion — and anxiety — over what might be the motivation behind the letter Granholm sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in support of the project comes as congressional Republicans are eager to pressure Democrats into a deal on overhauling the energy permitting process as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Any such agreement would likely need to pass muster with Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He is also a swing vote in a closely divided Senate looking for any vehicle to approve the 303-mile Mountain Valley pipeline, which would carry natural through his state and has been held up by litigation. Efforts in the previous Congress to pass his vision for permitting reform — and green-light completion of the pipeline — fell short amid opposition from progressives like Huffman and Republicans loath to give Manchin a political victory. Manchin has also been delaying confirmation proceedings for the fifth commission seat at FERC, which has been vacant since January. The commission currently has two Republican and two Democratic members, which climate advocates say will hinder FERC’s ability to address grid bottlenecks stifling clean energy projects. Huffman, who is leading a new Climate Action, Energy and Environment Task Force within the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wondered if Granholm’s letter was designed to compel Manchin to “release the hostage” of that fifth FERC commissioner. “She sounds like a cheerleader for the fossil fuel industry; it’s really quite pathetic,” said Huffman to E&E News, who added that he was a “big fan” of Granholm. “But if this is what it takes for Manchin to release his hold on the FERC nominee so we can move forward with FERC reform and streamlining of electricity transmission projects, maybe that’s a necessary evil.”

For Many Young Voters, Biden’s Support of Drilling in Alaska Casts Pall - The New York Times — In the past three weeks, President Biden’s administration has proposed regulations to speed the transition to electric vehicles, committed $1 billion to help poor countries fight climate change and prepared what could be the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. And yet, many young voters alarmed by climate change remain angry with Mr. Biden’s decision last month to approve Willow, an $8 billion oil drilling project on pristine federal land in Alaska. As the president prepares to announce his bid for re-election, it’s not at all clear that those voters who helped him win in 2020 because of his commitment to climate action will turn out again. Alex Haraus, 25, said he and other young people felt betrayed by the Willow decision, after Mr. Biden had pledged as a candidate that he would end new oil drilling on public lands “period, period, period.” Mr. Haraus, whose videos on TikTok opposing the Willow project amassed hundreds of thousands of views, described his reaction as “mad and frustrated and disappointed.” About a dozen young climate activists interviewed said they were not assuaged by the other actions by the Biden administration, even if they significantly draw down greenhouse gas emissions that are dangerously heating the planet, Mr. Haraus said. What they want, he said, is for the president to rein in oil and gas companies, which enjoyed record profits last year. “I don’t think any of those things encourage people to forgive the Biden administration for projects like Willow,” said Mr. Haraus, who lives outside Chicago. “Young voters see our future getting thrown out the window. We need Biden to take on the industry, otherwise there’s not much for us to hope for.” Young voters overwhelmingly — about 62 percent — support phasing out fossil fuels entirely, said Alec Tyson, an associate director of research at Pew Research Center. There is broad support among registered voters of both parties for a transition to a future in which the United States is no longer pumping carbon emissions into the atmosphere, Mr. Tyson said. But most are not willing to break with fossil fuels altogether, he said.

Why is Biden backing Manchin's pet pipeline? - The Biden administration is supporting an embattled natural gas project championed by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — angering climate advocates and prompting some Capitol Hill Democrats to question the president’s motives. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm voiced support in a letter to regulators this week for the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley pipeline, which would carry gas 303 miles through West Virginia and Virginia to mid-Atlantic and Southeastern markets. It’s not sitting well with progressive lawmakers and environmentalists, who are still burning after the administration approved a massive oil project in Alaska. They call Mountain Valley a climate and health hazard. The project, which would cross hundreds of bodies of water and private land parcels, would release roughly 40 million metric tons of planet-warming pollution — the equivalent of more than 10 coal plants’ annual emissions. Some lawmakers smell chicanery. “This has all the hallmarks of a backroom, Faustian deal with Joe Manchin,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California, a senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, told Emma Dumain and Miranda Willson. The Energy Department declined to comment on Granholm’s letter. Because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already approved Mountain Valley (though it’s held up in legal proceedings), critics say Granholm’s letter of support could be an olive branch to Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat, who chairs the Senate energy committee, has stalled the confirmation process for FERC’s fifth commissioner, leaving the agency vulnerable to political stalemates on critical decisions. Additionally, President Joe Biden needs all Democrats — including Manchin — to stand united against Republican attempts to extract concessions in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. On the GOP wish list: repealing key sections of Biden’s landmark climate law. Manchin has repeatedly trashed the administration’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. He agreed to vote for the climate bill last year only after Democratic leaders promised to pursue a permitting overhaul to fast-track energy projects, including Mountain Valley. But the deal quickly fell apart after opposition from Republicans and progressive Democrats. Granholm’s support for the pipeline doesn’t appear to be persuading Manchin, who has continued to disparage the administration’s rollout of the Inflation Reduction Act. On Monday, he said he would vote in favor of its repeal if the White House continues its “radical climate agenda.”

Senators Question Feasibility Of EPA's New Vehicle Emissions Standards --Lawmakers questioned the feasibility of new vehicle tailpipe emissions proposals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which the agency predicts will lead to the mass adoption of electric light- and medium-duty vehicles within a decade. The April 18 hearing was held by the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. Subcommittee Chair Ed Markey (D-Mass.) lauded the proposals, which the EPA released on April 12.He suggested that the new EPA standard for light-body vehicles “could be expanded upon,” saying that over $135 billion in spending last Congress was being used “to build America’s electric vehicle future.”“Strong proposed regulations are critical to driving climate progress forward, but they are more doable than ever, thanks to the billions in clean vehicle investments passed by Congress,” Markey said. Describing the advantages of stricter regulations, he argued that “those benefits are a bonanza of benefits to our climate, to drivers, and to our health.”“We need to make sure they also benefit Union-American workers,” he added. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) voiced skepticism regarding the EPA’s vision.Lummis asked one expert witness, Kathy Harris of the Natural Resources Defense Council, whether focusing on tailpipe emissions alone ignored greenhouse gas emissions from the rare earth mining needed to produce electric vehicle batteries.“There have been many studies that have shown that electric vehicles today, from well to wheel, are still cleaner than compared to a gasoline vehicle,” Harris responded.

U.S. Supreme Court preserves broad access to abortion pill (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill, a decision welcomed by President Joe Biden as his administration defends broad access to the drug in the latest fierce legal battle over reproductive rights in the United States. The justices, in a brief order, granted emergency requests by the Justice Department and the pill's manufacturer Danco Laboratories to put on hold an April 7 preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas. The judge's order would have greatly limited the availability of mifepristone while litigation proceeds in a challenge by anti-abortion groups to the pill's federal regulatory approval. "As a result of the Supreme Court's stay, mifepristone remains available and approved for safe and effective use while we continue this fight in the courts," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. "The stakes could not be higher for women across America. I will continue to fight politically driven attacks on women's health," Biden added. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented from the decision. Alito, in a brief opinion, wrote that the administration and Danco did not show that they were likely to suffer "irreparable harm." Biden's administration is seeking to defend mifepristone in the face of mounting abortion bans and restrictions enacted by Republican-led states since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized the procedure nationwide. Alito authored that ruling. The current case now returns to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is set to hear arguments on May 17. The losing side after the 5th Circuit rules could appeal the case back to the Supreme Court.

Abortion providers relieved, wary as high court preserves pill access (Reuters) - Abortion rights supporters expressed relief on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court preserved access to a widely used abortion pill but warned of a long fight ahead as a legal challenge to the medication continues. The move by the court to halt new restrictions on the drug set by lower courts was welcome news less than a year after its conservative majority upended U.S. abortion access by overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide.Abortion providers had been stockpiling the abortion pill mifepristone or planning to switch to a new regimen amid the battle over the legality of a drug used in more than half of U.S. abortions.Several providers said late on Friday they would pause plans to change their medication abortion protocol in light of the Supreme Court's order."It’s the right decision and a huge relief," said Joshua Sharfstein, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins University and a former FDA official. "The alternative would have not only undermined access to reproductive health care, it would have thrown into disarray drug regulation in the United States."Friday's order will allow mifepristone to remain available with no new restrictions while a court battle that could take months or longer plays out. The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the case, however, meaning that mifepristone could still be restricted or banned at a later stage in the case.Abortion opponents said on Friday they were confident the court ultimately would rule in favor of the pill's challengers, who contend that the FDA illegally approved mifepristone and then removed critical safeguards on what they call a dangerous drug.

GOP works to keep abortion rights measures off state ballots: report - Republicans in several states are working to make it harder to pass abortion rights measures after such initiatives saw success in other places last year, according to a new report. The New York Times reports that GOP state lawmakers in Ohio are pushing for a ballot amendment that would raise the passage requirement for a constitutional amendment from a simple majority to a 60 percent supermajority threshold — as abortion rights advocates work to get a constitutional amendment protecting abortion before fetal viability on the ballot. Similar GOP efforts to block similar abortion rights measures have been underway in five other states, the Times reports. Arkansas and North Dakota, for example, have both made recent moves to stiffen the process for proposed constitutional amendments, the Times found.After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, Democrats were able to use the issue to win over some swing voters, leaving Republicans to rethink their strategy on the issue.Voters during last year’s midterms approved ballot measures to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitutions of California, Vermont and Michigan — and rejected measures that would have restricted the care in Montana and Kentucky.Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) on Sunday warned the GOP is “going to lose huge” if the party continues to embrace restrictive stances on abortion.“As Republicans, we need to read the room on this issue because the vast majority of folks are not in the extremes,” Mace said.Some recent polling indicates that most Americans support abortion being legal in all or most cases — and House Republicans have notably distanced themselves from talk of a national abortion ban.

Bipartisan Group of Former Ohio Governors Are Against 60% Constitutional Amendment Threshold and August vote - A group of Republican Ohio lawmakers are dead set on raising the threshold for passing amendments to the state constitution and resurrecting an August special election to do so. But some in the party aren’t comfortable with such an aggressive maneuver. Monday, former Ohio Governor Bob Taft, a Republican, spoke out forcefully against it.“I urge you (1) not to revive the August special election and (2) not to support a constitutional amendment to raise from a simple majority to 60% the voter approval threshold for amendments to the Ohio Constitution,” he wrote in letter to members of the General Assembly.Later Monday, Cleveland.com reported that former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Democratic governors Dick Celeste and Ted Strickland have also all now spoken out against the proposal.Meanwhile, current Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday said he would sign legislation to bring back the August election for the proposal, Cleveland.com reported. Just months ago, DeWine signed legislation to eliminate August elections in Ohio.Bringing back the August election is important to the GOP, because it could help establish that higher threshold just before an abortion rights amendment goes to voters in November.The Ohio Senate has already signed off on their threshold resolution, SJR 2, and the bill to establish August special elections. In the House, the threshold resolution, HJR 1, has passed committee and is awaiting a hearing on the floor.

Abortion ban rejected in South Carolina after GOP women join filibuster The South Carolina state Senate rejected a near-total abortion ban on Thursday, after the chamber’s five female lawmakers led a multiday filibuster against the bill. Three Republicans, a Democrat and an Independent joined together as the only five women in the state Senate to block the legislation, which sought to ban abortion from conception with exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies and to save the life of the mother. The bill ultimately failed in a 22-21 vote on Thursday. This is the third time that a near-total abortion ban has failed to pass the Republican-majority chamber since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last June. “The only thing that we can do when you all, you men in the chamber, metaphorically keep slapping women by raising abortion again and again and again, is for us to slap you back with our words,” Republican state Sen. Sandy Senn said, according to The Associated Press. Senate Republican Leader Shane Massey had previously warned that there was not enough support to pass such legislation, a local NBC affiliate reported.. “I think we all kind of knew where this was headed,” Massey said. “But look, we wanted to give it our best shot. We gave it our best shot.” Abortion remains legal in South Carolina through 22 weeks. However, the state Senate passed a bill earlier this year banning abortion at around six weeks. The South Carolina House has so far declined to take up the bill.

Fauci acknowledges ‘problems’ after scathing report on pandemic response --Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged “problems” in the country’s COVID-19 management following a scathing report on the U.S. response. Fauci told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in an interview on Wednesday that the U.S. had a “fractionated” response and needed to deal with significant polarization of the pandemic. He said officials had believed that the U.S. was the best prepared country from a science point of view, demonstrated through the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine, but challenges happened in other areas. He noted that the U.S. struggled with implementing public health measures, having a uniform response and clear communication, as well as being able to get data “in real time.” Fauci added that the country should look to learn from the issues that happened during the pandemic to have a stronger response in the future. His remarks come after the COVID Crisis Group, an organization formed from a group of experts in 2021 to track the pandemic, released a report on Tuesday that said the U.S. health care system was uniquely disadvantaged compared to other countries in mitigating the pandemic’s effects because it was divided, outdated and disorganized. The report said “bad governance” prevented stakeholders from taking advantage of “wondrous scientific knowledge” available. The group also found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still operating on a “19^th-century design,” preventing it from properly addressing 21^st-century challenges like the pandemic. “Contrary to media stories, the federal government had no real playbook for how to contain the pandemic,” the experts said. “It had ‘programs.’ It did not have preparedness.”

White House organizes first Nationwide Vaccination Day targeting Black communities - The Biden administration on Saturday held its first ever “Nationwide Vaccination Day,” running vaccine pop-ups across 21 cities in a bid to boost vaccination rates in the Black community. The event was part of the White House’s broader “We Can Do This” COVID-19 Vaccine Public Education Campaign. Community organizations such as the Black Nurse Collaborative, Top Ladies of Distinction and 100 Black Men of America partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide free vaccinations to community members. Pop-up vaccination sites went up in cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami and D.C. These events were held in order to address racial health care inequities, according to a release from the White House. According data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), less than 10 percent of eligible Black individuals have received a bivalent booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. About 16 percent of eligible white individuals and 22 percent of eligible Asians have received a booster, though the CDC noted these rates are likely an undercount due to a lack of demographic data. A Biden administration official told The Hill that part of the motivation for these events was to educate people on their eligibility for further immunization, acknowledging that new boosters and guidance may have caused some confusion.

Pandemic relief efforts did not reach immigrant families -Immigrant families living in the United States took some of the hardest economic hits during the COVID-19 pandemic, but benefited less from government assistance and relief programs than families with US-born caregivers.The findings come from a group of researchers at Drexel University and were published today in JAMA Health Forum. The researchers looked at who exactly accessed the pandemic relief packages passed by Congress between March 2020 and March 2021 that offered assistance for food and mortgage and rent payments.The study built on data collected as part of the ongoing repeat cross-sectional Children's HealthWatch (CHW) study.The researchers surveyed 1,396 caregivers in Boston, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Little Rock. Families with children aged 4 and younger were surveyed before the pandemic, and followed-up once between September of 2020 and June of 2021, during which time they were questioned about food insecurity, housing payments, and whether they partook in economic impact payments (EIP) in the form of stimulus checks and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).SNAP enrollment increased from 36 million people in 2019 to 44 million in 2020 to help families facing food insecurity. Similarly, the Internal Revenue Service sent out three rounds of EIPs to over 92% of US households over the course of first year of the pandemic—in amounts ranging from $600 to $1,400 per adult and $500 to $1,400 per child—in an effort to address basic needs, including housing.Of the study participants, 417 (30.0%) children had an immigrant mother. A total of 1,086 caregivers (80.8%) were renters. Among 1,393 responses, 716 caregivers (51.4%) had no education beyond high school, and nearly all children (1238 of 1388 responses; 89.2%) were publicly insured, the authors said.Families led by immigrant mothers were significantly more likely to experience food insecurity and have trouble paying for housing than their US-born peers in the months following the pandemic. Immigrant mothers were 63% more likely to say their family suffered from a lack of food, and 21% more likely to say they were behind on rent.However, only 74% of families with immigrant mothers participated in EIP or SNAP, compared with 96% of families with US-born mothers.

How will COVID shots be paid for after emergency ends? | The Hill The era of free COVID-19 vaccines is coming to a close as the federal government wraps up its public health emergency for the pandemic. The Biden administration and manufacturers are taking steps to maintain vaccine accessibility, particularly for the uninsured, as the shots transition toward commercialization. But while Americans with insurance are still expected to be able to get vaccinated free of charge, questions remain over how those without coverage can obtain them and the ease of the overall process. Moderna and Pfizer, the companies behind the two most commonly administered coronavirus vaccines in the U.S., are expecting the prices of their shots to increase by as much as four-fold but have stated that consumers should not expect to feel the impact themselves, regardless of insurance status. As the official end of the emergency approaches next month, here are the emerging routes for the uninsured to maintain free access. The White House launched a new program this week specifically aimed at giving uninsured people access to both coronavirus vaccines and treatments,such as Paxlovid. The Biden administration characterized this new program as a public-private partnership. According to the administration’s announcement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to purchase vaccines at a discount and distribute them through state and local health departments. The administration is investing $1.1 billion into this program, with plans to partner with pharmacies to carry it out.

Biden admin seeks to pause order blocking Obamacare preventive care mandate (Reuters) - The Biden administration has asked a federal appeals court to put on hold a judge's ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act's mandate that insurers cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no extra cost to patients. In a filing Thursday evening with the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Justice Department said the order, from U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, "has no legal justification and threatens the public health." It asked the court to stop the order from taking effect until it can fully hear the administration's appeal. O'Connor's order last month came in a lawsuit by conservative businesses and individuals challenging the mandate to cover PrEP, which they said required them to support behavior they objected to on religious grounds. A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the judge's order reached far beyond the case. He found that the federal task force that decides what preventive care must be covered under the federal healthcare law, also known as Obamacare, was unlawfully appointed, voiding all of that task force's determinations since 2010. The decision drew sharp criticism from major U.S. medical groups. More than 150 million people were eligible for preventive care free of charge as of 2020 under Obamacare, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. The Justice Department said that if O'Connor's ruling is not paused, insurers will be able to charge patients copays and deductibles for such services when they enroll in new plans, either when they switch insurance or re-enroll in a plan at the end of the plan year. The conservative America First Legal Foundation is helping to represent the plaintiffs. The group was founded by Stephen Miller, who served as an adviser to Republican former President Donald Trump. O'Connor previously drew attention in 2018 for ruling the entire ACA, the signature achievement of Democratic then-President Barack Obama, was unconstitutional in a decision that was later overturned.

Kicked off Medicaid: Millions at risk as states trim rolls | AP (AP) — Days out from a surgery and with a young son undergoing chemotherapy, Kyle McHenry was scrambling to figure out if his Florida family will still be covered by Medicaid come Monday. One form on the state’s website said coverage for their sick 5-year-old son, Ryder, had been denied. But another said the family would remain on Medicaid through next year. Still, a letter from the state said McHenry now makes too much money for him, his wife and their older son to qualify after the end of the month. Three phone calls and a total of six frustrating hours on hold with Florida’s Department of Children and Families later, the McHenrys finally got the answer they were dreading on Thursday: Most of the family is losing Medicaid coverage, although Ryder remains eligible because of his illness. “I’m trying not to go into panic,” McHenry’s wife, Allie McHenry, told The Associated Press earlier in the week. The state agency did not respond to AP’s request for comment. The McHenrys are among the first casualties in an unprecedented nationwide review of the 84 million Medicaid enrollees over the next year that will require states to remove people whose incomes are now too high for the federal-state program offered to the poorest Americans. Millions are expected to be left without insurance after getting a reprieve for the past three years during the coronavirus pandemic, when the federal government barred states from removing anyone who was deemed ineligible. Advocacy groups have warned for months that confusion and errors will abound throughout the undertaking, wrongly leaving some of the country’s poorest people suddenly without health insurance and unable to pay for necessary medical care.

US lawmakers hold hearing on antimicrobial resistance -Experts in infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) were on Capitol Hill today to discuss the rising threat of drug-resistant pathogens to the US healthcare system and federal efforts to address the issue.At a hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the experts focused on the need for new antibiotics and antibiotic stewardship, more and better diagnostic tests, more infectious disease (ID) professionals, and better data on the prevalence of AMR in US healthcare facilities.Lawmakers on the committee also asked about deficiencies in the federal response, duplicative efforts, and whether federal funding for AMR has resulted in any notable achievements."While there is no easy solution to the problem of AMR, we are committed to exploring potential solutions to address this public health crisis," Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said in his opening comments.Among the witnesses at the hearing was Mary Denigan-Macauley, PhD, of the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), author of a report examining the steps that federal agencies have taken to address AMR since the creation of the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in 2015. That plan called for federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services to strengthen surveillance, advance the development of new antibiotics and diagnostics, and promote antibiotic stewardship. The report, which was published in March 2020 and summarized in today's testimony, found that work is needed in all three areas, particularly surveillance. One of the biggest challenges, Denigan-Macauley said, is that the lack of surveillance data means the precise magnitude of the AMR problem is not known."While we have estimates that antimicrobial resistance has killed more than a million people worldwide and infected many more, the true extent of the problem is not known because data here in the US and overseas is not complete or timely," she told the panel.

US lawmakers re-introduce antibiotic development legislation --A bipartisan group of US senators and representatives today reintroduced a bill to boost the antibiotic development market.The Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act, which was introduced in 2020 and 2021 but never received a vote despite bipartisan support, would establish a subscription-style payment model for new antibiotics. Under the model, companies that develop innovative new antibiotics for drug-resistant infections would receive contracts from the federal government valued between $750 million and $3 billion to make the antibiotics available at no charge for patients covered by federal health insurance programs.The bill would also require companies to support appropriate use of the new antibiotics and conduct post-marketing studies. A committee made up of doctors, patients, outside experts, and representatives of federal agencies would develop guidance on infections and pathogens to target and on the favored characteristics of potential treatments. The aim of the legislation is to address the broken market for new antibiotics by de-linking companies' profits from the volume of antibiotics sold. Advocates say this is necessary because antibiotics are expensive to develop but don't generate much revenue for companies, since they are only used for short periods and need to be used judiciously to maintain their effectiveness.The financial challenges of antibiotic development have discouraged investment and led many pharmaceutical companies to drop their antibiotic programs, resulting in a weak pipeline of new products at a time when antibiotic resistance is growing.

Senate GOP votes down bill calling on VA to study marijuana as PTSD, pain remedy - Senate Republicans on Wednesday defeated a bill calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to research marijuana as a remedy for post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. Senators voted 57 to 42 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill, falling short of the 60 votes necessary for it to advance. Eight Republicans — Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) — voted alongside every Democrat to advance the bill. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) switched his vote from “aye” to “nay” in order to have the ability to bring the legislation to the floor again in the future. He lamented that the bill was not able to move forward despite the support of numerous veterans groups and marijuana advocates. Some Senate Republicans indicated that their main concern with the proposal was indeed the marijuana-related provisions and argued it was unnecessary. “When the conversation about how to serve our veterans after all they sacrificed is to give them marijuana — we have failed our veterans,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) tweeted earlier on Wednesday. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sullivan are the leading sponsors of the proposal, which was voted out of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in February. The blueprint pushes the VA to move ahead on a “large scale” study and a potential clinical trial to determine whether marijuana should be used to treat veterans. Tester, the committee chairman, acknowledged on the floor ahead of the vote that the legislation was deemed “controversial” among some Republican senators. But he said it was important to have “a better understanding of the role” medical cannabis could have for veterans.

Senate GOP blocks Equal Rights Amendment --- Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a measure that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to be added to the Constitution. Senators voted 51 to 47 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed, falling short of the 60 votes it it needed. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) were the lone Republicans to vote with every Democrat. The ERA passed Congress in 1972, having been first proposed in 1923. Constitutional amendments, under U.S. law, must be ratified by three-quarters of all state legislatures, meaning 38 states. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, but it did so after the 1982 deadline to ratify the amendment had passed. The Senate resolution would have removed the deadline so that the ERA could become the 28th Amendment. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Murkowski were the resolution’s lead co-sponsors.

3,000 migrants begin protest march in Mexico - Roughly 3,000 migrants have begun a protest procession through Mexico toward Mexico City to demonstrate against detention centers and demand reforms to migrant treatment. The march of migrants — hailing mainly from Central America, Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia — started Sunday near the Guatemalan border. Though their stated destination is Mexico City, participants in similar marches have, in the past, headed further north to the U.S.-Mexico border. The latest protest march comes after a deadly fire last month killed 39 migrants and injured 29 others at a Mexican migrant facility in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. Supreme Court to examine public officials blocking people on social media GOP call for Ukraine peace talks echoes bungled progressive letter Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said migrants at the facility had set fire to their mattresses as part of a protest against a supposed transfer. Three officials from Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, a guard at the migrant center and the Venezuelan migrant accused of starting the fire are reportedly in custody, facing homicide charges.

Bush, Clinton And Obama NGO Teams Up With AmEx Global To Fly Migrants Into The US - A new nongovernmental organization (NGO) launched by former Presidents Obama, Clinton and George W. Bush, Miles4Migrants, is teaming up with American Express Global Business Travel (AmEx GBT) and Welcome.US, in order to fly migrants to communities throughout the United States, according to Breitbart. Welcome.US was originally intended to facilitate the resettlement of some of the 85,000 Afghans who fled to the US in 2021 and 2022 following the Biden administration's disastrous pullout from the country. The organization (surprise!) has ties to George Soros' Open Society Foundation through several board members who sit on their "National Welcome Council."Now, the NGO is teaming up with the open borders group Miles4Migrants as well as American Express Global Business Travel to fund flights to American communities for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Nicaragua. -Breitbart"Donations are needed to fund the flights for newcomers to travel to the United States," the website for the initiative states.Those forced to flee often leave behind all but what they can carry, and the costs of international travel can be prohibitive. Welcome Connect Travel removes the cost of travel as a barrier for both sponsors in the United States and the displaced families they are supporting through humanitarian sponsorship. [Emphasis added]With the average cost of a single flight at $1,600, public donations through our partner Miles4Migrants will help provide a lifeline to newcomers, giving them the opportunity to safely travel to their new communities. Donate below to help newcomers access safe travel. [Emphasis added] Last week Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said that close to five million illegal migrants have entered the Untied States since Biden took office in early 2021, a figure which doesn't include those released into the US interior, those who got away, and migrants who were never caught in the first place.

Student loan servicers brace for trouble with restart of payments -- Student loan servicers are in a tough bind, dealing with reduced staff as they prepare for the unprecedented situation of 44 million borrowers returning to payments later this summer. Student loan payments are expected to restart at the end of August at the latest, including for many borrowers who graduated during the pandemic and have never made such payments before. “I think the real challenge is the resource constraint, right? That’s really on the customer service side,” said Scott Buchanan, executive director for Student Loan Servicing Alliance (SLSA). “Systemically, we can handle this, but that customer service component is going to be constrained, and that’s because the [Education] Department has continued to make cuts to the customer service funding for student loan servicers.” SLSA is a nonprofit trade association that works on student loan servicing issues. It says its members, which include federal student loan servicers Aidvantage and Edfinancial Services, are “responsible for servicing over 95% of all federal student loans and the vast majority of private loans.” The lack of money for customer service in the industry can be traced back to a denial of increased funding for the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office by Congress last year. “It’s important to think about this holistically,” said Sarah Sattelmeyer, project director for education, opportunity, and mobility in the higher education initiative at New America. “FSA’s budget constraints are certainly affecting servicers. And I think that’s an incredibly huge problem because it affects the ability to effectively have a student loan support system. … All of the things that FSA has on its plate — it’s never had more things on its plate. There’s a lot of new reforms coming down the pipe, and a lack of funding is really impacting its ability to do all of that work.” A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the funding Congress gave to FSA was inadequate for the tasks ahead. “As the Department has repeatedly made clear, restarting repayment requires significant resources to avoid unnecessary harm to borrowers, such as cuts to servicing,” the spokesperson said.

Biden’s next student loan headache: A cash crunch at the Education Department - A funding shortfall is forcing Education Department officials to cut customer service to student loan borrowers just as the agency prepares to send millions of Americans their first bills in more than three years. Congress last year rejected the White House’s request for more money to administer the federal student loan program after Republicans balked at adding extra funds that could be used to implement President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan. At the same time, the agency’s costs exploded as it implemented a range of new policies, such as expanding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and creating a new application process for canceling up to $20,000 of student debt. Education Department officials, congressional Democrats and consumer advocacy groups are now worried that the Biden administration may not have enough money to smoothly transition borrowers back into repaying their debt when payments are set to resume later this year. The funding woes threaten to exacerbate the political pain of what was always going to be a tricky endeavor for Biden: Sending millions of Americans student loan bills for the first time since their payments were suspended at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Borrowers are set to face longer hold times to speak with their loan servicing company, potentially slower paperwork processing and reduced call center hours. “It is a slow-moving car crash,” said Jared Bass, senior director for higher education at the Center for American Progress and a former Democratic appropriations staffer. Bass urged lawmakers to find a way to add money for administering student aid programs even before Congress debates government-wide funding this fall. “We see what’s about to unfold, so let’s just prevent it now and just step in and take preventative measures,” he said.

Supreme Court to examine public officials blocking people on social media -- The Supreme Court has agreed to take up two cases that weigh whether public officials on their personal social media accounts can constitutionally block users when they use the account to post about their job. The cases come two years after the high court dismissed as moot a lawsuit over former President Trump blocking users on his Twitter account. The justices are now set to take up a similar issue as they consider a lawsuit filed against school board members in Southern California and another filed against the city manager of Port Huron, Mich. The justices announced the move in two brief, unsigned orders, as is typical. Oral arguments are likely to be held this fall, with decisions by the end of June 2024. In the first case, parents of children enrolled in the Poway Unified School District, located in the San Diego area, sent comments and replies to two school board members’ Facebook and Twitter posts. The parents, Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, said their comments exposed “financial mismanagement” by the superintendent and incidents of racism. The board members, Michaelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, then blocked the parents, who then filed suit in federal court for violation of their First Amendment rights. “Because of a District rule largely precluding Board members from responding to constituents at in-person Board meetings, and because emails often went unanswered, the Trustees’ social media pages were the best medium for interactive communication between constituents and Board members,” lawyers for the Garniers’ wrote to the justices. Supreme Court declines Exxon, Chevron push to move state lawsuits to federal court Fox News faces new legal threat from Smartmatic In the second case, city manager James Freed blocked resident Kevin Lindke on Facebook after he commented several times on Freed’s Facebook page criticizing Port Huron’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The justices will hear the cases separately, but they present near-identical issues. In both disputes, the officials created the accounts personally and contend they did not engage in any government action by blocking their constituents, so there is no First Amendment issue. The blocked users are arguing that courts in deciding these cases should assess a broad range of factors, including the accounts’ purpose and appearance, even if they isn’t technically created by a government entity.

U.S. Supreme Court to decide if public officials can block critics on social media (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court, exploring free speech rights in the social media era, on Monday agreed to consider whether the Constitution's First Amendment bars government officials from blocking their critics on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The justices took up an appeal by two members of a public school board from the city of Poway in Southern California of a lower court's ruling in favor of school parents who sued after being blocked from Facebook pages and a Twitter account maintained by the officials. The justices also took up an appeal by a Michigan man of a lower court's ruling against him after he sued a city official in Port Huron who blocked him on Facebook following critical posts made by the plaintiff about the local government's COVID-19 response. At issue is whether a public official's social media activity can amount to governmental action bound by First Amendment limits on government regulation of speech. The justices faced a similar First Amendment issue in 2021 involving a legal dispute over former President Donald Trump's effort to block critics from his Twitter account. The justices brought an end to that court fight after Trump had left office by deciding the case was moot, throwing out a lower court's decision that found that the former president had violated constitutional free speech rights. The California case involves Michelle O'Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, elected members of the Poway Unified School District. They blocked Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, the parents of three students at district schools, on Facebook and Twitter after the couple made hundreds of critical posts on issues such as race and the handling of school finances. The Garniers sued O'Connor-Ratcliff and Zane in federal court, claiming their free speech rights under the First Amendment were violated. Zane and O'Connor-Ratcliff each had public Facebook pages identifying them as government officials, according to the Garniers' court filing. Zane's page was entitled "T.J. Zane, Poway Unified School District Trustee" and included a picture of a school district signage. O'Connor-Ratcliff also had a public Twitter profile. On that account and her Facebook page, she identified herself as "President of the PUSD Board of Education" and linked to her official email address, the court filing said.

Supreme Court takes social media cases with echoes of Trump (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts, an issue that previously came up in a case involving former President Donald Trump. Two years ago the Supreme Court dismissed a case over Trump’s efforts to block critics from his personal Twitter account. A lower court had said Trump violated the First Amendment whenever he blocked a critic to silence a viewpoint. But the Supreme Court said the case should be dismissed because there was nothing left to it after Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter and ended his presidential term. The Republican former president’s account has since been reinstated. Now, the court has agreed to hear two cases involving much lower-profile figures. The first involves two elected members of a California school board, the Poway Unified School District Board of Trustees. The members, Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, used Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate with the public. Two parents, Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, left critical comments and replies to posts on the board members’ accounts and were blocked. An appeals court said the board members had violated their free speech rights by doing so. The other case involves James Freed, who became the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, in 2014. Freed, who was appointed to his position by the mayor and City Council, used a Facebook page to communicate with the public. In 2020, a resident, Kevin Lindke, used the page to comment several times from three Facebook profiles, including criticism of the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Freed blocked all three accounts and deleted Lindke’s comments. Lindke sued, but lower courts sided with Freed. Katie Fallow, senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which was involved in the Trump case, said that more and more public officials are using social media to communicate about official business. “As many courts have held, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the president or a local city manager, government officials can’t block people from these forums simply because they don’t like what they’re saying,” Fallow said in a statement. “The Supreme Court should reaffirm that basic First Amendment principle.”

YouTube case at Supreme Court could shape protections for ChatGPT and AI (Reuters) - When the U.S. Supreme Court decidesin the coming months whether to weaken a powerful shield protecting internet companies, the ruling also could have implications for rapidly developing technologies like artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The justices are due to rule by the end of June whether Alphabet Inc's YouTube can be sued over its video recommendations to users. That case tests whether a U.S. law that protects technology platforms from legal responsibility for content posted online by their users also applies when companies use algorithms to target users with recommendations. What the court decides about those issues is relevant beyond social media platforms. Its ruling could influence the emerging debate over whether companies that develop generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT from OpenAI, a company in which Microsoft is a major investor, or Bard from Alphabet's Google should be protected from legal claims like defamation or privacy violations, according to technology and legal experts. That is because algorithms that power generative AI tools like ChatGPT and its successor GPT-4 operate in a somewhat similar way as those that suggest videos to YouTube users, the experts added. "The debate is really about whether the organization of information available online through recommendation engines is so significant to shaping the content as to become liable," said Cameron Kerry, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington and an expert on AI. "You have the same kinds of issues with respect to a chatbot." Representatives for OpenAI and Google did not respond to requests for comment. During arguments in February, Supreme Court justices expressed uncertainty over whether to weaken the protections enshrined in the law, known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. While the case does not directly relate to generative AI, Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that AI tools that generate "poetry" and "polemics" likely would not enjoy such legal protections.

How many scandals will it take for DOJ to investigate Clarence Thomas? - Let’s get this straight: If a state legislator accepts so much as a sandwich, they must disclose it. I know; I served in local government for 14 years. So it’s been very difficult to understand how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has gotten away with accepting free trips on superyachts and private jets belonging to a billionaire, Harlan Crow, not to mention a sweetheart real estate deal with that same billionaire, without disclosing them. For years. Nevertheless, that is apparently what happened. And now that it’s all come to light, the party should be over for Thomas. I say should because while there is a lot of talk about accountability, it’s been less clear how that will come to pass. Thomas has resisted calls to resign. Impeachment seems highly unlikely given the Republican leadership of the House. Senate hearings may happen, and that’s a positive step. Fortunately, there are also other options, including one very good one with solid legal underpinnings: a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation under federal statutes that require disclosure of the kind of perks Thomas has enjoyed, and also authorize penalties for violators. The DOJ should investigate Thomas’s unethical and possibly illegal violations without delay. Many analysts have pointed out that federal ethics law, which applies to federal officials in all three branches, including Supreme Court justices, has long required disclosure of gifts on a form that must be submitted every year. Congress enacted the statute after Watergate to help safeguard against ethical violations by federal officials. The law defines “gift” as the receipt of money or “anything of value,” including “overnight lodging.” So far, so good. But the real kicker, in this case, is a part of that federal statute, 5 U.S. Code 13101, 13104, and 13106(a), that authorizes the Justice Department to pursue both civil penalties and criminal fines from government officials who fail to report gifts as required. The fines are not large. But even more important than the cash penalty would be the significance of a finding of guilt by the Department of Justice. There would be enormous pressure for a Supreme Court justice to step aside or be removed if that person were found guilty of a crime while in office. It took far less than that for Justice Abe Fortas to step down back in 1969 amid allegations of financial impropriety. Thomas has claimed that luxury trips and stays he enjoyed for free were “personal hospitality” not subject to reporting requirements. This strains credulity. Even if some of the food and fun could be explained away as an exception to reporting rules, certain other perks cannot. Free use of Crow’s private jet for Thomas’s personal travel is one example; all you have to do is read the reporting requirements to see that they clearly do not include this kind of free transportation in the “personal hospitality” exception. As for the real estate deal, Thomas has belatedly announced he will look at updating his disclosure forms. That’s … fine. As unsavory as all this is, it’s also not out of character. Thomas and his wife have been at the center of all kinds of ethics scandals for years. It has gotten very disheartening, even disgusting, to watch the never-ending Thomas carnival of corruption bring shame on the Supreme Court. It’s time for it to stop. There is a larger conversation to be had about how badly we need an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court to prevent any number of possible transgressions by justices now and in the future. And there is a growing call to expand the court to recapture public trust and counteract what it has become: an institution with a reactionary majority created by unethical and even outright corrupt means. That too is a larger conversation. But for now, there is a clear path to holding Clarence Thomas accountable. His actions are unquestionably inappropriate, and the Justice Department has the grounds and the legal authority to investigate and determine whether they are inarguably illegal. It should use that power as it was intended. And if Thomas is guilty, DOJ should throw the book at him.

Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property - For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo.Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals.On April 16 of 2017, Greenberg’s Brian Duffy put under contract the 3,000-square foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records.He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million,according to a deed in the county’s record system. Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms.Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank.Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the court, according to a POLITICO review of the court’s docket. They include cases in which Greenberg either filed amicus briefs or represented parties. In the 12 cases where Gorsuch’s opinion is recorded, he sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times and against them four times. In addition, a Denver-based lawyer for Greenberg represented North Dakota in what became one of the more highly publicized rulings in recent years, a multistate suit which reversed former President Barack Obama’s plan to fight climate change through the Clean Air Act.Gorsuch joined the court’s other five conservative judges in agreeing with the plaintiffs — including Greenberg’s client — that the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its authority by regulating carbon emissions from power plants in the decision that makes it more difficult for the executive branch to regulate emissions without express authorization from Congress.

Roberts declines to appear at Senate's Supreme Court ethics hearing - Chief Justice John Roberts has declined an invitation to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss ethics reform on the high court after a report revealed Justice Clarence Thomas’ close friendship with a GOP megadonor.“I extended an invitation to the Chief Justice, or his designate, in an attempt to include the Court in this discussion. But make no mistake: Supreme Court ethics reform must happen, whether the Court participates in the process or not,” Judiciary panel chief Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement Tuesday.After a Pro Publica report revealed Thomas accepted lavish gifts and travel for the last two decades from Harlan Crow, a Texas real estate billionaire, Durbin invited Roberts to appear before the committee on May 2, saying his testimony on ethics issues would help provide transparency.But a Durbin spokesperson told POLITICO Tuesday that Roberts declined to appear for the hearing. Durbin has previously said he plans for the hearing to proceed even if Roberts declined to appear.“I am surprised that the Chief Justice’s recounting of existing legal standards of ethics suggests current law is adequate and ignores the obvious. The actions of one Justice, including trips on yachts and private jets, were not reported to the public. That same Justice failed to disclose the sale of properties he partly owned to a party with interests before the Supreme Court,” Durbin said in the statement.He added: “It is time for Congress to accept its responsibility to establish an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court, the only agency of our government without it.”In a letter to Durbin explaining his reasons for declining, Roberts wrote that a chief justice’s testimony before Congress “is exceedingly rare, as one might expect in light of separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence.”Durbin, who is also the majority whip, has previously suggested the committee cannot subpoena Roberts because of the absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein , a longtime Judiciary Committee member who has been away from the Senate for months while being treated for shingles.The ProPublica report detailed two decades of Thomas’ relationship with Crow, which included trips on Crow’s private jet and yacht, as well as visits to Crow’s lavish properties.

Fox News abruptly ends relationship with fascistic demagogue Tucker Carlson - Citing anonymous sources, both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times said the decision to fire Carlson was made on Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert and chief executive of Fox Corporation, and Suzanne Scott, chief executive of Fox News Media. Carlson’s senior executive producer on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Justin Wells, was also fired, according to the same sources. As of this writing, there has not been a definitive reason given for the abrupt departure of Carlson. The former Fox News host has long been the target of advertiser boycotts due to the fascist content consistently churned out on his show. Carlson’s anti-immigrant and racist program was frequently the highest-rated show on Fox during the Trump presidency and following his failed coup, drawing upwards of 3 million viewers a night. Trump expressed his dismay at Carlson’s departure, writing on his social media network, “The fact that Tucker Carlson will no longer be on Fox News is a big blow to Cable News, and to America. Tucker was insightful, interesting, and ratings gold. He will be greatly missed!” Disoriented middle-class and libertarian elements, such as journalists Glenn Greenwald, Max Blumenthal, Anya Parampil and Aaron Maté along with comedian Jimmy Dore and fascist Jackson Hinkle also took to social media to praise Carlson, primarily for his professed opposition to US involvement in the Ukraine war and the Syrian civil war. Carlson, an early proponent of the Iraq war, is not a genuine opponent of US imperialism but, like Trump, seeks to capitalize on broad antiwar sentiment in the working class, and channel it to the advantage of the Republican Party. While Fox News is the unofficial house organ of the Republican Party, Carlson was one of the more influential hosts on the network. Republican politicians not only watched his program, but frequently coordinated with Carlson on talking points and attack lines. If Republicans refused to go on the program to defend any perceived slight against him, Trump or the “MAGA” movement, Carlson would threaten them on air, causing not only political, but potentially real physical harm.

Tucker Carlson video nets 57 million views in less than 24 hours - A short video message posted online by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson following his ouster from the network had racked up more than 57 million views on Twitter as of Thursday afternoon. Carlson’s cryptic two-minute message was posted around 8 p.m. Wednesday. He did not directly address his sudden departure from the network or plans for the future. For comparison, President Biden’s relaunch video posted on the platform more than 24 hours earlier had garnered 41.8 million views as of 2 p.m. on Thursday. Carlson, who commanded a nightly audience averaging north of 3 million people while at Fox, criticized the cable news business calling most of the debates on television “unbelievably stupid.” “Both political parties and their donors have reached consensus on what benefits them and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it,” Carlson said in his video message. “When honest people say what’s true, calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful. At the same time, the liars who have been trying to silence them shrink. They become weaker. That’s the iron law of the universe.” Fox has not commented on what led to Carlson’s leaving the network beyond a statement thanking him for his service at the company and saying his last show was last week. Multiple reports have surfaced this week suggesting the explicit content of Carlson’s text messages, which were pulled as part of the defamation suit Dominion Voting Systems brought against Fox, became known to top executives at Fox and led to his ouster.

Biden Holds Fewest Press Conferences Of Any US President In 40 Years -Despite a pledge to "bring transparency and truth back to the government," President Joe Biden has held the fewest press conferences since Ronald Reagan. It's so bad that last Thursday he bailed on a decades-old tradition of holding a press conference with Colombian President Gustavo Petro following a White House meeting. Instead, Petro held a news conference all by himself in front of the West Wing, the NY Times reports. In more than two years as president, Biden has held just 54 interviews. For comparison, Trump held 202 during the first two years of his presidency, while Obama gave 275. More than any president in recent memory, Mr. Biden, 80, has taken steps to reduce opportunities for journalists to question him in forums where he can offer unscripted answers and they can follow up. The result, critics say, is a president who has fewer moments of public accountability for his comments, decisions and actions. Mr. Biden has not accused the news media of being “the enemy of the people,” as his predecessor did during four years in which news organizations documented thousands of lies by Mr. Trump. -NY Times Meanwhile, with Biden's 2024 reelection announcement waiting in the wings, "he is accelerating the demise of traditions that have underpinned the relationship with the news media for decades," by keeping the press at arm's length in an attempt to sidestep those traditions.

Majorities don’t want Biden, Trump to run in 2024: survey --Most Americans in a new poll don’t want former President Trump to run for the White House in 2024, and a majority doesn’t want President Biden to run for reelection, either, as he prepares for an expected campaign launch that could come as early as this week.A new NBC News poll found that 60 percent of Americans think Trump shouldn’t try to retake the Oval Office — including roughly a third of Republicans. Thirty percent of those who think he shouldn’t campaign in 2024 cite the criminal charges he faces in New York as a “major” reason.At the same time, 70 percent of Americans think Biden shouldn’t seek a second term — including 51 percent of Democrats. Forty-eight percent of those who said he shouldn’t run again cited his age as a “major” reason. The latest results are in line with other polls indicating low enthusiasm for either Trump or Biden as they ready for what could be a 2020 rematch. Trump launched his campaign back in November, just after the midterms, and Biden is expected to enter the race soon. A Yahoo News/YouGov poll found a 38 percent plurality of respondents reported they felt “exhaustion” over the idea of a Biden-Trump presidential race rematch. In the NBC News poll, Trump still comes in on top of a hypothetical GOP primary field, though, 15 percentage points ahead of Florida Gov. RonDeSantis — who hasn’t yet launched a bid — as Republican primary voters’ first choice. And 41 percent of registered voters overall said they’d definitely or probably vote for Biden in the general election if he does run, including 88 percent of Democratic voters.

38 percent in new poll say they feel ‘exhaustion’ over prospect of rematch between Biden, Trump -Many Americans are not excited about a potential rematch between President Biden and former President Trump, according to a new poll, with more respondents saying they feel “exhaustion” over the prospects than anything else.A 38 percent plurality of respondents reported they felt “exhaustion” over the idea of a rematch, according to the Yahoo News/YouGov poll. The other emotions that people said the rematch inspires are not much more positive, with 29 percent feeling “fear” and 23 percent “sadness and fear.”Far fewer people felt positively about the potential of a rematch, with 23 percent reporting “hope,” 8 percent saying they felt “pride” and 7 percent saying “gratitude.”The poll shows a strong lack of enthusiasm about a Biden-Trump rematch, which, despite the lagging support, seems like one of the likeliest outcomes of the 2024 primary season.Trump held a strong lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other Republicans in the new survey, with a 14-point lead over the Florida governor, who is expected to announce a White House bid, with a full primary field and a 16-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup.For Biden the poll showcased the precarious position the Democratic Party finds itself in ahead of the 2024 election. Just 27 percent of all respondents said Biden should run for reelection and just 43 percent of Democrats or Democratic leaning independents said he should be the party’s nominee.But the survey also showed Biden with a lead over both Trump (46 to 42 percent) and DeSantis (45 to 41 percent) among registered voters.

Bill allows DeSantis to run for president while governor - Republican Ron DeSantis would not have to resign as Florida governor in order to run for president if he chooses under a bill given final approval Friday in by the GOP-dominated state Legislature. The measure, attached to a much broader elections bill, would carve out an exemption to Florida law requiring anyone seeking office to resign from one they already hold after qualifying as a candidate. Only an officeholder running for U.S. president or vice president would not have to resign. Supporters portrayed the bill as purely a clarification and not intended specifically for DeSantis, who has not yet announced a presidential bid but is widely expected to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the coming weeks. The bill passed the state House 76-34 along party lines and now goes to DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law. “It is an individual office that is unique. It is the chief executive of our country,” GOP Rep. Ralph Massullo said during House debate Friday. “This isn’t just for our governor, it’s for anyone in politics.”

Senate GOP smells blood as Justice launches Manchin challenge - Senate Republicans on Thursday received a major boost in their quest to retake the majority when West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) officially threw his hat into the ring, likely giving the party its best opportunity to take down Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Justice announced his plans during a Thursday event at the Greenbrier, handing the party a top recruit in one of the preeminent 2024 contests. According to multiple Senate Republicans, the two-term governor is the key to defeating Manchin, who won a tough reelection bid in 2018 in a state that has grown increasingly red over the years. “Everybody’s very excited about that prospect. He’s been looking at it for a while, and I think he brings a ton of support to the race. He’s well known by pretty much everybody in West Virginia and really well-liked, so it’s a big development and one we’re really excited about,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told The Hill. Manchin has yet to announce his 2024 plans, but the GOP is making clear its preference for the term-limited governor over Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), a conservative and pro-Trump lawmaker, in a possible general election fight against the incumbent Democrat, who would be seeking his third full term.

Ex-CIA Chief Led Campaign to Smear Hunter Biden Laptop Story as Russian Disinfo -- Mike Morrell, the former acting CIA director, revealed to the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, that he played a key role in rallying former intelligence officials to sign a letter which sought to discredit reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 presidential campaign.In a transcribed interview with Jordan’s team, Morell explained that his role in the suppression of the key story was done on behalf of the Joe Biden campaign and at the behest of now Secretary of State Antony Blinken who was then a senior campaign official.According to the committee’s press release, "Morell testified that on or around October 17, 2020, Blinken… reached out to him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story. According to Morell, although [Blinken’s] outreach was couched as simply gathering Morell’s reaction to the Post story, it set in motion the events that led to the issuance of the public statement." The committee is now investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop as well as the Biden family’s international business dealings.The story about Hunter Biden’s laptop was originally published in October 2020 by the New York Post. The laptop was abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop in 2019, the Post published subpoenas which showed the FBI had seized the laptop. However, the shop’s owner had made a copy of the laptop’s hard drive and provided it to Donald Trump ally and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In September 2020, the Post was tipped off about the laptop’s existence by Steve Bannon.Twitter, Facebook, and other major platforms outright censored or took actions to suppress the reach of the story immediately. The letter organized by Morrell, which was signed by more than 50 former intelligence officials, seeking to discredit the report was published by Politico on October 19th, five days after the story was originally reported by the Post.Echoing statements made by the Biden campaign, the letter claimed thePost’s reporting "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." It has since been confirmed by several media outlets that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden and its contents are authentic. The House committee’s press release continues "Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election."

Bovard- Spy Letter About Hunter Biden Shows How Dems Are Undermining Democracy --In the closing address at last month’s Summit for Democracy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken piously proclaimed, “As President Biden has said, democracy doesn’t happen by accident... It requires constant effort.”Or in the case of the 2020 election, it required deceiving American voters.The House Judiciary Committee revealed that Blinken, then a top Biden adviser, orchestrated the letter from 51 top intelligence officials claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop was nothing but a Russian disinformation campaign.Blinken contacted former acting CIA chief Mike Morell, who swayed scores of other former top officials — including three ex-CIA chiefs — to sign that letter to debunk the biggest threat to the Biden presidential campaign.In the final presidential debate on Oct. 22, Joe Biden invoked that letter from former intelligence officials to deflect Donald Trump’s attacks on Biden family corruption.Polls show that Biden would have lost the election if the media had accurately reported the contents of that laptop.Biden pretended that letter arose spontaneously from the patriotic sentiments of former officials.But the letter was “triggered” by Blinken’s call to Morell, who then contacted his former colleagues.Blinken’s ploy may have swayed Biden to appoint him secretary of state.The media are mostly ignoring or downplaying the revelations of Blinken’s machinations.If the roles were reversed, cable news and front-page headlines would be screaming about a villainous Trump operative pulling official strings to whitewash the Donald.MSNBC would be howling about the death of democracy, and CNN hosts would be sobbing hysterically about the dirty deal.But when Team Biden does it: nothing to see here, move along.

Antony Blinken and the ‘made men’ of the Biden administration -- This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was implicated in a political coverup that could well have made the difference in the 2020 election. According to the sworn testimony of former acting CIA Director Michael Morrell, Blinken – then a high-ranking Biden campaign official – was “the impetus” of the false claim that the Hunter Biden laptop story was really Russian disinformation. Morrell then organized dozens of ex-national security officials to sign the letter claiming that the Hunter laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”Morrell further admitted that the Biden campaign “helped to strategize about the public release of the statement.”Finally, he admitted that one of his goals was not just to warn about Russian influence but “to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election.”Help it did. Biden claimed in a presidential debate that the laptop story was “garbage” and part of a “Russian plan.” Biden used the letter to say “nobody believes” that the laptop is real.In reality, the letter was part of a political plan with the direct involvement of his campaign, but Biden never revealed their involvement. Indeed, over years of controversy surrounding this debunked letter, no one in the Biden campaign or White House (including Blinken) revealed their involvement.Of course, the letter was all the media needed. Discussion of the laptop was blocked on social media, and virtually every major media outlet dismissed the story before the election. That was also all Biden needed to win a close election. The allegations that the Biden family had cashed in millions through influence peddling could have made the difference. It never happened, in part because of Blinken’s work. Once in power, Blinken was given one of the top Cabinet positions. He was now one of the “made” men of the administration.He was not alone. The 2016 election was marred by false allegations of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. Unlike the influence peddling allegations made against Biden, the media ran with those stories for years. It later turned out that the funding and distribution of the infamous Steele dossier originated with the Clinton campaign. The campaign, however, reportedly lied in denying any such funding until after the election. It was later sanctioned for hiding the funding as legal expenses.Those involved in spreading this false story were rewarded handsomely. For example, the second collusion story planted in the media by the campaign concerned the Russian Alfa Bank. The campaign used key Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, who went public with the entirely false claim of a secret back channel between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Sullivan was also a “made” man who was later made Biden’s national security adviser. Others who were implicated in either the Steele dossier or Alfa Bank hoaxes also later found jobs in the administration. The Brookings Institution proved a virtual turnstile for these political operatives. Many signatories on the Russian disinformation letter continue to flourish. MSNBC analyst Jeremy Bash signed the letter and was put on the president’s Intelligence Advisory Board. As with Sullivan, it did not seem to matter that Bash had gotten one of the most important intelligence stories of the election wrong.Former CIA head James Clapper was referenced by Biden on the letter and was also a spreader of the Russian collusion claims. Despite those scandals and a claim of perjury, CNN gave him a media contract. They are all “made” men in the Beltway, but they could not have succeeded without a “made” media.These false stories planted by the Clinton and Biden campaigns succeeded only because the media played an active and eager role. In any other country, this pattern would fit the model of a state media and propaganda effort. However, there was no need for a central ministry when the media quickly reinforced these narratives. This is a state media by consent rather than coercion. The Biden campaign knew that reporters would have little interest or curiosity in how the letter came about or the involvement of campaign operatives. If Republicans did not control the House of Representatives, the Morrell admission would never have occurred. The Democrats repeatedly blocked efforts to investigate this story and the influence peddling allegations. Even this week, some Democrats called it a “tabloid story.” Given the career paths of figures such as Blinken and Sullivan, there is a concern that other officials may see the value in “earning their bones” as “made” men and women. There is now a senior IRS career official who is seeking to disclose what he claims was special treatment given to Hunter Biden in the criminal investigation.

Hunter Biden demands ethics probe into Marjorie Taylor Greene | The Hill A lawyer for Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden, on Monday called for the Office of Congressional Ethics to review Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for “unhinged rhetoric,” possible violations of House ethics rules and official conduct standards following a number of statements and accusations made by the Georgia lawmaker. “Representative Greene’s unethical conduct arises from her continuous verbal attacks, defamatory statements, publication of personal photos and data, and promotion of conspiracy theories about and against Robert Hunter Biden,” attorney Abbe David Lowell wrote in a letter to Ethics chairmen, obtained by Politico. “None of these could possibly be deemed to be part of any legitimate legislative activity, as is clear from both the content of her statements and actions, and the forums she uses to spew her often unhinged rhetoric,” Lowell said. The letter argues that Greene’s online statements and public talk of Biden and his family are “a spray of shotgun pellets of personal vitriol” from her official position as a congresswoman. Lowell identifies several of Greene’s social media posts, including one in which she accused Biden of being “linked to an eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.” Biden has been under federal investigation in recent years over his taxes and foreign business work — and former President Trump and allies like Greene have seized on Biden’s legal woes. “The House has a duty to make loud and clear that it does not endorse, condone, or agree with her outrageous, undignified rhetoric and brazen violations of the standards of official conduct that do not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives,” the letter from Biden’s lawyers concludes. Biden’s legal team on Monday also sent a letter to the Treasury Department asking its Office of Inspector General to look at how former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler allegedly “came to acquire and then retain and publish on his website” suspicious activity reports from JP Morgan Chase bank allegedly related to Biden’s financial activities.

Taibbi- News Blackout In Effect - An all-time media blackout is in effect. We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization. It transpires that the infamous incident before the 2020 election in which 50 former intelligence officials signed an open letter declared a New York Post expose about Hunter Biden’s laptop to have the “classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” was instigated at the behest of the Joe Biden campaign. This at least is the allegation in a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken released by Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government. In that letter, which is not easy to find, you’ll see three snippets of dialogue from questioning of Morell, who appears to have organized the open letter. In the first snippet, he explains that the idea originated with a call from Blinken, then of the Biden campaign, and that absent that call, Morell wouldn’t have done what he did: In the second snippet Morell bluntly explains that he did it because “I wanted him to win,” him being Joe Biden: By any marker, this is an enormous news story. If we go by the usual measuring stick of American scandal, the Watergate story, this potentially meets or exceeds that, on almost every level. Does it reach into the current White House? Check. Was it a craven attempt to subvert the electoral process? Check again. Did a presidential candidate engineer a massive public deception? Yes, resoundingly. Did it involve intelligence agencies? Yes, and these weren’t amateurs like Nixon’s plumbers. These were 50 of the most powerful people in the intelligence world — including five former heads or acting heads of the Agency in Morell, John Brennan, Leon Panetta, Michael Hayden, and John McLaughlin — conspiring to meddle in domestic politics on a grand scale. The seriousness of the actual laptop story, at least what’s been disclosed so far, is still not clear. I’ve long thought the suppression of it by Facebook and Twitter had clearer import, being a historic censorship first. However, if it can be proven that this “Russian Disinfo” whopper was laid on the public at the behest of the Biden campaign, with the aid of the intelligence community, that escalates things to a new level of scandal, far above the censorship issue. Temporarily, however, that may be obscured by the absolute corruption of American media. Outside of conservative outlets, who naturally are eating it up, there were exactly two serious stories done about this on the national level in an appropriate response time. One was in CNN and was at least relatively down-the-middle, though humorously it did quote a Democratic Party spokesperson from the Weaponization Committee saying, “Jim Jordan has released cherry-picked excerpts of a transcribed interview.” The same Democrats from the same Committee also called my testimony “cherry-picked,” and also called the testimony of three FBI whistleblowers “cherry-picked.” The inevitable end-of-year Matt Orfalea “cherry-picked” video will be epic.

Prosecutor: Proud Boys viewed themselves as 'Trump's army' | AP News (AP) — Ready for “all-out war,” leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group viewed themselves as foot soldiers fighting for Donald Trump as the former president clung to power after the 2020 election, a prosecutor said Monday at the close of a historic trial over the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Jurors began hearing attorneys’ closing arguments for the case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants. They are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a plot to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6, 2021, when the pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol. Proud Boys were “lined up behind Donald Trump and willing to commit violence on his behalf,” prosecutor Conor Mulroe told jurors, who heard more than three months of testimony. “These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it.” The prosecution’s words underscore how the Justice Department has worked throughout the trial to link the violence on Jan. 6 to the rhetoric and actions of the former president. Prosecutors have repeatedly shown jurors a video clip of Trump telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first presidential debate with Joe Biden. Defense attorneys have said there is no evidence or a conspiracy or a plan for Proud Boys to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Mulroe said a conspiracy can be an unspoken and implicit “mutual understanding, reached with a wink and a nod.” A “plan,” he added, isn’t the right word for what this case is about. Tarrio is one of the top targets of the Justice Department’s investigation of the riot that erupted at the Capitol. Tarrio wasn’t in Washington, D.C., that day but is accused of orchestrating an attack from afar. The Justice Department has already secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the founder and members of another far-right extremist group, the Oath Keepers. But this is the first major trial involving leaders of the far-right Proud Boys, a neofacist group of self-described “Western chauvinists” that remains a force in mainstream Republican circles.

Jan. 6 convict embraces Trump at campaign event, calls for Pence’s execution A woman who served time in prison for her involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection embraced former President Trump at a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday before later saying that former Vice President Mike Pence and “every single” member of Congress who certified the 2020 election should be executed. After QAnon supporter Micki Larson-Olson was pointed out to Trump as a “Jan. 6-er” by the crowd at a packed diner, Trump sought her out, calling her “terrific,” telling her to “hang in there” and giving her a hug, video shows. Larson-Olson said in an NBC News interview the next day that Trump is the “real president” and that she “would like a front seat of Mike Pence being executed.” “The punishment for treason is death, per the Constitution,” Larson-Olson said. “I believe every single person, every single person that stole a voice from our collective voice of ‘We the people, of the people, for the people, by the people,’ deserves death, and no less than that.” Larson-Olson was arrested after climbing scaffolding on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the Justice Department. She was sentenced to six months in jail in September. During the Capitol riot, she wore a Captain America costume, waving flags and resisting efforts from Capitol Police to remove her from the scaffolding, hanging onto it with her arms and legs. It took six officers to restrain her, with the release saying she screamed and fought the officers as she was apprehended.

Congress' anger at FBI shapes surveillance program's future (AP) — Growing anger at the FBI from both parties in Congress has become a major hurdle for U.S. intelligence agencies fighting to keep their vast powers to collect foreign communications that often sweep up the phone calls and emails of Americans. Key lawmakers say they won’t vote to renew the programs under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that expire at the end of this year without major changes targeting the FBI. Many blame problems with how the FBI’s special agents search for U.S. citizens using Section 702 — along with publicly revealed mistakes in other intelligence investigations by the bureau. Among the revelations since the law was last renewed in 2018: The bureau misled surveillance court judges in seeking to wiretap a 2016 campaign aide for former President Donald Trump, and agents didn’t follow guidelines in searching Section 702 databases for the names of a congressman on the House Intelligence Committee, a local political party, and people of Middle Eastern descent. Two successive chief judges of the primary U.S. surveillance court criticized the bureau in written opinions, with one saying the frequency of mistakes in the bureau’s investigation of Russian election interference “calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable.” The debate is of great consequence to U.S. intelligence officials, who argue that the law is perhaps their most critical tool to stopping terrorism, enemy spies, and cyberattacks. According to the intelligence community, 59% of the items in the briefing given daily to President Joe Biden last year featured information the National Security Agency captured under Section 702. And the classified Pentagon documents leaked online in recent weeks make clear how much the U.S. relies on electronic snooping, with dozens of items on allies and foes alike sourced to what’s known as “signals intelligence.” “Section 702 has kept American citizens safe and our U.S. service members abroad out of danger,” said Rep. Mike Turner, the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, in a statement. “However, changes must be made in order to prevent further FBI misuse and abuse of this vital national security tool.”

Judge tentatively OKs $725M Facebook settlement: How to apply for a payout – A massive $725 million settlement involving Facebook’s parent company Meta was tentatively approved by a judge last month, paving the way for users of the social media platform to apply for a chunk of the payout. Meta has agreed to the payment to settle a lawsuit claiming Facebook allowed users’ personal data to be shared with third parties, the most famous being Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The firm harvested the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users, the Associated Press reported. Final approval of the settlement isn’t expected until September, but Facebook users don’t need to wait to file their claim. Who qualifies for a payment?You don’t need to know if your data was accessed by a third-party app to get a piece of the settlement. Anyone who was a Facebook user between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022, is eligible, per the settlement page. That means a lot of people are eligible — Facebook reports 2 billion users globally, including about 200 million in the United States and Canada.Only U.S. users are eligible for a payment.How do I apply?There are two ways to submit a claim: online or by mail.To file online, you’ll need to click here, answer a few questions about yourself, and then decide how you’d like to be paid (prepaid gift card, direct deposit, PayPal, etc.).To file by mail, you’ll need to print some forms and send them in to the settlement administrator in Philadelphia.

No social media for children under 13, new federal bill proposes - A new bill, unveiled in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, proposes to establish a minimum age for using social media.The bipartisan measure would “prohibit users who are under age 13 from accessing social media platforms.”Named the “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act,” it would prevent tech companies from distributing algorithm-recommended content to those under 18 and require parental consent before creating a profile.Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a co-sponsor,said during a press event that “social media (companies) have stumbled onto a stubborn, devastating fact: The way to get kids to linger on the platforms and to maximize platforms is to upset them.”Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another co-sponsor of the bill, said he believes this bill will give the power back to the parents.“Big tech has exposed our kids to dangerous content and disturbed people,” Cotton said at a news conference, perNBC News.Another component of the bill is a pilot program, headed by the Secretary of Commerce, to virtually verify users according to age requirements. The Federal Trade Commission will be tasked with enforcement.“Moms and dads have felt helpless while their kids suffer, sometimes leading to devastating tragedies,” he said.According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42% of high school students said they experienced sadness and hopelessness last year, while more than one-fifth said they contemplated suicide.The other two sponsors are Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama.“As a parent of two kids — one a teenager and one about to be a teenager — I see firsthand the damage that social media companies, 100% committed to addicting our children to their screens, are doing to our society,” said Murphy in a statement.“The alarm bells about social media’s devastating impact on kids have been sounding for a long time, and yet time and time again, these companies have proven they care more about profit than preventing the well-documented harm they cause.”

Four federal agencies cite dangers in AI systems' ability to discriminate - Four federal agencies have pledged to "vigorously enforce" anti-discrimination laws to protect against the potential dangers of artificial intelligence and automated systems. On Tuesday, the Justice Department's civil rights division, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a joint statement reiterating their commitment to enforcing existing civil rights, consumer protection and fair competition laws and regulations. The four agencies did not issue new regulatory guidance but instead cited previous concerns about the potentially harmful uses of automated systems including AI, that rely on vast amounts of data to find patterns to perform tasks or make recommendations. The agencies said the systems have the potential to produce outcomes that result in unlawful discrimination. "This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and the Justice Department will continue to work with our government partners to investigate, challenge, and combat discrimination based on automated systems," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said in a press release. "As social media platforms, banks, landlords, employers, and other businesses that choose to rely on artificial intelligence, algorithms and other data tools to automate decision-making and to conduct business, we stand ready to hold accountable those entities that fail to address the discriminatory outcomes that too often result." Many technology companies advertise such systems as "providing insights and breakthroughs," or "increasing efficiencies and cost-savings," the agencies said, but the systems also have "the potential to perpetuate unlawful bias, automate unlawful discrimination, and produce other harmful outcomes." Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan reiterated that the FTC will "vigorously enforce the law to combat unfair or deceptive practices or unfair methods of competition." She said "there is no AI exemption to the laws on the books." "We already see how AI tools can turbocharge fraud and automate discrimination, and we won't hesitate to use the full scope of our legal authorities to protect Americans from these threats," Khan said in a press release. "Technological advances can deliver critical innovation — but claims of innovation must not be cover for lawbreaking."

Celsius Creditors Seek to Unmask ‘Suspicious’ FTX Crypto Trades – Bloomberg - Celsius Network LLC creditors want a bankruptcy judge to help them unmask FTX users they allege were involved in suspicious cryptocurrency trades that may have manipulated the price of Celsius’ native token last year.A committee representing Celsius creditors on Wednesday asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to subpoena FTX for information to identify users behind ten cryptocurrency wallets they say engaged in a pattern of suspicious trades of Celsius’ so-called CEL coin between April and August.

Celsius Seeks Permission From Court To Subpoena FTX - Creditors of Celsius Network LLC have requested the assistance of a bankruptcy judge to uncover the identities of FTX users. The creditors believe these individuals were engaged in “questionable cryptocurrency transactions” that potentially influenced the value of Celsius’ proprietary token in the previous year. Celsius Network is looking to subpoena primarily to extract information about particular users who might have records for “suspicious” trading activities throughout the last year. The creditors aim to obtain information regarding 10 cryptocurrency wallets associated with suspicious trades of Celsius’ CEL coin between April and August. The trades in question could hold a significant value for Celsius Network’s bankruptcy case as some were executed when the platform halted withdrawals and before the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.This makes it crucial for the creditors to obtain information on the users involved in the trades to investigate if they manipulated the price of CEL, causing losses for Celsius Network.The committee enlisted the services of blockchain consultant Elementus to identify suspicious transactions. On April 26, the request for subpoenas was submitted in court documents.

FBI agents search home of FTX exec who gave millions to Republicans --The FBI on Thursday reportedly searched the home of former FTX executive Ryan Salame, who ran the failed cryptocurrency exchange's Bahamian subsidiary and was a major campaign donor to Republicans. Yesterday morning's search of Salame's $4 million home in Potomac, Maryland, was reported by The New York Times and Bloomberg, with both media outlets citing anonymous sources.Salame hasn't been charged with a crime but was a member of FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle. Salame received $87 million in payments and loans from FTX entities, the exchange's new leadership said last month.It's unclear what FBI agents were looking for at Salame's house, but the search "signals that federal authorities are not done with their investigation into FTX's collapse as they prepare for Mr. Bankman-Fried's trial set in October," the Times wrote. "They are scrutinizing an array of employees and advisers in the former crypto mogul's orbit, including Mr. Bankman-Fried's younger brother."The Times notes that Salame has been under scrutiny "over the $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year's midterm elections," with federal authorities alleging in court filings "that most of the $90 million contributed to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, had been misappropriated from customers of the exchange."Bankman-Fried is facing 13 criminal charges in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Three former executives who worked with Bankman-Fried at FTX or its affiliate, Alameda Research, already pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges and are cooperating with government prosecutors. The executives who pleaded guilty are Nishad Singh, FTX's former director of engineering; FTX's former CTO Gary Wang; and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison. Bloomberg's article said that "Salame's attorney had spoken with prosecutors on his behalf and handed over information relating to campaign finance activity prior to Thursday's search." Before FTX's collapse, Salame was co-CEO of Bahamian subsidiary FTX Digital Markets.

The fall of FTX and rebirth of NuGenesis. The untold tale of Nugenesis and BitBoy -- NuGenesis is an innovative solution that has made a name for itself in the blockchain space. Recently, NuCoin, the company's cryptocurrency, was targeted by Alameda Research, a well-known player in the industry.NuGenesis has proven the power of Artificial Intelligence by uncovering what is believed to be the greatest crypto scam in history. The company's unwavering focus on innovation and customer satisfaction has led to the development of AI tools that have been instrumental in exposing fraudulent activities committed by Alameda Research and FTX Japan. With the help of AI, NuGenesis was able to sift through massive amounts of data and detect patterns that would have been impossible to spot using traditional methods. This ground-breaking work has put NuGenesis at the forefront of AI-powered blockchain solutions, and the potential impact of their work cannot be overstated. The use of AI has demonstrated that technology has the power to revolutionize the industry and pave the way for a more transparent and accountable future.Nugenesis’ case against Alameda falls into three main categories: breach of fiduciary duty, conflict of interest, negligence, and fraudulent misrepresentation in the purported 'market making' position; market manipulation and fraud regarding the 'dumping' of NuCoin; and counterfeit coin creation by centralized exchanges with more than 192 million counterfeit NuCoin created by FTX Japan and Alameda Research. The company is now in discussions with several legal firms to commence full litigation against Alameda Research and FTX Japan.The scandal has resulted in significant losses for many investors, but NuGenesis has remained resilient and is preparing to launch NuCoin version 2, which could potentially transform the blockchain industry. Despite the challenges faced by NuGenesis, the company has continued to innovate and make incredible progress in the field of AI,Meta processing, and asset chains. Further, the team took the bold step of taking its primary servers offline while relaunching NuCoin version 2. NuCoin version 2 will feature a proof of authority decentralized node network, which could offer faster, more efficient and more secure transactions, while still maintaining the benefits of proof of authority.According to sources familiar with the matter, Nugenesis has been in discussion with several litigation funders and firms about the case. The company's legal team is confident that this will be the best case to demonstrate the fraud committed by Alameda Research and how they undertook that fraud.The collaboration with BitBoy has been particularly significant. In an exclusive interview with Ben Armstrong, also known as BitBoy, CEO Hussein Faraj discussed the critical pre-work done by BitBoy and the Nugenesis team. Without their tireless efforts and strategic planning, the crimes committed by Alameda Research and FTX could have been misconstrued as a mere bank run. But with their help, the fraudulent activities that had taken place were exposed, and justice was served.

House Financial Services, Ag panels to tackle crypto bill together - — Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee's panel on digital assets, said that he and leaders on the House Agriculture Committee will work together on setting up a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. The move for House Republicans is significant, because it signals that they intend to put crypto more under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is overseen by agriculture lawmakers. That's a blow to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who's argued that certain crypto assets are better classified as securities, rather than commodities. Republicans have questioned whether having both the SEC and the CFTC oversee digital assets has created a confusing regulatory landscape for those in the crypto industry. They sought to make that point again at a hearing Thursday afternoon. "The SEC and the CFTC have highlighted an impossible situation, where firms are being subject to enforcement actions from both agencies regarding the same digital asset," Hill said. "Absent legislation, our regulators are only pushing entrepreneurs, developers, and job creators offshore. We have a responsibility to protect our constituents. There are glaring gaps in consumer and investor protections, and regulation by enforcement does nothing to fill these gaps." Gensler is a particular target of House Republicans this Congress, who have criticized the policymaker for his enforcement actions on the digital assets front, as well as a climate disclosure rulemaking.

BankThink: The Fed's blatant attempt to de-bank crypto companies is illegal | American Banker - The Federal Reserve's strategy to de-bank innovators has risen to new heights that deprives the public of its rightful opportunity to engage. Beginning at the end of 2022, the Fed's strategy to cut off the crypto industry from the banking system became unlawful on Feb. 7 when the agency issued a final rule without going through the required notice and comment procedures. The final rule imposes new obligations on state member banks regarding crypto-asset-related activities, including holding crypto assets as principal and issuing stablecoins. Since the final rule was issued on Feb. 7, three banks central to the crypto industry have collapsed or been shut down: Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature. Though Signature was shut down unexpectedly, despite its solvency, by the New York State Department of Financial Services, the FDIC has stepped in and excluded Signature's digital-assets business from the deposits that will be taken over by the assuming institution. This is no coincidence, and the Fed's recent moves illustrate the progression from an unstated policy to a stated policy and, finally, to a rule published in the Federal Register. The progression of this new policy — from a joint statement from the federal banking regulators on Jan. 3 to a final rule barely a month later — indicates a strategy by the Fed board to issue substantive rules while avoiding notice and comment process demanded by the Administrative Procedure Act. The APA ensures that the public has a proper means of engagement in all federal regulatory regimes. Before federal agencies mandate compliance with new rules, the agency must allow the public to provide feedback and additional information so the agency can carefully consider the various implications and impacts of the rule before it becomes final. The final rule requires state member banks to look to federal statutes and regulations to determine whether an activity is permissible for national banks. If there isn't a current applicable rule on the books, state member banks are required to obtain permission from the Fed — this could include permission to hold crypto-assets as principal or issue a stablecoin. In effect, the final rule mandates that federal rules supersede those of the state when it comes to state member banks. For instance, even if a state requires no pre-approval before issuing a stablecoin, state member banks must receive a nonobjection — a written letter stating that the regulator does not object to the activity — from federal regulators before engaging in that activity. The final rule uses mandatory language, fashioned in the form of a rule rather than interpretive guidance, and which would ordinarily need to go through proper APA procedures before taking effect. It sets forth a rebuttable presumption — i.e., an assumed conclusion which can be contradicted if evidence proves otherwise — that the Fed must apply when determining whether a state member bank may engage in crypto-related activities. Before engaging in such activity, member banks must now demonstrate their "clear and compelling rationale" for engaging in the activity and provide evidence of risk management plans in accordance with federal principles of safe and sound banking. This exists outside of applicable state regulatory processes and may infringe on state regulators' ability to effectively regulate the banks existing within their systems. The final rule carries with it the full force of law. Under proper procedure, the Fed would have issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in accordance with the APA. It is settled law that the board cannot avoid the APA's procedural requirements merely by stating that an action is simply policy.

Republicans' new stablecoin bill empowers state regulators over Feds — Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee released a newstablecoin discussion bill, setting the stage for ongoing negotiations with Democratic lawmakers and the White House. The bill is substantially shorter than a bipartisan version released last fall, and is more narrowly limited to stablecoin issuance. The September draft included provisions related to trading platforms and custodial service providers, along with algorithmic stablecoins and central bank digital currency that the most recent version omits. As with the earlier version of the legislation, the new bill would require that stablecoins are fully backed by safe reserves. But the bill would still require that stablecoin issuers be approved or overseen by a regulator, it sets up a larger role for state regulators. Specifically, the bill would create a path for issuers to receive their licensing and be overseen by their state regulator, rather than the Federal Reserve. The Fed would, however, hold the power to overrule a state regulator in the event of a disagreement over enforcement. The bill also explicitly declares that stablecoins are not a security, a point of contention between House Republicans and the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler. The bill isn't expected to garner broad support from Democratic lawmakers, and a Republican aide on the House Financial Services Committee said that it's meant to be a "starting point" for discussions with the committee's Democrats and the White House on the issue.

New paper says stablecoin regulation could pull 20% of deposits from banks - — A newly-published paper from a prominent financial regulation scholar predicts a significant flight of bank deposits from traditional banks should lawmakers and regulators require that the tokens are backed by special reserves that can satisfy withdrawal requests. House Republicans, who earlier this week introduced a discussion draft of a bill that would create a federal framework for stablecoin regulation, are continuing to move forward on negotiations with White House and House Democrats to pass some kind of legislation this Congress. One of the least controversial provisions in that bill — one that was present in the original draft House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., negotiated last Congress — is that stablecoins should be backed one-to-one by reserves of highly liquid assets. Even that would likely have massive implications for banks, according to Mark Flannery, a professor at the University of Florida and former chief economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Flanery also held several senior research positions at the Office of Financial Research and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The paper comes just before Congress is slated to hold another hearing on digital assets, the first in which policy watchers will hear from Democratic lawmakers after Republicans released their updated discussion draft of the stablecoin bill, on Thursday. Stablecoins could draw a substantial amount of deposits away from banks, Flannery says in the paper, provided those banks aren't where stablecoins are holding their reserves. The entrance of reliable stablecoins to the market — ones backed, as suggested by lawmakers, by highly liquid assets or special reserves, would glum up deposits in those stablecoin issuers — causing those deposits to flee from the banking system. That shift could encompass around 20% of current U.S. bank deposits, Flannery said, citing a similar analysis by the Bank of England. Flannery finds that figure "plausible" because of how banking deposits behaved after Money Market Funds grew in popularity.

FTC: E-commerce platform knowingly facilitated payments to scammers - Since 2016, a multinational e-commerce company has worked with tech support scammers to extract at least $18 million from consumer victims. The scheme, outlined in a complaint this month by the Federal Trade Commission, was known to the CEO of the payments company.The court approved three consent orders last week between the FTC and the company, Nexway, establishing a total of $49.5 million in judgments (three judgments of $16.5 million each) against Nexway, its CEO Victor Iezuitov and Chief Strategic Officer Casey Potenzone. However, due to their inability to pay the fines, the parties will instead collectively pay $650,000. The full penalty will apply if the FTC finds evidence that Nexway and its officers lied about their finances.Besides the fines, the FTC is also requiring Nexway to stop a practice called credit card laundering, monitor clients who are at an elevated risk of violating the law, take action against clients who violate telemarketing rules and stop engaging in payment processing for tech support companies that use false or unsubstantiated advertising.The FTC mentioned numerous banks, credit card companies and payment processors in its complaint against Nexway, many of whom took remedial actions against Nexway between 2018 and 2020. These actions included putting Nexway on probationary status over its chargeback rate and telling the company to stop processing payments for one of its criminal clients.By and large, these financial companies went on to fall for tricks that Nexway and one of its main scam telemarketer clients, Tech Live Connect, used to try to turn down the heat. These tricks included the bogus $3 transactions on prepaid credit cards to artificially inflate total transaction numbers and Nexway load-balancing its transactions on behalf of Tech Live Connect with other, legitimate transactionsUltimately, the scheme fell only after scrutiny from multiple state attorneys general, the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Justice. The actions against Nexway put in stark relief how important it is that banks scrutinize the relationships they have with their riskiest clients, according to Tamas Kader, CEO of fraud prevention company SEON.

What's next for banks after the Silicon Valley Bank failure Silicon Valley Bank's failure has bankers asking: what went wrong, and what should we do now? Three journalists at American Banker discuss the problems that led to Silicon Valley Bank's demise as well as what the crisis means for bank regulation, consolidation, and more. Hear Editor-in-Chief Chana Schoenberger in conversation with reporters Allissa Kline, who covers national banks, and Kyle Campbell, who covers the Federal Reserve.Transcription:

GAO: San Francisco Fed 'lacked urgency' on Silicon Valley Bank — The Government Accountability Office, in a report issued Friday on last month's bank failures, took fault with the way the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco oversaw Silicon Valley Bank, the first domino to fall in ongoing turmoil among some regional banks. The Fed has, so far, taken the brunt of criticism regarding the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, particularly from congressional Republicans. In the immediate aftermath of the bank failures, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and the panel's ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., requested that the GAO investigate the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, particularly in regards to regulators' role in overseeing the two institutions. In its report, the GAO found that the San Francisco Fed — the regional Fed bank that supervised Silicon Valley Bank — fell short of following up on concerns that examiners identified at the bank. Examiners flagged problems at the bank as early as 2018, according to the report. At that time, the San Francisco Fed found that despite liquidity levels appearing strong, Silicon Valley Bank's funding sources were concentrated and could be volatile. The regulator issued, or had outstanding matters requiring attention related to risk management and liquidity, in 2018, 2018 and 2022, the report said. The San Francisco Fed downgraded Silicon Valley Bank's composite capital adequacy, assets, management capability, earnings, liquidity and sensitivity rating (its CAMELS score), in 2022 from a 2 to a 3. The bank's management component rating dropped from a 2 to a 3, and its liquidity component rating from a 1 to a 2. "Specifically, FRBSF examiners found that the bank's management and board performance needed improvement and were less than satisfactory," according to the report. "For example, the board did not provide effective oversight of implementation of the risk-management framework and execution of the bank's transition into the Large Financial Institution category. The board also did not hold management accountable for the root causes contributing to weaknesses in liquidity risk management and other risks."

San Francisco Fed's role in Silicon Valley Bank collapse draws U.S. House investigation --The U.S. House's top government watchdog committee has launched an investigation into the role the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and other state and federal regulators played in the March failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Armed with subpoena power, the GOP-led Committee on Oversight and Accountability disclosed its probe in a letter Thursday from the panel's Republican chairman James Comer to San Francisco Fed President and CEO Mary Daly. "SF Fed appears to have failed to adequately supervise SVB and respond to the bank's mismanagement, ultimately leading to SVB's seizure by federal regulators — the second largest bank failure in U.S. History — and threatening a panic in our banking system," Comer and Representative Lisa McClain, chair of the subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, wrote. A San Francisco Fed spokesperson declined to comment. The lawmakers ask Daly to provide documents and material by May 11, including all audits and other reports related to SVB and "a list of all individuals who served as lead examiners on SF Fed examination teams tasked with overseeing SVB." Comer and McClain said the San Francisco Fed reportedly filed at least six "Matters Requiring Attention" or other warnings against SVB as early as July 2022. Those MRAs, they said, show Daly's office knew by the end of 2022 that "almost 96 percent of deposits held at SVB were uninsured, making the bank susceptible to a run." "While the signs of significant and alarming risk were clear, no regulator used more severe tools, such as fines or consent orders, to require action from SVB," they wrote. The committee wants Daly to provide "all communications between the SF Fed and the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Treasury Department or the White House related to SVB."

Fed bosses steered examiners away from raising red flags at failed banks — All through the period when trouble was brewing at Silicon Valley Bank, the Federal Reserve was taking steps that effectively discouraged examiners from doing much about it. That's the picture of the Fed's supervisory culture, and the way it evolved in recent years, that emerges from interviews with more than half-a-dozen people familiar with the central bank's oversight of lenders. Following the deregulatory winds blowing from the White House and Congress, U.S. bank watchdogs set out to clarify and revise rules that could lead to more consolidation of finance. The unwritten rules were changing, too. There was a shift in how some institutions were supervised on the ground, particularly mid-size and small banks that officials didn't see as obviously posing system-wide risks. Yet regulators did end up having to treat SVB's failure as a systemic event. Now the Fed has to explain why it didn't take preventive action. That starts with publication of a report by Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr on Friday. Barr testified last month that Fed supervisors knew about risks at SVB, and had the tools to address them. Michael Barr Examiners at the San Francisco Fed were mostly responsible for the day-to-day oversight of SVB before 2021. But any credible examination of what went wrong must also scrutinize the directions coming from the highest levels of the central bank in Washington, according to the people interviewed for this story. They describe a change that got under way around 2017 and gained traction the following year, when Congress passed legislation to lighten the regulation of mid-sized banks. At roughly the same time, Fed chiefs in Washington were tailoring their supervision of all but the largest lenders. "The question is not what rules were changed, but what the attitude toward supervision was at the Board of Governors," said former Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig, who also served as vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. from 2012 until 2018. Examiners at the regional Fed banks found they were being asked more questions about why they were devoting so much time to lenders that were deemed too small to be systemically risky, according to several of the people. They say the bar was raised for escalating concerns via formal supervisory actions. Attempts by regional staff to flag novel kinds of risk, from crypto to new financial technologies, didn't result in supervisory direction from the Washington board.

The Warning Bell at the Federal Agency Created to Monitor Systemic Bank Risk Failed to Ring -- By Pam and Russ Martens: For years we saluted the work of the Office of Financial Research (OFR) in sounding the alarms about the risks building up in the U.S. banking system – when it was politically unpalatable for the OFR to do so. Then the Trump/Koch administration took over and gutted OFR and put a crony in charge. It does not appear that the damage to staffing and talent under the former Trump/Koch administration has been adequately repaired under the Biden administration. The OFR was created after the near collapse of the U.S. financial system in 2008. It derives its statutory role from the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010. Its key job is to issue timely alerts and research reports to keep the Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC) informed of emerging financial threats or weaknesses that have the potential to crater the U.S. financial system again. Unfortunately, there was no loud warning issued (at least publicly) by OFR prior to three banks blowing up in the span of five days in March and rapidly spreading panic among uninsured bank depositors. According to H.8 data from the Federal Reserve, as of the week ending March 1 there was $17.636 trillion in deposits at U.S. banks, not seasonally adjusted. There was just a negligible drop in deposits of $20 billion over the next week that ended March 8. (The H.8 is based on Wednesday to Wednesday data.) Then the following occurred: On Wednesday, March 8, Silvergate Capital Corporation, parent of Silvergate Bank, which had gotten in bed with crypto companies (including Sam Bankman-Fried’s house of frauds) announced it was winding down and would “voluntarily liquidate the Bank.” That sent depositors fleeing from other banks with crypto exposure and the share prices of those banks plunging. On Friday, March 10, Silicon Valley Bank, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, was put into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). On Sunday, March 12, the New York headquartered Signature Bank was also put into receivership by the FDIC. Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, respectively, were the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history – a point not lost on depositors reading those facts in newspaper headlines. (The largest bank failure was Washington Mutual in 2008.) After this series of events in a 5-day span, deposit flight got into gear. At the close of the week ending March 15, deposits were down to $17.486 trillion. By the close of the week ending March 22, deposits had plunged to $17.307 trillion. From the week ending March 1 to the week ending March 22, deposits in U.S. commercial banks had declined by an astounding $328 billion dollars – in a span of just three weeks. As of the most recent H.8 data for the week ending April 12, deposits stood at $17.380 trillion – still down $256 billion from the week ending March 1. Only one of the banks that imploded was on the OFR’s Contagion Index list. Per the chart above, that was Silicon Valley Bank and it ranked 13 on the OFR’s watch list for the period ending December 31, 2022. The other two banks which helped spread panic and contagion, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank, were not on OFR’s Contagion Index at all. That’s very troubling because on August 1 of last year, we published an article headlined as follows: Brace Yourself for Federally-Insured Bank Failures Caused by Crypto. We specifically mentioned Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank in the article.

Fed's Barr: 'Weaknesses in supervision and regulation must be fixed' --The Federal Reserve's top regulator said the central bank failed in various stages of its supervision of Silicon Valley Bank in the run-up to the bank's failure last month. In a highly anticipated report on the matter, which the agency released Friday morning, Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said Fed supervisors noted clear instances of mismanagement at Silicon Valley Bank months before its collapse but did not appreciate how critical the risks had become or take sufficient steps to address them. The episode, Barr concluded, provides evidence that the Fed needs to revise both its regulatory framework for banks the size of Silicon Valley as well as its overall approach to supervision. "Following Silicon Valley Bank's failure, we must strengthen the Federal Reserve's supervision and regulation based on what we have learned," Barr said in a written statement. "This review represents a first step in that process — a self-assessment that takes an unflinching look at the conditions that led to the bank's failure, including the role of Federal Reserve supervision and regulation." The report provides little in the way of fresh regulatory proposals but notes that the findings will inform ongoing considerations and rulemaking efforts. Those include the final implementation of the Basel III international regulatory standards, long-term debt requirements for large regional banks and Barr's holistic review of capital and liquidity. In a call with reporters, a senior Fed official said the agency's top priorities will be creating supervisory mechanisms that quickly put restraints on banks with serious capital and liquidity issues, and completing the Basel III rulemaking process. Other changes, such as tweaking the accounting standard for accumulated other comprehensive income, or AOCI, would likely require a brand-new rulemaking process. While the Fed does not need congressional approval for any of its considered changes, the senior official said, it expects the process of fully addressing the shortcomings exposed by the Silicon Valley Bank failure to take several years. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who was not involved in the review process, issued a statement of support for the report's findings and said he would back the changes called for. "I welcome this thorough and self-critical report on Federal Reserve supervision from Vice Chair Barr," Powell said. "I agree with and support his recommendations to address our rules and supervisory practices, and I am confident they will lead to a stronger and more resilient banking system."

Conflating issues or missing the point? Banks react to Fed report - As the dust settles on a pair of reports about last month's failure of Silicon Valley Bank, parties on both sides of the issue are walking away wanting more.Both the Federal Reserve and the Government Accountability Office released their findings on the matter on Friday, though it was Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr's report that garnered the most attention.Backers and detractors alike commended Barr for putting together a comprehensive review that addressed the Fed's own supervisory failings that contributed to the demise of the $200 billion bank last month, despite having just six weeks to do so. But bank groups argue the policy recommendations included in the 114-page report are misguided, particularly those relating to regulatory changes.Kevin Fromer, president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum, a trade group that represents the eight largest banks in the country, took issue with Barr's calls for heightened capital requirements for all large banks in the wake of the failure. He argued that Barr is using the unique circumstances surrounding Silicon Valley Bank — a fast-growing bank with a distinct business model and distinctively poor risk management capabilities — to justify industrywide changes."One should not conflate a liquidity-driven event marked by management failures and supervisory shortcomings with capital adequacy at the largest U.S. banks," Fromer said in a written statement. "The assertion in the introduction that the Fed should focus on large bank capital requirements is disconnected from the report's conclusions."Similarly, Greg Baer, president and CEO of the lobbying group Bank Policy Institute, pushed back against Barr's assessment that regulatory changes ushered in by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018, also known as S. 2155, played a role in the bank's failure. Instead, Baer said, the issue was that Fed supervisors — from both the Board of Governors in Washington and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco — failed to act on clear signs that the bank was in trouble, including the fact that it failed its own internal stress tests and that it had insufficient hedges on its interest rate risk exposures."Put simply, there is no provision of S. 2155 that requires examiners to misjudge interest rate risk," Baer said in a written statement, "the examination materials make clear that nothing in S. 2155 prevented them from properly examining it."Meanwhile, Baer took a positive view of the congressionally requested GAO report, which hung more blame on the San Francisco Fed's "lack of urgency" around addressing issues at Silicon Valley Bank. He called it "accurate and objective."Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, took a less hard-lined stance against the Fed. He applauded the focus of both the GAO report and the Barr report on the failure of bank supervisors to use the tools at their disposal, as well as the acknowledgment of both assessments that Silicon Valley Bank itself was a unique circumstance.

BankThink: The SVB and Signature bailouts broke Dodd-Frank's promises | American Banker - Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act to "end 'too big to fail' [and] protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts." When President Obama signed Dodd-Frank into law in 2010, he assured Americans that "[t]here will be no more tax-funded bailouts, period," and "no firm [will be] somehow protected because it is 'too big to fail.'" Those promises were broken when federal officials relied on the Deposit Insurance Fund to protect uninsured depositors of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.Merriam-Webster defines "bailout" as "a rescue from financial distress." The federal government's decisions to protect SVB's and Signature's uninsured depositors were undeniably bailouts because those decisions rescued uninsured depositors from financial distress. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg told Congress that many uninsured depositors of SVB and Signature were businesses that were "at risk of not being able to make payroll and pay suppliers." Federal authorities relied on the "systemic risk exception" in the Federal Deposit Insurance Actto justify their bailouts. The FDIC, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department said they were protecting SVB's and Signature's uninsured depositors to avoid or mitigate "serious adverse effects on economic conditions or financial stability." By invoking the exception, federal agencies treated SVB and Signature as "too big to fail" in the sense that each bank was "so ingrained in [the] financial system or economy that its failure would be disastrous." The bailouts of SVB's and Signature's uninsured depositors have clearly placed taxpayer funds at risk. The insurance fund's primary purpose is "to insure the deposits and protect the depositors of insured banks." According to the FDIC, the fund will suffer total losses of $19.3 billion from protecting SVB's and Signature's uninsured depositors. Those losses will consumeabout 15% of the fund's existing reserves, thereby reducing its ability to protect the insured deposits held by taxpayers in other FDIC-insured banks.Taxpayers are also at risk of paying higher taxes if the fund's losses from SVB and Signature make it impossible for the fund to cover losses from failures of other large banks. The FDICwould then be forced to borrow from the Treasury under its $100 billion line of credit. The FDIC's obligation to repay those borrowings would be backed by "the full faith and credit of the United States," i.e., the taxpayers.The FDIC plans to recoup its losses from protecting SVB's and Signature's uninsured depositors by imposing a special assessment on FDIC-insured banks. Requiring community banks to pay that special assessment would be patently unfair, as uninsured depositors in community banks would be highly unlikely to receive similar protection if their banks failed. Since the systemic risk exception was enacted in 1991, the FDIC has never used that provision to protect uninsured depositors in a failed bank with less than $100 billion of assets.Federal officials should have protected SVB's and Signature's uninsured depositors by following Dodd-Frank's carefully designed framework for dealing with failures of systemically important banks. Under Title II of Dodd-Frank, federal officials should have placed SVB and Signature in receiverships administered by the FDIC under the Orderly Liquidation Authority. The net cost of resolving SVB and Signature under Title II of Dodd-Frank would have been covered by the Treasury's Orderly Liquidation Fund. The FDIC would have paid for that cost by imposing a special assessment on banks with assets of $50 billion or more. Congress established the OLA and OLF to ensure that big banks — not taxpayers or community banks — would cover the costs of resolving failed megabanks.

BankThink: Deposit migration to large banks would harm small businesses | American Banker - In the wake of the failure and subsequent bailout of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank,America's small businesses, including millions owned by women and people of color, were suddenly faced with a dilemma: Do they keep their business with the regional and community banks that have served them so well over the years, or should they move assets to one of the handful of "too big to fail" banks that are viewed as most likely to get this sort of government backstop in the future?In the banking universe, Main Street businesses are served by industry-focused institutions, such as Silicon Valley Bank, as well as thousands of regional, community and business banks. These businesses require services that involve transaction amounts well above Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance limits, often parked as deposits in-transit. The threat of interruptions to those transactions affects the risk management choices of these firms. Triggering systemic flight to safety is something that regulators and lawmakers need to consider.This could have a disproportionate impact on the progress of minority- and women-owned businesses, which often require the "personal touch" attention of community and business banks as they seek access to needed capital. A significant portion of this economic flexibility could be lost if deposits from smaller institutions migrate to national ones.As executives with nongovernmental organizations that work with regional, community, and business banks to customize community benefit plans for the outreach and outcome needs of underserved communities, we believe the potential loss of smaller institutions would create a vacuum in the delivery of services that could impede numerous policy goals.It's not in the best interest of the Main Street economy for businesses to concentrate their banking in this manner. America's smaller community and business banks provide vital services supporting supply chain, manufacturing, operations and payroll transactions that depend on the more flexible relationships local banks deliver. Ensuring America's companies remain confident in their banks as they engage in depository institutions in transactions well above the FDIC deposit insurance limit is vital to the national interest. This is a confidence and stability mission focus that bank regulators need to reprioritize.

Regional banks, bracing for stricter rules, call for phased-in approach -Regional bank executives are bracing for tougher rules after Silicon Valley Bank's failure, but they're also hoping regulators take a measured approach and move slowly. In earnings calls this month, executives of banks with more than $100 billion of assets appeared resigned to the fact that more regulations are coming. Some said they're holding off on share buybacks until they get more clarity on what those rules will look like. And while they said they're prepared for any regulatory changes, bankers are hoping they're phased in so that the impact isn't sudden. "You can't move too fast because we all can't go out there and raise a bunch of debt at the same time. It would be tough for the market to absorb," said David Turner, the chief financial officer at Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions Financial, referring to an expected change that would prompt banks to raise long-term debt to cushion the blow of losses. Bruce Van Saun, CEO of Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group, said it's "clear that some changes will occur." But he questioned whether the answer to last month's failures of tech-heavy Silicon Valley Bank and crypto-friendly Signature Bank is "more regulation on regional banks." He noted that those two banks had far different customer bases than most regionals, and he also argued that the banks' supervisors "didn't really do their job." "Our hope is that the response is thoughtful and appropriate, leaving the bank landscape that has served our country so well intact and even stronger than before," Van Saun said.

Magnitude Of Losses And Outflows Is Alarming- Credit Suisse Hemorrhages $69 Billion In Assets - Credit Suisse reported Monday that clients had withdrawn 61.2 billion francs ($69 billion) in the first quarter and that outflows were continuing, highlighting the challenge faced by UBS in rescuing its rival in March. In the last financial statement as an independent company, Credit Suisse reported a loss of 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.46 billion) for the first three months of the year. It said "significant net asset outflows" were seen in March. Most asset outflows originated from its wealth management unit and occurred in all regions. The troubled bank said, "These outflows have moderated but have not yet reversed as of April 24, 2023." Credit Suisse's wealth management unit lost 9% of assets in the first quarter. It said this would slash fees it generates and "likely lead to a substantial loss in wealth management" in the second quarter. The Swiss government ultimately forced UBS' $3.25 billion takeover of Credit Suisse last month, and carried significant integration risks. Both banks could see a continued exodus of customers. High net worth investors started pulling money out of scandal-plagued Credit Suisse well before the turmoil unleashed in the regional US banking sector in March. Bloomberg said more than 200 billion francs of customer deposits over the last six months flowed out of the troubled bank.

Ahead of First Republic Bank’s Earnings Report Today, Moody’s Paints a Bleak Outlook -- By Pam and Russ Martens -- All of those pundits who have written over the past two weeks that the banking crisis is over, have failed to persuade the big credit ratings agency, Moody’s. Last Friday, Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings of 11 banks and put another five banks on negative watch – all in one day. And, for good measure, it downgraded the entire U.S. banking system from “Very Strong –” to “Strong +.” While not mentioning the Federal Reserve directly, the Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. banking system seemed to point directly at the Fed’s unrelenting interest rate hikes. Moody’s wrote:“Moody’s has lowered the macro profile of the US banking system to ‘Strong +’ from ‘Very Strong –.’ The change in funding conditions reflects rising asset liability management challenges at US banks. Specifically, the banking system faces rising funding and profitability pressures related to the significant and rapid tightening in monetary policy, which has led to a reduction in US banking system deposits and higher funding costs. Higher interest rates have also reduced the value of US banks’ fixed rate securities and loans which increases their liquidity and capital risks.” In simple terms, banks are actually going to have to start competing for deposits by paying bank customers a decent yield, instead of bragging about their great franchise and offering a fraction of one percent on deposits while big mutual fund companies are offering close to 5 percent on government money market funds. (See our report: The Banking Crisis Knock-On Effect Has Been a Stampede into Government Money Market Funds – Foiling the Fed’s Effort to Raise Market Interest Rates.) This raises the dilemma the Fed now faces after too many unprecedented years of ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy): kill inflation or kill the banks. First Republic Bank, which is set to report earnings and the extent of its deposit shrinkage after the market closes today, was one of the 11 banks impacted by Moody’s downgrades on Friday. Moody’s downgraded its preferred shares deeper into junk territory, to CA from Caa1. First Republic Bank is the west coast bank that U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, and Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, set out to “rescue” in mid-March with the dumb idea of putting $30 billion more of uninsured deposits from the mega banks on Wall Street into the sinking bank. After that “rescue” mission occurred on March 16, S&P Global downgraded the bank deeper into junk territory and the share price of First Republic Bank continued to collapse. First Republic’s stock has lost 90 percent of its value over the past year. As for the feasibility of the “rescue” plan actually working, Moody’s had this to say: “…while the news of the banking consortium’s deposits is positive in the short-run, the longer-run path for the bank back to sustained profitability remains uncertain. Moody’s also listed its outlook for First Republic at “RUR,” meaning “Ratings Under Review.” It wrote: “The review for downgrade reflects the continuing challenges to the bank’s medium-term credit profile in light of its significantly eroded deposit base, increased reliance on expensive / costly short-term wholesale funding and sizeable volume of unrealized losses on its investment securities. The review will focus on the likelihood of the bank’s preferred stocks being partly or wholly wound down, which would trigger a further downgrade to C(hyb), the lowest rating on Moody’s scale.”

First Republic Tumbles After Deposits Plunge More Than Expected; Borrows $100BN From Fed, FHLB, JPM -- Moments ago the regional bank at the forefront of the banking crisis, First Republic, whose stock crashed from $125 to $12 one month ago amid the broader banking crisis, reported its closely watched earnings. And, on the surface, they weren't terrible: the company beat on both EPS, Net Interest Income and revenues:

• Q1 Revenue $1.2BN, -14% Y/Y, beating the estimate of $1.12BN
• Q1 EPS of $1.23, beating estimates of $0.72
• Q1 Net Interest Income $923MM, -19%, but beating estimates of $889.9MM

The balance sheet was relatively solid:

• Common equity Tier 1 ratio 9.32%, beating estimates of 8.84%
• Provision for credit losses $16 million, +60% y/y, below the estimate $22.2 million
• Return on average common equity 6.55% vs. 11.9% y/y, estimate 4.22%
• New originations $11.44 billion, -36% y/y
• Debt securities available-for-sale $3.41 billion, +1.9% q/q, above the estimate $2.8 billion
• Debt securities held-to-maturity $31.39 billion, +11% q/q, above the estimate $28.21 billion (2 estimates)
• Cash and cash equivalents $13.16 billion vs. $4.28 billion q/q, well above estimate $3.62 billion

The company also "optimized" on the expense side:

• Non-interest expenses $852 million, -1.6% y/y, below the estimate $898.1 million
• The bank is also taking steps to reduce expenses, "including significant reductions to executive officer compensation, condensing corporate office space, and reducing non-essential projects and activities. The Bank also expects to reduce its workforce by approximately 20-25% in the second quarter."

But the one item that everyone was looking at was the bank's deposit and loan exposure, and it was here that the bank reported a doozy: deposits at March 31 were down 41% from $172BN as of year end to $104.5BN at quarter end (including $30BN from a consortium of banks, so really $74BN), and then dropped another 1.7% through April 21, which is if nothing else a silver lining: at least the pace of outflows is slowing.

First Republic Discloses it’s a Zombie by Wolf Richter - First Republic, the San Francisco bank that started teetering in March when Silicon Valley Bank was felled by its well-connected big depositors, reported earnings this evening. And it looks like it has handled the run on the bank for now: It’s still standing, though its deposits had plunged by 41% (by $72 billion) by March 31, compared to December 31.But those deposits include the $30 billion that 11 large banks deposited at the bank in March to prop it up and keep contagion from spreading.Without this influx of $30 billion, deposits would have dropped by 50%. So this was really nip and tuck. The deposits began to stabilize at the end of March and have since then hovered just over $100 billion, it said today.The bank lined up a lot of cash to cover the past run on the bank and deal with a future run. But it comes at a hefty price: It has to borrow this cash from the Fed and from the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs), and this is expensive money.For its loans on March 31, the bank’s average borrowing rates were:

• Fed Discount Window: 4.85%
• Fed’s new BTFP: 4.57%
• Short-term FHLB advances: 4.8%

The Fed raised all its policy rates by 25 basis points on March 22, including to 5.0% at the Discount Window, and apparently those new rates have not fully filtered into First Republic’s borrowings by the end of March.So this is expensive money. And the bank has to post to collateral to borrow this money. In addition, it borrowed from JP Morgan. By contrast, if it borrows from depositors, it doesn’t have to post collateral.These borrowings combined peaked on March 15 at $138 billion, the bank said in its earnings report. By April 21, these borrowings had dropped to $104 billion.It had $13 billion in cash and cash equivalent as of March 31, and $10 billion on April 21, up from $4 billion on December 31. Plus it has unused borrowing capacity at the Fed and at the FHLB, giving it a total available liquidity of $45 billion as of April 21, which is more than twice the amount needed to cover the remaining uninsured deposits – those are the ones that are most likely to run.So apocalypse not now. But the bank is borrowing at high rates and it has to post collateral to borrow at those rates, when in the olden days it was able to borrow from depositors without paying them any or hardly any interest.

First Republic faces potential curb on borrowing from Fed - U.S. bank regulators are weighing the prospect of downgrading their private assessments of First Republic Bank — a move that may curb the troubled firm's access to Federal Reserve lending facilities.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has been giving the bank time to reach a private deal to shore up its finances. But as weeks keep passing without a transaction, senior officials are increasingly weighing whether to downgrade their scoring of the firm's condition, including its so-called Camels rating, according to people with direct knowledge of the talks. That would likely limit the bank's use of the Fed's discount window and an emergency facility launched last month, the people said.The FDIC hasn't reached a decision, nor have officials warned First Republic about their thinking while waiting on the bank's managers to shore up its balance sheet, some of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the private conversations. If the firm is able to reach a deal with new backers to strengthen its finances, that could head off the need to lower ratings.Spokespeople for the company, FDIC, Fed and Treasury Department declined to comment.First Republic has been struggling to find a rescuer for weeks, and any steps to raise capital or sell holdings quickly could be painful for current shareholders. The stock lost half its remaining value on Tuesday after quarterly results disappointed investors and news broke that the firm might sell $50 billion to $100 billion of assets.One stumbling block to a solution has been the conflicting needs of U.S. officials and the banks that might help. The regulators favor a private rescue that doesn't involve the U.S. seizing the bank and taking a multibillion-dollar hit to the FDIC's insurance fund. Banks want to avoid anything that damages their own finances and have been waiting for the government to offer aid, such as the FDIC taking control of the firm's least desirable assets — something that can happen under the law only if First Republic fails and is put into receivership.

First Republic likely headed for FDIC receivership, sources say; shares drop 40% -- Shares of First Republic dropped sharply Friday as hopes dimmed for a rescue deal that could keep the bank afloat. Sources told CNBC's David Faber that the most likely outcome for the troubled bank is for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to take it into receivership. The stock slid 43% and was halted for volatility multiple times. Shares of First Republic were down more than 50% at one point during the session, hitting an intraday low of $2.98 per share. The stock has now fallen 97% this year, with most of the losses coming after investors lost confidence in the bank following the failure of two regional lenders in March. The FDIC is asking other banks for potential bids on First Republic if the regulator were to seize the bank, sources told Faber. There is still hope for a solution that doesn't include receivership, according to those sources. First Republic told Faber on Friday that "we are engaged in discussions with multiple parties about our strategic options while continuing to serve our clients." CNBC reported Wednesday that First Republic's advisors were preparing to pitch larger banks on a plan that would let the regional lender sell bonds and other assets at an above-market rate and then raise equity. The sales would result in a loss for the banks that buy the bonds but could be cheaper long-term than letting the bank fail and get seized by regulators. Reuters reported Friday that U.S. officials — including from the FDIC, Treasury Department and Federal Reserve — are coordinating meetings with other banks to broker a rescue plan for First Republic. Shares of First Republic closed at $16 on Monday before the bank reported its first-quarter results, which showed a decline in deposits of about 40%. The stock fell more than 60% over the next two days, hitting a new all-time low. First Republic is a regional bank that has focused on high net worth individuals and their businesses, including offering mortgages at low interest rates to those customers. Those mortgages, as well as other long-term assets on the bank's balance sheet, have fallen in market value since the Fed began hiking rates last year, making investors worried that the bank would have to book a sizeable loss if forced to sell those assets to raise cash. The bank's massive deposit outflows came after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March. The nation's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, have already helped out First Republic since then with $30 billion in time deposits. First Republic Bank will be placed under the receivership of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation imminently, according to a report. Reuters reported on Friday that the FDIC has decided that the regional bank's position has deteriorated, leaving no more time to go after a private sector rescue, a source told the outlet.

JP Morgan, PNC said to bidding for First Republic (NYSE:FRC) -- JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and PNC Financial (NYSE:PNC) are competing to buy distressed regional bank First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) should the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. take over the institution, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday. A seizure and sale of First Republic (FRC) by the FDIC could happen this weekend, sources told the newspaper.This isn't the first time JP Morgan (JPM) and PNC (PNC) have been involved with First Republic (FRC). In March, big banks that include the two discussed making asizable infusion of capital into the troubled bank. If First Republic (FRC) were to be seized, it would mark the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.

Jamie Dimon’s Deeply Conflicted Role as “Rescuer” of First Republic Bank Requires a Credible Investigation - By Pam and Russ Martens - The Board of Directors and shareholders at the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase – which has more than 5,000 Chase Bank branches dotting the landscape from coast to coast – have ample reason to ask themselves where the loyalties of the bank’s Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon exactly lie. Dimon, who has come under withering negative publicity for the bank’s many years of catering to the cash payoff needs of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, had an urgent incentive to want to change the subject. So a media blitz ensued around his role as rescuer of the sinking carcass of a much smaller bank, First Republic Bank – which has its own dubious distinction of being the bank that wired the hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels by Trump attorney, Michael Cohen. For just how broadly Dimon’s “rescue” of First Republic Bank has been reported, scroll down at this link. Only someone living off the grid or in a coma did not hear that Jamie Dimon was riding to the rescue of First Republic Bank. Jamie Dimon was the worst possible choice to head up a rescue of First Republic Bank as he is the personification of what happens when a trading casino is allowed to own the largest federally-insured bank in America. Under Dimon’s tenure at the helm of JPMorgan Chase, it has been charged with losing $6.2 billion of depositors’ money by gambling in derivatives in London; its precious metals tradershave been charged under RICO – the statute used to prosecute the mob; it has received an unprecedented five felony counts from the U.S. Department of Justice, includingaiding and abetting the largest Ponzi scheme in history by Bernie Madoff, and on and on. But Jamie Dimon has a legion of public relations flacks shaping his image as a titan of Wall Street wisdom and he has clearly gotten high on his own p.r. supply. So Dimon cajoled three other mega banks on Wall Street to join his bank and dump $5 billion each of uninsured deposits into First Republic Bank on March 16. Those banks were Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. In addition, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs deposited $2.5 billion each; while BNY Mellon, State Street, PNC Bank, Truist and US Bank each deposited $1 billion, bringing the total infusion to $30 billion. In addition, according to First Republic, JPMorgan Chase had also provided a line of credit to the bank. Multiple media outlets also reported that JPMorgan Chase and Lazard were advisors to First Republic Bank on its options going forward. (See here andhere.) Yesterday, the share price of First Republic plunged another 49 percent, closing at an all-time low of $8.10. In response, CNBC is reporting that there is now a plan afoot to attempt to cajole the 11 banks that sluiced the $30 billion in temporary deposits to First Republic to convert that into an equity stake. Seriously? What the devil is going on here and why aren’t the shareholders of these banks wielding pitchforks?

Banks that Put Up $30 Billion to “Rescue” First Republic May Have Been Trying to Rescue their Own Exposure to $247 Trillion in Derivatives - By Pam and Russ Martens: Ever since 11 banks on March 16 donned the garb of heroic fire fighters, rushing to extinguish an inferno at a competitor bank before it spread further, we have been asking ourselves the question – why just this group of 11 banks.We’re talking about the action on March 16 when 11 banks chipped in a total of $30 billion and bizarrely placed those funds as uninsured deposits into First Republic Bank – which was in full scale unraveling mode because of bond losses and – wait for it – too many uninsured deposits. Four banks contributed two-thirds of the total deposits with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo ponying up $5 billion each. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs deposited $2.5 billion each; while BNY Mellon, State Street, PNC Bank, Truist and U.S. Bank each deposited $1 billion, together making up the other one-third of the $30 billion.According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as of December 31, 2022 there were 4,706 federally-insured commercial banks and savings associations in the U.S. The 11 banks rushing to “rescue” First Republic Bank represent less than a fraction of one percent of the total banks. Banking in the U.S. is not particularly regarded as an altruistic industry. In fact, it frequently resembles a blood sport. So why this uncanny display of generosity to a competitor and why were just these 11 banks involved?Yesterday, we had an epiphany. We pulled up the most recent table from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency showing the 25 bank holding companies that have the largest exposure to derivatives. Sure enough, each of those 11 banks is on the list. (Seepage 19 at this link.) The data is as of December 31, 2022.Equally noteworthy, the four banks that chipped in the giant sums of $5 billion each, control 58 percent of the total $247 trillion notional (face amount) in derivatives controlled by all 25 banks.And if that wasn’t already plenty to raise one’s blood pressure, for many of these banks the dollar amount of derivatives is exponentially more than the total assets of the bank holding company. For example, SMBC Americas Holdings, Inc. has $34.6 billion in assets and $10.3 trillion in derivatives. (You can’t make this stuff up.)It also caught our eye that three of the 25 banks on this list had their credit ratings impacted by the big action taken by Moody’s on April 21 when it downgraded the credit ratings of 11 banks on that date and put five more on negative watch. (See chart below.)

FDIC, Wall Street scramble to pull together sale of First Republic Bank - Federal regulators are rushing to seal a deal to sell troubled lender First Republic to a larger bank, with JPMorgan Chase as a top contender, two people involved in the talks said on Saturday. The FDIC wants to complete an agreement by Sunday evening that would likely include the government taking on some of First Republic’s troubled assets or offering other guarantees that would make buying the bank less risky for would-be suitors. Formal bids for First Republic — which has seen heavy deposit outflows and suffered massive share price declines in recent weeks — are due to the FDIC by the middle of the day on Sunday, according to the people, who requested anonymity to provide details of the discussions. Federal regulators are hoping to put an end to turmoil in the banking industry following the stunning collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month. First Republic’s problems largely stemmed from the panic that engulfed those two banks amid a run on deposits. First Republic, until this year one of the more envied banking franchises in America with over $200 billion in assets at the end of the first quarter, would be the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history after SVB and Washington Mutual. First Republic issued a grim earnings report last week that showed just how fast deposits were racing away, replaced by more expensive loans, an unsustainable formula that helped spark the latest stock price collapse. While JPMorgan and PNC Financial expressed interest in a First Republic deal on Thursday, the bidding process was formally opened up on Friday, which could clear the way for another large bank to also make the winning offer, one person familiar with the process said. It also remains possible that the FDIC could decide that the bids they receive are insufficient and no deal could emerge. That would mean First Republic opening for business again on Monday and trying to survive at least until regulators agree to a subsequent bid.

After Wasting $11.6 billion on Share Buybacks (“Return Value to Shareholders” LOL), Meme-Stock Pump-n-Dump Bed Bath & Beyond Goes Bankrupt, Will Liquidate by Wolf Richter - Bed Bath and Beyond finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday and said it will liquidate its assets, and close its remaining stores, unless it can find a bidder for the Bed Bath and Beyond stores and for the buybuy BABY stores, in which case it would keep the stores open to retain value for the bidder. If it cannot find a buyer, that’ll be it. It said the liquidation sale of its assets has begun.A year ago, the bond market started seeing a bankruptcy filing and prices of the bonds began to collapse. By August 2022, suppliers got cold feet and halted shipments due to unpaid bills.When this came out, its 30-year bonds, issued in 2014, plunged to 16 cents on the dollar (by Friday, they were at about 5 cents on the dollar).While this was going on in 2022, the company promoted its latest turnaround plan and closed hundreds of stores. But you can’t turn around a failing brick-and-mortar retailer. On January 5th this year, the company issued a “going concern” warning.On January 26, it disclosed that it had defaulted on its credit line with JPMorgan, and reiterated that it may have to file for bankruptcy. On February 1, the company failed to make an interest payment on $1 billion in bonds. A few days later came the company’s last-ditch share-sale scheme with Hudson Bay Capital, which effectively finished off its shares though it was able to raise some cash, which delayed the bankruptcy filing. Nothing had worked, not even the wild pump-and-dump schemes among the meme-stock jockeys that caused shares [BBBY] to spike by fantastical percentages in no time, only to totally collapse in hours or days. On Friday, before the bankruptcy filing, shares closed at 23 cents. When a retailer goes bankrupt, there are few assets and lots of debt, and it’s over for the shares, they’ll vanish.Bed Bath and Beyond was inducted into my pantheon ofImploded Stocks in June 2022. Here’s the wild-ride meme-stock chart. We’ll look at a long-term chart in a moment (data viaYCharts):

Does the Fed need Congress to authorize a central bank digital currency? Maybe not. -The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will not be issuing a central bank digital currencyanytime soon, but that doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't whenever it wants to.Fed leaders have been adamant that the agency needs congressional approval to move forward on the implementation of a digital dollar, not because it is their preference, but as a "matter of law," as Fed Chair Jerome Powell put it to the House Committee on Financial Services last June."I think we will need to have an authorizing law, and I think we haven't decided whether we think this is in the public's interest," Powell told the committee. "If we do, we will come to you."Yet, some experts say this assertion is just one interpretation of the various laws governing the Fed's issuance of currency. Should changes to attitudes or leadership on the board tilt it in favor of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, an argument could be made that the institution already has the authority to recognize a digital dollar as legal tender.One person making that argument is Jonathan Dharmapalan, founder and CEO of the financial software firm eCurrency, which provides technical assistance to governments establishing CBDCs. Because Congress gave the Department of the Treasury the power to mint and print currency, and the Fed the ability to distribute that currency into the economy, he said, that is all the approval needed. Additional legislation specifically extending those powers to modern interfaces are unnecessary, he said."This is not a mimicking of some crypto asset," Dharmapalan said. "This is actually an execution of the intent of the Constitution and the subsequent laws that were put into place that caused the United States dollar to exist, then applying those to a digital instrument, no different than the notes and coins we carry in our pockets — or those, I should say, that we are not carrying in our pockets anymore."

BankThink: FedNow will offset the need for a digital dollar | American Banker - Financial institutions will soon gain access to FedNow, the Federal Reserve's instant payment service scheduled to launch this summer. This is an important development for community banks, with the service allowing local institutions to gain access to a new system with instant clearing and settlement and requests for payment. These new features will offer community banks and their customers safe, secure, and efficient real-time payments while negating the need for a U.S. central bank digital currency. The market for faster payments is rapidly growing, so the timing of FedNow is advantageous to community banks and the customers and communities they serve. In the five years since the launch of The Clearing House's RTP Network, volumes have steadily increased by more than 10% per quarter. The launch of FedNow will drive further adoption of instant payments by supporting universal access to meet market demand. Then there are many consumer and business benefits that will be realized through the launch of FedNow. According to the Federal Reserve, 60% of businesses are looking for quicker access to funds and 57% want to be able to post immediately or automatically to customers' accounts. FedNow will help businesses — particularly small businesses — manage their cash flow and improve efficiencies. On-demand payments also will allow businesses to pay suppliers upon receipt of products or services, freeing up working capital. For consumers, FedNow will speed up access to paychecks, improve the ability of individuals and families to pay their bills on time, and provide confidence that payments will post to the biller's account immediately. This will cut down on late fees and penalties while reducing consumer reliance on short-term, high-cost loans by nonbank lenders. Consumers also will be able to move money between accounts, load prepaid cards, and fund investment accounts and mobile wallets instantly — eliminating a lag that can be inconvenient and costly. This immediate access to funds will promote the financial well-being for many. An estimated 64% of all consumers live paycheck to paycheck, including 51% of those earning more than $100,000 per year. With many workers not paid in real time — often receiving paychecks for work completed weeks earlier — FedNow will advance the shift to on-demand pay.

FSOC isn't reining in nonbanks anytime soon | American Banker— Banks praised the Financial Stability Oversight Council's proposals to expedite and expand their authority to designate nonbanks as systemically risky, but experts say GOP pushback and the glacial pace of regulation mean tangible results will be a long time coming.In the days after the council issued the proposals, banking trade groups offered their support of both FSOC and the push to rein in nonbank firms and activities that they say skirt the kinds of regulation the public has come to expect from banks."Large nonbank financial institutions that pose outsized risks to the financial system similar to those posed by large banks should be required to meet similar capital and liquidity standards," Rebeca Romero Rainey, president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said in a release. "We support the publication of new guidance that will level the playing field, address risks to financial stability, and provide transparency to the public." The Bank Policy Institute, which represents large banks, echoed that sentiment in its own statement, saying that "activities with the same risk should have the same regulation, whether at a bank or nonbanks."But experts say the proposals are only the beginning of what will likely be a long slog of political mudslinging and regulatory procedure. "Nonbanks, and Republicans in Congress, will push back hard on the FSOC proposal," said Ian Katz, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners. "Don't expect FSOC designations anytime soon. There's still a very long process the FSOC would have to go through to tag a nonbank as a SIFI. Even if it started now, the process would probably take at least a year. And any designated company is likely to challenge the decision in court."

Texas Bankers sue CFPB over small business lending data rule - The largest state bank trade group in the country is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to block the rollout of a new data collection requirement. The Texas Bankers Association filed suit against the CFPB in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Wednesday. The lawsuit challenges a rule that will require banks to disclose, among other things, information about applicants that are approved or denied small business loans.The lawsuit notes concerns about the CFPB's ability to safeguard the delicate information it is demanding from banks, citing the recent disclosed breach at the agency, which compromised data on more than 250,000 consumers and dozens of companies."The rule will require practically all small business borrowers to be questioned on personal information then reported back to CFPB, which recently exposed data on nearly a quarter million consumers," TBA president and CEO Chris Furlow said in a written statement. In its lawsuit, the TBA is asking the court to declare the rule unconstitutional, with part of its argument resting on a ruling rendered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last fall. That ruling, which is being challenged in the Supreme Court, deemed the agency's funding structure violated the Constitution's separation of powers principle, because it is provided directly by the Federal Reserve without going through the congressional appropriations process.The TBA lawsuit also argues that the CFPB violated the Administrative Procedure Act by abusing its discretion over the matter.A CFPB spokesperson said the agency stands by its rule and the manner in which it was enacted, and it is ready to fight for it in court.

Lawmakers fret SBA may be flirting with looser underwriting -The Small Business Administration may loosen a central underwriting requirement for loans under its 7(a) and 504 loan-guarantee programs by permitting borrowers to self-certify they are unable to obtain a conventional loan, according to House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams."We're hearing that the SBA is considering changing the standard operating procedure to allow for businesses to self-certify they could not find any credit elsewhere in the private sector," Williams, R-Texas, said last week during a hearing of the Small Business Committee's Oversight Investigations and Regulations Subcommittee.Williams called the idea of credit-elsewhere self-certification a "major departure" from SBA's current practice, where the lender makes the certification and can be held accountable if it is determined later a borrower had other financing options."After what we just came through with [the Paycheck Protection Program and the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan Program], I don't see how we could be relying on any self-certification," SBA Inspector General Hannibal Ware said at the April 19 subcommittee hearing in response to Williams' comment. "I believe it adds significant risk and we have the evidence and experience to know that it does." Self-certification is a sensitive topic. Congress allowed borrowers to self-certify their eligibility for the PPP, which was overrun by fraudsters to the tune of nearly $200 billion, according to some estimates. That decision arguably made PPP an easier target.

FDIC and OCC say certain overdraft practices are unfair or deceptive -The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. released notices Wednesday taking aim at certain overdraft practices at banks, stepping up the Biden administration's campaign against financial fees that regulators feel are excessive. Though not the first time bank regulators have warned firms about their distaste for certain types of overdraft fees, agencies are making it increasingly clear they will eventually punish a firm for chronic overdraft delinquency. The agencies agree that one practice in particular — "authorize positive, settle negative," or APSN — borders on deception, and they offered guidance on how banks can keep their overdraft policies in compliance. The OCC also identified three additional types of overdraft fees as risky: representment, periodic and unlimited.The OCC and FDIC say that banks that charge overdraft fees on APSN transactions — transactions that are authorized when a consumer's available account balance is positive but later post to the account when the available balance is negative — are potentially violating rules because the complexity of transaction settling makes it hard for consumers to reasonably anticipate or prepare for such fees, even when banks ostensibly inform customers of such practices. "Even when disclosures described the circumstances under which consumers may incur overdraft fees, the OCC has found that overdraft fees charged for APSN transactions are unfair for purposes of Section 5 because consumers were still unlikely to be able to reasonably avoid injury and the facts met the other factors for establishing unfairness," the regulators said in a statement. "[These practices] may result in heightened risk exposure, including the risk of violating section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] Act … and Section 1036 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, which prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices."The FDIC also expressed concern about APSN potentially violating Section 5 of the FTC Act and added that APSN transactions also ran afoul of certain Dodd-Frank Act rules. The agencies encouraged institutions to review their overdraft fee practices on APSN transactions and others to be sure they are not charging customers overdraft fees for transactions customers may not anticipate or otherwise avoid.

Atlantic Union in settlement talks with CFPB on overdrafts -Atlantic Union Bankshares has set aside $5 million in a legal reserve and is "actively engaged in discussions" with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau aimed at settling that agency's yearlong inquiry into the company's overdraft practices, according to CEO John Asbury. "We believe it is in our best interest to see if this matter can be resolved on terms that are acceptable to us," Asbury said on a conference call this week with analysts. A spokesperson for CFPB wrote in an email that the agency "can neither comment on, confirm, nor deny any ongoing investigatory or supervisory work." The Richmond, Virginia-based Atlantic Union said in a 10-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2022 that the CFPB was considering taking overdraft-related action. The notification came a little more than two months after CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced financial institutions could expect enhanced scrutiny of overdraft and insufficient funds policies.

Partisanship deepens as GOP-led CFPB bills pass House finance panel — A détente between Republicans and Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee appears to be over. During a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, committee chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., exchanged barbs over the bills up for debate at the committee's second markup of the year. "I'd love to say that I appreciated how well Mr. McHenry's and my staff worked together, but shortly after we came to an agreement on a list of bills for this markup, the Chair went back on his word," Waters said. "I had hoped that our Committee could rise above the partisanship of the House, but I understand that the Chair is beholden to his leadership at the end of the day." She continued later: "I say to the Chairman, before I yield back: while you talk a good game about bipartisanship and you keep telling the public how well we're doing — you're not doing that well, because you are absolutely going back on commitments that were made." "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theater?" McHenry quipped back. At the center of the issue is a raft of bills from Republican lawmakers that aim to put the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under more congressional oversight. The most prominent of these, from Rep,. Andy Barr, R-Ky., chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, would subject the bureau to the congressional appropriations process. The issue could become more urgent depending on the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case, said Issac Boltansky, managing director at BTIG. "After a decade, we are still nowhere closer to bridging the deep ideological chasm over the Bureau," he said. "If the Supreme Court forces Congressional action, the legislative bid-ask spread between Democrats and Republicans will be extremely wide." Barr's bill passed through committee late Wednesday evening. It now goes to the full House for consideration.

CFPB still has not notified consumers about data breach -- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it has not yet notified 256,000 consumers, nearly two months after data was potentially compromised by a bank examiner with access to supervisory information and large-scale data collections. The CFPB said it is still working with financial institutions to notify consumers about the Feb. 14 breach in which a now-former bank examiner sent supervisory information on 45 institutions, and personal identifiable information on 256,000 consumers at seven institutions to his personal email account. The bureau said there is no evidence that the information was disseminated beyond the former examiner's email account, and it remains unclear what harm — if any — has occurred. The bureau notified lawmakers about the breach on March 21 but it took another month before the incident was first disclosed in the Wall Street Journal. "To sit on it for this long, and to withhold from both consumers and the affected firms that this happened and then simply dismiss it was anything important and don't worry about it — it is hard to imagine the CFPB would be okay if some private company did that," said Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University and senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "I know I have in the past gotten data breach notifications even where there was no evidence of any actual harm, just to alert me that it had happened." Banks typically must report an outage or security breach within 36 hours of the incident being detected to their primary regulator — either the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — under a Biden administration rule that went into effect last year. The reporting requirements also cover tech vendors of banks that are affected by cybersecurity incidents. The CFPB said the personal identifiable information on 256,000 consumers primarily included names and transaction-specific account numbers used internally by a financial institution. The data could not be used to gain access to a consumer's bank account, the bureau said. The CFPB's data breach has exacerbated issues of trust with supervised entities and highlighted for some a double standard that exists in how the CFPB deals with its own security breach and how it treats security breaches at institutions it supervises.

CFPB warns debt collectors on zombie seconds --The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put out an advisory opinion warning that debt collectors seeking balances, interest and fees on long-ago defaulted piggyback second-lien loans are violating the Fair Debt Collections Protection Act. The zombie second mortgages (in which a first lien and a second lien are made simultaneously) were the subject of an April 26 field hearing in Brooklyn, New York. "We see how often the system is not working for homeowners," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in his opening remarks. "But instead of creating wealth, it's really about 'how can I figure out ways to drain it?'"The CFPB announcement was made the same day the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a home equity case involving excess proceeds held by the local government after a tax sale.Lately, the regulator, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, have received complaints from consumers who originally took the second liens in order to push their loan-to-value ratio to 80% and bypass down payment or mortgage insurance requirements. The borrowers were contacted for repayment even though no communication has taken place since they originally defaulted on this note.James said her office has seen an increasing number of complaints regarding debt collection attempts, describing Brooklyn as the epicenter for those efforts."I find this practice predatory and abusive and an affront to the American dream of sustainable homeownership," James said. "Debt buyers are seeking to extract wealth, particularly from communities of color, that should belong to the homeowners, not private equity firms and debt buyers."Many of the consumers contacted are minority, first-time home buyers and/or seniors.The piggyback product was popular during the mid-2000s boom and cited as a reason behind the volume of foreclosures during the subsequent bust.When the 80% first and 20% second liens were created, the notes ended up in separate loan securitizations in many cases, making communication during the modification process difficult.Many second lienholders did not pursue the borrower after the default and instead sold the loans for pennies on the dollar, the CFPB said. Allegedly, debt collectors are now going after borrowers that were able to save their homes with threats of foreclosure, looking to capitalize on rising home values.In many states where the statute of limitations has expired, these debts are time-barred for collections. While New York has such a bar, neighboring Connecticut does not, hearing participants said.

Redlining probes created millions for originations: DOJ | American Banker - The country's top law enforcement officers are reaching redlining settlements with mortgage lenders at a record pace, agreements they claim have and will generate significant mortgage originations.The Department of Justice has reached almost $85 million in redlining settlements with financial institutions since 2021, according to a top prosecutor last week in an event at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey. The DOJ since 2021 has reached six redlining agreements, its busiest two-year stretch ever, and last year received the most referrals for redlining perpetrators it ever had, said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney for Civil Rights at the DOJ."In the upcoming months we will continue to hold all types of mortgage lenders, not just traditional banks, but also mortgage companies and credit unions, accountable when they engage in discriminatory redlining practices," she said. The DOJ, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other regulators have reached increasingly larger deals with lenders over the accusations, including a record-$31 million agreement in January with Los Angeles-based City National Bank. Companies accused of discouraging minorities from obtaining home loans have denied the allegations in settlements but have pledged millions of dollars to loan and subsidy funds for the groups.Every dollar in subsidy funds equates to approximately 10 times that amount in actual value, Clark said. "So for example, a $15,000 loan subsidy to one homebuyer can often enable that person to acquire a $150,000 loan that would perhaps otherwise be unobtainable," she said. "If these numbers hold true, the value of our cases so far could approach about a billion dollars in total relief."A $27 million redlining action in 2015 against Hudson City Savings Bank, which dedicated the majority of funds to loan subsidies in impacted communities, has generated more than $515 million of total loan amounts for majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, Clark said.More recently, Oak Ridge, New Jersey-based Lakeland Bank reached a $13 million settlementwith the DOJ over allegations of redlining in the Newark metropolitan area. The agreement, along with subsidy funding, also mandates education campaigns, two new bank branches in neighborhoods of color and at least four loan officers for those areas."As mayor, we're not just interested in punishing people who participated in and are participating in this act, we're actually looking for repair," said Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark. "We just want it to be very quantifiable, we want it to be material. We want families to be able to go into homes."

Community groups seek investigation of KeyBank for alleged redlining - More than 80 community development and fair-lending groups are calling on federal regulators to investigate KeyBank's mortgage lending practices for alleged redlining.The National Community Reinvestment Coalition is leading the groups, which are also asking regulators to downgrade the bank's Community Reinvestment Act rating — a move that would prevent it from merging or opening new branches until it receives a higher rating on a future exam.The groups also want the regional bank's regulators to examine how well it complied with commitments it made in a $16.5 billion community benefits agreement that it negotiated as part of its 2016 acquisition of First Niagara Financial Group.Jesse Van Tol, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, wrote in a blog post Thursday that Key's CRA rating should be lowered based on "flagrant violations of commitments it made" as it sought approval to buy First Niagara."When a bank breaks promises, the law says there are consequences, and it's our government's job to enforce that accountability," Van Tol wrote.The groups' demands were outlined in a March 31 letter to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The letter was made public on Thursday.In a November 2022 report, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition was highly critical of Key's mortgage lending record to Black borrowers. Two months later, the community reinvestment group warned that it would take its concerns to regulators ahead of Key's next scheduled CRA exam period, which was set to begin on April 1.The 2022 report, which is based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, included several troubling findings. Of the nation's 50 largest mortgage lenders, Key had the lowest percentage of mortgage originations to Black borrowers in 2021, and it ranked near the bottom in terms of the percentage of originations to minority borrowers, according to the report.The report accused KeyBank, which is the banking subsidiary of Cleveland-based KeyCorp, of engaging in systemic redlining by making very few home purchase loans in certain neighborhoods where the majority of the residents are Black.

Commercial, multifamily mortgage delinquencies rise in 1Q -- Commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquencies rose in the first quarter compared with the prior three month period, a result of the continued turbulence in the economy.While the sectors with the highest late payment rates remain the pandemic-affected retail and hotel industries, all other categories — particularly office and multifamily — posted gains.The first quarter total delinquency rate of 2.2% was up from 2% in the fourth quarter, driven by a 110 basis point rise in office property owners missing payments, to 2.7% from 1.6%. One year ago, the total delinquency rate was 2.4%.For the period, the rate of multifamily property balances late on their loan was 0.7%, compared with 0.5% three months prior and 0.6% in the first quarter of 2022."Higher and volatile interest rates, coupled with uncertainty about property values and some property fundamentals, are suppressing sales transaction and mortgage origination volumes," said Jamie Woodwell, the MBA's head of commercial property research, in a press release. "Some loans maturing into these conditions are likely to face increased frictions, which is likely to push further on delinquency rates in coming quarters."In February, the MBA predicted $384 billion of multifamily originations this year. Maturing loans are typically rolled-over into new mortgages; those that don't are considered delinquent if not paid off when the loan term expires. At that time, the MBA said only $13.9 billion of multifamily mortgages are maturing this year.However, the current rate environment, along with the uncertainty created by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, have some observers concerned that property owners might not be able to refinance because of declining property values. Comparisons are being made to the thrift crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which was in large part a result of speculative lending on commercial real estate.Updated data from the MBA released last week put 2022 commercial and multifamily volume at $816 billion, the second best year ever, but down from $890 billion in 2021. Multifamily originations made up $437 billion of last year's total.Delinquency rates for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased to 0.3% from 0.2% in the fourth quarter, while Federal Housing Administration-insured multifamily and health care mortgages were unchanged at 0.8%. The non-current rate in the first quarter of 2022 was 0.4% for government-sponsored enterprise loans and 0.6% for FHA.Loans that are 90 days or more late or are now real estate owned had the highest share of total delinquencies at 1.7%, up from 1.6% in the fourth quarter.The rate for the 60-to-90 day delinquent category also rose, to 0.2% from 0.1%, while for 30-to-60 it was unchanged at 0.3%.

Freddie Mac: Mortgage Serious Delinquency Rate Decreased in March -- Freddie Mac reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate in March was 0.62%, down from 0.65% February. Freddie's rate is down year-over-year from 0.92% in March 2022. Freddie's serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 4.20% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.17% in August 2020 during the pandemic. These are mortgage loans that are "three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure".Mortgages in forbearance are being counted as delinquent in this monthly report but are not reported to the credit bureaus.The serious delinquency rate was at 0.60% just prior to the pandemic; this is almost back to that level.Note that multi-family delinquencies have been increasing and were at 0.13% in March, up from 0.08% in March 2022.

Fannie Mae: Mortgage Serious Delinquency Rate Decreased in March -Fannie Mae reported that the Single-Family Serious Delinquency decreased to 0.59% in March from 0.62% in February. The serious delinquency rate is down from 1.01% in March 2022. This is below the pre-pandemic levels. These are mortgage loans that are "three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure". The Fannie Mae serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.32% in August 2020 during the pandemic. By vintage, for loans made in 2004 or earlier (1% of portfolio), 1.93% are seriously delinquent (down from 2.04% in February). For loans made in 2005 through 2008 (1% of portfolio), 3.11% are seriously delinquent (down from 3.31%), For recent loans, originated in 2009 through 2021 (98% of portfolio), 0.48% are seriously delinquent (down from 0.51%). So, Fannie is still working through a few poor performing loans from the bubble years. Mortgages in forbearance were counted as delinquent in this monthly report, but they were not reported to the credit bureaus.

Mortgage foreclosures rise despite availability of alternatives --The number of home loans in various stages of foreclosure rose during the first quarter, in line with precedents set earlier, but there are a couple of interesting counter-trends.Starts jumped 3% on a consecutive quarter basis and 29% from the same period a year ago to 65,346. Filings increased 6% compared to the fourth quarter and surged 22% over where they were at the same time last year to 95,712.Bank repossessions, or real-estate owned properties, also climbed annually during the quarter even though in January they'd experienced a drop compared to the same month a year earlier. At 12,518 during the quarter, these were up 6% annually and 8% quarterly.Completions, which at one point last year were trailing starts due in part to foreclosure alternatives, were higher when measured on a monthly basis. They numbered 4,791 in March, leaping 25% up from February's number and 9% above the same month a year earlier."Despite efforts made by government agencies and policymakers to try to reduce foreclosure rates, we are seeing an upward trend," said Rob Barber, CEO of Attom Data, in a press release. The increase is partly due to the fact that the pandemic-related property backlog is finally moving forward, but it also stems from recent economic weakness, including increased unemployment, Barber said.It took an average of 950 days to complete a foreclosure during the first quarter of this year, and that's a number which is close to the record high, which was just above 1,000.Foreclosure timelines vary widely by state due to differences in jurisdictional rules. In the first quarter, the state with the longest one was Louisiana (2,770 days) and Wyoming had the shortest (111 days).

Foreclosure, eviction concerns forced more than 200K to move in 2022 - More than 200,000 households moved in 2022 due to evictions or foreclosures, with minorities and single-parent families especially affected, new research determined. Eviction and foreclosure-related moves jumped 56% on an annual basis, rising for the first time since 2017, according to a study by Porch Group subsidiary HireAHelper. The uptick represented 204,200 households, up from approximately 130,600 one year earlier when federal forbearance and other types of COVID-19 consumer protections were still largely available. But current totals are still running below the pace from 2015 to 2018. The increase corresponded to a 115% surge in foreclosures between 2021 and 2022, representing 324,237 filings against properties, real estate data provider Attom previously found. First-quarter numbers released this week also show the trend continuing into the new year, with noticeable month-to-month completions accelerating in the first quarter. Along with the resumption of housing payments, record-high inflation placed added pressure on household budgets last year, HireAHelper said. "According to our research, the combination of rising inflation and the absence of federal rent assistance have added to an already fragile state of housing, forcing many people to live beyond their means," said Miranda Marquit, chief data analyst at HireAHelper, in a press release. Single parents were 43% more likely than married couples or childless individuals to move because of housing distress. The percentage grew to 80% for single mothers, many of whom may have needed to prioritize childcare over employment during the pandemic, the study said. Black and Hispanic households also were more likely to move by 23% and 14% respectively. On the other hand, white and Asian demographics were less likely to relocate due to foreclosure or eviction by 5% and 28%. The findings point to the additional difficulties the coronavirus pandemic placed in front of the housing industry, as it attempts to address the disparity in homeownership rates among white and Black populations. Equitable housing goals aimed at decreasing that gap and opening up more affordable homeownership opportunities were noted as priorities for 2023 by the mortgage industry, housing groups and federal agencies.

Tax refunds drive mortgage delinquencies to new low | National Mortgage News -The percentage of borrowers late on their mortgage experienced one of the most pronounced drops in nearly two decades in March, according to Black Knight's latest First Look report.The 53 basis-point decline drove delinquencies, excluding foreclosures, below 3% for the first time to 2.92% from 3.45% the previous month.Black Knight attributed the improvement to seasonal factors and what are generally high levels of home equity in mortgaged properties."This is primarily due to tax returns and bonuses helping troubled homeowners right-size themselves, with March historically seeing the most downward pressure on delinquency rates as a result," said Andy Walden, vice president of enterprise research, in an email."This year, every state saw delinquencies decline, with the month's drop at the national level marking the second largest such decline we've seen in the past 17 years," he added.Although arrears are lower in all states, some new mortgages remain under pressure."There are still pockets of risk worth noting — especially loans of 2022 vintage," Black Knight said.Some foreclosure numbers climbed even though serious delinquencies fell in every state, declining to 511,000, which marked their lowest point since March 2020. In total, this number was down 51,000 from the previous month and 331,000 from a year earlier.Foreclosure sales increased both on a consecutive month and annual basis by 4.59% and 24.64%, respectively, to 7,500.Starts rose from February by 9.03% to 32,000. However, they were down 5.69% from March 2022.The monthly prepayment rate of 0.50% also was another notch higher on a consecutive month basis in March but lower than 12 months ago. Prepays were up 44.42% from February, but down 1.41% from March of last year, following banking turmoil that caused mortgage rates to drop and seasonal purchase activity.The uptick in prepayments will likely continue through early June.

The New Mortgage Fee Structure – by Rajiv Sethi - Mortgage originators in the United States typically sell off their loans in the secondary market, where the main buyers are the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These agencies levy surcharges called loan level price adjustments (LLPAs), which affect the eventual prices paid by home buyers. The surcharges depend on a number of factors, including the borrower’s credit rating and the mortgage loan-to-value ratio. Generally speaking, lower credit ratings and higher loan-to-value ratios correspond to riskier mortgages, which have historically been associated with higher fees.A change in the fee structure that is due to go into effect on May 1 has resulted in a lot of animated commentary, blending together factual reporting with some exaggeration, distortion, and outright falsehood. According to one report, an (unnamed) executive from a mortgage lending company complains that “we have to teach borrowers to worsen their credit before they apply for a mortgage in order to get the better price.” Advice on how exactly to do so has started toappear online.If it were really the case that one could get a cheaper loan by sabotaging one’s own credit rating, the policy changes would indeed be absurd. In the language of mechanism design, the new fee structure would fail to be incentive compatible, and all manner of chaos would ensue. Consultants (and charlatans) would step into the breach to profit from advising potential borrowers on the quickest, cheapest, and most easily reversible ways of appearing less credit-worthy.But this is not what the changes entail. Having a good credit score continues to confer an advantage under the new fee structure, although to a diminished degree at some levels of the loan-to-value ratio. That is, fees have been reduced for borrowers with lower credit scores and raised for those with higher scores, in a manner that compresses the difference without erasing or reversing the earlier advantage.That said, there are some puzzling changes in the fee structure as it relates to loan-to-value ratios, and it’s worth a closer look at these. First, here are thecurrent loan level price adjustments, set to expire at the end of the month: Now consider the new fee structure, which goes into effect next month: Notice that credit scores below 639 have been consolidated into a single row, and those above 740 have been split into three. In addition, loan-to-value ratios at 60% and below are now in two separate columns rather than one. This makes direct visual comparisons a little difficult, but one thing is clear—at no level of the loan-to-value ratio does someone with a lower credit score pay less than someone with a higher score. That is, one cannot gain by sabotaging one’s own credit rating.

FHFA's Thompson pushes back on criticism of mortgage fee changes - Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson sought to clarify in a statement issued late Tuesday that the government-sponsored enterprises' latest mortgage fee adjustments are intended to handle risk management more than incentivizing an expansion of borrowing."The changes to the pricing framework were not designed to stimulate mortgage demand," said the head of the agency, which oversees two agencies that back a significant number of home loans in the U.S. market."The fees associated with a borrower's credit score and down payment will now be better aligned with the expected long-term financial performance of those mortgages relative to their risks," she added. The statement is aimed at addressing "a fundamental misunderstanding about the fees charged by the enterprises and why they were updated," Thompson said.She issued it after reading several recent missives critical of the new loan-level price adjustments, which are used to subtract certain fees from amounts the GSEs pay lenders for loans when specific characteristics are present.Some critics, like Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, recently opposed the new pricing grids on the grounds that they "cannot be justified from a risk management perspective and amount to a tax on all creditworthy GSE homebuyers to subsidize borrowers with riskier loans." "Your new LLPA structure only increases risks to the GSEs and taxpayers while compounding the existing economic uncertainty in our housing market," the congressmen said in a letter they sent to Thompson on Tuesday. McHenry chairs the House Committee on Financial Services. Davidson chairs the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance. Thompson pushed back on such assertions in her statement, noting that while price cuts for lower-income borrowers "primarily are supported by fees on products such as second homesand cash-out refinances," the practice is not new and is in line with safety and soundness measures at the enterprises. "The enterprises' statutory charters specifically include references to supporting low- and moderate-income families by earning returns on mortgages for these borrowers that may be less than the returns earned on other products," she said. "Indeed, Congress incorporated this into the enterprises' charters decades ago and it is a long-standing component of the enterprises' core business models."She stressed that "the targeted elimination of fees" supports "borrowers with lower incomes — not lower credit scores."Thompson said some of the broad characterizations of the fee changes by critics miss the nuance in the new grids that GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac use to price mortgages lenders sell to them, which have been in need of modernization in line with current risks.

Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey - Mortgage applications increased 3.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 21, 2023.The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2 percent from the previous week and was 51 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 28 percent lower than the same week one year ago.“Both conventional and government home purchase applications increased last week. However, activity was still nearly 28 percent below last year’s pace, as high mortgage rates and low supply have slowed the market this year, even as home-price growth has decelerated in many markets across the country,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Refinance applications also increased last week but remained at half of last year’s levels. Although incoming data points to a slowdown in the U.S. economy, markets continue to expect that the Fed will raise short-term rates at its next meeting, which have pushed Treasury yields somewhat higher. As a result of the higher yields, mortgage rates increased for the second straight week to their highest level in over a month, with the 30-year fixed rate now at 6.55 percent.”.. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) increased to 6.55 percent from 6.43 percent, with points remaining at 0.63 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.

Case-Shiller: National House Price Index "Declines Moderated" to 2.0% year-over-year increase in February: S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for February ("February" is a 3-month average of December, January and February closing prices).This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities) and the monthly National index. From S&P: S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Index Declines Moderated in February: The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 2.0% annual gain in February, down from 3.7% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 0.4%, down from 2.5% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 0.4% year-over-year gain, down from 2.6% in the previous month. Miami, Tampa, and Atlanta again reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in February. The order remained the same with Miami leading the way with a 10.8% year-over-year price increase, followed by Tampa in second with a 7.7% increase, and Atlanta in third with a 6.6% increase. All 20 cities reported lower prices in the year ending February 2023 versus the year ending January 2023.... Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a 0.2% month-over-month increase in February, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted increases of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a month-over-month increase of 0.2%, while both the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted increases of 0.1%. In January, before seasonal adjustment, 19 cities reported declines with only Miami reporting an increase at 0.1%. After seasonal adjustment, 15 cities reported declines while Miami, Boston, Charlotte, and Cleveland had slight increases. On a trailing 12-month basis, the National Composite is only 2.0% above its level in February 2022; the 10- and 20-City Composites are both up 0.4% on a year-over-year basis." The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

Housing April 24th Weekly Update: Inventory Increased 2.1% Week-over-week -- Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 2.1% week-over-week. Maybe inventory has finally bottomed seasonally. This is the highest inventory level since the week ending March 17th. This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of April 21st, inventory was at 414 thousand (7-day average), compared to 405 thousand the prior week. Year-to-date, inventory is down 15.6%.The second graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015. The red line is for 2023. The black line is for 2019. Note that inventory is up from the previous two years (the record low was in 2022), but still well below normal levels.Inventory was up 52.5% compared to the same week in 2022 (last week it was up 51.6%), and down 52.1% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week down 52.4%). A key will be when inventory starts increasing in 2023 - maybe this is the beginning. If this is the seasonal bottom, it is late in the year (similar timing as 2021).Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.

NAR: Pending Home Sales Decreased 5.2% in March; Down 23.2% Year-over-year --From the NAR: Pending Home Sales Decreased 5.2% in March - Pending home sales decreased in March for the first time since November 2022, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Three U.S. regions posted monthly losses, while the South increased. All four regions saw year-over-year declines in transactions. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* – a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings – waned by 5.2% to 78.9 in March. Year over year, pending transactions dropped by 23.2%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001. "The lack of housing inventory is a major constraint to rising sales," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Multiple offers are still occurring on about a third of all listings, and 28% of homes are selling above list price. Limited housing supply is simply not meeting demand nationally." ... The Northeast PHSI fell 8.1% from last month to 66.6, a decline of 24.3% from March 2022. The Midwest index dropped 10.7% to 75.7 in March, down 21.5% from one year ago. The South PHSI improved 0.2% to 99.6 in March, falling 19.8% from the prior year. The West index decreased 8.0% in March to 59.4, reducing 32.2% from March 2022. This is way below expectations of a 1.0% decrease for this index. Note: Contract signings usually lead sales by about 45 to 60 days, so this would usually be for closed sales in April and May.

New Home Sales Increase to 683,000 Annual Rate in March - The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 683 thousand.The previous three months were revised down slightly, combined. Sales of new single‐family houses in March 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 683,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 9.6 percent above the revised February rate of 623,000, but is 3.4 percent below the March 2022 estimate of 707,000.The first graph shows New Home Sales vs. recessions since 1963. The dashed line is the current sales rate.New home sales are close to pre-pandemic levels.The second graph shows New Home Months of Supply. The months of supply decreased in March to 7.6 months from 8.4 months in February. The all-time record high was 12.2 months of supply in January 2009. The all-time record low was 3.3 months in August 2020. This is well above the top of the normal range (about 4 to 6 months of supply is normal). "The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 432,000. This represents a supply of 7.6 months at the current sales rate." Sales were above expectations of 630 thousand SAAR, however, sales in the three previous months were revised down slightly, combined.

New Home Sales Increase to 683,000 Annual Rate in March; Likely New Home Sales will be up YoY in Mid-2023 - Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: New Home Sales Increase to 683,000 Annual Rate in March Brief excerpt:Starting in 1973 the Census Bureau broke inventory down into three categories: Not Started, Under Construction, and Completed.The third graph shows the three categories of inventory starting in 1973.The inventory of homes under construction (blue) at 267 thousand is very high, and about 16% below the cycle peak in July 2022. The inventory of homes not started is at 94 thousand - below the record peak of 102 thousand.The fourth graph shows existing home sales for each month, Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA), for a few selected periods. Black is the maximum sales per month during the bubble (2005) and light gray is the minimum sales during the bust (2008 - 2011). The most recent five years are shown (2019 through 2023).The next graph shows new home sales for 2022 and 2023 by month (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). Sales in March 2023 were down 3.4% from March 2022. It seems likely that new home sales will be up year-over-year sometime in the next few months. As previously discussed, the Census Bureau overestimates sales, and underestimates inventory when cancellation rates are rising, see: New Home Sales and Cancellations: Net vs Gross Sales. This has reversed now since cancellation rates have started to decline. When a previously cancelled home is resold, the home builder counts it as a sale, but the Census Bureau does not (since it was already counted).There are still a large number of homes under construction, and this suggests we might see a further increase in completed inventory over the next several months, but in general, this is a positive report for new home sales.

Cities reviving downtowns by converting offices to housing | AP News — On the 31st floor of what was once a towering office building in downtown Manhattan, construction workers lay down steel bracing for what will soon anchor a host of residential amenities: a catering station, lounge, fire pit and gas grills. The building, empty since 2021, is being converted to 588 market-rate rental apartments that will house about 1,000 people. “We’re taking a vacant building and pouring life not only into this building, but this entire neighborhood,” said Joey Chilelli, managing director of real estate firm Vanbarton Group, which is doing the conversion. Across the country, office-to-housing conversions are being pursued as a potential lifeline for struggling downtown business districts that emptied out during the coronavirus pandemic and may never fully recover. The conversion push is marked by an emphasis on affordability. Multiple cities are offering serious tax breaks for developers to incentivize office-to-housing conversions — provided that a certain percentage of apartments are offered at affordable below-market prices. In January, Pittsburgh announced it was accepting proposals to produce more affordable housing through the “conversion of fallow and underutilized office space.” Boston released a plan in October aimed at revitalizing downtown that included a push for more housing, some of which would come from office conversions. And Seattle launched a competition in April for downtown building owners and design firms to come up with conversion ideas.In the nation’s capital, Mayor Muriel Bowser has made office-to-housing conversions a cornerstone of her plan to repopulate and revitalize the district’s downtown. Her “comeback plan” for the capital city, announced earlier this year, seeks to add 15,000 new residents to the downtown area, adding to the approximately 25,000 who already live here. Bowser’s administration says about 1 million square feet of downtown real estate is already transitioning from commercial to residential. But the city needs another 6 million square feet converted to meet her goal of 15,000 new downtown residents. “We’re not going to have as many workers downtown as we had before the pandemic,” Bowser said earlier this year. “Our job is to make sure that we are getting more people downtown.”

Las Vegas March 2023: Visitor Traffic Down 1.1% Compared to 2019; Convention Traffic Up 39.6% - Note: I like using Las Vegas as a measure of recovery for both leisure (visitors) and business (conventions). Vegas is Back! From the Las Vegas Visitor Authority:March 2023 Las Vegas Visitor Statistics Benefitting from a mix of headliners and events from NASCAR to Taylor Swift to several college basketball tournaments, paired with a robust convention month that included the triennial CONEXPO‐CON/AGG tradeshow and its 140k+ attendees, Las Vegas visitation neared 3.7M in Mar 2023, up +9.6% YoY and nearly matching Mar 2019.Overall hotel occupancy exceeded 88% for the month, +7.7 pts YoY. Achieving impressive levels by both pre and post‐pandemic standards, Weekend occupancy reached 94.5% for the month (+2.4 pts YoY) while conventions helped propel Midweek occupancy to 85.8%, +9.2 pts YoY.Overall ADR exceeded $213, breaking the record from just a few months ago (Oct 2022, $208) and surpassing Mar 2022 and Mar 2019 by +30.7% and +59.2%, respectively. RevPAR also broke records, reaching $188, +43.2% YoY and +53.6% over Mar 2019. The first graph shows visitor traffic for 2019 (Black), 2020 (light blue), 2021 (purple), 2022 (orange), and 2023 (red). Visitor traffic was down 1.1% compared to the same month in 2019.Visitor traffic was up 9.6% compared to last March.The second graph shows convention traffic.Convention traffic was up 39.6% compared to March 2019, and up 56.0% compared to March 2022. Note: There was almost no convention traffic from April 2020 through May 2021.

US Durable Goods Orders Unexpectedly Soar In March... Thanks To Boeing - After declining for two straight months, analysts expected US durable goods orders to bounce modestly (+0.7% MoM) in preliminary March data released today. Instead the print soared 3.2% MoM rescuing the YoY from dropping negative for the first time since Aug 2020... Graphics Source: Bloomberg Core orders (ex-Transports) rose 0.3% MoM (better than the 0.2% drop expected) highlighting that this headline surge was all Boeing - with a 78.4% MoM surge in non-defense aircraft and parts orders On the negative side, the value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, fell 0.4% last month with a big downward revision to -0.4% MoM in February. Shipments also tumbled 0.4% MoM. So, aside from Boeing, this is not pretty at all.

"Business Has Gotten Stupid Slow" - Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey Slumps To Post-COVID Lows -- The Dallas Fed Manufacturing survey for April printed considerably below expectations. Analysts expected a rebound from -15.7 to -11.0 but instead the headline index plunged to -23.4 (just shy of post-COVID-lockdown lows). That is the 12th straight month of 'contraction' in the survey. Source: Bloomberg The new orders index was negative for an 11th month in a row but moved up five points to -9.6. The growth rate of orders index also remained negative but rose from -15.2 to -11.1. Worse still, prices and wages continued to increase in April. Production was flat... Perceptions of broader business conditions worsened notably in April. The company outlook index remained negative, ticking down two points to -15.6. The outlook uncertainty index pushed up to 24.7, elevated relative to its average reading of 16.9. Comments from respondents are getting more concerning:

• We have already been notified that our credit line renewal may be difficult. Our monthly increase in costs (rate) is at highs not seen since 2007.
• Funding has dried up to purchase our products.
• There is a definite slowdown. New orders virtually stopped.
• We are starting to see a real slowdown. We are hoping it is short lived.
• Almost all of our customers have high inventories from overbuying last year. So, they are all cutting back on ordering new inventory. Business is slow as customers are waiting to see when recession starts. Most customers, when pressed, think the recession will start in summer. We are getting ready for our second layoff in the last four months.
• Business has gotten stupid slow, and we estimate having many days of just a few hours’ work due to low volume. This is crazy—as busy as we were last year, and now for this year to have it turn off so quickly, it is hard to understand why. We hear from many others in our industry, and they are all saying the same thing: that it's gotten slower without any signs of turning around in the near term. Perhaps it’s the Federal Reserve actions that are causing this.

Finally, looking ahead, the future production index plummeted from 13.5 to 3.0, with the low reading signaling little output growth over the next six months.

April Regional Fed Manufacturing Overview - Five out of the 12 Federal Reserve Regional Districts currently publish monthly data on regional manufacturing: Dallas, Kansas City, New York, Richmond, and Philadelphia.Here are links to the five monthly manufacturing indicators that we track:

• Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey (TMOS)
• Kansas City Manufacturing Survey
• Empire State Manufacturing Survey
• Fifth District Manufacturing Survey (Richmond)
• Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey

Regional manufacturing surveys are a measure of local economic health and are used as a representative for the larger national manufacturing health. They have been used as a signal for business uncertainty and economic activity as a whole. Manufacturing makes up 12% of the country's GDP.The other six Federal Reserve Districts do not publish manufacturing data. For these, theFederal Reserve’s Beige Book offers a short summary of each districts’ manufacturing health. The Chicago Fed published its midwest manufacturing index from July 1996 through December of 2013. According to its website, "The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) is undergoing a process of data and methodology revision.In April, Empire State was the only district that increased from last month and is currently the only district in expansion territory. Kansas City made the largest drop this past month but remains higher than Dallas and Philadelphia. Philadelphia dropped to the lowest level of the five districts while Dallas declined for the fourth month in a row. The latest average of the five is -12.8, up from March.Here is the same chart including the average of the five. Readers will notice the range in expansion and contraction between all regions.

Personal Income increased 0.3% in March; Spending increased Slightly The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for March: Personal income increased $67.9 billion (0.3 percent) in March, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $71.7 billion (0.4 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $8.2 billion (less than 0.1 percent). The PCE price index increased 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent. Real DPI increased 0.3 percent in March and Real PCE decreased less than 0.1 percent; goods decreased 0.4 percent and services increased 0.1 percent. The March PCE price index increased 4.2 percent year-over-year (YoY), down from 5.1 percent YoY in February, and down from the recent peak of 7.0 percent in June 2022. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 4.6 percent YoY, down from 4.7 percent in February, and down from the recent peak of 5.4 percent in February 2022. The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through March 2023 (2012 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change. The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE. Personal income and PCE were slightly above expectations. Inflation was close to expectations.

US Consumer Spending Flattens; Core Inflation Still Hot (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending was unchanged in March as an increase in outlays on services was offset by a decline in goods, but persistent strength in underlying inflation pressures could see the Federal Reserve raising interest rates again next week. Stubbornly high inflation was underscored by other data on Friday showing labor costs increasing solidly in the first quarter as a tight labor market continued to drive wage gains in the private sector. With the economy, however, shifting to lower gear, the anticipated rate hike next Wednesday could be the last in the current cycle, which is the fastest since the 1980s. Tighter credit conditions following recent financial market turmoil have added to the risks of a recession this year. A fight to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion borrowing cap also poses a threat to the economy. "The Fed is in a tough spot," said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank in Dallas. "The economy is cooling, but inflation is still too high. The components of inflation that the Fed worries will be most persistent, labor-intensive services, are especially sticky." The unchanged reading in consumer spending last month, reported by the Commerce Department, followed a downwardly revised 0.1% gain in February. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, was previously reported to have increased 0.2% in February. Spending on services rose 0.4%, driven by housing and utilities as well as healthcare. Goods outlays fell 0.6% as purchases of motor vehicles, mostly new light trucks, decreased. Lower gasoline prices also contributed to the decline in goods spending. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending dipping 0.1%. The data was included in the advance gross domestic product report for the first quarter published on Thursday, which showed consumer spending surging at a 3.7% annualized rate that period after rising at a 1.0% pace in the October-December quarter. Last month's flat reading in consumer spending set consumption and the overall economy on a lower growth path in the second quarter. Consumer spending is plateauing likely as Americans become more averse to higher prices. Government social benefits are also dwindling. A temporary boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits authorized by the U.S. Congress to cushion low-income people and families against the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic expired in March.

Real Disposable Income Per Capita Up 0.25% in March - With the release of this morning's report on March's personal incomes and outlays, we can now take a closer look at "real" disposable personal income per capita. At two decimal places, the nominal 0.33% month-over-month change in disposable income comes to 0.25% when we adjust for inflation. The year-over-year metrics are 7.74% nominal and 3.43% real.Disposable income is the amount of personal income that remains after income taxes have been deducted. Real disposable income is the post tax and benefit income after an adjustment has been made for price changes. This economic indicator is monitored to see how consumers save, spend, and borrow. Post-great recession, the trend was one of steady growth, but generally flattened out in late 2015 with increases in 2012 and 2013. As a result of COVID pandemic stimulus measures, major spikes can be seen in April 2020, January 2021 (a December 2020 payment), and March 2021.The first chart shows both the nominal per capita disposable income and the real (inflation-adjusted) equivalent since 2000. This indicator was significantly disrupted by the bizarre but predictable oscillation caused by 2012 year-end tax strategies in expectation of tax hikes in 2013 and more recently, by COVID stimulus.The BEA uses the average dollar value in 2012 for inflation adjustment. But the 2012 peg is arbitrary and unintuitive. For a more natural comparison, let's compare the nominal and real growth in per-capita disposable income since 2000. Nominal disposable income is up 131% since then. But the real purchasing power of those dollars is up 41%.

This Inflation is Stuck, Churns from Product to Product: Core PCE Price Index Moves Sideways for 9 Months, Stubbornly High Near 5%. To Top it Off, February Was Revised Higher by Wolf Richter - Prices of energy goods and services that consumers buy plunged in March from February, and have been dropping for months, according to the PCE price index data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. Food prices dipped in March from February for the first time, after months of slowing price increases following the huge price spike through mid-2022. Durable goods prices dipped but barely, and at the lowest rate in months; they appear to be bottoming out. And prices of services rose. And much of the month-ago released PCE price index data for February was revised higher today. It boils down to this: Core PCE price index is stuck and stubbornly high, as inflation churns from one product category to another. The “core” PCE price index is the yardstick for the Fed’s inflation target. Its the PCE price index without food and energy products. On a year-over-year basis, it jumped by 4.6%, same as in December and July 2022, nine months ago! The Fed’s inflation target is 2%, and it uses this core PCE index as yardstick. But core PCE has been going sideways at just under 5% for months. A month ago, the BEA reported the February core PCE increase as having risen by 4.6%. Today this was revised up to a 4.7% increase. How the core PCE price index has remained in the same high range can be seen in the month-to-month movements, which have been jumping up and down in the same range since 2021, where a couple of drops were followed by another jump or two. The three-month moving average smoothens out the month-to-month ups and downs of the core PCE and shows the trends more clearly. It’s just not encouraging at all. It shows that underlying inflation is stubbornly entrenched, shifting around, dropping in some product categories while rising in others. This is just not encouraging at all: Services is where the majority of consumer spending ends up. Services matter. They include healthcare, housing, utilities, education, travel, entertainment, restaurant meals, streaming, subscriptions, broadband, cellphone services, etc. Inflation is particularly difficult to wring out of services. The PCE price index for services jumped by 5.5% year-over-year in March, compared to the upwardly revised 5.8% in February, which had been the worst since 1984: On a month-to-month basis, the PCE price index for services rose by 0.2% in March from February. Services here includes household energy services, such as gas and electricity, which plunged (especially natural gas) from February. There had been a similar only bigger outlier in July 2022 that then promptly reversed the following month: The PCE price index for durable goods – new and used vehicles, appliances, furniture, etc. – dipped by 0.1% in March from February, the smallest decline in months, as price declines are fading. Year-over-year, durable goods inflation was 0.8%: Motor vehicles and parts were flat month to month for the first time after five months of drops. This caused the price index, on a year-over-year basis to bounce off the 0%-line. The price drops in used vehicles have been a big factor in pushing down durable goods prices and the core PCE priced index. But it looks like that factor is somewhat fading – another sign of how inflation is shifting from one product category to another:

Income Tax Withholding Payments Stumble Again, Signaling Job Weakness. Will the Fed Start to Consider Backing Off? --Tax withholding payments have for years been employed as a proxy for jobs. Unfortunately, there’s no monthly or quarterly data published on FRED. The best representation is annual data from 1947 to 2020. Below I show the YoY% change in that annual data, adjusted for inflation, compared with the YoY% change (*3 for scale) in monthly nonfarm payrolls: Because of a quirk in FRED graphing, it appears that jobs lag tax payments, but that’s just a byproduct of comparing monthly vs. annual data. Had I used annual payroll averages, the peaks and troughs would match exactly (but the jobs data would be less fine-grained). The bottom line is that, while the two haven’t matched exactly, especially in the 1980s, typically the increases and decreases move in tandem.Turning to the present, last week I cited to the California Department of Revenue, showing that tax payments in that State had declined steeply compared with the prior fiscal year during the last four months of 2022, before stabilizing during the first three months of this year.For the nation as a whole Matt Trivisonno has the YoY data, measuring the entire 365 day total of tax withholding vs. the entire previous 365 days, and has a public graph with a 3 month delay. Here’s his latest:Like the California graph, it shows a steep deceleration during 2022, which had been as high as +21% YoY in March, down to only about +6% by the end of December. Thereafter through January, the YoY data stabilizes.Indeed, by my own calculations, for the first three months of fiscal 2023 ending December 31, withholding tax payments were only up +1.2% YoY. But for Q2 they rebounded sharply, up +5.4% YoY.But in the last 10 days they have stumbled. For the first 14 withholding days in April, payments are down -3.4%, $189.7 Billion vs. $196.3 Billion one year ago. For the last 4 weeks as a whole, withholding payments are down -5.0%, $270.2 Billion vs. $284.5 Billion.What is notable about that, in addition to including the April 18 deadline for payment of taxes this year, is that the CA Department of Revenue had suggested that the late 2022 stumble was due to stock market declines meaning that stock options hadn’t vested.Well, since last October the stock market has rallied, and last week was very close to an 8 month high:Only a short term shortfall at this point, and of course it could reverse by the end of the month, but if stock options are vesting and withholding payments are still down, even before accounting for inflation, that suggests renewed trouble in the jobs market.

Return to pandemic hunger levels could signal economic fragility (Reuters) - As economists and investors scour data on inflation, jobs, housing, banking and other bellwether indicators to determine whether the United States is headed for a recession, a visit to the nation’s largest food-bank warehouse offers some ominous clues. More than half of the shelves at the Atlanta Community Food Bank are bare, in part because of supply-chain issues, but mostly because demand for food assistance is as high as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit’s executives said. They said two in five people seeking food assistance in the Atlanta region this year have not done so before. “Nobody anticipated this,” said Debra Shoaf, chief financial officer of the private charity, which relies on corporate and individual donations, as well as government grants, to distribute food to the hungry in 29 Georgia counties. Shoaf, who also serves on the finance steering committee for the national charity Feeding America, says she’s hearing similar reports across the United States. “We’re back up to pandemic levels,” she said. In some regions, demand is exceeding even the starkest days of the COVID pandemic. In central Ohio, the local food bank says the number of households seeking aid has increased by nearly half since last year. More than 11.4 million households collected free groceries in early April, up 15% from a year ago, according to data from the Census Bureau. “Food banks have been around for 50 years, but this is the first time we are seeing unprecedented high food demand combined with historically low unemployment rates,” said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer for Feeding America, which supports 60,000 food pantries. The sustained demand comes as most government pandemic emergency aid ends - notably, temporary COVID-related increases to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, a federal program that provides debit cards to directly purchase food at stores. Inflation is a major factor, too: Grocery prices have increased 23% since March 2020, when the pandemic began, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such post-COVID demand for free food is “not a good signal” for the economy “and perhaps an indicator of an impending recession,” said John Lowrey, a business professor at Northeastern University whose research focuses on food bank management and public health.

'People are suffering': Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hunger (AP) — Thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a long-standing hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon that wiped out stockpiles of fish and fishing equipment. The backlog, which began last August, is especially concerning in a state where communities in far-flung areas, including Alaska Native villages, are often not connected by roads. They must have food shipped in by barge or airplane, making the cost of even basic goods exorbitant. Around 13% of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — or SNAP — in July, before the troubles began. “People are struggling and having to make choices of getting food or getting heating fuel,” said Daisy Lockwood Katcheak, city administrator in Stebbins, an Alaska Native village of 634 people, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage. Faced with food shortages and rampant inflation, the city recently used $38,000 in funds raised for a children’s spring carnival to buy residents basic supplies. The community on Alaska’s western coast is also reeling from the remnants of a typhoon that destroyed a critical stockpile of fish and fishing boats at the same time problems with the food stamp program were emerging. “My people are suffering first hand,” said Katcheak. Alaska lawmakers have responded to the state’s sluggish response, as lawsuits have alleged failures in the state’s administration of the food stamps and a program that provides aid to low-income Alaskans who are blind, elderly or have disabilities. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy authorized $1.7 million to provide relief to communities in a state that is almost 2 1/2 times the size of Texas. Lawmakers approved emergency funding to hire staff to handle the crush of cases as food banks have reported the highest level of demand they have seen.

America First Legal hits Mars with civil rights complaint, cites candy giant's woke hiring, training practices -- A nonprofit law firm is filing a civil rights complaint against Mars, Inc., alleging the food company is engaging in discriminatory hiring and training practices. America First Legal (AFL) sent a letter Wednesday to the Washington, D.C., field office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requesting an investigation into the candy giant for what it claims "are strong reasons to believe that Mars is intentionally and systemically violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by unlawfully conditioning hiring, promotion, and training on race, color, national origin, and/or sex." Citing Mars' stated goal to "achieve gender balance across one hundred percent of its leadership teams" as well to ensure "leadership teams and Associate representation... reflect the race and ethnicities of the labor force in the markets in which it operates," AFL argued the company is effectively establishing quotasbased on immutable characteristics in violation of Title VII. AFL also claimed the company's "Commitment to Inclusion & Diversity" statement "demonstrates how deeply unlawful discrimination is embedded in Mars’s employment and contracting practices."

Disney Sues DeSantis After 'Exhausting Options' As Feud Over Political Retaliation Heats Up - Walt Disney Co. sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, claiming he conducted a "relentless campaign to weaponize government power" against the company for speaking out about his controversial classroom bill and threatening billions of dollars in business. "A targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney's protected speech—now threatens Disney's business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights," Disney alleged in the civil complaint filed in the US District Court in Northern Florida. Earlier today, DeSantis' oversight board voted to void development contracts that Disney made in February that retained much of its control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 25,000-acre compound that Disney self-governs near Orlando that houses its theme parks. Recall, Disney lost control of its development in February. "Today's action is the latest strike," the lawsuit read, saying the development contracts "laid the foundation for billions of Disney's investment dollars and thousands of jobs."Disney alleged, "The government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.""Having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials," the lawsuit continued. For about a year, Disney and DeSantis feud has been stirring. It started when Disney criticized Florida's Parental Rights in Education law, also known as "Don't Say Gay," which limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public school classes from K-12.

Lawsuit by Ohio Cops Against Afroman Saw Some Action on 4/20 -The lawsuit by deputies in Adams County, Ohio against rapper Afroman, known for his hit “Because I Got High," had a pretrial scheduling call on April 20, appropriately enough. Afroman, given name Joseph Edgar Foreman, is being sued by seven members of the Adams County Sheriff's Office for publishing his own security footage of a raid on his home by the department from August 2022. While charges were never filed against Afroman, the deputies involved are suing the rapper for using his own security footage on Instagram, on T-shirts, and in music videos for a new album titled Lemon Pound Cake. They allege the rapper used their image and likeness without permission, causing the officers to suffer “humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation." An amended complaint from the lawyers representing the deputies may be on the way, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, as Afroman continues to market and sell the merch. Afroman's lawyer, meanwhile, told the paper, "He's a free spirit. He's gonna do what he wants to do," in noting he hasn't told the rapper to stop. The ACLU on Wednesday joined the cause, filing a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case outright. “Plaintiffs are a group of law enforcement officers who executed what appears to have been a highly destructive and ultimately fruitless search of a popular musician’s home. Now they find themselves at the receiving end of his mockery and outrage,” the ACLU wrote. “There is nothing the First Amendment protects more jealously than criticism of public officials on a matter of public concern.”

Police attack protesters with tear gas and pepper spray in Akron, Ohio - Wednesday evening police in Akron, Ohio, dressed in full riot gear and a SWAT team attacked over 100 peaceful protesters who were voicing their anger over the June 27, 2022 police murder of 25-year-old Jayland Walker and the decision not to prosecute the eight officers involved. Akron police officer pepper spraying protesters [Photo: @ComradeOhio] Protesters had assembled at the high school from which Walker graduated and were marching throughout the neighborhood chanting slogans demanding justice and against the ongoing police brutality throughout the city and across the US. No doubt, the police have been emboldened by the decision not to prosecute the officers who killed Walker in a hail of bullets. They know that they can attack the protesters with impunity and they are seeking to further terrorize those who challenge the decision and the community as a whole. By all accounts, the protesters remained peaceful as they marched Wednesday. However, a little before 8:00 p.m. police in full riot gear and equipped with gas masks set up a line to block the protesters from continuing their march. The police line included a SWAT team. Video shows one woman from the march walking up to the police line in what appears to be an attempt to question what is happening. Without warning, police began firing tear gas at the crowd. The woman who attempted to speak with the police is completely engulfed in the gas. At the same time police began advancing on the marchers releasing pepper spray as they went. Marchers, people that moved to the sidewalk and bystanders who were watching from the side were all gassed indiscriminately. At least two reporters who were reporting on the protest were attacked and gassed as well. Social media has been full of people speaking out and expressing their outrage over the attack. One Twitter user wrote, “Mind blown.... How can you just launch an attack on people who are clearly not out to hurt anybody.” Walker was gunned down by police in the early morning hours of June 27 after he led them on a short car chase. Police bodycam video shows Walker was killed after he exited his car and ran at most 10 paces. Video of the shooting shows that Walker had stopped running and appeared to be raising his arms in surrender when police opened fire on him.

Bishops condemn Florida’s dropping of unanimous jury requirement for death penalty cases | Catholic News Agency Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill April 20 allowing prisoners in the state to be sentenced to death without a unanimous jury verdict.Under the new law, a prisoner can be sentenced to death after eight of the 12 jurors recommend a death sentence, as long as the jury is unanimous that at least one aggravating factor — such as the crime being especially cruel or heinous — exists beyond a reasonable doubt.In that case, a judge has the option of sentencing the defendant to death or life in prison. If fewer than eight jurors agree on the death sentence, the jury’s recommendation must be for life in prison without the possibility of parole, and the judge must impose that sentence. The state’s Catholic bishops, represented by Michael Sheedy, executive director for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB), decried the change as a “setback.” Florida’s bishops have long advocated for an end to Florida’s death penalty and have called for sentences of life in prison rather than capital punishment. “It is stunning that the Florida Legislature would weaken a commonsense law passed just six years ago that required unanimous agreement by a jury in order to sentence someone to death. The new legislation requiring only eight of 12 jurors to agree in order to impose a death sentence takes our state backwards to outlier status once again with the lowest standard for imposing a death sentence,” Sheedy said in an April 13 statement. “As Florida persists in its implementation of the death penalty, the process should be as reliable and just as possible. Unanimity is required in every other circumstance when a jury is summoned in Florida. The harshest punishment that the state imposes should require the strictest standards.”

Gunfire took their son at 20. Now it takes his daughter, 12 - Janet Rice headed to the hospital Thursday night, as she routinely does when tragedy befalls her community. A barrage of gunfire had injured several young people, including a 12-year-old girl struck in the head by a stray bullet.While en route, Rice’s phone rang. She pulled over.The young girl in a Connecticut hospital fighting for her life was her granddaughter -- the child of the son Rice lost to gun violence more than a decade earlier.The girl, Se’Cret Pierce, died Friday morning. She was 2 years old when her young father, Shane Oliver, 20, was killed in the fall of 2012 only a few miles from where his daughter was shot.Having a son gunned down brought sorrow and despair to the family. Now a granddaughter had perished, too.“Never in a million years did I expect to respond to a call for my 12-year-old granddaughter,” Rice, a crisis response specialist, said in a text message Sunday. The seventh-grader was the seventh homicide this year in Hartford, a city — like other urban areas — struggling to contain gun violence. Last year, there were 39 homicides in Hartford — up from 34 the year before, most committed with a gun.

Montana House cancels session after rally for trans lawmaker - — Montana’s House speaker canceled a Tuesday floor session a day after seven protesters were arrested for disrupting proceedings with demands that Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Democrat silenced by lawmakers for comments against a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care, be allowed to speak. The cancellation is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal. Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana.” “Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied.” Under Regier’s leadership, the House has not allowed Zephyr to speak since last week when she said that those who voted to ban gender-affirming care for young people would have “blood on their hands.” He and other Republicans said the remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse and demanded she apologize before being allowed to participate in legislative discussions. Zephyr’s remarks, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol at noon Monday and seven arrests later that afternoon when protesters interrupted House proceedings after Zephyr was denied the right to speak on a bill. The scene at the Statehouse galvanized both those demanding she be allowed to speak and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse. Much like developments in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where two lawmakers were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and democracy in politically polarizing times.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office investigating child death in Harahan — A six-year-old child was found dead in Harahan Wednesday, according to an email sent to parents at St. Matthew the Apostle School. There was a large law enforcement presence in Harahan, La., on Wednesday as authorities investigate the death involving the child. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office offered few details, other than that deputies were requested to help the Harahan Police Department investigate a death near Sedgefield and Donelon Drives, but the email sent to parents said that the child was a kindergarten student at the school. "This is indeed a horrific tragedy that will impact our school and parish community. Because of the very challenging and sensitive nature of the situation and, in order to help our faculty and families in processing this news, we have made the decision to cancel all classes tomorrow, Thursday, April 27 and Friday April 28," said the email. Neighbors told WWL-TV that authorities asked him for his home security video from Tuesday night. He said that the video showed a woman pulling a wagon with a bucket inside of it. The neighbor said that police seemed to believe that the child's body was in the bucket.

5 charged after Indiana special needs student, 7, is forced to eat his own vomit with a spoon, police say -- Four Indiana elementary school staff members and a behavioral technician were charged after a 7-year-old special education student was allegedly forced to eat his own vomit with a spoon.Sara Seymour, 27; Debra Kanipe, 63; Julie Taylor, 48; Kristen Mitchell, 38; and Megan King, 24, were all charged with misdemeanor failure to report, Brownsburg policesaid Wednesday on Facebook.Seymour and Kanipe were also charged with felony neglect of a dependent, police said.The charges stem from an incident in February at Brown Elementary School in Brownsburg, about 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis.Authorities said the video showed the student seated at a table in the cafeteria. The boy was eating his lunch and then stood up, appearing to gag on his food. Seymour, a life skills teacher, appeared to tell him to sit down, police said.Seymour allegedly told the child that if he vomited, he would be required to eat what the threw up, police said. Taylor, a life skills teacher, was present and gave the boy a tray, the release says.Police said the child vomited on the tray and the table. Kanipe, a life skills instructional aid, allegedly handed the boy a spoon. The child was forced to use the spoon to eat the vomit and then clean up the rest with paper towels, police said."Both Seymour and Kanipe stood at each side of the child while he consumed a portion of the vomit," the news release says. "Mitchell and King were present and witnessed the incident."King is a behavioral technician with K1ds Count Therapy, a third-party contractor with the school. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment Thursday. Brownsburg police were notified of the incident on April 12, shortly after the school was made aware of it. The Hendricks County Prosecutor's Office filed the charges Tuesday. Online jail records show that Seymour and Kanipe were arrested Wednesday and released the same day. It is not clear whether they have obtained attorneys.

No social media for children under 13, new federal bill proposes - A new bill, unveiled in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, proposes to establish a minimum age for using social media.The bipartisan measure would “prohibit users who are under age 13 from accessing social media platforms.”Named the “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act,” it would prevent tech companies from distributing algorithm-recommended content to those under 18 and require parental consent before creating a profile.Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a co-sponsor,said during a press event that “social media (companies) have stumbled onto a stubborn, devastating fact: The way to get kids to linger on the platforms and to maximize platforms is to upset them.”Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another co-sponsor of the bill, said he believes this bill will give the power back to the parents.“Big tech has exposed our kids to dangerous content and disturbed people,” Cotton said at a news conference, perNBC News.Another component of the bill is a pilot program, headed by the Secretary of Commerce, to virtually verify users according to age requirements. The Federal Trade Commission will be tasked with enforcement.“Moms and dads have felt helpless while their kids suffer, sometimes leading to devastating tragedies,” he said.According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42% of high school students said they experienced sadness and hopelessness last year, while more than one-fifth said they contemplated suicide.The other two sponsors are Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama.“As a parent of two kids — one a teenager and one about to be a teenager — I see firsthand the damage that social media companies, 100% committed to addicting our children to their screens, are doing to our society,” said Murphy in a statement.“The alarm bells about social media’s devastating impact on kids have been sounding for a long time, and yet time and time again, these companies have proven they care more about profit than preventing the well-documented harm they cause.”

Child labor returns to the United States: A society moving in reverse -- This past week, the Iowa Senate advanced a bill which would dismantle many child labor restrictions in that state, expand the types of jobs that minors can legally work, extend the maximum length of shifts and allow businesses to employ them late at night. The bill was introduced in the Republican-controlled legislature on the grounds of “modernizing” Iowa’s child labor laws. In fact, it is the thin end of a wedge of a massive social regression. The United States, the world’s wealthiest country, never tires of lecturing others about “democracy” and “human rights.” But here, the barbaric practice of child labor, once thought to be consigned to the dustbin of history, at least in the advanced industrialized countries, is back. In the 1800s, the capitalists justified the exploitation of child labor on the grounds that it would “prevent the habitual idleness and degeneracy” and teach “habits of industry,” as one study said. Today, virtually identical arguments are being made to justify the rollback of child labor laws. “That’s good experience,” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said earlier this month. “You know, it teaches the kids a lot, and if they have the time to do it and they want to earn some additional money, I don’t think we should discourage that.” According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 10 states have considered bills to loosen child labor restrictions in the United States in the last two years. Eight bills have been introduced so far this year, including one bill in Minnesota which would allow children to work at construction sites. Another bill was recently signed into law in Arkansas. The number of minors involved in child labor law violations skyrocketed nearly 400 percent between 2015 and 2022, according to the same EPI study, from 1,012 to 3,876. This includes a number of high-profile scandals, including the employment of dozens of children as young as 12 in an Alabama auto parts plant and more than a hundred children in dangerous jobs at a Wisconsin meatpacking plant. In both incidents, these children were overwhelmingly immigrants, who comprise one of the most super-exploited and oppressed layers of the American working class. As a matter of fact, child labor was never fully abolished in the United States and remains widespread in rural areas. Approximately 500,000 children between the ages of 12 and 17 work in agriculture, and exemptions for farm work exist that allow children as young as 10 to work with their parent’s permission. Agriculture is also exempt from the federal minimum wage and, again, employs mostly immigrant workers. And of course, US corporations make profits exploiting child laborers in sweatshops all over the world. In 2020 there were 160 million children worldwide—nearly one in 10—in child labor, nearly half of whom were employed in hazardous work, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). The percentage of children in the workforce, which had been on the decline, has stagnated since 2016, and the total number of child laborers increased by 8 million.

Jefferson Parish won't reshelve, remove 12 challenged books - The Jefferson Parish Library won't reshelve or remove 12 books that feature discussions of sexuality and gender and were the subject of a coordinated barrage of complaints.In letters sent on April 18 to those who filed complaints about the books, Jefferson Parish Library Director Jessica Styons wrote that a committee of librarians had “thoroughly read and vetted the material” and determined the books were in their proper places in the library.Unlike other jurisdictions, the Jefferson Parish Library isn’t governed by a board of control. Instead, library policy is set by Jefferson Parish’s president, with guidance from the library director, though the Parish Council has the authority to override those decisions.Without referencing the decision, Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng at a Parish Council meeting Wednesday said she “believes in” the library’s process for reviewing challenged material. It’s unclear if the Parish Council will choose to intervene. The challenged titles included:

• "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson (in the Young Adult Non-Fiction section)
• "Sex is a Funny Word" by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
• "Empire of Storms" by Sarah J Maas (Young Adult Fiction)
• "Confess" by Colleen Hoover (Adult Fiction)
• "Breathless" by Jennifer Niven (Young Adult Fiction)
• "All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George M. Johnson (Young Adult Non-Fiction)
• "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe (Adult Non-Fiction)
• "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins (Young Adult Fiction)
• "My Princess Boy" by Cheryl Kilodavis (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
• "Flamer" by Mike Curato (Young Adult Graphic Novels)
• "Being You: A First Conversation About Gender" by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
• "A Court of Frost and Starlight" by Sarah J. Maas (Adult Science Fiction)

The library began reviewing the books in February after receiving a wave of complaints claiming the material violated Louisiana’s obscenity laws, which broadly prohibit exhibiting harmful material to minors. Similar arguments have been lodged by conservative activists elsewhere in Louisiana. In January, the St. Tammany Parish public library – which has had around 150 of its books challenged – hired a private law firm to defend it in the event it faced a criminal complaint. In her letter explaining the decision, Styons wrote, “Your concern that this material may violate state statute would involve a legal issue and would not be under the library’s purview.”According to Lee Sheng, the library assembled a committee of librarians with “different backgrounds” to review the challenged books and make recommendations to the library director.

Nine injured in shooting at Texas high school prom party (Reuters) - Nine teenagers were shot early Sunday at an after-prom party in Jasper, Texas, prompting what will be an increased police presence at the town's high school this week, officials said. None of the gunshot wounds were life-threatening, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that offered few other details about the shooting at a residence in Jasper, a town of about 7,200 people some 134 miles (215 km) northeast of Houston. The victims were taken to two hospitals, the sheriff's office said, without reporting on the number of shooters. "This investigation is ongoing and people of interest are being questioned," the statement said. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 19, KBMT-KJAC television news reported. Jasper High School held its prom, a right of passage for American secondary schools, at a church meeting hall on Saturday night, the TV news reported. The superintendent of the Jasper Independent School District, John Seybold, pledged full cooperation with any law-enforcement investigation "to bring these perpetrators to justice." "There will be a much larger law enforcement presence this week to ensure student safety, as well as counselors on hand for any students who need their assistance," Seybold said in the statement as reported by local media. A week ago, four people were shot dead and 32 wounded at an Alabama "Sweet 16" birthday party in the small town of Dadeville. Five suspects have been charged with murder in that shooting. Firearms have become the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year.

School district rejects claim from teacher shot by 6-year-old student | The HillThe Newport News School District filed a motion Wednesday arguing that the teacher who sustained injuries after being shot by a 6-year-old student earlier this year cannot file a $40 million lawsuit in the circuit court, saying her injuries are covered by the state’s workers’ compensation law. Abigail Zwerner, 25, was shot in the hand and chest early this year while teaching at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, and she needed tone hospitalized for two weeks. “Plaintiff is not without remedy; her remedy is dictated by the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act and the provisions contained therein,” reads the motion. “The Newport News Circuit Court does not have jurisdiction to hear workers’ compensation claims.” Lawyers for the school district said in a statement to The Hill that Zwerner’s case is the “definition of a workplace injury.” “In a perfect world, no teacher would ever be injured by one of their students at school … or anywhere,” they wrote. “However, unruly students and bad behavior are all too common in schools across the country, and Newport News is sadly not immune to this.” Zwerner’s lawyers said in a statement to The Hill that no teacher should expect to risk being shot by one of their students, adding that the school board’s position is not backed up by the law. “No one believes that a first grade teacher should expect that one of the risks of teaching first grade is that you might get shot by a six-year-old,” attorneys Diane Toscano and Jeffrey Breit said in a statement. “The school board’s position is contrary to how every citizen in Newport News thinks teachers should be treated, and the law does not support the board’s position. Teachers across the district will be alarmed to learn their employer sees this as part of the job description,” they added.

Gov. Ivey Replaces Alabama Education Director Over 'Woke' Training Book --Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced Friday she replaced the state’s director of early childhood education, due to the use of a teacher training book that Ivey said teaches “woke concepts.”“The education of Alabama’s children is my top priority as governor, and there is absolutely no room to distract or take away from this mission,” Ivey said in a statement.“Let me be crystal clear: Woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core have no place in Alabama classrooms at any age level, let alone with our youngest learners.”The book of concern is the 881-page Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th edition, developed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).The book is a guide for early childhood educators but is not a curriculum taught to children.Ivey spokesperson Gina Maiola said she understands that the books have been removed from the state classrooms.According to a release from Ivey’s office, the governor directed Dr. Barbara Cooper, the secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE), to send a memo to disavow the book and discontinue its use after being alerted of concerning content in the book last week. Ivey’s office said that the governor is concerned about a “woke agenda” because the book “invokes ideas for teachers that there are ‘larger systemic forces that perpetuate systems of White privilege.'” It also promotes the idea that “the United States is built on systemic and structural racism.” “Also included for four-year-olds to learn is that ‘LGBTQIA+ need to hear and see messages that promote equality, dignity, and worth,'” Ivey’s office stated.

San Francisco schools take Altria to trial over 'vaping crisis' | (Reuters) - A lawyer for San Francisco's public school system on Monday kicked off a long-awaited trial against Altria Group Inc (MO.N), saying the tobacco giant helped e-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc create a "crisis" of vaping addiction among teenagers. "This case is about Altria, the largest cigarette company in our country, who helped hook a whole new generation of our young people on nicotine, causing a vaping crisis, a youth epidemic," Thomas Cartmell, a lawyer for the San Francisco Unified School District, told jurors in San Francisco federal court. The school district had also sued Juul, which settled that lawsuit last year. Cartmell said Altria, which was Juul's largest investor from 2018 until earlier this year, was "at the heart" of Juul's strategy to grow its business by appealing to teenagers with sweet flavors and flashy advertising.Cartmell said Altria made a large investment in Juul after unsuccessfully trying to market its own e-cigarettes, and knew from the beginning that Juul's success was driven by youth. Juul's e-cigarette, with its "high-tech" look, was "marketed to appeal to the young, cool, popular crowd," and "packed with nicotine," he said. Thanks to Altria and Juul, Cartmell said, school staff now "have to spend precious time dealing with rampant vaping in school." The district is seeking to force Altria to pay for the costs of addressing the vaping problem.

1 in 4 high school students identifies as LGBTQ - About 1 in 4 high school students identifies as LGBTQ, according to a report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Thursday, using data from 2021. In 2021, 75.5 percent of high school students identified as heterosexual, the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) found. Among high school students, 12.2 percent identified as bisexual, 5.2 percent as questioning, 3.9 percent as other, 3.2 percent as gay or lesbian and 1.8 percent said they didn’t understand the question. The CDC says the number of LGBTQ students went from 11 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2021. The health organization said a potential reason for the increase in LGBTQ students could be from their wording around students who are questioning their sexuality. “Increases in the percentage of LGBQ+ students in YRBSS 2021 might be a result of changes in question wording to include students identifying as questioning, ‘I am not sure about my sexual identity (questioning),’ or other, ‘I describe my sexual identity in some other way,’” the report reads. Among the high school students, 57 percent have had no sexual contact in their lives, 34.6 percent had sexual contact with someone of the opposite sex, 6 percent had sexual contact with both sexes and only 2.4 percent had sexual contact with only the same sex.

Area schools receive safety grant funds - — Area schools continue to get safer as Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine awarded more than $42 million to support physical safety and security upgrades at hundreds of Ohio schools on Tuesday. Thirty-three of those schools are in Columbiana County.A total of 624 schools will receive funding as part of the fifth round of Ohio’s K-12 School Safety Grant Program. This new round of funding brings the total number of schools served by this program to 2,789 and the total amount of funding awarded to more than $215 million.East Liverpool, Lisbon Exempted Village and Salem City Schools received $1,245,482 as part of the fifth round. East Liverpool High School, Junior High, Westgate Middle School, LaCroft and Elementary Schools and the preschool at Westgate each received $100,000. Lisbon was awarded $145,882 – the senior/junior high received 91,619 while McKinley Middle received $53,863. Salem was awarded $500,000. Buckeye, Reilly, and Southeast Elementary Schools received $100,000 apiece, as did the high school and junior high.“Our educators care deeply about the safety of Ohio students, as evidenced by the thousands of schools that came forward with solid security improvement plans that they intend to carry out with this funding,” said DeWine. “There is nothing more important than the safety of our kids, and with today’s announcement, every qualifying school that applied for a grant has now received at least one award, including schools in all 88 counties.”All together Columbiana County received $2,607,982 from the grant program. Wellsville Local Schools received $200,000 in the first round. Second-round grants were awarded to Columbiana Exempted Schools ($150,000), Crestview Local Schools ($126,223) and the Columbiana County Educational Service Center ($40,246). Third-round grants were awarded to East Palestine City Schools ($176,069), Southern Local Schools ($200,000) and the Utica Shale Academy ($98,830). Crestview was also awarded $173,775 in the third round.DeWine partnered with the Ohio General Assembly to launch the K-12 School Safety Grant Program in 2021. The program was created to help schools pay for physical security expenses such as new security cameras, public address systems, automatic door locks, visitor badging systems, and exterior lighting.The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission administered the program in partnership with the Ohio School Safety Center. The program was funded through Ohio’s operating budget and with allocations from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Opposition mounts to Los Angeles teachers’ tentative agreement as union seeks to silence criticism - Following the snap announcement of an agreement earlier this week for 35,000 Los Angeles teachers, the United Teachers Los Angeles’ (UTLA) social media pages are being flooded with thousands of comments denouncing the sellout. Only the “highlights” of the agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have been released, which means there are likely many more concessions hidden in the fine print. Teachers have been kept working on the job by the UTLA since their contract expired last July. Among the many issues being raised by teachers are the disingenuous way in which the union is attempting to sell the 21 percent raise, which is broken up into six half-year increments of 3 and then 4 percent. One teacher said, “How about you state how our raise will be distributed? It sounds like a lump sum when in reality, it’s 7% a year! Not a win!” Another pointed out, “21% raise over 3 years is really a 7% a year. Inflation was 9% last year, this contract gives members a pay cut.” According to data from the Worldwide Cost of Living 2022, Los Angeles is the fourth-most expensive city in the world to live in. Jack, a longtime LAUSD middle school teacher, told the WSWS: “It’s not what the UTLA said they were going to deliver. They said they were going to get us 20 percent in two years, and they were very adamant about that. And then they wanted 9, 9 and 8, or 26 percent over three years. That was to counter the district’s offer of three years instead of two. “On top of that, in a period of high inflation, you want as much money in your hand as soon as you can get it so that you’re not continuing to lose against inflation. You don’t want to string it out over three years when there will be more inflation. That money will be worth even less when it’s aligned with inflation. You’re not getting as much, and you’re getting it over a longer period of time. That’s a double loss in terms of inflation. “But [Superintendent Alberto] Carvalho got somewhere between a 26 to 30 percent raise over his predecessor, right? Why didn’t we get that? “But what’s really bad about it is that it absolutely screws over retirees, near-term retirees, because it’s two-tiered. We get 4 percent for the first semester, and 3 more percent for the second semester. You’re not getting a full 7 percent for any one year. And so in the eyes of CalSTRS (California State Teachers Retirement System), the ones who determine your financial retirement, you won’t have gotten the 7 percent for that year.

Greene faces pushback after saying Weingarten is ‘not a mother’ -- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is facing pushback after suggesting American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who’s a stepmother, is “not a mother.” After Weingarten told the congresswoman she is a “mother by marriage” at a hearing on Wednesday, Greene repeatedly claimed the union leader is “not a mother.” “The problem is people like you need to admit that you’re just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother and not a medical doctor,” Greene said. Greene and other Republican lawmakers grilled Weingarten on the Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Pandemic on Wednesday over AFT’s role in the school reopening guidance issued by the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC). “Let me tell you, I am a mother, and all three of my children were directly affected by the school closures by your recommendations, which is something that you really can’t understand,” Greene added. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) stepped in with a point of order after Greene’s comments, calling them “unacceptable.” “It’d be nice if we didn’t attack the witnesses, particularly making a decision about whether or not she’s a mother,” Garcia said.

Michigan Students Sue After Being Forced To Remove "Let's Go Brandon" Sweatshirts -- In a newly filed complaint, two middle school students are suing Tri County Area Schools after they were -ordered to remove their sweatshirts featuring the anti-Biden slogan “Let’s Go, Brandon.”The lawsuit filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) makes a compelling case that the schools acted in an unconstitutional fashion in censoring the political message.“Let’s Go Brandon!” has become a similarly unintended political battle cry not just against Biden but also against the bias of the media. It derives from an Oct. 2 interview with race-car driver Brandon Brown after he won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. During the interview, NBC reporter Kelli Stavast’s questions were drowned out by loud-and-clear chants of “F*** Joe Biden.” Stavast quickly and inexplicably declared, “You can hear the chants from the crowd, ‘Let’s go, Brandon!’”“Let’s Go Brandon!” instantly became a type of “Yankee Doodling” of the political and media establishment.In this case, an assistant principal (Andrew Buikema) and a teacher (Wendy Bradford) “ordered the boys to remove the sweatshirts” for allegedly breaking the school dress code. However, other students were allowed to don political apparel with other political causes including “gay-pride-themed hoodies.”The district dress code states the following: “Students and parents have the right to determine a student’s dress, except when the school administration determines a student’s dress is in conflict with state policy, is a danger to the students’ health and safety, is obscene, is disruptive to the teaching and/or learning environment by calling undue attention to oneself. The dress code may be enforced by any staff member.”The district reserves the right to bar any clothing “with messages or illustrations that are lewd, indecent, vulgar, or profane, or that advertise any product or service not permitted by law to minors.”The funny thing about this action is that the slogan is not profane.

To help students, some colleges provide double the teachers - It was the last chemistry lab of the winter quarter at Everett Community College. Terrica Purvis was working through the steps of what chemistry professor Valerie Mosser jokingly refers to as the “post-apocalypse survival” lab — an experiment using boiled red cabbage water to test the acidity of common household chemicals. Purvis, 27, is in her first year of study for an associate degree in nursing at Everett Community College. She is also one of more than 6,000 Washington community and technical college students enrolled in the state’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program. Students who need extra help in subjects such as algebra struggle to learn if the content is taught in an abstract way, educators say. So I-BEST programs feature two teachers in the classroom: One provides job training and the other teaches basic skills in reading, math or English language.Nationally, two-year community colleges have the worst completion rates in higher education, with only slightly more than 40% earning degrees within six years.In Washington state, students in the program graduate at a higher rate. Among students who started college from 2015 to 2018, an average of 52% enrolled in I-BEST classes earned a degree or certificate within four years. That compares with 38% of students who did so while enrolled in traditional adult basic education coursework, according to the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges.The program is so successful that 12 states have begun implementing an I-BEST model at one or more education institutions.For Purvis, who hadn’t been in school for nearly a decade, this class meant getting extra math help when she needed it: during a chemistry class. Each time Mosser gave a lecture or held a lab, she was joined by Candace Ronhaar, who works as a tutor and extra math instructor.

More Than 100 People Speak Out Against Massive Ohio Higher Education Bill During Marathon Meeting -Concerned college students, worried university staff, and outraged advocates packed the Ohio Statehouse Wednesday to speak against a massive higher education bill that would significantly change college campuses. More than 500 people submitted opponent testimony to Senate Bill 83, which would, among other things, require American history courses and tenure evaluations based on if the educator showed bias or taught with bias, and prohibit university staff and employees from striking. SB 83, which was introduced in March by state Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, would also ban programs with Chinese schools. People testified for just over seven hours during Wednesday’s marathon Senate Workforce and Higher Education committee meeting. A little more than 100 people were actually able to testify in opposition before the meeting ended around 11:30 p.m. SB 83 primarily affects public schools, but would mandate that private schools that want to use public funds sign paperwork saying they are following free speech guidelines. There is also a companion bill, House Bill 151, that was introduced by state Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., and state Rep. Josh Williams, R-Oregon, on April 6. Honesty for Ohio Education, a nonpartisan statewide coalition, hosted a press conference opposing SB 83 before Wednesday’s committee meeting. “It is bad for students, it is bad for higher education, and it is bad for Ohio,” said Cynthia Peoples, the founding director of Honesty for Ohio Education. “This bill attacks academic freedom. It attacks our students’ freedom to learn.” Students from various universities waited hours to testify Wednesday. More than 100 students signed up to testify including at least 49 from Ohio State, 25 from Miami University, and 13 from Kent State University. Emily Hill, a senior studying history at the University of Akron, is concerned the language of the bill could prevent history professors from having honest conversations with their students. “Professors will be unable to discuss important historical events and issues for fear of being perceived as biased or making students uncomfortable,” she said. “History is uncomfortable.” She fears shying away from those conversations will make students less empathetic and lack critical thinking skills. Clovis Westlund, an Ohio State University student, said during Wednesday’s press conference he has seen so many students on campus outraged over SB 83 — ranging from activists, aspiring politicians and lawyers, future educators, student organization leaders, and future health care professionals. “I’ve never seen a bill so universally despised,” he said. “All of these students fear SB 83 for its ambiguous language that endangers the education we invest so much time and money into.”

The higher education divestment movement has arrived in Virginia - A small yet motivated coterie of environmentally minded University of Richmond students is urging the top liberal arts college to be the first in Virginia — and one of barely a handful across the South — to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Senior Mason Manley and other GreenUR members spearheading the cause know that a single school’s actions won’t halt the climate crisis. But they are resolute in their belief that pivoting money away from coal, gas and oil and toward clean energy would signal their alma mater is attentive to the topsy-turvy future it’s preparing them to face.“We have the potential to influence how billions of dollars are invested,” said Manley, an environmental studies major. “When else am I going to have the chance to do that?“It comes down to getting dollars out of the hands of fossil fuel companies being a moral imperative.”Thus far, university officials are “aware” of students’ passion, but noncommittal on altering their approach to managing a $3.2 billion endowment.“I’m proud of the students and the thinking they’re doing on this issue,” said Dave Hale, the university’s COO and executive vice president. “However, we have to take a very broad view of how we manage our financial assets and steward them over the near- and long-term.” Public records spelling out exactly how much of the university’s endowment is even invested in fossil fuels aren’t available.Since Hampshire College in Massachusetts launched the divestment charge in 2011, at least 82 U.S. colleges have followed suit on a full or partial basis. While Northeast and West Coast universities dominate the list, it is geographically diverse.Richmond’s pursuit to join two other Southern schools — Emory in Atlanta and Brevard in North Carolina — began in earnest when Manley, GreenUR president since 2020, returned to campus last fall after studying abroad his junior year.Last September, the nascent organization found its footing by linking with Fridays for Future, a sweeping youth-led global environmental movement that began quietly five years ago in Sweden when then-teenager Greta Thunberg kicked off a solo school strike for climate.

Student loan servicers brace for trouble with restart of payments -- Student loan servicers are in a tough bind, dealing with reduced staff as they prepare for the unprecedented situation of 44 million borrowers returning to payments later this summer. Student loan payments are expected to restart at the end of August at the latest, including for many borrowers who graduated during the pandemic and have never made such payments before. “I think the real challenge is the resource constraint, right? That’s really on the customer service side,” said Scott Buchanan, executive director for Student Loan Servicing Alliance (SLSA). “Systemically, we can handle this, but that customer service component is going to be constrained, and that’s because the [Education] Department has continued to make cuts to the customer service funding for student loan servicers.” SLSA is a nonprofit trade association that works on student loan servicing issues. It says its members, which include federal student loan servicers Aidvantage and Edfinancial Services, are “responsible for servicing over 95% of all federal student loans and the vast majority of private loans.” The lack of money for customer service in the industry can be traced back to a denial of increased funding for the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office by Congress last year. “It’s important to think about this holistically,” said Sarah Sattelmeyer, project director for education, opportunity, and mobility in the higher education initiative at New America. “FSA’s budget constraints are certainly affecting servicers. And I think that’s an incredibly huge problem because it affects the ability to effectively have a student loan support system. … All of the things that FSA has on its plate — it’s never had more things on its plate. There’s a lot of new reforms coming down the pipe, and a lack of funding is really impacting its ability to do all of that work.” A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the funding Congress gave to FSA was inadequate for the tasks ahead. “As the Department has repeatedly made clear, restarting repayment requires significant resources to avoid unnecessary harm to borrowers, such as cuts to servicing,” the spokesperson said.

Biden’s next student loan headache: A cash crunch at the Education Department - A funding shortfall is forcing Education Department officials to cut customer service to student loan borrowers just as the agency prepares to send millions of Americans their first bills in more than three years. Congress last year rejected the White House’s request for more money to administer the federal student loan program after Republicans balked at adding extra funds that could be used to implement President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan. At the same time, the agency’s costs exploded as it implemented a range of new policies, such as expanding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and creating a new application process for canceling up to $20,000 of student debt. Education Department officials, congressional Democrats and consumer advocacy groups are now worried that the Biden administration may not have enough money to smoothly transition borrowers back into repaying their debt when payments are set to resume later this year. The funding woes threaten to exacerbate the political pain of what was always going to be a tricky endeavor for Biden: Sending millions of Americans student loan bills for the first time since their payments were suspended at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Borrowers are set to face longer hold times to speak with their loan servicing company, potentially slower paperwork processing and reduced call center hours. “It is a slow-moving car crash,” said Jared Bass, senior director for higher education at the Center for American Progress and a former Democratic appropriations staffer. Bass urged lawmakers to find a way to add money for administering student aid programs even before Congress debates government-wide funding this fall. “We see what’s about to unfold, so let’s just prevent it now and just step in and take preventative measures,” he said.

Kansas enacts sweeping transgender ‘bathroom bill’ | The Republican legislators in Kansas on Thursday enacted what LGBTQ rights groups have characterized as one of the most sweeping and restrictive transgender bathroom bills in U.S. history, overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the measure. The Kansas House voted 84-40 Thursday to override Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 180, which defines sex in state law to mean an “individual’s biological sex, either male or female, at birth.” The Senate voted 28-12 on Wednesday to do the same. The measure, which will take effect July 1, also legally defines women as individuals “whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova” and men as individuals “whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.” It declares that “distinctions between the sexes” in certain spaces “are substantially related to the important governmental objectives of protecting the health, safety and privacy of individuals in such circumstances.” The new law applies to school restrooms, locker rooms, prisons, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers. While supporters of the measure have argued that such legislation is needed to prevent transgender women from sharing bathrooms, changing rooms and other facilities with cisgender women and girls, opponents have criticized the law for being too broad and difficult to enforce.

Expanding Medicaid to people in prison - Why states should change Medicaid rules to cover people leaving prison, Prison Policy Initiative, Emily Widra. The gap in healthcare coverage following incarceration leads to high rates of death just after release. During just the first two weeks after release from prison, people leaving custody face a risk of death more than 12 times higher than that of the general U.S. population, with disproportionately high rates of deaths from drug overdose and illness. A contributing factor to this astronomically high death rate following release is the healthcare coverage gap. People lose health insurance coverage while in jail or prison and their lack of coverage continues post-release, leaving many without access to adequate, timely, and appropriate health care in those critical first weeks of reentry. Fortunately, we have a way to address this healthcare coverage gap, and to improve the health and safety of our communities in general, Medicaid. Research shows the expansion of access to healthcare through Medicaid saves lives and reduces crime and arrest rates, along with state spending, by making this a reform strategy whose time has come.When Medicaid was authorized in 1965, the “inmate exclusion policy” was established to prevent state and local governments from receiving matching federal funds to cover the healthcare costs of people in state prisons and local jails. This policy leaves state and local governments solely responsible for financing the healthcare of incarcerated people, even when those people were covered by Medicaid prior to their incarceration. In most states, Medicaid coverage is terminated when someone is incarcerated.The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (the federal agency responsible for Medicare and Medicaid) advocates people be returned to the Medicaid eligibility rolls “immediately upon release from a correctional facility,” and has even provided resources to correctional systems, probation officers, and parole officers to help make this happen. Nevertheless and as things stand now, despite most being financially eligible for Medicaid upon release, connecting with appropriate healthcare providers and reapplying for Medicaid is no easy feat. People going through reentry, too many medically vulnerable and disconnected lack healthcare services in the community.In all states, Medicaid provides health coverage for low-income people who qualify based on income, household size, disability status, and a handful of other factors. Most people in contact with the criminal legal system are likely eligible for Medicaid. People in prisons and jails are among the poorest in the country and have high rates of disabilities, making them likely eligible for Medicaid in almost every state. People in contact with the criminal legal system have lower pre-incarceration incomes than people who are never incarcerated. In fact, 32% of people in state prisons in 2016 who had insurance at the time of their arrest were covered by Medicaid (compared to about 19% of insured people nationwide). As an additional indicator of need among this population, 50% of people in state prisons were uninsured at the time of arrest.

More than 1 in 5 adults with limited car, public transit access forgo health care -- More than one in five U.S. adults who do not have a car and have limited access to public transit said in a recent poll they have forgone needed health care in the past year. The poll from the Urban Institute found that 21 percent of those without access to a car or reliable public transit in their area said they went without necessary health care because of difficulty finding transportation. However, this number dropped to 9 percent among those who don’t have access to a car but reported good public transportation, the poll found. Having access to a car also makes a difference in obtaining health care, with 13 percent of those without a vehicle saying they skipped out on necessary medical care over transportation issues, compared to just 4 percent of those with a car. Black and Hispanic adults were significantly less likely to have access to a car, according to the poll. While 94 percent and 93 percent each of white and Asian adults said they had access to a car, respectively, 81 percent of Black adults and 87 percent of Hispanic adults said they did not. White and Asian adults were also less likely to forgo necessary health over transportation issues, with just 4 percent and 2 percent saying as much, respectively. Eight percent of Black adults and 7 percent of Hispanic adults missed out on medical care because of difficulty finding transportation. Low-income families also were less likely to have access to a car, at 73 percent, and more likely to have forgone needed health care over transportation issues, at 14 percent, the poll found. Among those with disabilities, 83 percent said they have access to a car, but 17 percent said transportation problems caused them to skip out on medical care. “Our study finds that access to public transportation is associated with improved access to health care itself … suggesting that investments in public transit may be a tool to promote health equity,” the Urban Institute’s report noted.

Scent-trained dogs highly accurate in detecting COVID-19 in schools -Scent-trained dogs detected COVID-19 infection with 83% sensitivity and 90% specificity in nearly 3,900 screenings at California K-12 schools in spring 2022, according to a research letter published today in JAMA Pediatrics.A team led by researchers from the California Department of Public Health, which also sponsors a statewide school-based COVID-19 antigen testing program, used two trained dogs in 50 visits to 27 schools from April 1 to May 25, 2022, a period dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. The medical-alert dogs had undergone 2 months of COVID-19 scent training in a lab, where they achieved greater than 95% sensitivity and specificity.Sensitivity is the probability of correctly identifying all positive cases; the higher the sensitivity, the lower the likelihood of false-negative results. Specificity, on the other hand, is the ability to accurately identify those who don't have a condition; the higher the specificity, the lower the risk of false-positive results. The study authors noted that California's antigen testing program is effective but that it requires personnel, testing supplies, and sample collection and produces medical waste, while dog-based detection takes only seconds and is generally free of medical waste. "Scent-trained dogs are a strategy for rapid, noninvasive, low-cost, and environmentally responsible COVID-19 screening," they wrote.The researchers piloted the program at a subset of volunteer schools on antigen-testing days. The median age of the 1,558 participants was 13 years; 55.8% were females, 89% were students, and 68% were screened at least twice.During the 3,897 paired dog-antigen screenings, participants stood 6 feet apart, facing away from the dogs, while the handler-led dogs sniffed their ankles and feet, sitting when they detected potential COVID-19 infection. Participants then underwent BinaxNOW rapid-antigen testing.If a dog signaled a participant as COVID-positive but antigen testing results were negative, the signal was considered a false-positive. If a dog didn't signal and antigen testing results were positive, the signal was considered a false-negative. The dogs accurately identified 85 infections and ruled out 3,411 infections, for an overall accuracy of 90%. However, they inaccurately signaled infection 383 times and missed 18 cases, for a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 90%.

What are the trends in severe outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic? -In a recent study published in the JAMA Network Open, researchers performed a cohort study for prospective surveillance across a network of 155 acute care hospitals in Canada between March 15, 2020, and May 28, 2022, i.e., during the first two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.In the present study, trained infection control professionals reviewed patient medical records from 155 acute care hospitals in 10 Canadian provinces and one territory.They identified patients with the first COVID-19-positive RT-PCR test result within 14 days before they sought hospital admission or while in the hospital. The study population comprised adults and pediatric patients.For study analysis, they considered several severe outcomes in patients testing positive for COVID-19, as follows:

• i) hospitalization;
• ii) those admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU);
• iii) those receiving mechanical ventilation;
• iv) those receiving mechanical ventilation (MV);
• v) those receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO); and
• vi) all-cause in-hospital mortality

The team identified healthcare–related COVID-19 cases based on three prespecified criteria, the onset of symptoms or a positive RT-PCR test at least seven days after hospital admission, rehospitalization with a positive RT-PCR test within seven days after discharge, or a case with an epidemiological link to another COVID-19 case among staff members.Further, the team identified six waves (periods) for the study with different SARS-CoV-2 variant predominance based on the weeks they detected increased COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the CNISP network. [...] Conclusions Although COVID-19-related hospitalizations peaked in wave five, a markedly reduced proportion of adult and pediatric patients sought ICU admission. Even lesser adult COVID-19 patients received MV or ECMO during later than earlier waves, though numbers were significantly higher among unvaccinated patients. However, during waves five and six, although Canadian hospitals experienced a surge in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and nosocomial transmission, severe disease outcomes declined substantially. Yet, the COVID-19 burden on the Canadian healthcare system remained substantial even during waves five & six. Multiple factors likely resulted in the observed reductions, such as greater COVID-19 vaccine uptake & coverage by the time Omicron became predominant, which was inherently less virulent. During later pandemic waves, people also developed natural immunity, and even COVID-19 management at hospitals improved over time. Together, the study data highlighted the significance of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing the burden of COVID-19 and its severe outcomes on the Canadian healthcare system.

Study: ICU patients suffer from more post-COVID symptoms -- A small German study today in Scientific Reports reveals higher levels of post-COVID-19 symptoms and problems in patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) compared with non-ICU patients. The single-center study at the University Hospital of Wuerzburg looked at outcomes for 85 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 from March to December 2020, with patients interviewed 3 and 12 months after discharge about quality of life, lingering symptoms, and mental health following their infection.Of the 85 patients, 45 patients had critical COVID-19 treated in the ICU. The median age was 61 in ICU patients and 63 in non-ICU patients, but patients admitted to the ICU had a higher body mass index. Roughly half of the ICU patients required high-flow oxygen, and 89% of them were mechanically ventilated.Coinfections were much more common in ICU patients, with pulmonary coinfections seen in 38% of ICU patents and 5% of non-ICU patients.At both 3 and 12 months post-discharge, ICU patients reported more mobility problems, and at 12 months 20% of ICU patients had severe problems or were unable to perform their usual activities, compared with 13% of non-ICU patients. At 12-month follow-up, 63% of ICU patients and half of the non-ICU patients had not returned to work, with 37% of ICU and 11% of non-ICU patients unable to work because of disability. One fifth of both patients groups reported depression during follow-up."Low levels of stress were rarely observed in ICU patients, indicating that nearly all ICU survivors experience moderate to high levels of stress one-year after discharge," the authors wrote. "Our data highlight the complexity of post-COVID-19 symptoms as well as the necessity to educate patients and primary care providers about monitoring mental well-being."

The heightened risk of autoimmune diseases after Covid by Eric Topol - When we published our comprehensive review of Long Covid earlier this year, the evidence for elevated risk of autoimmune diseases had not been established. That’s now changed. There are three large cohort studies that provide strong support of the “substantially increased risk of developing a diverse spectrum of new-onset autoimmune diseases.”The Table below is the summary of the 3 reports (here, here and here) that come from 3 different countries, each with matched control groups. The increased risk of multiple new autoimmune conditions is fairly consistent, about 20-40%. The analysis of the data from the United States is notable because it considered and adjusted for competing risks, that is one or more severe outcomes that could compete with the outcome of interest. Before this adjustment, as seen below, the risk for the spectrum of autoimmune disease ranged from about 2-3 fold (hazard ratio at far right, adjusted).And here is the corresponding FigureWhen competing risks were factored in there was still a significant increased risk, but more in keeping with the other 2 reports (20-40%). The cohort analyzed excluded any individual who had received a Covid vaccine.The analysis partitioned the cases and controls as to whether they had severe Covid (hospitalized) or were out-patients. The risk was more elevated in the people with mild to moderate Covid, as seen below. Somewhat surprising, given the higher incidence of autoimmune disease among women and younger age groups, there were no substantial overall differences noted by age, sex, or race, but specific autoimmune diseases did vary (e.g. Behcet’s disease, dermatomyositis, systemic sclerosis and mixed connective tissue disease excess only found in women; systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Asians; psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis in Blacks). In contrast, the other 2 studies reported a somewhat higher incidence of new autoimmune diseases among women and the German study showed a higher risk among in-patients. None of the 3 reports had data for the effect of vaccination.In contrast with respect to risk according to severity of Covid, the German study The US report concluded: “Given the large sample size and relatively modest effects these findings should be replicated in an independent dataset.” Well now this finding has been seen in triplicate and it appears to provide unequivocal support for the link (an association, not yet established as cause and effect) between Covid and subsequent risk of developing autoimmune diseases.We have been warned of this potential since the first year of the pandemic when there were multiple fronts of anecdotal data, case reports, and small series, as summarized in the Figure below. The findings included the rare Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and even less frequently seen in adults, the high proportion of antiphospholipid antibodies found in multiple studies, chiblain-like lesions (“Covid toes”), and hematologic conditions such as immune thrombocytopenia or hemolytic anemia that have an autoimmune basis.

Study: Monovalent mRNA COVID vaccine 76% effective against poor outcomes --The estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the monovalent (single-strain) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was 76% against mechanical ventilation and in-hospital death for 6 months after the last dose, falling to 56% at 1 to 2 years, according to a studypublished today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the VE of two to four doses of the monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccine against mechanical ventilation and in-hospital death among 362 infected adults and 4,059 uninfected control patients admitted to 24 hospitals in 19 states. The study was conducted from February 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023, a period dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.The median patient age was 64 years, 91.0% had at least one underlying medical condition, and 20% had a previous COVID-19 infection. All participants had healthy immune systems.The researchers noted that COVID-19 VE against hospitalization could be artificially lowered through routine testing at admission because it can identify infection in patients admitted for reasons other than SARS-CoV-2. To lower the risk of bias, the team opted to evaluate VE against mechanical ventilation and death.VE against mechanical ventilation and in-hospital death by 28 days was 62% among adults of all ages and 69% among those aged 65 years and older. From 7 to 179 days since the last COVID-19 vaccine dose, VE was 76%, waning to 54% from 6 months to 1 year, and 56% at more than 1 year. Within each interval since the last dose, VE didn't significantly differ by number of doses.Among the 362 case-patients, 40% were unvaccinated, 60% were monovalent-vaccinated, 81% received mechanical ventilation, and 43% died within 28 days of admission. Of the 4,059 controls, 24% were unvaccinated, and 76% had received the monovalent vaccine.

Why You Should Never Use an AI for Advice about Your Health, Especially Covid - by Lambert Strether -- The question I posed: “Is Covid Airborne”? Here is ChatGPTbot’s answer: […]

• [1] “Yes.” Good.
• [2] “Airborne particles such as droplets and aerosols” weirdly replicates and jams together droplet dogma and aerosol science. In fact, there’s a lot of evidence for aerosol transmission, and little to none for droplet. Further, no distinction is made between the ballistic character of droplets, and the cigarette smoke-like character of aerosols. If you wish to protect yourself, that’s important to know. (For example, there’s no reason to open a window to protect yourself from droplets produced by sneezing; they don’t float. There is, from aerosols, which do, and which the open air dilutes.)
• [3] “Close contact” is not, in itself, a mode of transmission.
• [4] “Contaminated surfaces” is fomite transmission. We thought that was important in early 2020. It’s not. Nor is it demonstrated by epidemiological studies, at least in the West. One must wonder when this AI’s training set was constructed.
• [5] “Considered important” by whom? Note lack of agency.
• [6] “Physical distancing” vs. “social distancing” as terms of art for the same thing was a controversy in 2020. Again, when was the training set constructed? In any case, aerosols float, so the arbitrary and since-discredited six foot “physical distance” was just another bad idea from a public health establishment enslaved by some defunct epidemiologist. (I personally have always gone with “social distancing”; air being shared, breathing is a social relation).
• [7] I have seen no evidence that handwashing prevents Covid, and fomite transmission is not a thing. Of course, in 2020, I did a lot of handwashing, when this was not yet known. Again, when was the training set contstructed?

ChatGPTbot’s grade: D-. “Yes” is the right answer to the question. However, ChatGPTbot has clearly not mastered the material nor done the reading. At least ChatGPTbot — between [5] and [6], sorry! — recommends masks. But given that Covid is airborne, where are the mentions of opening windows, HEPA filters, Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes, CO2 testing for shared air, and ventilation generally? If you adhere, as I do, to the “Swiss Cheese” model of layered protection, ChatGPTbot is not recommending enough layers, and that could be lethal to you. In essence, ChatGPT has no theory of transmission, but rather a pile ofdisjecta membra from droplet dogma and aerosol science. Therefore, its output lacks coherence. This pudding has no theme…..Second, Bing. Skipping the verbiage at the top, and noticing that I have chosen maximum precision for the answers, we have:

• [1] “Yes.” Good, although “can spread” does not express the airborne transmission is certainly the primary mode of transmission (except to the knuckle-draggers in Hospital Infection Control, of course).
• [2] A living English speaker would write “people infected with COVID-19,” and not “people with the COVID-19 infection.”
• [3] “Droplets of all different sizes.” As with ChatGPTbot, we have droplet dogma and aerosol science jammed together. That droplets and aerosols might have different behaviors and hence remedies goes unmentioned.
• [4] “Ejected” suggests that aerosols are ballistic. They’re not.
• [5] It’s nice to have footnotes, but the sources seem randomly chosen, assuming they’re not simply made up, as AIs will do. Why is footnote 1 to the state of New Jersey’s website, as opposed to CDC_{MR SUBLIMINAL ‘s incomprehensible and ill-maintained bordel of a website}? Why does footnote 1 appear twice in the text, and footnotes 2, 3, 4, and 5 not at all? Why is Quartz a source, and on a par with — granted, putatively — authoritative sources like CDC, WHO, and even the state of New Jersey? And this is all before the fact that we already know AIs just make citations up. How do we know these aren’t made up?

The nice thing about Bing is that you can pose followup questions in the chat. I posed one:

1. [1] Vaccinations do not protect against transmission. Bing is reinforcing a public health establishment and political class lie, and a popular delusion. This is only natural; since AI is a bullshit generator, it has no way to distinguish truth from falsehood.
2. [2] Given aerosol transmission, there is no “safe” distance. The idea that there can be is detritus from droplet dogma; because droplets are ballistic, they will tend to fall in a given radius. But aerosols float like cigarette smoke. There are more or less safe distances, but the key point is that there is shared air, which can have a lot of virus in it, or a little.
3. [3] “Closed spaces.” Good. But notice how the AI is simply stringing words together, and has no theory of transmission. Under “safe space” droplet dogma, closed and open spaces are irrelevant; the droplets drop where they drop, whether the space be closed or open.
4. [4] “Open windows.” Good.
5. [5] “Wear a mask.” Good. Better would be to wear an N95 mask (and not a Baggy Blue). And again: Where are HEPA filters, Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes, CO2 testing for shared air, and ventilation generally?

Pfizer Quietly Financed Groups Lobbying for COVID Vaccine Mandates In the midst of a contentious debate about Chicago’s plan to force employers to require their workers to take the COVID-19 vaccine, Karen Freeman-Wilson, president of the Chicago Urban League, appeared on television to dismiss complaints that such rules would disproportionately harm the Black community.“The health and safety factor here far outweighs the concern about shutting people out or creating a barrier,” Freeman-Wilson said on WTTW in August 2021. Earlier that year, her group had received a $100,000 grant from Pfizer, the manufacturer of one of the most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, for a project to promote "vaccine safety and effectiveness.” Although the Chicago Urban League is not normally shy about disclosing its corporate donors, the support from Pfizer is not listed in the “partners” section on its website. The drug industry funding likewise went unmentioned during the interview. Pfizer’s grant to the Chicago Urban League was one of many that Pfizer made to nonprofits and trade organizations. Pfizer doled out special funding to groups across the country that lobbied in favor of government policies to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine.The extensive list of those with funding from the pharmaceutical giant includes consumer, doctor, and medical groups, as well as public health organizations and civil rights nonprofits. Many of those groups did not disclose the funding they received from Pfizer while they were advocating for policies that would force workers to get the vaccine. There were several different and sometimes overlapping vaccine mandates in the country. At the federal level, President Joe Biden issued an executive order, which was ultimately struck down in court, mandating vaccinations at all employers with 100 workers or more. A number of state and local governments forced public employees to get vaccinated and tried to force private-sector employers to follow suit. And many large employers required their employees to get vaccinated without any prodding from the government. Critics of these employer mandates have noted that the majority of the proposed mandates, including Biden’s, made no exception for individuals with natural immunity through prior infection. Proponents of the mandates claimed that the vaccines would prevent transmission of COVID-19, an argument that lacked sound scientific basis at the time and has further unraveled.

Berenson: Moderna Falsely Said No Serious Adverse Vaccine Effects in Phase 2 Trial; Their Own Data Says Otherwise – Yves Smith - Investigative reporter Alex Berenson is a controversial source on matters Covid. He generally hews to Great Barrington Declaration views, that Covid is not a serious pathogen, that the lockdown were unnecessary and a violation of individual rights, that masking does not work. Nevertheless, he’s also been diligently investigating studies that question the safety and efficacy of the Covid vaccines, particularly the mRNA vaccines. And he appears to have a serious finding, based on Moderna’s own claims versus the data in a paper that the journal Vaccines published in February 2021.The very short version is that Moderna maintained, both in its clinical trial data to the FDA, and in the Vaccines paper that there were no “serious adverse effects” in a trial group of 400 versus a control of 200.¹ In fact, there were 14, including three miscarriages, seven during the placebo-controlled phase of that trial (the first shot), seven more with a booster (no typo, Moderna started trials of a booster in January 2021). As Dima at Military Summary is wont to say, “That’s a lot.”Mind you, Moderna and the FDA misrepresented vaccine safety by hiding these injuries. The Journal Vaccines published a paper in February 2021 on the Moderna Phase 2 study, claiming there were no severe adverse effects; the data showing otherwise was made public only at the end December 2022.This information is potentially significant since some lawyers claim that understating adverse effects would amount to fraud and would void the liability waiver the Federal government issued under the Emergency Use Authorization. If Berenson’s finding is deemed to be significant, we may seem some vaccine injury cases filed to try to surmount this indemnification.The Moderna study in question was its Phase 2 trial. Phase 1 trials are very small and are to investigate safety and dose levels. Phase 2 trials usually involve more participants and gather more data about safety as well as collect information about efficacy. If Phase 2 goes well, the Phase 3 trial administers the treatment to a much larger population. Only after the Phase 3 trial can the drug maker apply for FDA approval.In Berenson’s article, he contrasts Moderna’s statements in the Vaccines paper (emphasis his)….: with the data made public only recently (the table excerpt is a bit confusing; the top row presents total severe adverse events as seven; the rows below break out only cardiac disorders):I wish Berenson had presented a timeline with populations, number of jabs, and side effects. As he explains, the data on this population of 600 of the initial subjects + controls, which became 550 who took the shots because the control population was soon offered the opportunity to get the shot.² Here is the guts of his post:

Help me solve a COVID cryptic lineage mystery. Marc Johnson --Cryptic lineages are distinct SARS-CoV-2 lineages that we detect in wastewater, but do not know their source. We believe they are from patients with very long COVID infections.. We recently discovered a cryptic lineage in Ohio. It appears to be derived from a person that was infected over 2 years ago. It is a B.1.1 derivative, but is highly divergent. We first detected this lineage in a sample from last summer, and as recently as last month. The one thing we know for sure it that this person is shedding a ton of viral material. I suspect that they have a SARS-CoV-2 GI infection and may think they have something like IBD or chronic diarrhea. What is different about this cryptic lineage is that has been regularly detected in two different sewersheds over the same time period, and it is definitely the same lineage. I’m guessing this means we are detecting the viral material shed at home and at work. The two sewersheds are Columbus and Washington Court House, Ohio, which are about 40 miles apart. I want to emphasize that this is all information gathered from a public database. I have no insider information. If you know anyone that might be the source based on where they live and work, ask them to do this. The next time they go to the bathroom (#2), stick the swab from a COVID rapid antigen test into the dirty water and test it like normal. I'd love to know if it is positive.

WHO issues initial Omicron XBB.1.16 risk assessment | CIDRAP -- The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published its initialrisk assessment of the Omicron XBB.1.16 subvariant, which followed a meeting last week of its technical advisory group on virus evolution. Based on the assessment, the WHO on Apr 20 said it elevated XBB.1.16 from a variant under monitoring to a variant of interest.XBB.1.16 has a similar genetic profile as XBB.1.5. First reported in January, XBB.1.16 has now been detected in 33 countries, with most sequences from India, the United States, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Brunei, Japan, and the United Kingdom.So far, no changes in severity have been reported. XBB.1.16 doesn't seem to come with additional health risks compared to XBB.1.5, but it may become dominant in some countries owing to its growth advantage and immune escape properties.India and Indonesia have reported slight increases in hospital bed occupancy, but at levels much lower than in previous waves. Information from India points to no differences in hospitalization or the need for supplemental oxygen compared to other circulating lineages.The WHO said the overall risk is low. The level of confidence in the data showing an increased growth advantage is high, but it's low for the antibody escape data. The WHO said its confidence in the data pointing to no increased severity is moderate.

Arcturus: WHO watching XBB.1.16 as a coronavirus variant of interest | CNN — The World Health Organization has elevated the fast-growing Omicron sublineage XBB.1.16 as a new variant of interest, and says it is outcompeting the previously dominant XBB.1.5 in many regions. XBB.1.16 is a descendant of the recombinant XBB, which is a mashup of two BA.2 sublineages. On social media, the variant has been nicknamed Arcturus, like the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. Currently, it is the dominant variant in India, where it is causing a wave of mostly mild illnesses. But it has been spotted in 32 other countries, including the United States. This offshoot is very closely related to XBB.1.5. It has two gene changes that are different, including one in its spike protein, said Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, at University College London, in a news release. Balloux said he expects it to do well in countries that didn’t have a sizable wave of cases caused by the XBB.1.5 sublineage, like China and India. He says he doesn’t expect it to have much impact on case numbers in the UK. Studies have shownthat whether a variant will cause a wave of cases in a country very much depends on the immunity in the population as well as the variant that was last the dominant cause of infections there. WHO says that while this variant seems to be spreading faster than previous variants, and escapes immunity – even in people who’ve recently had the XBB.1.5 strain – it does not seem to be causing more severe illness. Therefore, WHO says the risk from this variant is low. Last week in the United States, XBB.1.16 accounted for an estimated 10% of Covid-19 cases nationally, up from about 6% the week prior. The XBB.1.5 variant continues to be the dominant cause of new infections in the United States, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHO watching XBB.1.16, dubbed Arcturus on social media, as a coronavirus variant of interest --The World Health Organization has elevated the fast-growing Omicron sublineage XBB.1.16 as a new variant of interest, and says it is outcompeting the previously dominant XBB.1.5 in many regions. XBB.1.16 is a descendant of the recombinant XBB, which is a mashup of two BA.2 sublineages. On social media, the variant has been nicknamed Arcturus, like the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. Currently, it is the dominant variant in India, where it is causing a wave of mostly mild illnesses. But it has been spotted in 32 other countries, including the United States. This offshoot is very closely related to XBB.1.5. It has two gene changes that are different, including one in its spike protein, said Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, at University College London, in a news release. Balloux said he expects it to do well in countries that didn't have a sizable wave of cases caused by the XBB.1.5 sublineage, like China and India. He says he doesn't expect it to have much impact on case numbers in the UK. Studies have shown that whether a variant will cause a wave of cases in a country very much depends on the immunity in the population as well as the variant that was last the dominant cause of infections there. WHO says that while this variant seems to be spreading faster than previous variants, and escapes immunity -- even in people who've recently had the XBB.1.5 strain -- it does not seem to be causing more severe illness. Therefore, WHO says the risk from this variant is low. Last week in the United States, XBB.1.16 accounted for an estimated 10% of Covid-19 cases nationally, up from about 6% the week prior. The XBB.1.5 variant continues to be the dominant cause of new infections in the United States, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What's Going On With Covid Right Now? - Deaths from Covid-19 in the United States are the lowest they’ve been since March 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data tracker. Case rates have similarly plummeted, though infections have become harder to track because of the widespread availability of at-home rapid tests; many of the monitoring systems that were set up at the beginning of the pandemic have also been wound down.Is this finally the beginning of the end of the pandemic, or just another spring ebb before a new variant initiates a summer wave? (For the past two years, numbers have fallen between March and June, before rising in July.) The New York Times spoke with epidemiologists and infectious disease experts to gauge how they’re thinking about this particular juncture in the pandemic — what the risk is right now, what precautions they’re continuing to take, who is still getting severely ill and dying, and what the future may bring.Experts agree that the risk from Covid-19 right now is low, and spring 2023 feels different from previous years. “We’ve reached a stage of stability where people are making choices to return their lives to something closer to normal,” said Dr. Robert Wachter, the chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “And I think that makes sense. Cases are relatively low; deaths are relatively low.” The biggest reason for this improvement is that virtually everyone in the United States has some form of immunity now, whether from vaccines, a previous infection or both. Medications like Paxlovidhave also significantly reduced the risk of serious illness. Dr. Taison Bell, an infectious disease physician at the University of Virginia, said that in his intensive care unit, “we will see an occasional Covid-19 case, but we’re not seeing a lot of cases that are leading to people being on the ventilator.” Now, most of the people Dr. Bell is treating for Covid are older and either have pre-existing conditions that compromise their immune systems or lung function, or they haven’t been vaccinated. It’s essential, he said, that people who are at high risk for severe infection get a bivalent booster if they haven’t already (a second dose was also recently authorized for this group). Another reason things are different this spring is that there have been no new, game-changing variants — “no new Greek letters,” as Dr. Wachter put it — for the last year and a half. Variations of Omicron that have some immune-evading properties, such as the current dominant strain, XBB.1.5, have emerged, but Paxlovid and vaccines are still effective against them. Despite the good news, experts are still taking some precautions. Because while the numbers are headed in the right direction, roughly 100,000 Americans are still being infected with Covid-19 every week, and more than 150 are dying from the infection every day. Dr. Wachter continues to wear a mask in most crowded indoor settings, like on an airplane or in a museum, he said, but not if he needs to pop into a store quickly. His main motivation is wanting to avoid long Covid. “Unlike the way I felt two or three years ago, I have no fear that I’m going to die of this thing,” he said. “But I think long Covid is very real. My wife has a mild version of it, so I see it up close and personal.”

LA County reports first cases of new COVID-19 strain Arcturus - - Los Angeles County has identified the first local cases of a newly emerging strain of COVID-19, the public health director said, although the numbers remain generally low and current vaccines are believed to be effective in preventing severe illness from it. Commonly referred to as Arcturus, the strain is formally known as XBB.1.16, Barbara Ferrer told reporters in a briefing Thursday. According to the results of the most recent sequencing of select cases, the strain represented roughly 1.3% of the cases that were examined. That's a mere fraction of the currently dominant strain in the nation and county, known as XBB.1.5, which accounts for 71% of local cases according to the most recent testing data. Modeling done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that Arcturus accounts for about 7% of cases nationwide, and nearly 10% of cases in the western region that includes California, Ferrer said. Arcturus has primarily been seen in India, and Ferrer said experts are still analyzing its effects. While no formal studies have been done, she said that anecdotal evidence out of India suggests the variant appears to be infecting young children at higher rates than other strains. She also said the strain appears to be more often linked to the development of pink eye, or conjunctivitis. But Ferrer said the evidence is still anecdotal, so it's still too early to say definitively that pink eye is more common with XBB.1.16. Ferrer said the county will be closely monitoring spread of the virus strain, but she noted that XBB.1.16 and all other currently circulating strains are offshoots of the Omicron variant, which is targeted by the currently available COVID-19 vaccine booster. While the new strain should not be considered cause for alarm, Ferrer said it should serve as a reminder that COVID-19 continues to evolve, and residents should continue to exercise caution against virus spread. She noted that Los Angeles County is still in the "low" COVID community level category, for the 14th week in a row. But she said the county recorded 44 new virus-related deaths over the past week.

XBB.1.16, XBB.1.9.1 gain more ground in the United States Proportions of two new Omicron subvariants, XBB.1.16 and XBB.1.9.1, continued to rise this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest estimates. XBB.1.16, which is thought to have a growth advantage and immune escape properties, now makes up 11.7% of viruses, up from 7.4% the week before. Levels are greatest in the South Central, Middle Atlantic, and Northwestern parts of the country.Meanwhile, the XBB.1.9.1 proportion increased from 7.4% to 9% over the past week, with levels highest in the region that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, where it makes up an estimated 23.9% of samples.So far, the United States isn't experiencing any rises in COVID-19 markers, all of which continue to decline slowly, according to CDC data. The CDC recorded 88,330 cases and 1,052 deaths for the week ending April 26. The 7-day average for new COVID hospitalizations is 1,510, down 16.4% compared to the previous 7-day average.

CDC Data: Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.16, or ‘Arcturus,’ Responsible for 12% of New COVID-19 Cases - XBB.1.16, or “arcturus,” was responsible for nearly 12% of new COVID-19 cases this week – up from 7% of infections last week and nearly 5% the week before that, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s the second most prominent strain circulating in the U.S., with XBB.1.5 remaining dominant. The World Health Organization previously called XBB.1.16 “one to watch” though it reports that its global risk assessment is “low” compared to XBB.1.5. “Taken together, available information does not suggest that XBB.1.16 has additional public health risk relative to XBB.1.5 and the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages,” the organization reported. “However, XBB.1.16 may become dominant in some countries and cause a rise in case incidence due to its growth advantage and immune escape characteristics.” But in the U.S., coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the decline. Deaths from COVID-19 are the lowest they’ve been since the pandemic was declared in March 2020. The positive trends have led the U.S. to relax almost all coronavirus policies, including ending the COVID-19 national emergency declaration early. The Biden administration took another step this week to relax coronavirus precautions by easing COVID-19 vaccine rules for international travelers. The CDC on Thursday posted updated travel guidance to its website to reflect that “because some traveler vaccine records might not specify whether recent Moderna or Pfizer doses received were bivalent” the agency will consider anyone with a single dose of the vaccines to meet the vaccination requirement.

What Mutations of SARS-CoV-2 are Causing Concern? -As viruses are exposed to environmental selection pressures, they mutate and evolve, generating variants that may possess enhanced virulence. Some of the primary concerns that public health officials have as these new variants continue to emerge include their viral transmissibility, reinfection rates, disease severity, and vaccine effectiveness. The mutation rate of single-stranded ribonucleic acid (ssRNA) viruses is observed to be much higher than organisms that possess single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA), and many times more than those with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Not all mutations necessarily increase virulence and, in the majority of cases, may in fact be deleterious or inconsequential.The apparent spontaneity of the development of some of the key mutations that have been discussed here suggests that the virus could be experiencing convergent selection pressures around the globe, with the most transmissible forms outcompeting their cousins.The current mutations of concern that may be aiding the spread of coronavirus include:

• D614G The D614G mutation is of B.1 lineage and appeared in early 2020. This mutation quickly spread across the world and became dominant. The D614G mutation is a missense mutation in which an altered single DNA base pair causes the substitution of aspartic acid (single-letter code: D) with glycine (single-letter code: G) in the protein that the mutated gene encodes.
• N501Y This mutation is present in several lineages including B.1.345, B.1.17, P.1, and B.1.1.529 variants. This mutation changes the amino acid asparagine (N) to tyrosine (Y) at position 501 in the RBD of the spike protein, which may allow SARS-CoV-2 strains with this mutation to have a greater binding affinity to the ACE2 receptor on host cells.
• E484K or “Eek” This spike protein mutation has been found in several lineages and may aid the virus in avoiding some antibody types. In it, there is an exchange of glutamic acid with lysine at position 484.
• E484Q This spike protein mutation is also mutated at position 484, with the exception that the glutamic acid is substituted with glutamine. This mutation is thought to increase immune evasion and ACE2 binding.
• K417 This spike protein mutation has been found in several lineages, including P.1 and B.1.351. It is also thought to help the virus bind to cells more tightly.This mutation is K417N in the B.1.351 and B.1.1.529 strains, and K417T in the P.1 strain.
• L452R The L452R spike protein mutation has appeared in several lineages. In this mutation, there is a leucine to arginine substitution at amino acid 452. The mutation is thought to increase immune evasion and ACE2 binding.This mutation was observed in both the U.S. and Europe in 2020, before increasing in prevalence in January 2021, as it is notably present in the CAL.20C variant that has become widespread in California, particularly in Los Angeles. It is also notably present in the B.1.617 variant.Notably, laboratory studies have found that specific monoclonal antibody treatments may not be as effective in treating COVID-19 caused by variants with the L452R or E484K mutations.
• Q677 The Q677 mutation is located on the side of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, thereby suggesting that it may play a role in increasing the penetrability of the virus into human cells. To date, the Q777 mutation has been identified in several different SARS-CoV-2 variant lineages, seven of which have been identified in the United States. The Q677 variant has not yet been determined to be more infectious as compared to preexisting mutations.
• P681H The P681H mutation is found in the B.1.1.7 and B.1.1.529 strains, with a different variation of this mutation (P681R) found in the B.1.617.2 variant. The presence of this mutation has been shown to increase spike cleavage, which could allow for increased transmissibility of affected strains.
• S943P The S943P mutation was first found in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in Belgium. This mutation is a result of recombination of different viruses in an infected host.
• V483a The V483a mutation occurred in the receptor binding motif (RMB) of S1 domain of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. This mutation is involved with the replacement of hydrophobic valine by hydrophobic alanine, at position 483.
• S477G/N The S477 mutation occurs due to changes in amino acids at position 477. This mutation is predominantly found in the receptor binding domain of the spike protein. S477G and S477N are mainly responsible for the enhancement of the binding affinity for hACE2. The Omicron variant contains S477G and S477N mutations.

XBB.1.16 variant drives global surge in Covid cases, deaths -The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, present in 33 countries, is making a fresh surge in Covid infections as well as deaths in Italy, the US, the UK, Vietnam, and other nations, including India. According to the Italian Ministry of Health, the country recorded 27,982 new positive cases during April 14 and 20, compared to the previous week (21,779). The number of deaths also increased by 48.1 per cent, totalling 191, compared to the previous week (129). Latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the subvariant XBB.1.16 accounts for 9.6 per cent of new infections this week - up from nearly 6 per cent of cases the week before and about 3 per cent two weeks prior. The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) in the latest technical briefing said there were at least 135 cases of Omicron XBB.1.16, in the UK. It also claimed five lives in England. Media reports state that Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam logged 56 fresh coronavirus cases with 42 hospitalisations during the past 24 hours, on April 23. Currently, 180 patients are receiving treatment in medical facilities and 57 cases require mechanical ventilation. In addition, Singapore and Australia also are seeing over 100 Covid cases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) so far, 3,648 sequences of the Omicron XBB.1.16 variant have been reported from 33 countries, including India, on open research platform GISAID, the global health body said. Meanwhile, India on Monday reported 7,178 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, according to the data shared by the Union health ministry. The current Covid surge in India is showing signs of slowing. In the last seven days, cases across the country rose by 20 per cent, a significantly lower rate than the 80 per cent to 110 per cent spikes seen in the previous five weeks, as the seven-day case count fell in four states where infections had earlier been surging.

Five die with Arcturus variant in UK as strain spreads globally - Five people who had the Arcturus strain of Covid have died, according to the latest data from public health chiefs. As of 17 April, there were 105 cases of XBB.1.16 – also known as Arcturus – in England, with infections located in all regions apart from the northeast.Health chiefs have said that there is no evidence to suggest the new subvariant is more severe than past ones.Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol, who is also an advisor to the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations, told The Independent: “There’s no clear evidence that it’s a more dangerous variant in terms of case fatality rates, or hospitalisation rates than the previous and currently circulating subvariants.“The deaths that we see [are] nearly all in the elderly and, of course, they are caused by whatever is circulating at the moment.”He added: “Given that it [the variant] is around, then the deaths we’re going to see are going to be associated with it because it’s what’s around.”Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHAS) shows Arcturus makes up roughly 2.3 per cent of all new cases. Professor Francois Balloux, professor of computational systems biology and director of the University College London’s Genetics Institute, said Arcturus is closely related to another subvariant XBB1.5, which is currently the dominant variant in the UK.

‘Arcturus’ COVID variant shows threat of new wave of death – WHO - The leader of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned coronavirus is still capable of causing mass death.Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the warning as thelatest Omicron subvariant - XBB.1.16, known as “Arcturus” - circulates, though the WHO has previously said it carries no extra risk compared to previous subvariants.He said reported COVID deaths have dropped 95% since the beginning of the year, though some countries have seen increases and 14,000 people have died from the disease globally in the past four weeks.“An estimated one in 10 infections results in post-COVID-19 conditions,” he added, “suggesting hundreds of millions of people will need longer-term care.“And, as the emergence of the new XBB.1.16 variant illustrates, the virus is still changing and is still capable of causing new waves of diseases and death.“We remain hopeful that some time this year, we will be able to declare an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, but this virus is here to stay and all countries will need to learn to manage it alongside other infectious diseases.”As of 17 April, the Arcturus subvariant had been reported in 33 countries, with the most coming in India. Five people in England have died from it.The risk assessment from a WHO report on Arcturus read: “Based on its genetic features, immune escape characteristics and growth rate estimates, XBB.1.16 may spread globally and drive an increase in case incidence.”However, it added there were “no early signals of increases in severity have been observed” in India and that “available evidence does not suggest that XBB.1.16 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages”.Meanwhile, speaking at the same briefing as Dr Tedros on Wednesday, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's COVID response lead, said the emergence of variants "indicates to us the virus continues to evolve, and it will continue to evolve because the virus is circulating pretty much unchecked."What we need to be able to do is keep surveillance up... because we have to remain vigilant. The virus is not going anywhere and we have to learn how to manage this appropriately."

Covid Arcturus variant spreading in Ireland as cases triple and peculiar new symptom reported - Irish Mirror - Ireland’s health officials have confirmed that the new Arcturus Covid variant is spreading.Last week, three cases of the strain, which is known as Omicron XBB.1.16, was reported by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.In its latest report published yesterday, it confirmed that the number of known cases in Ireland has now tripled to nine. Tests for these cases were carried out before April 12.The Arcturus variant, first identified on January 23 this year, has caught the attention of experts around the world.It has since been detected in at least 34 countries, and research indicates it could be one 1.2 times more infectious than the last major sub-variant.It has been classified as a ‘variant of interest’ by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, while The World Health Organisation's (WHO) technical lead for Covid response Maria Van Kerkhove said: "This is one to watch. We're monitoring it because it has potential changes that we need to keep a good eye out on."India has seen the biggest surge, prompting parts of the country to reintroduce face mask rules.In the UK, five people have died with Arcturus. Data from the UK Health and Security Agency shows at least 135 cases of Arcturus have been confirmed there, including two in the North.Some people in India have reported suffering from “itchy” conjunctivitis, or pink eye, along with the usual symptoms of coughs and fevers.Indian paediatrician and member of the WHO's Vaccine Safety Net programme, Vipn M. Vashishtha, said youngsters were presenting with a high fever, cold and cough, and "itchy conjunctivitis" with "sticky eyes".Earlier this month he wrote on Twitter: “For the last two days, have started getting paediatric Covid cases once again after a gap of six months! An infantile phenotype seems emerging—treated infants w/ high fever, cold & cough, & non-purulent, itchy conjunctivitis w/ sticky eyes, not seen in earlier waves.”However, Dr Michael Chang, a paediatric infections diseases expert at UTHealth Houston and Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, told Yahoo News there isn't enough evidence to prove the new Covid variant is causing conjunctivitis.According to Ireland’s HSE, the most common symptoms of Covid are fever, dry cough and fatigue. It lists conjunctivitis among the less common symptoms.

Many new Omicron sub-variants detected in Vietnam - The Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, the most populous locality in Vietnam, said on April 23 it has detected seven new sub-variants of SARS-CoV-2 mutated Omicron through genome sequencing. It cited the results of genome sequencing of community epidemiological surveillance samples conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute and Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, saying seven new sub-variants of Omicron have been found, including XBB.1.9.1, XBB. 1.16 and XBB.1.16.1. Earlier, the sub-variant XBB.1.5 had also been detected in the city. They are among 11 new sub-variants found out of 13 epidemiological surveillance samples conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Disease Control and Prevention from April 8 to 14. These sub-variants have been discovered in many countries around the world and are classified by the World Health Organisation as variants of interest (VOI) or variants under monitoring (VUM). Worryingly, Ho Chi Minh City has discovered XBB.1.5 classified by WHO as a new sub-variant of the VOI group that has found in 95 countries. It has also recorded sub-variant XBB.1.16 that has emerged in more than 20 countries and is causing a new wave of COVID-19 in India. XBB.1.16 has been classified by WHO as a variant to be monitored. (VUM). The discovery of many new sub-variants of Omicron that are prevalent in the world can be attributed to the sudden increase in the number of fresh coronavirus infections in Ho Chi Minh City and other localities across the country over the past few days. Currently, there has been no evidence showing there is a direct correlation between variants of concern or variants under monitoring and with the worsening situation of COVID-19 globally. However, the increasing number of fresh coronavirus cases will certainly lead to an increase in the number of hospital admissions. Statistics show Ho Chi Minh City logged 56 fresh coronavirus cases with 42 hospitalizations during the past 24 hours, from 16:00 on April 22 to 16:00 on April 23. Currently, 180 patients are receiving treatment in medical facilities and 57 cases require mechanical ventilation.

Shielding the vulnerable did little to reduce COVID-19 among the at-risk, study finds | CIDRAP -- Shielding, a public health strategy used across the United Kingdom in the early months of the pandemic, aimed to keep the most vulnerable citizens protected from the novel coronavirus at home and away from public-facing jobs and schools. But a new study of Welsh citizens published in theMay issue of Public Health shows the strategy did little to prevent infection in this group."Our study found no evidence of reduced COVID-19 infections one year after shielding was introduced. This raises questions about the benefits of shielding for vulnerable people as a policy," said lead author Helen Snooks, PhD, of Swansea University Medical School in apress release.The study compared outcomes, including infection, deaths, and admissions to hospitals and intensive care units among a cohort of 117,415 shielded people, with 3,086,385 citizens who were not shielded during the first year of the pandemic in Wales. The shielded population included cancer patients (18.6%), those on immunosuppressive therapy (25.9%), and those with severe respiratory conditions (35.5%). All information came from anonymous electronic health records.People who were shielded were more likely to be residents in long-term care facilities, women, and those ages 50 and older.Shielded people had a slightly higher known infection rate—5.9% versus 5.7%—compared with controls. All outcomes of infection were worse among shielded people. They were more likely to die (odds ratio [OR], 3.68), have a critical care admission (OR, 3.34), hospital emergency admission (OR, 2.88), and visit the emergency department (OR, 1.89) compared with unshielded Welsh citizens."Shielding was an untested public health policy that was introduced in the United Kingdom early in the pandemic, in contrast to other countries where there was more focus on closing borders, lockdown, test and trace systems," the authors concluded. "The shielding policy was based on assumptions rather than evidence of effectiveness."

Study: TB vaccine ineffective against COVID-19 --The tuberculosis vaccine BCG was not protective against COVID-19 infections in healthcare workers, according to the results of an international trial in the New England Journal of Medicine.The study was based on results from the second stage of the BCG Vaccination to Reduce the Impact of COVID-19 in Healthcare Workers (BRACE) trial, which involved 3,988 of almost 7,000 healthcare workers who signed up to participate across 36 sites in Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Brazil.The goal of the BRACE trial was to see if the BCG vaccine could offer protection to healthcare workers during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, because the vaccine has a history of being broadly protective against respiratory infections in infants and adults.The hope was BCG could act as a stop-gap vaccine until COVID-specific vaccines were made available. Participants in the second stage of the trial (recruitment from May 2020 through April 2021) were separated into two groups, 1,703 in the BCG group and 1,683 in the placebo group.Participants were mostly women (73.7%), with an average age of 42 years. A large proportion of the participants were enrolled in Brazil (64.4%).The participants were followed for 12 months, with primary outcomes assessed at 6 months, which included the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 and the incidence of severe COVID-19 by 6 months after randomization.BCG participants had more symptomatic COVID-19The risk of symptomatic COVID-19 was 14.7% in the BCG group and 12.3% in the placebo group during the first 6 months of the trial.There were five hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in each group (including one death in the placebo group). Severe COVID-19 occurred in 75 participants in the BCG group (7.6%) and in 61 participants in the placebo group (6.5%).Because such low numbers of study participants and severe COVID-19 cases, researchers could not determine whether the vaccine reduced hospitalizations or deaths.

Raw milk tied to Shiga toxin-producing E coli cases in Tennessee infants -- A new report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describes how raw milk from a Tennessee cow-sharing arrangement likely caused two cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections in infants, which led to one of the infants developing kidney failure from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).The infants developed diarrhea between July 25 and August 1, 2022, and testing revealed STEC. Both households received raw milk from participants in the same cow-share. Children under age 5, adults older than 25, and immunocompromised individuals are most at risk for developing complications from STEC infections.The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) investigated the cow-share program, which included 7 to 10 cows hand-milked daily. They obtained a list of raw milk consumers and identified five cases of STEC, with two confirmed in hospitalized infants; no deaths were reported."In Tennessee, direct sale of raw milk is prohibited, and TDH advises against raw milk consumption; however, sharing of raw milk through cow-share arrangements is legally permitted," the authors said. "This outbreak highlights the risk for severe illness associated with cow-share arrangements, especially among young children, who are at increased risk for STEC-related HUS. The outbreak also demonstrated that households not formally participating in cow-share arrangements can be affected."

The emergence of a dangerous fungus, Candida auris, in US health care systems - On April 21, Nevada’s congressional delegation wrote an urgent letter to Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asking for help from the federal government to assist in fighting off a potentially lethal fungus known as Candida auris (C. auris) that has caused the largest outbreak in the country at southern Nevada hospitals and long-term care facilities, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The multi-drug-resistant fungus has been called an urgent threat by the CDC, but, according to the letter, the public health agency ‘has yet to develop a comprehensive plan to prevent further spread of C. auris in Nevada and the more than 27 states now reporting infections.”Last week, Dr. Teena Chopra, epidemiologist and infectious disease physician at Wayne State University School of Medicine, told the Detroit Free Press, “Just like the rest of the nation, we are struggling with a multi-facility outbreak of C. auris in Southeast Michigan. This invasive candida infection can cause very high morbidity and mortality, particularly in patients who are at very high risk, like long-term care facility patients, those in nursing homes, older adults.”Dr. Chopra then added, “Currently, we don’t have many treatment options for this fungus, so it is a big challenge, and that’s why CDC has labeled it as an urgent threat to the community.”In October 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) drafted its first-ever list of fungal priority pathogens with C. auris added as one of 19 that can cause invasive disease and threaten public health. In particular, C. auris is among the four in the “critical priority group,” the highest level of concern.As the WHO report notes, “Cases of invasive fungal disease (IFD) are rising as the at-risk population continues to expand. This is due to many factors, including advancements in modern medicine and accessibility to therapies and interventions that impair the immune system, such as chemotherapies and immunotherapy for cancer, and solid organ transplantation. New groups at risk of IFD are constantly being identified. Examples include patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, liver or kidney disease, viral respiratory tract infections …”They added, “The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been associated with an increase in the incidence of comorbid invasive fungal infections. Three groups of COVID-19 associated fungal infections; aspergillosis; Mucormycosis; and candidemia, were frequently reported, often with devastating consequences. Finally, there is evidence to suggest that both the incidence and geographic range of fungal infections are expanding globally due to climate change.”

WHO says ‘huge biological risk’ after Sudan fighters occupy lab - “One of the fighting parties’ has seized control of the central public health laboratory in Khartoum and ‘kicked out all of the technicians’. UN officials have said that one side in the Sudan conflict has seized control of a national health lab in the capital of Khartoum that holds biological material, calling it an “extremely dangerous” development. The announcement on Tuesday came as officials warned that more refugees could flee Sudan despite a ceasefire between rival forces. The fighting has plunged Sudan into chaos, pushing the already heavily aid-dependent African nation to the brink of collapse. Before the clashes, the UN estimated that a third of Sudan’s population – or about 16 million people – needed assistance, a figure that is likely to increase. Dr Nima Saeed Abid, the World Health Organization’s representative in Sudan, expressed concerns that “one of the fighting parties” – he did not identify which one – had seized control of the central public health laboratory in Khartoum and “kicked out all of the technicians”. “That is extremely, extremely dangerous because we have polio isolates in the lab. We have measles isolates in the lab. We have cholera isolates in the lab,” he told a UN briefing in Geneva by video call from Port Sudan. “There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab in Khartoum by one of the fighting parties. The expulsion of technicians and power cuts in Khartoum mean that “it is not possible to properly manage the biological materials that are stored in the lab for medical purposes,” WHO said. The lab is located in central Khartoum, close to flashpoints of the fighting that have pitted Sudan’s military against the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that grew out of the government-backed Popular Defence Forces – called “Janjaweed” by the rebels – implicated in atrocities in the Darfur conflict. Dozens of hospitals have shuttered in Khartoum and elsewhere across the country due to the fighting and dwindling medical and fuel supplies, according to the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate. “If the violence does not stop, there is a danger that the health system will collapse,” the UN agency warned Friday.

Did a Military Lab Spill Anthrax Into Public Waterways? New Book Reveals Details of a US Leak -- Unsterilized laboratory wastewater from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, spewed out the top of a rusty 50,000-gallon outdoor holding tank, the pressure catapulting it over the short concrete wall that was supposed to contain hazardous spills. It was May 25, 2018, the Friday morning before Memorial Day weekend, and the tank holding waste from labs working with Ebola, anthrax, and other lethal pathogens had become overpressurized, forcing the liquid out a vent pipe. An estimated 2,000-3,000 gallons streamed into a grassy area a few feet from an open storm drain that dumps into Carroll Creek — a centerpiece of downtown Frederick, Maryland, a city of about 80,000 an hour’s drive from the nation’s capital. But as the waste sprayed for as long as three hours, records show, none of the plant’s workers apparently noticed the tank had burst a pipe. This was despite the facility being under scrutiny from federal lab regulators following catastrophic flooding and an escalating series of safety failures that had been playing out for more than a week. Before the outdoor tank failed, there had already been breaches of other lab waste storage tanks inside the sterilization plant. On May 17, 2018, in the wake of devastating storms, workers at Fort Detrick discovered that the plant’s basement was filling with water that would reach 4 to 5 feet deep. Some of it was rainwater seeping in from outdoors. But a lot was fluid leaking from the basement’s long-deteriorating tanks that held thousands of gallons of unsterilized lab wastewater. As basement sump pumps forced floodwater into these tanks, the influx disgorged lab waste through cracks along the tops of the tanks, sending it streaming back toward the floor. The steam sterilization plant, referred to as “the SSP,” was built in 1953. It was designed to essentially cook the wastewater that flowed into it from Fort Detrick’s biological laboratories, ensuring that all deadly pathogens were killed before the water was released from the base into the Monocacy River. USAMRIID’s safety protocols called for a two-step kill process for lab wastewater. Before it was sent down drains into Fort Detrick’s dedicated laboratory sewer system for heat treatment at the plant, lab workers were supposed to pretreat potentially infectious liquids with bleach or other chemicals. But chemical disinfection can be tricky. To be effective, it requires workers to use the right kind of disinfectant at the right concentration and, importantly, to ensure that the disinfectant remains in contact with the microbes long enough to kill them. Any living organisms left behind could multiply. Despite the plant’s importance to protecting public health, by May 2018 it had become a rusting, leaking, temperamental hulk.

Dangers from future technologies? It's the current ones that are killing us - Certainly, there a plenty of horror stories about possible disasters awaiting us from emerging technologies. I've written about two of them: 1) the possibility of small cheap, AI-guided drones used to commit mass slaughter (or targeted assassinations) and 2) lethal synthetic viruses for warfare or released by an apocalyptic cult trying to bring the apocalypse forward on the calendar. More recently, some have predicted that advances in artificial intelligence will ultimately lead to the destruction of humanity.As bad as these sound, it's possible that doomscrolling our way through the breathless coverage of dangerous new technologies is distracting us from what is already happening in right front of us: Existing technologies are already pushing humans quickly down the path to extinction (along with many plants and animals). Pretending that dangers to the survival of the human species come ONLY from the future is a perilous diversion. In fact, the combination of climate change; the increasingly toxic pollution of the soil, water and air; depletion of arable soil, water, energy and critical metals; galloping development of wild and farm lands; and second order effects such as habitat and biodiversity loss, acidification of the oceans and dramatic loss of Greenland's ice that may lead to a breakdown in the Gulf Stream ocean current that keeps much of Europe temperate—all this has gathered so much momentum that, frankly, we don't need any help from the future to kill ourselves as a species. (Oh, I almost forgot; we could obliterate ourselves with a nuclear winter without any new nuclear technology or warheads needed.)It turns out that we may be doing such a good job of threatening our species already that the emerging technologies we fear most will never get a chance to fully emerge. In the not-too-distant future, we humans may already be gone or our societies so degraded that launching a second apocalypse with the help of new technologies will be a practical impossibility. We won't have the functioning infrastructure to do it!And, that is basically the key to the lethality of most emerging technologies: connectivity. If communities become so isolated that inhabitants cannot travel to distant places harboring designer virus outbreaks, humanity will paradoxically be saved from extinction because of theloss of technology and any attendant mobility. Contemplate that for moment!As for artificial intelligence, well, it needs a vast infrastructure of connected information sources to be effective. When I asked friends recently why we can't literally just pull the plug on AI if it becomes dangerous, they had many explanations. But, perhaps the most telling one was that we have become so networked across the globe and AI will be so distributed, that we'd effectively have to pull the plug on ourselves—and we are not willing to do that even if not pulling the plug ultimately leads to our destruction.

Nigeria battling meningitis and diphtheria outbreaks --The World Health Organization (WHO) today detailed two outbreaks in Nigeria, one involving meningitis and the other diphtheria. The country is juggling several health challenges, which is complicated by a humanitarian emergency and insecurity in the northeast.Nigeria's meningitis outbreak began in October 2022, and, as of April 16, 1,686 suspected cases have been reported, 124 of them fatal, with the case-fatality rate at 7%. Though cases have been reported in 22 of Nigeria's 36 states, 74% have been reported from Jigawa state in the north, which borders an area of Niger where meningitis activity has also been under way since October 2022.Of 481 cerebrospinal fluid samples tested, 247 were positive for bacterial infection, 91% yielding Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C. Meanwhile, 13 cases involved Streptococcus pneumoniae and 1 involvedHaemophilus influenzae.The WHO said northern Nigeria is part of Africa's meningitis belt. It said several bacteria can cause the disease, but N meningitidis is most likely to fuel large outbreaks. Meningococcal meningitis spreads through respiratory droplets and respiratory secretions, often from asymptomatic carriers. Outbreaks follow a seasonal pattern, with highest levels during the dry season, with a peak between March and April.In a separate statement, the WHO said Nigeria is experiencing a diphtheria outbreak that began in December 2022 and is its biggest outbreak involving the disease since 2011. So far this year, the country has reported 557 confirmed cases in 21 of its 36 states, with 73 deaths reported, for a case-fatality rate of 13%.The outbreak peaked in January, and the death rate has declined owing to increased access to diphtheria antitoxin.The disease is highly contagious and spreads through direct contact and respiratory droplets. Unvaccinated children are at highest risk. The WHO noted that third-dose vaccine coverage in Nigeria is suboptimal, especially in the northeast, where conflict is an obstacle to vaccination efforts.

New fatal Marburg case reported in Equatorial Guinea - Equatorial Guinea's health ministry yesterday reported another Marburg virus case, involving a person who died from his or her infection. On Twitter, officials said the patient is a relative of someone from the city of Bata whose infection was confirmed on Apr 6.The country, like Tanzania, is currently battling its first Marburg virus outbreak. The latest case lifts Equatorial Guinea's number of confirmed infections to 17, which includes 12 deaths. The country has also reported 23 probable cases, all fatal. Officials are monitoring 116 contacts.Confirmed cases have been reported across four Equatorial Guinea provinces, with several from Bata, the country's largest city that is home to a port and an international airport. Like Ebola virus, Marburg virus spreads among humans through contact with infected body fluids and has a high case-fatality rate.

Researchers describe mechanisms that could prevent infections with the influenza A and Ebola viruses -Viruses like influenza A and Ebola invade human cells in a number of steps. In an interdisciplinary approach, research teams from Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital investigated the final stages of viral penetration using electron tomography and computer simulations. In the case of influenza A, they were able to determine how the immune system fights off the virus using a small protein. For Ebola viruses, they discovered that a specific protein structure must be disassembled in order for an infection to take hold. So-called fusion pores, through which the viral genome is released into the host cell, play a central role in these processes. If they can be prevented from forming, the virus is also blocked. The Heidelberg scientists describe previously unknown mechanisms, which might lead to new approaches to prevent infections. Many viruses that infect humans are covered with a lipid membrane that has glycoproteins that can dock with human cells. In viruses like influenza A, which enter through the respiratory tract, these are the spike proteins that mainly bind to epithelial cells in the nose and lungs. In contrast, the highly infectious Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and can penetrate a broad spectrum of cell types. After invading human cells, these viruses must open a fusion pore between the virus membrane and the host membrane to release their genome into the host cell and propagate. To fight off the virus, the human immune system attempts to block the formation of the fusion pore in a multi-stage process. Infected cells sense the presence of the foreign genome and send a signal, in the form of an interferon molecule, to as yet uninfected cells. This signal triggers the uninfected cells to produce a small cellular protein called interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3). "This specialized protein can effectively prevent viruses such as influenza A, SARS-CoV-2, and Ebola from penetrating, but the underlying mechanisms were unknown," says virologist Dr. Petr Chlanda, whose working group belongs to the BioQuant Center of Heidelberg University and the Center for Integrative Infectious Disease Research of Heidelberg University Hospital. The researchers were now able to demonstrate that for influenza A viruses, IFITM3 selectively sorts the lipids in the membrane locally. This prevents the fusion pores from forming. "The viruses are literally captured in a lipid trap. Our research indicates that they are ultimately destroyed," explains Dr. Chlanda.

EPA: 2 degrees of global warming could cause thousands of additional pediatric emergency visits -- Climate change has major detrimental effects on children’s well-being and academic performance, according to a report released Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA said in the report that a 2-degree temperature increase is associated with a 4 percent decline in achievement per child, while a 4-degree increase is associated with a 7 percent reduction. The report also indicates that emergency department (ED) visits among children are on the rise between May and September. At 2 degrees, the EPA projects asthma-related pediatric ED visits will increase by 5,800 a year, while at 4 degrees they will rise by about 10,000 a year. Overall asthma diagnoses are also projected to increase among children with increased warming, particularly those associated with particulate matter and ozone. At 2 degrees, the agency projects asthma diagnoses will increase by about 34,500 per year, with an increase of 89,600 per year at 4 degrees, as well as an increase in premature newborn deaths. The report also backs up research indicating children of color are particularly vulnerable to asthma diagnoses associated with particulate matter. Data also suggests worsening wildfire activity is a major threat to children’s health, and it suggests a connection between exposure to wildfire smoke and the risk of premature births. The impact of climate change on children will not solely be limited to health, according to the report. With no action to curb climate change’s effects, about 185,000 children will lose their homes due to coastal flooding should the global sea level rise increase by 50 centimeters. Sea level rise between 50 and 100 centimeters was also associated with the temporary displacement of more than one million more children.

How a looming El Niño could fuel the spread of infectious disease - The planet’s weather over the past three years has been dominated by a natural cycle called La Niña — an oceanic phenomenon that results in below-average sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, and lower average temperatures worldwide. But forecasters are predicting that, sometime between this summer and the end of the year, La Niña’s opposite extreme, El Niño, will take over. That seismic shift could have major implications for human health, and specifically the spread of disease. El Niño will increase temperatures and make precipitation more volatile, which in turn could fuel the spread of pathogen-carrying mosquitoes, bacteria, and toxic algae. It’s a preview of the ways climate change will influence the spread of infectious diseases. As with La Niña, the effects of an El Niño extend far beyond a patch of above-average warmth in the Pacific. Parched regions of the world — like Chile, Peru, Mexico, and the American Southwest — are often bombarded with rain and snow. Some other parts of the world, including the Northeastern U.S., the Amazon, and Southeast Asia’s tropical regions, on the other hand, don’t see much rain at all in an El Niño year. The planet could temporarily become 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer, on average, than in preindustrial times — a threshold scientists have long warned marks the difference between a tolerable environment and one that causes intense human suffering. These patterns are a boon for certain vector-borne illnesses — defined as infections transmitted by an organism (usually an arthropod, a category that includes insects and arachnids). Regions of the world that will experience longer wet seasons because of El Niño, many of which are in the tropics, may see an increase in mosquito-borne illnesses, according to Victoria Keener, a senior research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and a coauthor of the U.S.’s upcoming Fifth National Climate Assessment. “El Niño will mean a longer breeding season for a lot of vectors and increased malaria potential in a lot of the world,” she said. A 2003 study on the intersection of El Niño and infectious disease showed spikes in malaria along the coasts of Venezuela and Brazil during and after El Niño years. The study looked at more than a dozen cycles between El Niño, La Niña, and the cycle’s “neutral” phase, which taken together are known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. The researchers, who analyzed data dating back to 1899, also found an increase in malaria during or post-El Niño in Colombia, India, Pakistan, and Peru. Cases of dengue, another mosquito-borne illness, increased in 10 Pacific islands. If the past is any indication, countries like India and Pakistan are especially at risk. So is California. After years of drought, recent storms in the Golden State have generated a lot of flooding and cooler-than-normal conditions. If that leads into a hotter-than-normal summer, “that may set things up for bad conditions for West Nile virus,” Barker said of the mosquito-borne illness that is becoming more prevalent in the U.S.

WHO confirms 3 H9N2 avian flu cases in China, plus 2 H1N1v infections -- Yesterday the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed three new H9N2 avian flu cases in China, all involving children living in or with connections to Hunan province. The agency also noted two variant H1N1 (H1N1v) flu cases in young Chinese girls.One H9N2 patient is a 10-year-old girl from Hunan province who fell ill in October 2022. The second is a 2-year-old boy from Hunan province whose symptoms began on February 5 and who had been exposed to backyard poultry before he became sick.The third child with H9N2 flu is a 3-year-old girl from Jiangxi province who had suspected exposure to backyard poultry in Hunan province. Her symptoms first developed on January 31."Avian influenza A(H9N2) viruses are enzootic in poultry in Asia and increasingly reported in poultry in Africa," the WHO said.The WHO also reported that a 3-year-old girl in Sichuan province and a 1-year-old girl in Jiangsu province contracted H1N1v flu. The older girl became ill December 27, 2022, while the younger one first had symptoms on January 30.The agency says the girls were infected with a "Eurasian avian-like swine influenza" strain. Both girls had mild illness and did not require hospital care.The WHO said, "No information on the likely s ource of exposure to the virus was available at the time of reporting and no suspected cases among family contacts of the cases were reported."

11 deer test positive for CWD in Louisiana in 2022-23 hunting season -Eleven deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the 2022-23 hunting season in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, raising the state's total to 12 cases since the prion disease was first detected in the parish in January 2022, according to a notice from Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries (LDWF).A total of 2,370 hunter-harvested deer in Louisiana were tested for CWD during the 2022-23 hunting season.CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting cervids such as white-tailed deer. The causative prion, a misfolded protein particle, is transmitted among deer via urine, feces, and carcasses. Infected deer may lose weight, drink water and urinate more than usual, salivate excessively, and display circling and a lack of coordination and fear of people. CWD hasn't been found to spread to humans, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend against consuming CWD-infected venison. Hunters in areas with a history of CWD should submit their deer for testing for the disease before eating the meat.

 'X-Files-Like Mystery' In Texas As Cattle Found Dead With Missing Tongues - Authorities in Texas are investigating the mysterious deaths of six cattle found with their tongues "completely removed" by precision "clean cuts." Ranchers in Madison County, about 100 miles southeast of Waco, found the mutilated remains of a 6-year-old longhorn-cross cow lying on her side at their ranch. Madison County Sheriff's Office said, "A straight, clean cut, with apparent precision, had been made to remove the hide around the cow's mouth on one side, leaving the meat under the removed hide untouched. The tongue was also completely removed from the body with no blood spill." "It was noted there were no signs of struggle and the grass around the cow was undisturbed," investigators from the sheriff's office said. Investigators added: "No footprints or tire tracks were noted in the area." Ranchers also reported five similar cases involving four adult cows and one yearling in Brazos and Robertson counties. The exact cause of death of the six livestock is unknown; each was found the same way, with "face cut along the jaw line and the tongue removed" in "straight, clean cut, with apparent precision," the sheriff's office said.

Micro- and nanoplastics breach the blood–brain barrier in mice - Abstract: Humans are continuously exposed to polymeric materials such as in textiles, car tires and packaging. Unfortunately, their break down products pollute our environment, leading to widespread contamination with micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs). The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is an important biological barrier that protects the brain from harmful substances. In our study we performed short term uptake studies in mice with orally administered polystyrene micro-/nanoparticles (9.55 µm, 1.14 µm, 0.293 µm). We show that nanometer sized particles—but not bigger particles—reach the brain within only 2 h after gavage. To understand the transport mechanism, we performed coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations on the interaction of DOPC bilayers with a polystyrene nanoparticle in the presence and absence of various coronae. We found that the composition of the biomolecular corona surrounding the plastic particles was critical for passage through the BBB. Cholesterol molecules enhanced the uptake of these contaminants into the membrane of the BBB, whereas the protein model inhibited it. These opposing effects could explain the passive transport of the particles into the brain.

Microplastics: How safe are factory workers from invisible threats? - In a recent study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers examine exposure to microplastics (MPs) in plastic factory personnel.In the early 1950s, only about a few tons of plastic products were manufactured each year. Over the past several decades, the manufacturing of plastics has increased at an astronomical level to produce about 400 million tons of plastic each year. Various environmental factors including abrasion, photooxidation, and other biotic degradation pathways cause these plastic materials to degrade into MPs and nanoplastics (MNPs). Microplastics (MPs), which are tiny particles of plastic that are five millimeters (mm) or smaller in diameter, often contaminate oceans, soil, and air. Surface wind circulation and surface water mixing contribute to the dispersion of MPs in the environment. The minute size of MPs and MNPs increase the likelihood of their ingestion by numerous species, including humans. MPs have the potential to disrupt cellular membranes and cause oxidative stress; however, these particles have also been shown to act as pollutant transport media for other toxic compounds such as the industrial insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and the common fungicide hexachlorobenzene.. In the present study, researchers evaluate occupational exposure to MPs among employees in a plastic factory in Iran. Twenty workers from the jumbo bag sewing section of the factory were recruited. Individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and those taking hourly leaves were excluded. Participants were instructed to clean their face, mouth, hair, and hands with filtered water before and after leaving the workplace. These samples were prepared for MP extraction and filtration. Filters were dried and transferred to Petri dishes for examining their physical and chemical properties. There was a significant difference in the number of MPs in the hair, hand, saliva, and face mask samples before and after the work shift. MPs were grouped into four categories including fiber, film, spherule, and fragment. Fiber MPs were the highest in frequency at 4,632, followed by spherules and fragments at 95 and 75, respectively.A total of 1,856 MPs were over 1,000 micrometers (μm) in size, whereas 1,478 particles were between 500-1000 μm, 1,020 particles were between 250-500 μm, 294 particles were between 100-250 μm, and 154 particles were less than 100 μm in size. After the work shift, MPs were larger in hand and hair samples, whereas MPs were smaller in saliva and facial skin samples at this time. A total of 2,012 MPs were transparent/white, 1,184 were black, 1,146 were blue/green, 298 were red, and 162 were purple. The researchers identified 4,802 MP particles in different samples from factory personnel. Features like beard/mustache, clothing, and cosmetic product use influenced exposure to MPs.Hair samples exhibited the highest concentration of MPs, which also significantly increased after work. Further research is required to investigate how these MPs impact human health.

Algae Growing Under Arctic Sea Ice Found Contaminated by Microplastics - A new study has noted concentrations of microplastics in Melosira arctica, a type of algae that grows underneath sea ice in the Arctic. As a nutrition source at the bottom of the food web, scientists are concerned about wildlife that eat the contaminated algae. In the study, scientists found 10 times higher amounts of microplastics in the Melosira arctica samples compared to the amount of microplastics found in surrounding seawater.Not only could this pose a risk to animals that feed on the algae, but dead clumps of the algae can also break off from the Arctic sea ice and drift to the sea bed, carrying the microplastic pollutants with them. Scientists suggested this could help explain why microplastics have been found in the deep sea. “We have finally found a plausible explanation for why we always measure the largest amounts of microplastics in the area of the ice edge, even in deep-sea sediment,” Melanie Bergmann, biologist for the Alfred Wegener Institute, explained in a statement. “The speed at which the Alga descends means that it falls almost in a straight line below the edge of the ice. Marine snow, on the other hand, is slower and gets pushed sideways by currents so sinks further away. With the Melosira taking microplastics directly to the bottom, it helps explain why we measure higher microplastic numbers under the ice edge.” The algae grows in clusters along the underside of sea ice during spring and summer, and the species is at the bottom of the food chain. Researchers collected samples of Melosira arctica as well as nearby water, and found microplastic particles were about 10 times higher in the algae samples. This could be because the algae is sticky, so it can collect and trap plastic fragments from surrounding waters, melting sea ice and other sources it passes by. Wildlife then feed on the algae, which could be an issue with such high concentrations of microplastics.“Since ice algae are hotspots of biological activity and an important food source for grazing organisms, they could be a vector into under-ice food webs,” the scientists wrote in the study, published in Environmental Science & Technology. “Indeed, MPs were recently detected in grazing zooplankton from the Fram Strait.”The microplastics came in a variety of different plastic materials, from polyethylene and polypropylene to nylon and acrylic, with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being the most present. Most of the microplastic particles, around 94% on average, were 10 μm or smaller. The scientists are concerned that these tiny particles could enter and damage the Melosira arctica, ultimately impacting algae’s ability to store carbon.

A Critical Arctic Organism Is Now Infested With Microplastics - AT THE SURFACE, the Arctic Ocean is pure serenity: chunk after chunk of bright-white ice, lazily floating around. What you can’t see is that its underside is covered in green snot, à la the ectoplasm from Ghostbusters—an underwater forest of Melosira arctica, algae that grow into sticky, dangling “trees” several feet long. While not appetizing to you or me, Melosira arctica forms the foundation of the Arctic Ocean food chain. During the spring and summer, its individual photosynthetic cells grow quickly, absorbing the sun’s energy and forming long chains. These become food for small surface-dwelling critters known as zooplankton, which are in turn eaten by bigger animals, like fish. The clusters also detach and sink thousands of feet to feed sea cucumbers and other seafloor scavengers.But now this algal ecosystem—like literally everywhere else on the planet—is thoroughly infested with microplastics, which ride on currents and blow in from faraway metropolises to settle on ice and snow. This is likely to have major consequences not just for Arctic organisms, but the way that the ocean sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. A paper published today in the journal Environmental Science and Technology finds that, on average, this algae is laced with 31,000 plastic particles per cubic meter—thanks to its gelatinous tendrils. “The algae form long strands or curtain-like structures and produce a sticky mucus that likely helps to trap microplastic particles efficiently from their surroundings,” says marine biologist Melanie Bergmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, lead author of the paper.Indeed, the concentration of microplastics (or particles smaller than 5 millimeters) in the algae is 10 times higher than the 2,800 particles the scientists found per cubic meter of water. Sea ice is even more contaminated: Bergmann’s previous research found 4.5 million particles per cubic meter. This astronomical figure is due to floating sea ice’s ability to “scavenge” particles from seawater as it freezes, all while getting dusted with atmospheric microplastics falling from above.As Melosira arctica grows on this ice, its stickiness attracts microplastics from the surrounding water. Later, when the ice melts, those trapped particles are liberated, releasing a concentrated dose of microplastics. A whopping 94 percent of the microplastics the researchers found in the algae were smaller than 10 microns, or a millionth of a meter. “Because it’s a filamentous algae, and the cells are quite small, it’s collecting all the small stuff preferentially,” says Deonie Allen, a coauthor of the paper and a microplastics researcher at the University of Birmingham and University of Canterbury. “And all the really small stuff ends up making the biggest impact on the ecosystem.”

Pollution lawsuit could curb use of aerial fire retardant -- (AP) — A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires after environmentalists raised concerns about waterways that are being polluted with the potentially toxic red slurry that’s dropped from aircraft.A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — said a court ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk.An advocacy group that’s suing the agency claims officials are flouting a federal clean water law by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.The group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, requested an injunction blocking officials from using aerial retardant until they get a pollution permit.The dispute comes as wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades because climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight. Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that retardant has been dropped into waterways more then 200 times over the past decade. They said it happens usually by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of drops annually, and that environmental damage f “The only way to prevent accidental discharges of retardant to waters is to prohibit its use entirely,” government attorneys wrote. “Such a prohibition would be tantamount to a complete ban of aerial discharges of retardant.” Government officials and firefighters say fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of a blaze so firefighters can try to stop it. “It buys you time,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for California’s state fire agency. “We live in a populous state — there are people everywhere. It’s a high priority for us to be able to use the retardant, catch fires when they’re small.”

Michigan brine brouhaha: Proposed limits for unpaved roads prompt dustup A salty solution sprayed onto many of Michigan’s unpaved roads each summer is causing a major dust-up between the state’s environmental agency and local road commissions.Michigan has some 36,000 miles of unpaved roads, which are treated with brine to tamp down on dust.But like the rock salt used to melt snow and ice, brine pollutes nearby waterways like Church Lake in Grand Rapids, where fish struggle to survive. Salt can also cause high chlorine levels that liberate heavy metals from soil and pipes as evidenced by Flint, whose notorious water crisis began when the city began obtaining its drinking water from the chloride-polluted Flint River. Desperate for a solution, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy this year proposed restrictions on summer brine applications. But the agency backed off amid an uproar from local leaders. “Nobody has come up with anything that A) works as well, or B) is remotely as cost-effective as salt brine — and that’s why we’re using it,” Craig Bryson, spokesperson for the Road Commission for Oakland County, told Bridge Michigan. Making brine costs as little as 7 cents per gallon, and alternatives are expensive, Bryson said. Oakland County estimates repaving a road can cost up to $2 million per mile. Other possibilities are just as bad or worse environmentally, including oil-based brine, agricultural byproducts and asphalt emulsion.Michigan requires permits to spread brine on roads to protect water from pollution, but sought to restrict when and where crews could apply it, barring use during rain or snow or on wet or flooded soil and near bridges or within 100 feet of surface water.“Ultimately, we’re working to… protect Michigan’s environment and public health,” Alissa Yanochko, an engineer permit writer for the state’s environmental agency, said during a February webinar on the proposed changes. “Everything that we do on the surface can and will impact groundwater.” The upshot of the rules in many rural areas is that it would be “damn near impossible” to brine unpaved roads, said Rep. Graham Filler, R-Duplain Township in Clinton County. “We…would feel much better if there was some basic back and forth in sharing the science,” said Filler, who led Republicans in protesting the measure. “Right now you basically have every county road commission pissed off and up in arms.”

Division of Wildlife Acquires 492 Additional Acres at Woodland Trails -– A recent acquisition by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife has added 492 acres to Woodland Trails Wildlife Area in southern Preble County. The total size of Woodland Trail now expands to 1,684 acres. “Adding this space to Woodland Trails Wildlife Area secures the conservation of this public land for current and future generations to enjoy,” said ODNR Division of Wildlife Chief Kendra Wecker. “The Division of Wildlife invites hunters, birders, and all who enjoy wildlife to visit Woodland Trails and experience this excellent natural resource.” Woodland Trails Wildlife Area lies in southern Preble County, northwest of Camden and within a one-hour drive from the Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan areas. The new parcel connects two earlier purchases that were separated by private land. Woodland Trails Wildlife Area was purchased over time from the Boy Scouts of America. The new wildlife area is home to abundant white-tailed deer, wild turkey, eastern cottontail, and squirrels on mostly forested land and some open lands. The newest parcel, and a 477-acre tract acquired last year, will be open to hunting this fall through controlled access opportunities. The original 716-acre tract will remain open to all public hunting. Acquisition costs for the property came from hunting license funds paid by sportsmen and sportswomen and will be fully reimbursed from federal excise taxes paid by hunters on their purchases of hunting equipment. The Division of Wildlife uses these funds to acquire and manage habitat that benefits wildlife and wildlife recreation.

Flooding from melting snow closes most of Yosemite National Park - Most of Yosemite National Park will shut down starting late Friday in anticipation of a massive snowmelt that is threatening to flood the surrounding region in California, the park announced. The closure will begin on Friday at 10 p.m. and last until Wednesday, May 3, or “possibly longer,” a park spokesperson tweeted, while additional flooding and closures could occur later in May or June. Reservations for lodging and campgrounds in eastern Yosemite Valley are being automatically canceled and refunded, while wilderness permits can be rescheduled to alternate trailheads, park officials said. While the Wawona, Mariposa Grove, Crane Flat, Hetch Hetchy and western Yosemite Valley areas will be open during this period, parking in this region “will be extremely limited” and no services will be available, park officials warned. The forecasted floods are the result of a historic snowmelt that is likely in the cards following an unusually wet winter along the West Coast. As of April 1, Yosemite’s snow-water equivalent — the amount of water contained in snow — was 240 percent higher than the seasonal average, according to the park’s website. The park also closed down in early March after experiencing up to 15 feet of snow in some areas. “Trails will be snowy a few months later than usual—probably well into July, depending on weather between now and then,” officials noted in a park update this week. They also warned trekkers to change their expectations of what hikes will be possible in the coming months, adding that GPS, a paper topographic map and an analog compass are all critical. “Snow-covered trails aren’t only difficult to travel on but may be impossible to find. Most of Yosemite’s trails become invisible with even a few inches of snow,” the officials added.

California to meet 100% of water requests for the first time since 2006 – AP - The state of California will be able to provide 100% of the needed water supply to farms and cities for the first time since 2006.According to CBS News, “The State Water Project will provide full allocations to 29 water agencies supplying about 27 million customers and 750,000 acres of farmland, the Department of Water Resources said.”Thanks to winter storms and heavy rainfall in the state, dried rivers and reservoirs are getting filled. This week, officials announced that 65% of California no longer has drought conditions.“The water picture changed dramatically starting in December, when the first of a dozen ‘atmospheric rivers’ hit, causing widespread flooding and damaging homes and infrastructure, and dumping as many as 700 inches (17.8 meters) of snow in the Sierra Nevada,” said KCRA 3 News. Following the good news, state officials still warned residents to be cautious of water use due to the fact that climate change activity could still cause future drier winters.The Department of Water Resources said, “Some northern areas of the state still have water supply issues. In addition, some areas, including the agricultural Central Valley, are still recovering after years of pumping that has depleted underground water,” per ABC News.

Flood waters rise in Califirnia town, officials seek solutions - Los Angeles Times - Water lapped Tuesday at the edges of 6th Avenue, where thousands of acres of once-fertile farmland sat sodden beneath several feet of stagnant floodwater.The problem, state officials said, is only going to get worse in the days and weeks to come as temperatures rise and record-deep snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada begins to melt and make its way downhill.“You can look at a scene like this and think the worst is going to recede, the worst is behind us, but in fact, quite the contrary,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was visiting Corcoran to survey flood damage from winter storms. “Every day, you’re seeing an incremental half-inch or inch of more water, new water, present itself here in this basin,” Newsom said. “As a consequence, we not only need to maintain our vigilance, but we can’t be impatient in terms of the impending floods and the damage that will occur here in a very short order.”The flooding that has already occurred was the result of dozens of powerful atmospheric rivers at the start of this year that caused more than $40 million worth of damage in Tulare County alone, said county Supervisor Eddie Valero. Included in that calculation were 50 breached canals, 37 destroyed homes and 13 damaged bridges.Adding to the challenge is an imminent heat wave, with temperatures around the San Joaquin Valley expected to reach nearly 100 degrees by Saturday. The National Weather Service has already issued a flood watch in Yosemite National Park, where the Merced River is expected to overflow due to rapid runoff from melting snow.Newsom said runoff could trickle into the Tulare Lake Basin for the next 16 weeks. But water in the lake bed — which now sits like a bathtub with essentially nowhere to drain — could stick around for as long as two years. The state is taking steps to help, including providing shelter assistance for displaced residents and aid for affected farmworkers, as well as supplying millions of sandbags, portable barriers called muscle walls and other flood prevention supplies, Newsom said. But he and other state officials said much of the response will fall to the four Tulare Basin counties — Kern, Tulare, Kings and Fresno — which are not part of the Department of Water Resources’ Central Valley Flood Protection Plan.

Mississippi River flooding prompts evacuations, sandbagging (AP) – Communities along the Upper Mississippi River scrambled Wednesday as the always-massive river swelled to near-record levels, forcing some to evacuate while others downstream stacked sandbag walls and closed off flood-prone areas.The river has grown so large because of a huge snowpack in northern Minnesota that began to quickly melt last week because of rising temperatures.A small number of people had to leave their homes in Wisconsin as the river kept rising. Others stacked sandbags in the small community of Buffalo, Iowa, in anticipation of flooding this weekend and early next week.The Mississippi was expected to be especially high along parts of Wisconsin and to crest Wednesday or early Thursday in La Crosse. In Iowa, forecasts predict the river will reach the third-highest level ever recorded when it crests Saturday about 160 miles to the south in Davenport, Iowa.Improved floodwalls and other temporary measures should prevent significant problems, but crews were constantly monitoring the river, officials in the Iowa cities of Dubuque, Davenport and Burlington said. Forecasts call for only a chance of light showers later in the week.The river already flooded low-lying parks and streets in La Crosse, a city of 50,000, by Wednesday. One of the hardest-hit communities has been Campbell, a nearby town of about 4,000 people on French Island that lies in the Mississippi and Black rivers just west of the city.The far north end of the island is underwater, with people using canoes to reach their homes, Campbell Fire Chief Nate Melby said Wednesday. Pumps supplied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are protecting 70 homes on the island’s low-lying south end.Melby estimated about a half-dozen people have decided to evacuate after the rising waters forced emergency workers to cut power and gas to their homes.About 60 miles (100 kilometers) downriver at Prairie du Chien, the Mississippi was a little more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) above flood stage Wednesday morning. The water was expected to continue rising each day until Saturday, when it’s expected to crest at just under 25 feet (7 meters). The record high was 25 feet, 3 inches (7.7 meters) in April 1965.

Cargo train derails into Mississippi River in Wisconsin - A cargo train derailed along Wisconsin’s Highway 35 on Thursday, with two train cars falling into the Mississippi River.State officials said the trail derailment occurred at around 12:15 p.m. near the Lansing Bridge between De Soto and Ferryville, with 20 BNSF train cars affected as first responders and crews rushed to tend to the injured and removed the cars from the river.Officials confirmed there were no fatalities involved in the crash, and at least four people were taken to a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, local outlet WXOW reported. Shocking video from a driver along the highway shows the aftermath of the derailment, with the two train cars floating along the river.US Rep. Derrick Van Orden, of Wisconsin, who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said his office was made aware of the crash shortly after it happened.“My staff is traveling to the site, and Congressman Troy Nehls, who Chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Rail, has also made staff available to assist our team,” Van Orden said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation and determine next steps.”Crawford Co. Emergency Management’s Marc Myhre said any hazardous material on board the train remains in place during the derailment and does not pose a danger to the public or emergency responders.The main track is blocked in both directions as clean up continues at the site. Officials said the cause of the derailment is still not known.Along with the Ferryvill and De Soto fire departments, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Crawford County Hazmat team were deployed to contain any spillage from the railcars.

Some families living in limbo months after derailment (AP) — Jeff Drummond spends days and nights alone in a tiny room with fake wood paneling, two small beds and a microwave atop a mini refrigerator that serves as a nightstand — his pickup truck parked just outside the door at the roadside motel where he’s taken refuge since early February. Shelby Walker bounces from hotel to hotel with her five children and four grandchildren while crews tear up railroad tracks and scoop out contaminated soil near their four-bedroom home. Almost 3 months after a fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment blackened the skies, sent residents fleeing and thrust East Palestine into a national debate over rail safety, residents say they are still living in limbo. They’re unsure how or whether to move on from the accident and worry what will happen to them and the village where they have deep family roots, friendships and affordable homes.“I have no idea how long we can continue to do this,” says Walker, while washing clothes at a laundromat.Walker, 48, also works at a small hotel where many workers are staying, so is constantly reminded of the accident. She remembers the scorched rail tanker at her property line and a backyard flooded with water from the burn site. “Sometimes I just break down,” she says.About half of East Palestine’s nearly 5,000 residents evacuated when, days after the Feb. 3 derailment, officials decided to burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars to prevent a catastrophic explosion. Most have returned, though many complain about illnesses and worry about soil, water and air quality. Some are staying away until they’re sure it’s safe. Others, like Drummond, are not allowed back in their homes because of the ongoing cleanup. Norfolk Southern Railroad is paying for lodging for some families but won’t say how many still are out of their homes while the railroad excavates tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil, a process the Environmental Protection Agency expects to take another 2-3 months. The railroad also must remove toxic chemicals from two creeks, which could take longer.The railroad also handed out $1,000 “inconvenience checks” to residents within the ZIP code that includes East Palestine and surrounding areas, but most did not qualify for further assistance and went home. The EPA’s Mark Durno says continual air monitoring at the derailment site and in the community and soil tests in parks, on agricultural land and at other potentially affected areas have not yet detected concerning levels of any contaminants. “Nothing jumped off page for us yet,” The railroad says testing shows drinking water is safe, though it’s establishing a fund for long-term drinking water protection. It’s also establishing funds for health care and to help sellers if their property value falls because of the accident.

Norfolk Southern’s cost is $387 million and counting - (AP) — Norfolk Southern expects February’s fiery Ohio derailment to cost it $387 million, but that total will likely increase over time and that doesn’t reflect how much the railroad’s insurance companies will eventually cover. The railroad provided a detailed estimate of the cost of Feb. 3 derailment outside East Palestine, Ohio, Wednesday when it released its first-quarter earnings report. That derailment, combined with others since then, sparked a nationwide focus on railroad safety and prompted regulators and members of Congress to propose reforms like capping the length of freight trains and setting standards for the trackside detectors railroads use to spot equipment problems. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has said during testimony in Congress that he’ll support some of the proposals like enhanced standards for tank cars, but he thinks the data doesn’t support some of the other ideas like requiring railroads to maintain two-person crews. Shaw reiterated his often-stated promise Wednesday to “do whatever it takes to make it right for East Palestine and the surrounding areas.” The $387 million estimate includes the $30.9 million to helping residents and the community around East Palestine recover from the derailment and spent millions more on the cleanup at the site where it has dug up and removed nearly 39,000 tons of contaminated soil and trucked away another 14.8 million gallons of tainted water. But many people who live near where the train derailed remain worried about possible long term health impacts and they aren’t sure how to move forward even though officials say that repeated testing hasn’t shown harmful levels of chemicals in the air or drinking water. That estimate doesn’t include the amounts Norfolk Southern, based in Atlanta, will put into funds to help cover any long-term health issues and compensate residents for the loss in their property values because the details of those funds are still being worked out with Ohio’s attorney general.

Panama Canal facing operational uncertainty due to severe drought - Panama’s authorities have limited shipping traffic in the Panama Canal due to a severe drought that depletes the water reserves of two artificial lakes — Alajuela and Gatun — supplying the vital waterway. The two lakes have seen significantly reduced water levels, with Alajuela dropping by 7 m (22.9 feet) between March 21 and April 21. The Panamanian Canal Authority (ACP) has restricted the passage of the largest ships for the fifth time during this drought season, impacting the canal’s revenue and raising concerns over its long-term operations. As a crucial part of global maritime shipping, the canal sees approximately six percent of global shipping traffic, primarily from the United States, China, and Japan. The 200 million liters of fresh water required to move each ship through the canal’s locks up to 26 m (85.3 feet) above sea level come from these two lakes. In the 2022 fiscal year, over 14 000 ships carrying 518 million tons of cargo traversed the canal, contributing $2.5 billion to the Panamanian treasury. The ongoing water crisis has already set off alarm bells, as the freshwater supplies dwindled to just 3 billion cubic meters in 2019, far below the 5.25 billion needed for the canal’s operations. This operational uncertainty may prompt shipping companies to seek alternative routes, emphasizing the need to find long-term solutions to guarantee the canal’s functioning. Experts warn of potential water conflicts between the canal and local populations due to the disorderly urban expansion around Panama City. The Panama Canal basin supplies water to over half of the country’s 4.3 million population, and water shortages have caused supply issues in various parts of the country, sparking numerous protests. Luz de Calzadilla, general manager at Panama’s meteorology and hydrology institute, warned that the El Nino climate phenomenon is likely to further reduce rainfall in the second half of the year.

Climate Change makes 'Florida Rain-bombs' more Common, as DeSantis would Know if he had bothered to Visit Ft Lauderdale - If you live in Florida, you never suffer from an irony deficiency. Case in point: Flood managers from across the nation gathered in South Florida last week for a conference — only to run into the region’s worst flooding in yeeeeeeeeears.We’re accustomed to a little rain here in Florida. We call ourselves the Sunshine State, but that’s a lie we made up to fool the tourists.Most of our cities get more annual rainfall than famously drizzly Seattle. Four show up on the top 10 list of the rainiest cities in America: Pensacola, West Palm Beach, Miami, and Tallahassee.But what hit Fort Lauderdale last week was the kind of storm that would make Noah start rounding up animals: nearly 26 inches in 24 hours. Some news stories referred to it as a “rain-bomb,” which sounds fairly accurate for the amount of damage it caused. The airport shut down, schools closed, scores of people abandoned their cars and fled their waterlogged homes.“If the numbers hold up, Wednesday’s storm will go down in the history books,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. “The previous record for 24-hour rainfall for Fort Lauderdale was 14.59 inches, set in 1979.” Bear in mind that that record-shattering rainfall hit right after three days of storms that deposited more than 31 inches of downpour in Broward County’s drainage system. Bear in mind, too, that rampant development has covered much of the once-porous landscape with concrete, making the flooding worse.But wait, we’re not done!On Sunday, so much rain fell on West Palm Beach in 24 hours that it broke a record set in 1897. The monsoon that hit there included “tropical storm-force gusts, sprinkles of ice, and booming thunder,” thanks to “an explosive 35,069 lightning events,” The Palm Beach Post reported. The aftermath of such a deluge is obvious. Regional waterways are now so full of pollution they’re filthier than a gas station toilet. Meanwhile, so much standing water seems likely to breed a bumper crop of disease-bearing mosquitoes. After reading all these soggy stories, I called up David Zierden, who serves as our state climatologist (Yes, we really have one! Don’t tell the politicians!) As I suspected, he said those heavy rainstorms are showing us just one aspect to the alterations that climate change has brought our world. “A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture to feed these heavy rainfall events,” he told me. Between the increasingly heavy storms that send rivers cascading down the streets and the rising sea level pushing up into the storm drains, coastal Florida towns are hip-deep in big trouble and sinking fast.

Extreme weather is nearly universal experience: AP-NORC poll - (AP) — An overwhelming majority of people in the United States say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, a new poll shows, and most of them attribute that to climate change. But even as many across the country mark Earth Day on Saturday, the poll shows relatively few say they feel motivated when they talk about the issue.The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change. Still, the poll suggests people are paying attention. About half of U.S. adults say they have grown more concerned about the changing climate in the past year, and a growing number say they are talking about it Adriana Moreno said she feels like she’s been talking about climate change for years, but it’s only recently that the 22-year-old high school teacher has noticed her older family members bringing up the issue more and more – “almost every time I see them,” said Moreno, a Democrat in New York.Her family on the East Coast talks about how the seasons have changed while her family in El Salvador talks about how poorly some crops on their farm are faring. After years of hearing about Moreno’s own interest in the issue, her parents have themselves become more interested.It’s not that they didn’t believe in climate change before, Moreno said, but it was “out of sight, out of mind.” Overall, about 8 in 10 U.S. adults say that in the past five years they have personally felt the effects of extreme weather, such as extreme heat or drought, according to the poll. Most of them – 54% of the public overall – say what they experienced was at least partly a result of climate change. They’re not wrong, said the head of the federal agency overseeing weather and climate issues. “It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you’ve likely experienced a high impact weather event firsthand,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Rick Spinrad said at a meteorological conference this year, noting that the United States has the most weather disasters that cost $1 billion of any nation in the world.

Large rare tornado hits Myanmar - over 200 homes destroyed, 8 fatalities, and 128 injured - (videos) Eight people were killed, 128 were injured, and 232 houses in two villages were destroyed when a large tornado swept through central Myanmar near the capital Naypyitaw on April 21, 2023. A large tornado tore through Aung Myin Kone and Tadau villages on Naypyitaw’s southern outskirts on April 21, 2023, at around 18:10 LT, killing eight people and destroying 232 houses, according to Thet Paing Soe, a leading member of the Doh Lewe charity organization. State-run MRTV television reported that two Buddhist monasteries and a small clinic were among the structures destroyed by the tornado. Local charity organizations have transported 128 people to hospitals for treatment. Thet Paing Soe described the severity of the destruction, saying, “The tornado blew for approximately 40 minutes. Almost all the houses in the villages are quite badly damaged. The restoration will take months.” The affected residents are in dire need of aid, with the rebuilding process expected to take months. Major tornadoes are a rare occurrence in Myanmar. However, smaller tornadoes that infrequently cause death and serious damage often occur during summer and pre-monsoon periods when temperatures rise, according to Kyaw Moe Oo, a director-general at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology. He added, “During this period, there are frequent tornadoes in the lower parts of Myanmar, but there are few casualties. These kinds of fatalities in central Myanmar are rare.”

Somalia’s drought: ‘I poison my children in order to survive’ - With aid funding failing to keep pace with the ever-increasing numbers of people in need in Somalia, some desperate parents are resorting to sacrificing their children’s health and well-being in order to feed their families.A million people have been made homeless by five consecutive seasons of drought. With crops destroyed and four million head of livestock lost, Somalis are struggling against all the odds to beat the rising hunger.Many of them are making their way to the overcrowded displacement camps and squatter settlements in the capital, Mogadishu. Tabeellaha Sheikh Ibrahim, on the outskirts of the city, is just one of the thousands of camps that have sprung up. Roughly 600 families trying to escape drought and civil war in southern and central regions of Somalia have sought refuge here.As is often the case in Somalia, there’s no help available from either aid agencies or the government to the mainly women, children, and the elderly – who are crammed into makeshift shelters – that make up the camp.With nearly five million Somalis currently going hungry, and 1.8 million children aged under five expected to suffer acute malnutrition this year, people in Tabeellaha Sheikh Ibrahim are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to put food in their stomachs. Some of these survival methods jeopardise the health and safety of the children, but mothers The New Humanitarian spoke to felt they had no other choice.Some mothers are deliberately making their children sick so they can take them to government-run health centres in the city where there is a chance of obtaining free therapeutic food.Typically, they force-feed their children water mixed with detergent or salt.“I have six children, and this is the only way I can get food,” explained one mother, Maceey Shute. “It makes them weak and gives them watery diarrhoea.” She takes the sick children to Banadir hospital, hoping she will get nutrition-fortified biscuits and porridge, some of which she then sells while keeping the rest to feed her family. “I poison my children in order to survive,” she told The New Humanitarian. No aid workers have visited the families in Tabeellaha Sheikh Ibrahim, no relief is distributed, and there are no health posts. With current levels of aid funding, only half of the people in need in Somalia will be reached between April and June.

Climate change caused catastrophic East Africa drought, scientists say - East Africa’s worst drought in at least 40 years, which has displaced more than a million people and pushed millions more to the brink of famine, would not have happened if not for human-caused climate change, a network of extreme-weather scientists said Thursday.Rising global temperatures — largely from the burning of fossil fuels — have disrupted the weather patterns that typically bring rainfall to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the scientists found. Last fall, the once-dependable rains failed for a record-setting fifth season in a row. Hotter conditions have also caused more moisture to evaporate from the landscape, desiccating croplands and causing millions of livestock to starve.With global temperatures about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the preindustrial average, the scientists say, droughts like this one are 100 times more likely than they would have been in a cooler world. Co-author Friederike Otto said that result underscores the devastating effects of climate change in developing countries, which did little to contribute to the problem and have far fewer resources to cope. She hoped the study would help galvanize financial support for the world’s most vulnerable nations as they face irreversible climate harms.The new study from the World Weather Attribution initiative — a coalition of scientists who analyze the role of climate change in extreme weather events — has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. But it uses proven analytical methods to identify the fingerprints of human-caused warming.“It’s important to know how climate change alters the risk and intensity of such an event because you can begin to prepare,” said Andy Hoell, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, who was not involved with the new research. “It lets us know if what we see now is something that is a harbinger of things to come.” The Horn of Africa typically experiences two rainy seasons — the “long rains” from March to May and the “short rains” in October through December. From the fall of 2020 to the end of 2022, each of these seasons’ rainfall was far below average, with several river basins seeing their lowest rainfall totals since 1981. Climate change has been particularly problematic for the long rains, Otto said.

Climate-change-driven Heat Waves: People told to stay home in Thailand; Fears of Wildfires, crop Failure in Spain - – One of the most visible manifestations of the climate emergency is heat waves. The earth’s climate is incredibly complex, and climate change can produce freezing “bomb cyclones” as well as unseasonably sweltering weather. Still, the past ten years are the hottest in recorded history on average, and extra heat is being injected into the climate by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.The worst thing about the heat waves that are exacerbated by the climate emergency and by extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is that we are only at the beginning of the heating of the earth. Things are going to get much, much worse before they get better.Thailand can get hot in April. It normally varies from 85° F. (30° C.) to 99° F. (37° C.). But this April temperatures are reaching 104° (40° C.) in the capital of Bangkok, while in the north the mercury 107° F. is expected. That is not just hot. That is hot . The unusually high temperatures are being caused by a heat dome. But we have learned that some percentage of such unusual heat is attributable to climate change. Scientists have discovered that when high temperatures are combined with very high humidity, that combination will kill you dead. Thailand’s humidity is typically 64% in April. What struck me was that the government’s way of dealing with this problem in Thailand was to order people to stay home. They are in other words encouraged to “shelter in place,” as we did here during the pandemic.Bangladesh has also seen a torrid April. Dhaka reached over 105 degrees F., the highest recorded temperature in 60 years. The April heat spike endangers the country’s rice crop.Then there are Spain and Portugal, which are seeing the kind of heat this April that typically only comes in deep summer. In Cordoba, it hit 101.8 F. (38.8 C.), a new record for this month. Scientists worry about wildfires, and farmers are afraid for their crops.That is something we may not think about when we hear the phrase “global heating.” But one of its implications is that global food production could fall substantially.

Rainy season ravages Ecuador, leaves 79 people dead, 39 missing and 14 184 homes damaged - Heavy rainfall since January wreaked havoc across Ecuador, leaving at least 79 people dead, 39 missing, and 66 000 affected. Since the beginning of January, Ecuador has been experiencing severe weather, floods, and landslides due to heavy rainfall. This has resulted in a rising number of casualties and affected people throughout the country. The most impacted provinces include Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Santa Elena, El Oro, Cotopaxi, Santo Domingo de Los Tsáchilas, Esmeraldas, Imbabura, and Chimborazo. The Ecuador Risk Communication Management Department (SGR) reported that 30 people have died this rainy season. Additionally, 49 fatalities and 39 missing persons were reported following the landslide in the Alausí Town area of Chimborazo Province on March 26. Moreover, 37 individuals have been injured due to the severe weather conditions. Close to 66 000 people have been affected by the extreme weather, with Guayas Province accounting for 29 133 of those affected. A total of 14 184 houses have suffered damage, with 111 of them being destroyed entirely. A massive landslide occurred on March 26 in the Canton of Alausí, impacting five neighborhoods and causing significant loss of life and infrastructure. The affected area spanned 24.3 ha (60 acres), directly impacting over 1 650 people. According to an April 5 report by SGR, infrastructure damage includes 163 affected houses, with 57 destroyed. Public services have also been hit hard by the landslide, with 60% of potable water services disrupted, 25% of lighting networks, and 20% of sewage systems affected. Approximately 8 400 people faced indirect consequences, such as water supply issues and electricity interruptions, which hindered daily life and relief efforts. Additionally, 26 ha (64 acres) of agricultural land has been lost.

El Niño conditions expected to develop late summer— El Niño is a weather phenomenon that creates warmer sea-surface temperatures typically every three to five years. Weather experts are predicting the next El Niño to occur late this summer. “This is warmer ocean temperatures, that's forecast to develop over the summer months,” said Ken Drozd, a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson. El Niño is predicted to develop from May to July this year. The last El Niño happened from 2018-2019. “Day to day, you're probably not going to notice that a whole lot, but we do have some relationships with the overall weather pattern that develops. It's a better relationship during the winter months,” said Drozd. Drozd said typically, El Niño can bring above-average precipitation during the winter. But as far as impacts on monsoon? “Yeah, maybe a little bit too late arriving for the monsoons to really have much of an impact,” said Drozd. With the possibility of affecting winter rain, economists say this could potentially help with Arizona’s water cuts from the Colorado River supply. “One of our main macro risks in Arizona is obviously a lack of water. So, to the extent that El Niño is going to happen to help us snowpack and help avoid Colorado river cuts, that would be a direct longer term benefit to the economy,” said Derek Lemoine, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona. Expected to occur by late summer or early fall, climate experts say this El Niño has the potential to set a new temperature record making global temperatures higher.

A mystery in the Pacific is complicating climate projections » Yale Climate Connections -- Nothing has a bigger influence on year-to-year variations in the global climate than the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, commonly called ENSO. And the tropical waters at the heart of ENSO aren’t behaving exactly as climate scientists expected they would in a warming world, with potentially major implications for Atlantic hurricane seasons, droughts in the U.S. Southwest and the Horn of Africa, and other weather phenomena around the world. ENSO is a recurring ocean-and-atmosphere pattern that warms and cools the eastern tropical Pacific through El Niño and La Niña events that last from one to three years. Once El Niño or La Niña emerges, the odds reliably shift toward hotter, colder, wetter, or drier conditions for various parts of the globe, from Oceania to North America to Africa. But though ENSO’s effects are well known, the phenomenon itself is notoriously tough to predict. And its slippery nature is complicating crucial multi-decade projections of climate. Top global climate models have predicted for more than 20 years that the tropical Pacific would gradually shift toward an “El Niño-like” state, with the surface waters warming more rapidly toward the east than toward the west. Instead, just the opposite is going on. The western tropical Pacific has warmed dramatically, as predicted, but unusually persistent upwelling of cool subsurface water has led to a slight drop in average sea surface temperature over much of the eastern tropical Pacific. Map of sea surface temperature trend across tropical Pacific, 1982-2022. Figure 1. Trend in sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific Ocean from 1982 through 2022. Red (blue) shading in the map indicates trends toward more positive (negative) sea surface temperatures. (Image credit: NOAA/climate.gov, data from NCEI OISSTv2.1) The result is a strengthening west-to-east temperature contrast that increasingly resembles La Niña. Scientists expect that El Niño events will continue to occur – such as the one predicted to arrive later this year – but they will take place on a backdrop of an ocean that looks more like La Niña. All this is far more than an esoteric science matter. According to an ENSO Blog entry posted Jan. 26 at climate.gov: “How the sea surface temperature trend pattern will change has profound, worldwide implications. … If you are trying to make decisions based on projections of the future, you need to know the answer. And, at this moment, there is some significant (perhaps even growing) debate that surrounds it. The result is a strengthening west-to-east temperature contrast that increasingly resembles La Niña. Scientists expect that El Niño events will continue to occur – such as the one predicted to arrive later this year – but they will take place on a backdrop of an ocean that looks more like La Niña. According to an ENSO Blog entryposted Jan. 26 at climate.gov: “How the sea surface temperature trend pattern will change has profound, worldwide implications. … If you are trying to make decisions based on projections of the future, you need to know the answer. And, at this moment, there is some significant (perhaps even growing) debate that surrounds it.” Among the impacts that could be notably different in a La Niña-dominated world:

• Atlantic hurricane activity is substantially higher on average during La Niña than during El Niño.
• The U.S. Sun Belt, including much of California, tends to get less rainfall and mountain snow during La Niña, with widespread drought becoming more likely. (There are occasional exceptions, such as the very wet winter of 2022-23 in the Southwest.)
• The highly vulnerable Horn of Africa is more drought-prone during La Niña, while rains in the African Sahel tend to be more reliable.
• Typhoons are more likely to slam China, the Philippines, and Vietnam – and less likely to strike Guam, Japan, and Taiwan – during La Niña.
• Heavy rains and floods often plague eastern Australia during La Niña.
• The southwest monsoon in India is often wetter than average.

There are hints — though not yet enough cases to pass statistical muster — that La Niña events themselves are becoming more frequent, which would go hand in hand with the evolving Pacific backdrop. For example, since mid-2003, there have been 10 “years” (July to June) when La Niña conditions predominated, but only six for El Niño. Among years when the moderate-strength threshold was reached, seven were La Niña but only two were El Niño.

Recent, rapid ocean warming ahead of El Niño alarms scientists - BBC News - A recent, rapid heating of the world's oceans has alarmed scientists concerned that it will add to global warming. This month, the global sea surface hit a new record high temperature. It has never warmed this much, this quickly. Scientists don't fully understand why this has happened. But they worry that, combined with other weather events, the world's temperature could reach a concerning new level by the end of next year. Experts believe that a strong El Niño weather event - a weather system that heats the ocean - will also set in over the next months. Warmer oceans can kill off marine life, lead to more extreme weather and raise sea levels. They are also less efficient at absorbing planet-warming greenhouse gases. An important new study, published last week with little fanfare, highlights a worrying development. Over the past 15 years, the Earth has accumulated almost as much heat as it did in the previous 45 years, with most of the extra energy going into the oceans.This is having real world consequences - not only did the overall temperature of the oceans hit a new record in April this year, in some regions the difference from the long term was enormous.In March, sea surface temperatures off the east coast of North America were as much as 13.8C higher than the 1981-2011 average."It's not yet well established, why such a rapid change, and such a huge change is happening," said Karina Von Schuckmann, the lead author of the new study and an oceanographer at the research group Mercator Ocean International."We have doubled the heat in the climate system the last 15 years, I don't want to say this is climate change, or natural variability or a mixture of both, we don't know yet. But we do see this change."One factor that could be influencing the level of heat going into the oceans is, interestingly, a reduction in pollution from shipping.In 2020, the International Maritime Organisation put in place a regulation to reduce the sulphur content of fuel burned by ships. This has had a rapid impact, reducing the amount of aerosol particles released into the atmosphere. But aerosols that dirty the air also help reflect heat back into space - removing them may have caused more heat to enter the waters.

The link between hotter wildfires and melting Arctic ice – NPR – 12 minute podcast - In the Arctic Ocean, sea ice is shrinking as the climate heats up. In the Western U.S., wildfires are getting increasingly destructive. Those two impacts are thousands of miles apart, but scientists are beginning to find a surprising connection.For Arctic communities like the coastal village of Kotzebue, Alaska, the effects of climate change are unmistakable. The blanket of ice that covers the ocean in the winter is breaking up earlier in the spring and freezing up later in the fall. For the Iñupiaq people who depend on the ice, it's disrupting their way of life.But what happens in the Arctic goes far beyond its borders. The ice is connected to weather patterns that reach far across North America. And scientists are finding, as the climate keeps changing and sea ice shrinks, that Western states could be seeing more extreme weather, the kind that fuels extreme wildfires. This is part of a series of stories by NPR's Climate Desk, Beyond the Poles: The far-reaching dangers of melting ice.

Glaciers in Swiss Alps lost 6% of Mass last Year, as Climate Emergency brings brutal Heat Waves Juan Cole – The UN’s World Meteorological Organization has issued its annual report. As you will have guessed, things don’t look good.There were 117 heat waves in 2022 and 58 droughts globally. But there were also 61 wet spells and 63 floods. We are rushing toward weather extremes.Global heating has driven a 6-fold increase in heat waves over the past 40 years. By the way, this spring, India and some other Asian countries confronted the worst April heat wave on record. I’ve lived in India and Pakistan in April, and even forty years ago it was sweltering hot. I can’t imagine what it is like now. It reached 111 degrees F. some places, such as Bankura, Bengal, and schoolchildren weren’t able to go to class in many instances. One of the striking WMO findings is that in the Swiss Alps, 6% of the mass of the glaciers was lost between 2021 and 2022, a record breaking setback. If you did that every year for the next 17 years, all the glaciers would be gone from Switzerland. That development is a little unlikely, since the average volume loss in the past twenty years has been more like one to two percent per annum. Still, the rate of global heating is increasing, and the glaciers in the Swiss Alps have lost half their volume in the past 85 years. Some glaciers in the Alps may be 120,000 years old, and we are melting them so fast we could wipe them out in this century.What was the reason for this weird 6% loss of volume? The WMO gives three. There wasn’t much snow in 2022, so the glaciers were left uncovered, increasing their exposure. Second, winds brought an unusual amount of dust from the Sahara Desert up to Switzerland and deposited it on the glaciers. Brown dust reflects less sunlight back away than does white ice, making it hotter for the glaciers. Finally, it was unusually hot in Europe last summer, and the extra heat helped melt glaciers. Melting glaciers are a problem for several reasons. Many parts of the world depend on summer glacier melt for drinking water. In fact, the whole country of Pakistan and the Indian province of Kashmir do. In the old days before we humans heated up the earth by burning coal, petroleum and fossil gas, the glaciers would melt a little in the summer but then grow back in the winter. Now, they are not growing back to the same extent. Hence the 6% loss in volume. If the glaciers go away, maybe entire countries thirst to death.

A once-stable glacier in Greenland is now rapidly disappearing -As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, one of Greenland's previously most stable glaciers is now retreating at an unprecedented rate, according to a new study. Led by researchers at The Ohio State University, a team found that between 2018 and 2021, Steenstrup Glacier in Greenland has retreated about 5 miles, thinned about 20%, doubled in the amount of ice it discharges into the ocean, and quadrupled in velocity. According to the study, such a rapid change is so extraordinary among Greenland ice formations that it now places Steenstrup in the top 10% of glaciers that contribute to the entire region's total ice discharge. The study was published today in Nature Communications. The Steenstrup Glacier is part of The Greenland Ice Sheet, a body of ice that covers nearly 80% of the world's largest island, which is also the single largest contributor to global sea rise from the cryosphere, the portion of Earth's ecosystem that includes all of its frozen water. While the region plays a crucial part in balancing the global climate system, the area is steadily shrinking as it sheds hundreds of billions of tons of ice each year because of global warming. As far as scientists knew, Steenstrup had not only been stable for decades but was generally insensitive to the rising temperatures that had destabilized so many other regional glaciers, likely because of its isolated position in shallow waters. It wasn't until Chudley and his colleagues compiled observational and modeling data from previous remote sensing analyses on the glacier that the team realized Steenstrup was likely experiencing melt due to anomalies in deeper Atlantic water. "Our current working hypothesis is that ocean temperatures have forced this retreat," Chudley said. "The fact that the glacier's velocity has quadrupled in just a few years opens up new questions about how fast large ice masses can really respond to climate change."

'Devastating' melt of Greenland, Antarctic ice sheets found - The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are now losing more than three times as much ice a year as they were 30 years ago, according to a new comprehensive international study. Using 50 different satellite estimates, researchers found that Greenland's melt has gone into hyperdrive in the last few years. Greenland's average annual melt from 2017 to 2020 was 20% more a year than at the beginning of the decade and more than seven times higher than its annual shrinkage in the early 1990s. The new figures "are pretty disastrous really," said study co-author Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute. "We're losing more and more ice from Greenland." Study lead author Ines Otosaka, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, said speeded-up ice sheet loss is clearly caused by human-caused climate change. From 1992 to 1996, the two ice sheets—which hold 99% of the world's freshwater ice—were shrinking by 116 billion tons (105 billion metric tons) a year, two-thirds of it from Antarctica. But from 2017 to 2020, the newest data available, the combined melt soared to 410 billion tons (372 billion metric tons) a year, more than two-thirds of it from Greenland, said the study in Thursday's journal Earth System Science Data. Polar ice sheet melting records have toppled during the past decade Graph from IMBIE satellite data research showing the increasing contribution of ice sheets to global sea level from 1992 to 2020. Credit: IMBIE / CPOM at Northumbria University "This is a devastating trajectory," said U.S. National Snow and Ice Center Deputy Lead Scientist Twila Moon, who wasn't part of the study. "These rates of ice loss are unprecedented during modern civilization." Since 1992, Earth has lost 8.3 trillion tons (7.6 trillion metric tons) of ice from the two ice sheets, the study found. That's enough to flood the entire United States with 33.6 inches (almost 0.9 meters) of water or submerge France in 49 feet (nearly 15 meters). But because the world's oceans are so huge, the melt just from the ice sheets since 1992 still only adds up to a little less than inch (21 millimeters) of sea level rise, on average. Globally sea level rise is accelerating and melt from ice sheets has gone from contributing 5% of the sea level rise to now accounting for more than one-quarter of it, the study said. The rest of the sea rise comes from warmer water expanding and melt from glaciers.

Arctic sea ice loss and fierce storms leave Kivalina fighting to protect its island from the sea – ‘we just can’t adapt this fast’ - With protective sea ice declining and warming Pacific waters superchargingfall storms in the Bering and Chukchi seas, Alaska Native villages like Kivalina are experiencing growing risks to coastal livelihoods and critical infrastructure, including runways. Reppi’s efforts reflect the challenges many front-line communities face as they struggle with the effects of climate change.Indigenous governments, nonprofits, hunters and first responders from Iñupiaq, Yupik and Unangan communities across Alaska have long been preparing for today’s climate hazards. They have created initiatives fromcoastal monitoring to relocation planning, yet state and federal support programs are underfunded and poorly structured for the scale of today’s challenges. Kivalina, an Iñupiaq community of 500 people, has been dealing with climate-fueled erosion and flooding for decades. Nearly 20 years ago, it was one of four villages the U.S. government determined to be facing “imminent danger.” In 2009, 27 additional villages were added to the list. Over the years, Reppi, Joe and scores of other volunteers in Kivalina have improvised sea walls with everything from sandbags to sheets of metal cut from the chassis of an abandoned fuel plane. As a field officer during such incidents, Reppi reflects on how difficult it is to send anyone into harm’s way, whether to search for a lost hunter or to save homes and infrastructure. He remembers one storm in which he put a lifeline on his volunteers as they tried to bolster the shoreline. “That was the hardest thing I had to do,” Reppi recalls, “because one of my guys had to stay down there and tie each super sack together. To top that off, the 8-foot to 10-foot waves would just engulf them completely.”He talks about Typhoon Merbok with the calm of someone for whom storm readiness and response have become normal parts of everyday life. Because they have. For Indigenous nations around the world, the roots of climate risk today are often colonial in origin. Kivalina’s “uneasiness” with fall storms began shortly after 1905, when the U.S. Office of Education built a school on the island, and began a multidecade process to forcibly settle the autonomous and seminomadic Kivalliñiġmiut nation.In 1981, after decades of deliberation, Kivalina’s municipal government initiated relocation planning as a means to gain running water and sewer services and to alleviate overcrowding. It was an attempt, as the elder Joe Swan Sr. puts it, to gain “breathing room” so that future generations might flourish. However, planning stalled in 2008 because of a disagreement between traditional knowledge holders in Kivalina and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the suitability of the community’s chosen site.Kivalina’s relocation has now come to be framed as a response to climate change, but the initial needs that drove relocation planning still remain.“We’re an adaptable people,” Colleen Swan, Kivalina’s city administrator, told me when I started my doctoral studies 12 years ago, “but since 2004, we just can’t adapt this fast.”That was the year pieces of the island began shearing off into the sea.

World's largest logjam holds 3M tons of carbon - A mountain of driftwood in Canada’s Mackenzie River is a carbon storage “hotspot.” The logjam, which covers an area roughly the size of Manhattan, could be the world’s largest river deposit of dead trees and holds about 3.1 million metric tons of carbon, according to a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters. The findings provide a window into carbon cycling — the process of plants absorbing and releasing carbon — within Arctic river deltas. “What’s unique about the Mackenzie Delta is just how much carbon is stored in these formations and how it is preserved on the landscape for such a long time,” said Alicia Sendrowski, the study’s lead author and a hydrologist and research engineer at Michigan Technological University. “That wood is just stacking up there, and some of it is being preserved for hundreds of years.” It’s widely understood that living trees are carbon sinks, absorbing and storing carbon via photosynthesis. Dead and dying trees can also hold carbon, as long as they remain submerged in water or sediment. But they become emitters of the planet-warming gas if exposed to surface elements. “Throughout the Arctic, fallen trees make their way from forests to the ocean by way of rivers. Those logs can stack up as the river twists and turns, resulting in long-term carbon storage,” researchers wrote in the study. “Wood is an important carbon-rich material that may break down differently from the finer carbon pools, however, [and] the amount of wood stored in Arctic river deltas has not been measured before.” Researchers used high-resolution satellite mapping and radiocarbon analysis to measure the logjam and age the wood. Some trees dated to the seventh century, while others were felled as recently as 2015. Roughly 40 percent of the wood samples collected were from trees that were living later than the late 1950s. “The Arctic’s cold, often dry or icy conditions mean trees can be preserved for tens of thousands of years. A tree that fell a thousand years ago might look just as fresh as one that fell last winter,”

Very strong M7.1 earthquake hits Kermadec Islands, New Zealand - A very strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.1 hit the Kermadec Islands region, New Zealand at 00:41 UTC on April 24, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 49 km (30 miles). EMCS is reporting M7.1 at a depth of 40 km (24.8 miles).The epicenter was located 921.1 km (572.3 miles) NNE of Hicks Bay, Gisborne, New Zealand, and 1014.8 km (630.6 miles) SSW of Nuku‘alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga.The USGS issued a Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are highly resistant to earthquake shaking, though some vulnerable structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are reinforced masonry and unreinforced brick with timber floor construction.Small tsunami waves were registered at Raoul Island: The quake was preceded by M4.9 at 16:24 UTC and M5.0 at 16:51 UTC on April 23, and followed by M5.4 at 01:05 UTC, M5.3 at 01:51 UTC, and M4.9 at 07:28 UTC.

Very strong M7.1 earthquake hits near the coast of Southern Sumatra, Indonesia - A very strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.1 hit near the coast of Southern Sumatra, Indonesia at 20:00 UTC on April 24, 2023 (03:00 LT, April 25). The agency is reporting a depth of 15.5 km (9.63 miles). BMKG is reporting M6.9 (down from M7.3) at a depth of 84 km (52.1 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.8 at a depth of 16 km (9.9 miles).The epicenter was located 171.2 km (106.4 miles) SSE of Teluk Dalam, North Sumatra, and 177.5 km (110.3 miles) W of Pariaman, West Sumatra, Indonesia.Based on pre-run model scenarios, there is no tsunami threat to countries in the Indian Ocean, InaTEWS-BMKG said in their PUBLIC TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 2 (THREAT ASSESSMENT BULLETIN). No further bulletins will be issued unless the situation changes. 9 000 people are estimated to have felt very strong shaking, 21 000 strong, 37 000 moderate and 2 357 000 light.

Turkey's next quake: Research shows where, how bad—but not 'when' - Researchers know a lot about Turkey's next major earthquake. They can pinpoint the probable epicenter, estimate its strength and see the spatial footprint of where damage is most likely to occur. They just can't say when it will happen. That's the main takeaway from a new USC-led study that appears in Seismica. Using remote sensing, USC geophysicist Sylvain Barbot and his fellow researchers documented the massive Feb. 6 quake that killed more than 50,000 people in Eastern Turkey and toppled more than 100,000 buildings. Alarmingly, researchers found that a section of the fault remains unbroken and locked—a sign that the plates there may, when friction intensifies, generate another magnitude 6.8 earthquake when it finally gives way. "We know a little bit better what to prepare for. We don't know the timing, but we know where it can happen," Barbot said. The Kahramanmaras, Turkey, magnitude 7.8 mainshock occurred Feb. 6, followed by a magnitude 7.6 aftershock on a separate fault further west. Another quake occurred two weeks later, a magnitude 6.4 on Feb. 20. A plotting of data (see above) shows seismic activity and the amount of slippage along the faults. The area beneath Turkey's Pütürge district shows a swarm of seismic activity along the fault—but no slippage. That means that part of the fault is locked, or stuck, but it is likely to slip sometime—anytime— in the future."What we've seen in photos of the buildings that collapsed is that some of them were pancakes but others were literally pulverized," Barbot said. "So that means another degree of failure; even the concrete itself disintegrated. There is the possibility that this earthquake produced more shaking than was anticipated in the building codes. We won't know without more research.

New report highlights economic earthquake risk in the United States -Earthquakes cost the nation an estimated $14.7 billion annually in building damage and associated losses according to a new report released jointly today by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the annual Seismological Society of America meeting. The new estimate is twice that of previous annual estimates due to increased building value and the fact that the report incorporates the latest hazards as well as improvements to building inventories. Earthquake losses from the last few decades in the U.S. have ranged about $1.5-$3 billion per year depending upon the timeframe. While less than the figures suggested by long-term loss estimates from this study, a single large earthquake impacting a populated urban area would quickly make up the difference in losses in one fell swoop. Compared to previous estimates in 2001, 2008, and 2017, the annualized earthquake loss ratios have consistently decreased throughout the western U.S., indicating that the work being done to reduce building vulnerability has proven successful. Although new construction benefits from modern seismic codes and the latest science and earthquake-engineering research, vulnerable older buildings continue to bear much of the underlying risk seen in the loss estimates.

CME impacts Earth sparking G4 - Severe geomagnetic storm, worldwide aurora – (video) A full-halo coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by an Earth-facing filament eruption on April 21, 2023, impacted Earth at 17:37 UTC on April 23. The impact sparked G4 – Severe geomagnetic storm and produced vivid aurora worldwide. Solar wind speeds abruptly increased from ~360 km/s to 400 – 500 km/s following the CME impact.Total magnetic field strength increased from ~9 nT to 25 nT during the shock. The Bz component rotated south and maintained a far south configuration through 20:15 UTC, at which point Bz rapidly rotated northward. Solar wind speeds further increased to above 600 km/s by 19:43 UTC, but low density produced sporadic measurements later.In response to the arrival of full-halo CME, the geomagnetic field reached G4 – Severe geomagnetic storm conditions at 19:44 UTC.G4 – Severe geomagnetic storm potential impacts:
The area of impact is primarily poleward of 45 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.
Induced currents – Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems may mistakenly trip out key assets from the power grid. Induced pipeline currents intensify.
Spacecraft – Systems may experience surface charging; increased drag on low earth orbit satellites, and tracking and orientation problems may occur.
Navigation – Satellite navigation (GPS) degraded or inoperable for hours.
Radio – HF (high frequency) radio propagation sporadic or blacked out.
Aurora – Aurora may be seen as low as Alabama and northern California.
The video below shows the filament eruption that caused the storm. The eruption also caused S1 – Minor solar radiation storm on April 23. Solar wind parameters are expected to continue with enhanced conditions on April 24, with a decreasing trend expected during the latter half of the UTC day. A transition to negative polarity CH HSS regime is likely over April 25 – 26, causing active to unsettled conditions. Auroras spread across Europe as far south as France with sightings from brightly-lit cities such as Berlin and Kraków, Dr. Tony Phillips reported. Bright red auroras were even seen from China and across the United States, down to Las Vegas!

Here's how NASA is planning to protect Earth from asteroids and comets -The large impact craters dotting our planet are powerful reminders that asteroids and comets strike the Earth from time to time. As often said, it's not a question of "if"; it's a matter of "when" our planet will face an impending strike from space. But an impact is one existential threat humanity is finally starting to take seriously and wrap its head around. Seemingly spurred by the success of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA just released a new planetary defense strategy and action plan, describing its efforts to find and identify potentially hazardous objects to provide an advanced warning, and then even push them off an impact trajectory. This 10-year strategy looks to advance efforts to protect the Earth from a devastating encounter with a Near Earth asteroid or comet. "An asteroid impact with Earth has potential for catastrophic devastation, and it is also the only natural disaster humanity now has sufficient technology to completely prevent," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer, in a NASA press release. "The release of this NASA strategy steps up NASA's intentions for the next 10 years to ensure the agency works both nationally and internationally to protect our planet for the benefit of all."The 46-page "NASA Planetary Defense Strategy and Action Plan" (pdf document) was released on April 18, 2023 and follows another document that was put out on April 3 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, "National Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan for Near-Earth Object Hazards and Planetary Defense" (pdf document).Each of the reports focuses on enhancing the detection, characterization and responses to impact threats as well as improving international cooperation for coordinating strategies among government agencies.

The Challenge of Blue Carbon – A year on from Hurricane Katrina, the small Louisiana town of Luling, about 25 miles west of New Orleans, embarked upon a modest experiment. Instead of discharging treated municipal wastewater through a canal and into a nearby lake, the town would pump its effluent into surrounding bayou swampland.The change would be a small step in reversing the ecological damage of flood control along the Mississippi River, which for centuries had slowly separated America’s longest river system from its natural floodplain. Although it opened up more land for farming and habitation, flood control set the scene for the levee failures in New Orleans, where more than 1,000 people died in Katrina and its aftermath. Preventing natural seasonal flooding also deprives the Mississippi delta of sediments that renew it, contributing to the loss of 30 percent of its land in the past half-century. A mangrove swamp might contain 25 times as much carbon as a similar patch of terrestrial forest.In Luling, sediments that would have flowed directly into the lake would now be trapped in the town’s bayous. Nitrogen, phosphorous, and other chemicals in the cloudy wastewater would enhance the growth of native bald cypress and water tupelo trees. These in turn would soak up floodwaters, prevent erosion, and provide crucial ecosystem services. The trees would be a boon for wildlife: Bald cypresses serve as breeding grounds for amphibians, provide nesting spots for ducks and raptors, and shelter young catfish among their submerged roots.On top of all those benefits, the revitalized swamp would store lots of carbon—at least in principle. In practice, it wouldn’t be so simple.So-called “blue carbon” aquatic ecosystems like Luling’s bald cypresses, Australia’s seagrass meadows, and tropical tidal marshes store an estimated 300 billion tons of carbon worldwide—an amount roughly comparable, by some estimates, to the lifetime emissions of all the power plants in the world. A mangrove swamp might contain 25 times as much carbon as a similarly-sized patch of terrestrial forest.These capacities have made wetlands appealing targets for the fast-growing, near-trillion-dollar carbon accounting industry, which uses carbon offsets and carbon credits to—hopefully—reduce global CO₂ emissions. Each offset or credit is supposed to represent an actual ton of CO₂ sequestered or prevented from entering the atmosphere. To ensure that happens, the science behind them, and oversight of the projects that generate them, must be rock solid. This is far from certain today, where even the largest schemes have faced accusations of shoddy measurement, weak verification, and outright fraud.“There’s a lot of bogus carbon projects out there,” says Robert Lane, chief operating officer at Comite Resources, the coastal science consultancy behind the Luling project. “Real carbon projects take an area of land and do something to it so it sequesters more than it would without intervention. And it’s that extra sequestration that you can monetize.” But monetizing Luling’s swamps would prove tricky.

State leaders targeting climate investing have quiet stakes in the fossil fuel industry - In October, Scott Fitzpatrick, then-treasurer of Missouri,announced his state would pull $500 million out of pension funds managed by BlackRock.He said he would move Missouri's money away from the asset manager because it was "prioritizing" environmental, social and governance investing over shareholder returns.Fitzpatrick, a Republican who won election as the state's auditor in November, used his office as treasurer to target BlackRock after years of criticizing Wall Street for a perceived turn toward investing focused on climate and social issues.As he homed in on BlackRock, Fitzpatrick quietly held a financial stake in a massive fossil fuel company that could suffer from the broader adoption of alternative energy.Fitzpatrick and his wife owned a more than $10,000 stake in Chevron during both of 2022 and 2021, according to his latest financial disclosures filed with the state.Fitzpatrick is among a group of powerful Republican state leaders who have waged similar fights against environmentally conscious investing as they held personal investments in, or saw political support from, the fossil fuel industry.A handful of state financial officers who have similarly attacked ESG practices owned stock or bonds in oil, gas or other fossil fuel companies in recent years, according to the latest state financial disclosure reports reviewed by CNBC. Some of the state officials have received campaign donations from fossil fuel companies or their executives.State leaders face possible conflicts of interest when they have a chance to see financial gains from the fossil fuel industry as they use their offices to defend the sector — or in some cases move their state's dollars away from clean-energy investments, government ethics experts told CNBC. As the officials ramp up their criticism of Wall Street investment practices, a lack of state laws requiring regular stock disclosures makes it difficult for the public to monitor what personal stake their representatives could have in the actions they take in office.Unlike members of Congress, state financial officers in many cases only have to disclose their stock ownership once a year. In some states, they do not have to divulge their investments at all. In contrast with federal lawmakers, they also do not have to file regular records disclosing their new trades.None of the officials mentioned in this story engaged in illegal conduct. But the fact that they have investments that could be helped by their high-profile campaigns against ESG investing may create trust issues with the people they represent, says ethics experts.

High court denies energy companies' appeals in climate suits (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals from oil and gas companies that are fighting lawsuits from state and local governments over whether they can be held responsible for harms resulting from global warming. The justices handed the companies a setback in their legal fight with city, county and state governments that want the cases to be heard in state courts, where both sides agree the governments stand a better chance of winning large damage awards. The companies want the cases moved to federal courts. Monday’s orders from the high court affected cases from California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Rhode Island. But more than a dozen similar suits are pending in state courts around the country claiming that oil and gas produced by the companies led to greenhouse gas emissions, which contributed to global climate change and caused harm locally. In 2021, the justices ruled for the companies in an earlier phase of the case that gave them a second shot at persuading appeals courts to order the cases be heard in the federal judicial system. Appeals courts have so far ruled in favor of the governments. Among the justices, Brett Kavanaugh voted to have the Supreme Court take up the issue. Justice Samuel Alito did not participate, presumably because he holds investments in energy companies.

Why the Debt Ceiling Debate Is Also a Climate Fight - Congress is once again fighting over the nation’s debt ceiling, the legal limit on how much the United States can borrow. It’s a highly politicized battle that has threatened to paralyze the federal government almost every year for the past decade, with potentially significant long-term consequences for the U.S. economy. Now Republicans want to use it to repeal President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has become beholden to a handful of far-right GOP lawmakers, is on a quest to slash federal spending. On Wednesday, the California Republican reluctantly agreed to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion for about a year, but not without demanding major concessions from Democrats.McCarthy’s bill, called the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, would slash more than $4.5 trillion from future federal spending by limiting discretionary funds, eliminating Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and cutting financial commitments meant to revamp the Internal Revenue Service. It also targets the foundational provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats’ marquee climate law that passed last year.That bill dedicates around $370 billion to fighting climate change, largely through tax rebates and other government credits that incentivize consumers and businesses to adopt clean energy technologies and electric vehicles. McCarthy’s proposal would repeal the vast majority of those. They include the tax credits for EVs, clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel and even the credits that would reward energy providers for building more solar and wind power systems—even more so if they build them in low-income neighborhoods.McCarthy also slipped the Republican’s energy plan, known as H.R. 1, into his debt ceiling bill. That measure, which passed the House mostly along party lines last month, would speed up the federal approval of energy projects, bolster domestic oil and gas production and limit the ability of states to reject energy projects.The Limit, Save, Grow Act “would end the green giveaways for companies that distort the market and waste taxpayer money,” McCarthy said, speaking from the House floor on Wednesday. “Goldman Sachs says the savings from ending these green giveaways are as much as $1.2 trillion.”Raising the debt ceiling ensures the federal government can pay the financial commitments it has already made and is different from allocating the federal budget, which is when lawmakers decide how they’ll spend taxpayer dollars. And experts say failing to raise that limit after Congress has already made its budgetary commitments could be detrimental to the economy if the U.S. ends up defaulting on its bills. Think of it like asking your friend to pick up a soda on the way over to your house, promising to pay your friend when they arrive. But when they show up with a Coca-Cola, you decide you’ve changed your mind and don’t reimburse them. The next time you ask for a similar favor, chances are your friend won’t want to risk it. Their trust in you is shot. Similarly, Congress is now being asked to raise its borrowing limit to accommodate the purchases it has already promised to make. Failing to do so, analysts say, could spoil America’s credit score and cause financial shock waves globally.

Electric car sales surged by 55% last year to surpass 10 million, and China led the way - Electric car sales jumped to more than 10 million last year, with China accounting for roughly 60% of the market, according to a report from the International Energy Agency published Wednesday. The record sales figures, contained within the IEA's Global EV Outlook for 2023, continue a trend of sustained growth for the industry. "Electric car sales — including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) — exceeded 10 million last year, up 55% relative to 2021," the IEA's report said. "This figure — 10 million EV sales worldwide — exceeds the total number of cars sold across the entire European Union (about 9.5 million vehicles) and is nearly half of the total number of cars sold in China in 2022," it added. The IEA defined "sales" within its report as being "an estimate of the number of new vehicles hitting the roads." In total, it said more than 26 million electric cars were on the world's roads in 2022, which represents a 60% increase relative to 2021. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, have an internal combustion engine as well as a battery-powered electric motor. Some regard them as an important tool in the transition toward low- and zero-emission forms of transport. Others, including organizations such as Greenpeace UK, take a dim view of them. Looking ahead, the Paris-based IEA — seen by many as an authoritative voice on the energy transition — said it was estimating worldwide sales to reach almost 14 million in 2023. "This explosive growth means electric cars' share of the overall car market has risen from around 4% in 2020 to 14% in 2022 and is set to increase further to 18% this year, based on the latest IEA projections," a statement accompanying the report noted.

EVs Fall Short of EPA Estimates by a Much Larger Margin Than Gas Cars in Our Real-World Highway Testing Car and Driver --A new paper published by SAE International uses Car and Driver's real-world highway test data to show that electric vehicles underperform on real-world efficiency and range relative to the EPA figures by a much greater margin than internal-combustion vehicles. While the latter typically meet or exceed the EPA-estimated highway fuel economy numbers, EVs tend to fall considerably short of the range number on the window sticker. The paper, written by Car and Driver'stesting director, Dave VanderWerp, and Gregory Pannone, was presented this week at SAE International's annual WCX conference. It points to a need for revised testing and labeling standards for EVs moving forward."Basically we've taken a look at how vehicles perform relative to the values on the window sticker, looking at the difference between what the label says and what we actually see in our real-world highway test," explained VanderWerp. "We see a big difference in that gap between gas-powered vehicles and the performance of EVs. The real question is: When first-time customers are buying EVs, are they going to be pleasantly surprised or disappointed by the range?"On Car and Driver's 75-mph highway test, more than 350 internal-combustion vehicles averaged 4.0 percent better fuel economy than what was stated on their labels. But the average range for an EV was 12.5 percent worse than the price sticker numbers.One reason the paper suggests for why EVs fail to match expectations is how the range is calculated. While separate city and highway range figures are computed behind closed doors, only a combined number is presented to consumers. The combined rating is weighted 55 percent in favor of the city figure, where EVs typically perform better. This inflates the range estimates, making it harder to match in real-world highway driving. The paper proposes publishing both city and highway range figures—as with fuel-economy estimates for gas-powered vehicles—to give shoppers a more holistic sense of a vehicle's abilities.

GM kills another electric car. It’s different this time. - For years now, the Chevrolet Bolt has held a unique slot in America’s auto fleet: an affordable little electric vehicle that proved Detroit could actually make such a thing. On Tuesday, the Bolt’s maker, General Motors Co., said that the last copies of the electric compact will roll off the production lines by the end of the year (Greenwire, April 25). America’s biggest automaker will pull its top-selling EV to free up factory space to make bigger — and much more popular and lucrative — electric trucks. The Bolt’s death notice drew yelps of sadness from EV advocates. But tellingly, the news drew only a muted response from drivers, who never really fell in love with a vehicle that suffered some embarrassing battery problems. The end of the road for the Bolt comes at the beginning of a new era for EVs. Over the next two or three years, the availability of EVs is poised to transition from just one or two models per automaker to a full slate of vehicles, of many styles and at many price points. Vehicles like the tiny, wedge-shaped Bolt are less popular than SUVs and trucks. That’s true both for customers, who can’t get enough of larger vehicles, and automakers, who need the higher profit margins from larger vehicles to fund the expensive EV transition. Observers on Tuesday were conflicted over the Bolt’s demise and what it signifies. In the eyes of some, it was fitting for the compact to go away as GM and other automakers prepare for an onslaught of models. Others were confounded that GM had chosen to discontinue America’s most inexpensive EV while demand is high. “The Bolt is at its peak right now. Sales are high. With great effort and expense, they’ve resolved the battery issues. It’s a great option for consumers that are looking for a long range vehicle at a reasonable price,” he said. “It will definitely leave a hole in the market,” he added.

Tesla says lack of lithium refining capacity will become EV production ‘choke point’ - Tesla saw commodity prices for minerals, including lithium, begin to drop in Q1, the company said on its Q1 earnings call last week. But the "choke point" in the supply chain is not in the price of the material but the capacity to refine it, CEO Elon Musk said, and if production can continue to match demand. To further take control of its lithium supply, the company plans to start production by the end of this year on its own refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, Drew Baglino, senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, said during Tesla's investor day presentation last month.Tesla is spending big on its lithium refining capacity.Its upcoming refinery in Texas is slated to have 50 gigawatt hours of capacity per year. The company also strategically placed its manufacturing hub in Nevada near the country's only active lithium producer.In addition, Tesla is spending another $3.6 billion to expand its own manufacturing footprint in Nevada, including for lithium-ion battery production.Musk boasted of Tesla's lithium refining capacity during the call with investors, while chastising others in the industry for a lack of involvement."We will have, by far, the most lithium refining capability and the most cathode refining capability in North America," the CEO said. "So, can other people please do this work? That would be great. We're begging you. We don't want to do it. Can someone please?"On pricing, executives noted that while they saw some softening in Q1, they expect to see more benefits in the Q2 and the second half of the year.Previous price spikes also spurred more companies in the industry to explore diversifying their procurement strategies from countries across the globe, Vice President of Supply Chain Karn Budhiraj said on the call."A lot of the companies that are in this business are becoming more ambitious about finding more upstream resources and exploring locations in Africa as well as South America," Budhiraj said. "So that's also helping the macro situation with pricing."Lithium prices have fallen significantly in the last several months, particularly in China, which holds the bulk of the world's lithium reserves. Chinese prices for the mineral have fallen 52.4% since peaks in November 2022, according to an April market analysis from S&P Global.

Senators Question Feasibility Of EPA's New Vehicle Emissions Standards --Lawmakers questioned the feasibility of new vehicle tailpipe emissions proposals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which the agency predicts will lead to the mass adoption of electric light- and medium-duty vehicles within a decade. The April 18 hearing was held by the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. Subcommittee Chair Ed Markey (D-Mass.) lauded the proposals, which the EPA released on April 12.He suggested that the new EPA standard for light-body vehicles “could be expanded upon,” saying that over $135 billion in spending last Congress was being used “to build America’s electric vehicle future.”“Strong proposed regulations are critical to driving climate progress forward, but they are more doable than ever, thanks to the billions in clean vehicle investments passed by Congress,” Markey said. Describing the advantages of stricter regulations, he argued that “those benefits are a bonanza of benefits to our climate, to drivers, and to our health.”“We need to make sure they also benefit Union-American workers,” he added. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) voiced skepticism regarding the EPA’s vision.Lummis asked one expert witness, Kathy Harris of the Natural Resources Defense Council, whether focusing on tailpipe emissions alone ignored greenhouse gas emissions from the rare earth mining needed to produce electric vehicle batteries.“There have been many studies that have shown that electric vehicles today, from well to wheel, are still cleaner than compared to a gasoline vehicle,” Harris responded.

Senate votes to overturn Biden truck pollution limit - The Senate on Wednesday passed a Republican-led effort to undo a Biden administration rule that aims to cut pollution from heavy-duty trucks. The vote was 50-49. Sen Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted with Republicans to get rid of the rule. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has been absent from the Senate amid health issues, did not vote.The rule in question aims to cut down on emissions of pollutants called nitrogen oxides that can harm the respiratory system and are also components of acid rain. The EPA says it will prevent as many as 2,900 premature deaths and 18,000 fewer cases of childhood asthma annually by 2045. Republicans, however, say it is overly burdensome for the trucking industry and could worsen inflation. “Additional inflationary burdens on the trucking industry will mean that any product transported by trucks — whether it’s food, clothing, or other commodities — each one of those products will cost more,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said in a floor speech Wednesday, according to a copy of her prepared remarks. Manchin announced ahead of the vote that he would join the Republicans in trying to undo the regulation. “The Biden Administration wants to burden the trucking industry with oppressive regulations that will increase prices by thousands of dollars and push truck drivers and small trucking companies out of business,” he said in a written statement. “When our country faces record-high inflation and vulnerable supply chains, we cannot let the EPA continue to seize unrestrained power and create regulations that devastate our economy.” Despite its passage, the resolution is not expected to ultimately prevail. The White House said Wednesday that President Biden would veto the effort, and it is unlikely to be able to win the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. “Heavy-duty vehicles and engines contribute to pollutants that threaten public health. Over time, the final rule will prevent hundreds of premature deaths, thousands of childhood asthma cases, and millions of lost school-days every year for the tens of millions of Americans who live, work, and go to school near roadways with high truck volume including truck freight routes,” the White House said Wednesday.

Biden EPA to issue power plant rules that lean on carbon capture | (Reuters) - The U.S. government may soon require natural gas-fired power plants to install technology to capture carbon emissions, sources said, as President Joe Biden's administration enacts new rules to help decarbonize the power sector in 12 years.The Environmental Protection Agency as soon as this week is expected to unveil standards for new and existing power plants, which belch roughly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, two sources said. The rules will replace former President Donald Trump's American Clean Energy rule and former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, both of which were invalidated by courts. More than a year in the making, the standards should be based on a plant's potential to reduce emissions through carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, according to clean air law experts and industry representatives in talks with the EPA. Utility companies may need to decide whether they want to build new baseload gas plants with CCS technology or zero-emission renewable energy. States would develop plans for bringing their plants into compliance. "These standards could level the playing field between new gas plants and new renewable energy," said Thomas Schuster, head of the Sierra Club's Pennsylvania chapter. Most new gas plants currently do not pay for emitting carbon, so the rules could make it harder for them to compete with solar and wind power. Biden has pledged that the power business will decarbonize by 2035. According to the Clean Air Act, the standards must be based on “best system of emission reduction,” technologies deemed affordable and technically feasible. The proposal will reflect two major developments to ensure the rules are legally defensible. One, a Supreme Court decision last July, barred EPA from forcing a system-wide shift in electric generation but allowed it to issue plant-specific rules.

EPA plan would nearly eliminate power plant emissions by 2040 - The Biden administration is preparing to unveil a proposal to require power plants to drastically reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by 2040, another attempt to regulate one of the country’s biggest contributors to climate change after the Supreme Court struck down the first effort, according to three people familiar with the plans. If implemented, the Environmental Protection Agency would set limits so stringent that fossil-fuel-burning power plants probably would have to use technology to capture their carbon dioxide emissions from their smokestacks or switch to other fuels to comply, according to the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a plan that is not yet public. The proposal is still under final analysis at the White House and could change before the EPA completes and announces it. The limits could nearly eliminate emissions from fossil-fuel burning plants after the most stringent standards go fully into effect, the people said. Another source familiar with the proposal said that there will be significant cuts to emissions from these plants, but potentially not as dramatic or extreme as others have suggested. The EPA has been planning an announcement for the coming days, but final details are in flux, and a formal proposal could be more than a week away, according to several people familiar with the planning. Turning that proposal into a final rule package would be likely to take months more, and, according to two of the people familiar with the details, many of the proposal’s most stringent standards would not take effect until the 2030s, giving industry years to come into compliance gradually.Although its greenhouse-gas emissions have been declining, the electric-power sector remains the country’s second-largest contributor to climate change, being responsible for a quarter of such emissions nationwide in 2021, according to EPA data. That has long made power plants a top target for climate regulations, and President Biden has previously promised to eliminate their emissions by 2035.The Supreme Court has loomed over the effort. It ruled last year that the EPA during the Obama administration had exceeded its authority by building the first attempt at such regulations around a new system to push power companies to switch fuels across their fleets, and replace coal with cleaner options. The updated rules that Biden has promised have been held up for months in part because the agency has been trying to craft them in accordance with that decision so they might survive a conservative-majority court.

Biden's newest big climate rule will rest on rarely used technology - The Biden administration’s upcoming attack on one of the nation’s largest contributors to climate change is expected to rest on a novel technology for capturing power plants’ greenhouse gas pollution, according to two people familiar with the deliberations. That would be an aggressive — even transformational — approach from EPA, ushering in the most stringent regulations on fossil fuel plants in the nation’s history. And it would come just 10 months after the Supreme Court restricted the agency’s options to reduce power plants’ carbon output, heightening the risks that judges could block this proposal from ever taking effect. But environmental groups have been pressing President Joe Biden to go bold in meeting his campaign promises to take on climate change, even if it means testing the limits of what the court will tolerate. And the administration appears to have toughened its proposal in recent months, according to the two people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the still-unreleased proposal. They say the proposal would require power companies to capture most of their carbon emissions rather than letting it enter the atmosphere. No commercial power plants in the United States use carbon-capturing technology now, but the agency views it as ready to be used widely, the two people familiar with the discussions said. EPA is poised to release the two power plant rules near the end of the week, the people said. One rule would target existing coal- and natural-gas-fired plants, and the other would address new gas plants. One of the people, who was briefed by EPA recently, said the rules could be postponed until May.

EPA won't require carbon capture at all power plants — sources - EPA’s upcoming climate rules are expected to rely on carbon capture technology. But that doesn’t mean fossil fuel power plants will use it. The agency’s draft regulations on the nation’s sprawling power sector will require utilities to slash their carbon emissions to levels that could be achieved by using carbon capture systems. But to get there, they wouldn’t have to actually use that technology, experts say. The rules, which are expected to be proposed within two weeks, treat power plants that run less often differently than behemoth plants that generate baseload electricity, according to two people who are familiar with the rules and were granted anonymity to speak freely. Facilities that burn natural gas and coal but run less frequently or at lower capacity are expected to face lighter requirements for lowering emissions — and they could use hydrogen or other upgrades, like heat-rate improvements, to comply with the rules. Operators who agree to close their plants early may not face any obligations at all. Other plants could comply with the rules by investing in renewable energy, hydrogen or other ways to generate power. Those options could avoid scrutiny by the Supreme Court, which last year restricted EPA’s options to reduce emissions at power plants, because they would be driven by states or utilities themselves. The biggest plants that burn the most coal and gas will eventually have to meet EPA’s tight standards, which are based on EPA projections that those facilities could capture and store a large share of their emissions. That judgment is bolstered by passage last year of the climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which included larger tax credits for companies that use carbon capture technologies. But just because the agency tailored its rules around emissions levels that could be met with carbon capture systems doesn’t mean utilities will be compelled to install them, said Mike O’Boyle, senior director for electricity at Energy Innovation. “Every utility is going to have to make its own choices in consultation with their investors and creditors,” he said. “Different [state] regulators will have different opinions about the best technology pathway, and the best investments for customer protection.”

John Kerry: relying on technology to remove carbon dioxide is ‘dangerous’ --Relying on technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is “dangerous” and a cause for “alarm”, John Kerry has warned.The US special presidential envoy for climate said in an interview that new technologies may not prevent the world from passing “tipping points”, key temperature thresholds that, once passed, could trigger a cascade of unstoppable physical effects. “Some scientists suggest that it’s possible there could be an overshoot [of global temperatures, beyond the limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels that governments are targeting] and you could clawback, so to speak – you have technologies and other things that allow you to come back,” Kerry told the Guardian. “The danger with that, which alarms me the most and motivates me the most, is that according to the science, and the best scientists in the world, we may be at or past several tipping points that they have been warning us about for some time,” he said. “That’s the danger, the irreversibility.”He called on governments to deploy renewable energy faster, along with related technologies such as electric vehicles. These are already available for widespread deployment, and could prevent the world from reaching the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that would cause temperatures to breach the 1.5C threshold. “Part of the challenge we face right now is countries that have technologies available to them are not necessarily deploying them at the rate that they should be,” he said. “Fatih Birol [executive director of the International Energy Agency] has made it very clear for some time that all you need to meet the 2030 goal of 45% reduction [in greenhouse gas emissions] globally is to deploy renewables in the current state of technology, and that’s not happening.”“There’s a resistance right now that I see from several quarters to doing what we know we need to do,” Kerry said. “I think there are things that are really quite simple that we could be doing, but it requires political will, it requires resources, allocation and a determination to get the job done.”

Manchin co-sponsors bill to undo Biden solar tariff freeze | The Hill - Sen. Joe Manchin has joined Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in co-sponsoring a bill that would restore solar power tariffs suspended by President Biden, the latest break between the West Virginia Democrat and the leader of his party on energy. The resolution is the Senate version of a House bill invoking the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows a simple majority of Congress to override executive branch rules. The House is expected to vote on its version of the bill this week, while Biden has already vowed to veto it if it reaches his desk. “The United States relies on foreign nations, like China, for far too many of our energy needs, and failing to enforce our existing trade laws undermines the goals of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to onshore our energy supply chains, including solar,” Manchin said in a statement. “I cannot fathom why the Administration and Congress would consider extending that reliance any longer and am proud to join this CRA to rescind the rule.” Biden has defended the suspension of tariffs as necessary to buy the U.S. time to build up renewable energy capacity as it seeks to transition away from fossil fuels. The senator, who has always been to the administration’s right on environmental issues, has stepped up salvoes against its energy policies in recent months, backing two other CRA resolutions targeting them and saying he would vote for a hypothetical repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate package he shepherded through the Senate last year. Another red-state Democrat up in 2024, Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), has also called for the resumption of the tariffs, although it’s unclear whether he will vote for the CRA resolution. Brown’s office also confirmed he would back the resolution Wednesday. “The president got this one wrong. I’ve always stood up to presidents of both parties to fight for fair trade and a level playing field for Ohio workers, which is why I will support Congressional action to end the Administration’s waiver of solar tariffs,” Brown said in a statement.

Anti-China fervor could slam U.S. solar industry, climate goals - As lawmakers work to isolate China by pressuring U.S. companies to abandon suppliers there, the fervor to undercut a rival threatens to undermine the transition to green energy at home. Solar companies have become the latest clean tech sector to find itself in the crosshairs as Democrats, in particular, grow anxious that taking anything other than a hard line against China will cost them voter support. Momentum in Congress is escalating to reimpose steep trade tariffs that were suspended by President Biden last summer, a White House effort to give the industry time to move supply chains onshore.The outcome of this unfolding political drama could have major consequences — not just for solar energy companies, but also for homeowners hoping to add solar panels to their roofs, motorists wanting to charge electric vehicles with clean power and utilities trying to reduce their carbon footprints.It also reflects the challenge of rapidly transitioning to clean power while growing jobs at home, a mainstay of the Biden agenda. If a current or future Congress were to abruptly cut off access to Chinese factories and mines, the United States would lose access to materials crucial for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries powering the U.S.energy transition.“Climate targets and green technology are becoming collateral damage,” said Jim Kapsis, a former adviser at the Treasury Department and founder of the Ad Hoc Group, which advises climate tech start-ups. “We haven’t figured out what we are willing to acquire from China and what we absolutely need to secure for ourselves. Politically, that answer has not yet been arrived at. Until it is, this is going to be a bumpy ride.”Only weeks ago, the solar tariffs legislation — now headed for a House vote on Friday — was largely dismissed as a GOP messaging bill, a measure lawmakers could pass knowing Biden would veto it. While Biden still plans to block it, the growing Democratic support for it is unnerving clean tech executives, who are now bracing for similar bills to follow.Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), who represents a battleground state where Biden won by 80,555 votes in 2020, is one of the Democrats now inclined to support reviving the solar levies.“I think China’s got to be held accountable,” Casey said in an interview. “I’m worried without that, we’re not going to have that kind of accountability.”But if tariffs were reimposed, leaders in the U.S. solar industry say the impacts to jobs and climate targets would be devastating.

Switching to wind and solar energy will require a lot of land - There’s an often-overlooked aspect of America’s energy transition: It will require a lot of land. That means decisions about land use could have a profound impact on the speed and scale of the nation’s shift to clean energy, according to an analysis shared first with The Climate 202 by the ICF Climate Center, a climate research group within global consulting firm ICF. Large-scale wind and solar farms require at least 10 times as much land per unit as coal- and natural gas-fired power plants, including the land used to produce and transport the fossil fuels, research shows. But only a fraction of all land is suitable for development. One site might have the wrong slope for solar panels, while another area might be home to an endangered species that development could doom. If developers pick the wrong site, they risk undermining goals of the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate law that offers billions of dollars worth of tax credits for renewable energy projects nationwide. “For the first 100 gigawatts of renewables that were developed in the previous decade, land was not an issue,” said Himali Parmar, vice president of energy advisory services, interconnection and transmission at ICF and lead author of the report. “But the siting issue has been hyper-magnified post-IRA.” To maximize the benefits of the climate law, the analysis identifies four factors that developers should consider before selecting a site for a wind, solar or battery project. Below, we’ll unpack two of these factors and why they matter:First, the analysis urges developers to consider how difficult — and costly — it will be to connect to the nation’s electricity grid.When a developer wants to build a new energy project, they have to submit an application to a regional operator, which determines how the project will affect the grid.Most proposals wait years to connect to the grid. At the end of 2021,about 8,100 projects — the vast majority of them wind, solar and batteries — were waiting to plug in.This little-known bottleneck — known as the interconnection queue — has slowed the build out of clean energy across the country. Less than one-fifth of solar and wind projects actually make it through the queue; many are canceled because of insurmountable upgrade costs.

U.S. Interior secretary unveils $125 million for local climate projects - — The U.S. Interior Department will send $125 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law to scores of local climate resiliency and conservation projects, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told a group of environmental reporters Friday. Speaking at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference, Haaland promoted several aspects of the Interior Department’s agenda, including programs receiving funds from the $1.9 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law and Democrats’ 2022 climate and spending law, both of which President Joe Biden signed.Haaland called the spending in those laws “once-in-a-generation funding.”“These investments have the potential to be transformational,” she said.The funding announced Friday will support 240 projects throughout the country, she said. A full list of projects is available here.

In the game of musical mines, environmental damage takes a back seat --Founded in 2008 by West Virginia native Jeff Hoops, Blackjewel grew in just a decade to become the sixth-largest coal producer in the U.S., partly by accumulating mines like Foresters that had gone bankrupt. By 2018, it boasted more than 500 mining permits in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. Then, in July 2019, Blackjewel stunned the industry by declaring bankruptcy, with claims against it later estimated at $7.5 billion. That December, environmental groups where Blackjewel operatedwarned the bankruptcy judge that, while he was focusing on what they called the company’s “significant financial mismanagement,” he should also be aware of “severe environmental mismanagement problems.”“Reclamation work, water treatment, and other expenses related to environmental compliance should be approved and prioritized” in the bankruptcy case, the environmental advocates wrote. Kentucky regulators agreed. But, citing longstanding case law, the judge rejected their request. Instead, bankruptcy trustees began divvying up the company’s assets among preferred creditors such as banks and hedge funds. Problems at Foresters and other Blackjewel sites persisted. By mid-2020, there were more than 600 outstanding violations of state mining and reclamation standards at the company’s mines in Kentucky, including 450 since the bankruptcy filing. On top of that, regulators had cited Blackjewel mines for more than 13,000 violations of Kentucky water quality rules, mostly for failing to monitor pollution discharges. The Blackjewel case, still unresolved and nearing its fourth anniversary this July, highlights the environmental toll of what has become a central feature of the coal industry’s business strategy: bankruptcy. Over the past decade, Blackjewel and other coal companies have found two ways to use bankruptcy to their advantage. First, they expanded their holdings by acquiring other companies’ bankrupt mines, which they hoped would turn a temporary profit during upticks in coal prices and production within the industry’s long-term decline.Then they declared bankruptcy themselves, entering an arena where they didn’t have to pay all of their debts, and where environmental liabilities took a back seat to banks and other financial creditors. As more coal companies busted, hundreds of mines cycled through repeated bankruptcies. Some, like Foresters, are no longer producing coal, yet they continue to pollute their communities.

How Bankruptcy Helps the Coal Industry Avoid Environmental Liability -A first-of-its-kind analysis by ProPublica and Mountain State Spotlight has documented that mines that have gone through multiple bankruptcies also tend to create more environmental damage. By combining data from federal bankruptcy court filings and state regulatory records, we identified mining permits that have been through more than one bankruptcy and compared the number of environmental violations they’d accrued to violations for mines that had not been through bankruptcy. We found that the median number of environmental violations for surface and underground mines that had been through multiple bankruptcies between 2012 and 2022 in Kentucky was almost twice the median number for mines that had not, and 40% higher in West Virginia. Blackjewel mines in Kentucky that have gone through multiple bankruptcies had more than twice as many violations as the state median for nonbankrupt mines. Our analysis could not determine if bankruptcy caused the environmental violations or was simply associated with them. Read about our methodology here. The analysis suggests that the bankruptcy system is “keeping mines alive that are not viable and that are struggling to remain in compliance with environmental laws,” said University of Chicago law professor Josh Macey, co-author of a 2019 study on coal bankruptcies.Blackjewel’s founder, Hoops, epitomizes how the story of the coal industry and its barons has become inseparable from bankruptcy. He built his empire on bankrupt mines. Then, as Blackjewel’s liabilities mounted, he began seeking new vistas. In the months before Blackjewel’s bankruptcy, according to court records, he transferred tens of millions of dollars into another company that is building a resort in his native West Virginia, part of a broader effort he has described as a noncoal empire he can leave to his children.

Biden’s big bet to take on coal power - President Joe Biden’s newest bid to cut the nation’s climate pollution relies on a series of big bets.The upcoming rule from the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to depend on rarely used technology for capturing power plants’ greenhouse gas pollution. It will have to survive the conservative Supreme Court that hobbled the EPA’s regulatory powers just 10 months ago. And it could make life harder for Democratic senators facing reelection in states like West Virginia, Montana and Ohio, which have large workforces that depend on fossil fuels.Another crucial factor is the reelection campaign that Biden launched Tuesday: If Biden loses in 2024, a Republican president — possibly Donald Trump — could repeal the rule before it can take effect. Trump did exactly that to the similarly ambitious power plant climate rule that Barack Obama launched in August 2015.Climate advocates say the gains from Biden’s gambit could be as big as the risks. The electric power sector is the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gases, so cleaning it up is essential to meeting Biden’s goal of having U.S. carbon pollution reach net zero by 2050. Environmentalists hope EPA will go bold by targeting not just coal, the dirtiest fuel in the power mix, but also natural gas — the reigning champ in the U.S. energy economy.The EPA and the White House have declined to confirm any details about the rule, which is still undergoing review and could be released as early as next week.“[W]e have been clear from the start that we will use all of our legally-upheld tools, grounded in decades-old bipartisan laws, to address dangerous air pollution and protect the air our children breathe today and for generations to come,” EPA said in a statement.The Biden administration is already trying to take on the nation’s No. 1 carbon source — transportation — with an EPA auto-pollution rule released just two weeks ago that’s designed to spur a huge increase in sales of electric cars and trucks.That rule is also at risk of political and legal attacks from Republicans, who accuse the president of endangering the economy by pushing green technologies before they’re ready.

How the Clean Air Act lets closed coal plants keep polluting for years (Reuters) - Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station, a Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant, stopped producing electricity in 2013. Its closure came in a wave of coal-plant shutdowns triggered by competition from cheaper, cleaner natural gas and incentives in the U.S. Clean Air Act. But the facility’s legacy of smog pollution continued long after it closed. That’s because a loophole in clean-air regulations allowed Hatfield’s Ferry to collect emissions allowances under a cap-and-trade program for five years after it shut down. The plant’s owner then sold those credits to other plants, which can use them to stay in compliance when they exceed their own regulatory budget of allowances. Among the beneficiaries: the biggest emitter of smog-causing gas in America’s power sector. Under the federal program, states distribute a certain number of allowances to power plants annually. Each one permits one ton of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. NOx contributes to smog, which causes respiratory problems and premature death. If a plant doesn’t use all of its allowances, it can sell them to other plants. The credits are valuable because they can provide plants a cheaper alternative to buying and operating hugely expensive pollution-control equipment. The provision grants closing plants a credit windfall: They can sell all of their allowances because they are no longer generating smog themselves. A Reuters review of federal data shows the owner of Hatfield’s Ferry, FirstEnergy Corp, sold most of the credits it received after closing the plant or transferred them to other FirstEnergy-owned facilities. One batch, worth an estimated $1.2 million, helped Missouri’s New Madrid Power Plant in 2021 comply with emission regulations while generating the most smog-producing NOx in the nation. Reuters found dozens of other examples of coal plants using credits from closed facilities to help comply with pollution rules over the past five years.

Nuclear Troubles Send French Winter Power Prices Soaring - France’s power prices for early 2024 are double the German prices for next winter as the huge French nuclear fleet continues to show signs of weak output and availability. The French power price for the first quarter of 2024 was at $455 (416 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) on Wednesday. That’s more than double the price for the same period in Germany, where the power price was at $185 (169 euros) per MWh for early 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.France has had troubles at many of its nuclear reactors, half of which have been shut down for repairs and maintenance at several times over the past year.Germany, meanwhile, took its last three nuclear power plants offline on Saturday, ending more than six decades of commercial nuclear energy use. Germany ended the nuclear power era despite continued concerns about energy security and energy supply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the end of pipeline natural gas deliveries from Russia, which was the largest gas supplier to Europe’s biggest economy before the war.In France, concerns about the operations at France’s large nuclear power fleet resurfaced last month after the French nuclear safety authority, ASN, told energy giant and large nuclear reactor operator EDF to review its program of reactor checks, following the finding of another crack at a nuclear power plant.This led to an 8% one-day surge in French power prices for next year, the biggest jump since the end of January. For much of last year, France’s nuclear power generation was well below capacity, as more than half of the country’s reactors were offline at one point in the autumn due to repairs or maintenance. At the moment, French nuclear power plants are producing 17.5% less than the average output rate for 2020 and 2021. That’s down from 23% last year, so there is some progress, but concerns remain.

In closing arguments, feds hammer at ‘stunning’ stream of benefits to Madigan while defense calls bribery charges ‘collateral damage’ - Chicago Sun-Times --Four former political power players are accused of arranging for jobs, contracts and money for Madigan allies in an illegal bid to sway Madigan on legislation crucial to ComEd. Their trial is in its seventh week, and jurors could begin deliberating Tuesday. A defense attorney for a longtime friend of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called on a federal jury Monday to “be the shield” between a private citizen and a “very powerful government committed, dedicated and on a mission to get Mike Madigan.”But federal prosecutors asked that same jury to reject the idea that a “stunning” stream of benefits allegedly delivered to Madigan by that friend and three others amounted to anything other than bribery, albeit not in the traditional cash-in-an-envelope sense. “There isn’t an envelope big enough in this world to fit all the money that they made ComEd pay out,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said. The comments came as lawyers spent more than five hours Monday making their closing arguments in the trial of four former political power players on trial for a conspiracy to bribe Madigan. On trial are Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.The four are accused of arranging for jobs, contracts and money for Madigan allies in an illegal bid to sway Madigan as legislation crucial to ComEd moved through Springfield. Their trial is now in its seventh week, and jurors could begin deliberating Tuesday.This timeline looks at the key players involved in the trial and the main events leading up to it.Scroll through it here. Madigan is charged with racketeering in a separate indictment and faces trial in April 2024.Central to the current trial is an allegation that ComEd paid $1.3 million to five Madigan allies through various intermediaries, including a consulting firm owned by Doherty. The recipients of that money allegedly did little or no work for it, and MacArthur said the defendants knew it.U.S. Interior secretary unveils $125 million for local climate projects - Ohio Capital Journal — The U.S. Interior Department will send $125 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law to scores of local climate resiliency and conservation projects, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told a group of environmental reporters Friday. Speaking at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference, Haaland promoted several aspects of the Interior Department’s agenda, including programs receiving funds from the $1.9 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law and Democrats’ 2022 climate and spending law, both of which President Joe Biden signed. Haaland called the spending in those laws “once-in-a-generation funding.” “These investments have the potential to be transformational,” she said. The funding announced Friday will support 240 projects throughout the country, she said. A full list of projects is available here. The money is meant for several different priorities, including cleaning up legacy pollution funding, such as former mining sites and orphaned oil and gas wells, improving resiliency to wildfires and flooding and restoring biodiversity. Interior will also send $35 million for 39 National Fish Passage Program projects in 22 states. The program, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, works to remove barriers such as dams and levees to create passages that allow fish to follow their natural migration patterns. Separately, Haaland announced $140 million for Western water projects through the department’s Bureau of Reclamation. That funding also comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law. The money will go to 84 projects in 15 states, Haaland said. Those projects are expected to conserve 77 billion gallons of water, she said.

What can Ohio regulators do to prevent future utility corruption scandals? -Regulators taking proactive steps could reduce the risk of future utility corruption scandals like that which led to this winter’s guilty verdicts for former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, say advocates.Yet for now the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is dealing only with specific cases linked to the current scandal surrounding Ohio’s coal and nuclear bailout law, House Bill 6. And the commission has halted action in those cases, after receiving requests from the U.S. Attorney’s office to have parties hold off on further pre-hearing fact-finding, called discovery.The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel asked the commission to move ahead, now that the trial of Householder and Borges is over. FirstEnergy opposed further action in an April 17 filing. Advocates worry about the message such inaction will send to other companies. “The laws prevent corruption. The question is whether the penalties are severe enough that they serve as a deterrent. And so far, FirstEnergy hasn’t really been penalized at all,” said senior attorney Rob Kelter at the Environmental Law & Policy Center.Because of the delay, “the commission in Ohio hasn’t done anything to make customers whole,” said Dave Pomerantz, executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute. “Certainly they shouldn’t allow FirstEnergy to start an ESP (Electric Security Plan) or rate case or anything until they complete those investigations. ”FirstEnergy filed its latest ESP case for rider charges on April 5, and the PUCO has already scheduled a technical conference forMay 10.Aside from what happens in specific FirstEnergy cases, critics say the PUCO should take steps through rulemaking or otherwise to provide more transparency and accountability.“The kindling that sets the fire is still sitting out there” with future opportunities for corruption, said Ned Hill, a professor of economic development at Ohio State University. In his view, common practices in Ohio utility regulation may not be illegal or corrupt per se, yet they are “corrupting.”

Ohio Groups Want More Public Feedback on Leasing State Lands for Oil, Gas Drilling -- Residents and environmental groups say they're concerned about public notice and comment processes for leasing state lands for oil and gas extraction. Next month, Ohio's Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review holds a hearing on regulating the leasing process. Under House Bill 507, which just went into effect, any state agency that receives a request for fracking or drilling on land in a state park or forest must approve the request. Cathy Cowan Becker - an organizer with Buckeye Environmental Network - explained that as the state's Oil and Gas Land Management Commission weighs new rules for the leasing process, communities want their voices heard. "When people find out this is happening, they have very strong feelings about this," said Becker. "And I really hope the commission and the state will listen to this, because the people are who own the public land. We're the ones who own and use our state parks." Her group and others want the state to strengthen the rules for notifying the public - including allowing 60 days for public comments instead of the current 21 - and assurances that Ohio will consider the health and environmental impacts of fracking. The hearing is May 8. Becker pointed out that, while fracking generates short-term revenue, studies show preserving state lands brings in billions of dollars in revenue, year after year. She added that having access to wilderness and outdoor recreation helps drive Ohio's tourism economy. "So that people can hike and camp, and birdwatch and hunt, and fish, you know," said Becker, "they're not going to want to do that if a state park is surrounded by fracking rigs that are flaring methane all the time." The Environmental Protection Agency says the burning off or flaring of natural gas, the heavy equipment at well sites, and the use of diesel trucks to transport materials to and from the sites all contribute to increased air pollution.

Oil and gas drilling in state parks set to expand, while some say taxes on it are too low -- Energy companies, lawmakers and environmental groups are again arguing over the companies’ ability to drill for oil and gas in Ohio state parks.And as they battle over the firms’ ability to drill for profits on taxpayer-owned land intended for recreation and conservation, it raises another question that isn’t exactly new: Are the companies paying their fair share in taxes?State law already allowed energy producers to drill on state parklands. But during last year’s lame-duck session of the legislature, without hearings the Ohio Senate amended an agricultural bill focused on poultry to add a provision that would require state officials to grant drilling leases so long as the applicants met certain requirements.The Ohio Environmental Council and other groups have sued, claiming the law, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, violates a constitutional requirement that bills address a single subject. That might be a winnable argument, given that it both sets the “number of poultry chicks that may be sold in lots” and makes it easier to drill for oil and gas in state parks. But a Franklin County judge last week denied a request to temporarily block the law, saying that the environmental groups failed to show imminent harm, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. The groups, however, fear that state agencies might be forced to sign leases before a newly formed Oil and Gas Management Commission is up and running later this year and they plan to pursue the case, the paper reported. As lawmakers grant energy producers greater freedom to exploit Ohio’s taxpayer-owned lands, there have been long-standing complaints that the companies don’t do right by those same taxpayers. Critics say that Ohio’s “severance” taxes — what energy companies pay to extract oil and gas — are among the lowest of any state.“Ohio’s severance taxes are pitiful, and they have meant a severe missed opportunity for Appalachia and for Ohio as a whole,” Guillermo Bervejillo, state policy fellow at Policy Matters Ohio, said in an email Tuesday. “Ohio drilling operators pay a dime per barrel of crude oil and half a nickel per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. This is one of the lowest severance taxes in the country and it means that years of gas and oil production have enriched corporations and drillers but not the communities that host them nor the state that supports them.”

Lawsuit Puts Belmont County Injection Well Site’s Future in Question — The future of an injection well site at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Ohio 331 is in question due to a lawsuit filed by the drilling company that worked on the site.The Belmont County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that an online foreclosure sale of the property is scheduled for May 11, but a further hearing is set for May 1 with owner Omni Energy requesting a stay of sale. According to court documents, Omni has been ordered to pay $463,551.52 to Falcon Drilling Company. Michael McCormick, the attorney representing Falcon Drilling, said his client was not paid for their work. “They drilled the initial well,” he said. “(Falcon) filed a mechanic’s lien on the property, and we filed a foreclosure action of the mechanic’s lien.” McCormick said Omni then tried to remove the case to the federal court level, but it was referred back to Belmont County Common Pleas and Falcon was awarded associated attorney’s fees. He added that the original lien and lawsuit were filed in 2021, the removal continued into 2022 and was returned to the county, where judge John Vavra had made a default judgment in July 2022. McCormick said the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which monitors the well site, was not involved in the court action. He said he believes Omni would remain responsible for the well until someone else takes it over, and ODNR would have to approve any transfer of well management. Chris Gagin, the attorney representing Omni, submitted a motion for entry of a final appealable order and stay of the foreclosure sale. He indicated an appeal is likely. “The completion of the foreclosure sale on May 11, 2023, is not a necessary prerequisite for the issuance of a final appealable order in this case. Indeed, it defies both logic and due process to order the sale of property to satisfy a judgment prior to the determination of the efficacy of that judgment on appeal,” he wrote in the motion. He added that the entirety of the property is a “highly regulated property with two fully permitted Class 2 injection wells on them. Transfer of the property at a sheriff’s sale will not automatically transfer the permits to (operate) the injection wells.” He added that Omni has no intention of transferring the two permits to any buyer via sheriff’s sale. “Thus a ‘buyer’ would acquire land that cannot be used or operated,” he wrote. He added that Omni is engaged in litigation in Franklin County to secure a maximum allowable injection pressure sufficient to reopen the facility. He also said the valuation of the property is inaccurate and based on a $1 million appraisal prior to its sale to Omni and the company’s investment of $7 million. There has been considerable local opposition to an injection well at this location for several years. Local residents, businesses, the Richland Township trustees and others, including Belmont County commissioners, have voiced concerns about potential health and environmental damage and the expected heavy traffic, with many pointing out the presence of residences, businesses and county agencies in the area.

Ohio Court Sides With Preserved Farm Owners | Conservation and Renewable Energy News -Lancaster Farming - An Ohio appeals court has asked a lower court to reconsider the public benefits of a natural gas pipeline proposed to cut through a preserved farm. Columbia Gas of Ohio wants to use eminent domain to acquire an easement for the part of a 5-mile pipeline that would cross a preserved farm in Marysville, northwest of Columbus.But the use of eminent domain to take land for a private purpose can be blocked if doing so would destroy an existing public use, such as preserving land for farming, the Third District Court of Appeals said in an April 17 ruling written by Judge William R. Zimmerman.The court remanded the case to the Union County Court of Common Pleas to see if Columbia Gas can show that it won’t destroy the existing public use.As a public utility, the gas company sought to use eminent domain to obtain the easement after negotiations with the landowners failed.Ohio Farm Bureau said the decision is a positive step in upholding farm preservation and highlights a need to reform the state’s eminent domain rules.

Appeals court halts plans for pipeline through preserved Union Co. farm - The Ohio Third District Court of Appeals is blocking construction of a natural gas pipeline across Union County farmland preserved with agricultural easements. The decision was handed down April 17. For Don Bailey and his family, the ruling means they can plant this spring without wondering if their crops will be dug up. The ruling may also benefit other farmers who have land protected by ag easements, he said.“We’re hopeful that it will have long-term effects, and reinforce the farmland preservation program,” Bailey said. Laura Curliss, an attorney who represented the Bailey family in the case, said the opinion is notable because the appellate court thoroughly discussed whether the ag easement prevented taking of the pipeline easement by eminent domain. The court looked at the terms of the ag easement, the fact that the ag easement established a prior public use for the property, and federal tax implications. “It’s important. There are still some unanswered questions and we will see how it proceeds,” she said. The Ohio Farm Bureau, which submitted a brief to the appeals court in support of the Baileys’ position, issued a statement on the appeals court ruling. “This is a very important outcome for not only the Bailey family and the Arno Renner Trust, but anyone who enters into agricultural easements with the intention for their land to remain in agriculture and not just for their family, but for future generations. Ohio Farm Bureau got involved to not only highlight the significance of the state’s farmland preservation program in this case, but also to emphasize the need for broader eminent domain reform that our organization is currently advocating for on behalf of landowners across the state.” The district court ruling comes more than three years after the Bailey family first heard of plans by Columbia Gas of Ohio to bury a natural gas pipeline through their land just south of Marysville. The land has been protected from non-farm development since 2003, when Arno Renner, donated an agricultural easement to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Renner died in 2007 and, now, part of the land is held in a family trust, with Arno’s nephew, Don Bailey, as trustee. Another parcel of the preserved farm is now owned by Don’s son, Patrick, and Patrick’s wife, Whitney. Over the years, the Ohio Department of Agriculture had defended the Renner/Bailey family ag easements by opposing construction of water and sewer pipelines across the land, and those pipelines were routed around the farm. The department did not oppose the construction of the Columbia Gas pipeline, however. “When these landowners gave up property rights to ODA, they believed they entered a certain kind of a deal. And, basically, ODA is reneging on that deal,” Curliss said.

Ohio Federal Court Considers Subsurface Trespass | Gray Reed – Golden Eagle Resources II LLC v. Rice Drilling D LLC. presents a small step in the development of subsurface trespass law in Ohio. The federal court considered a motion to dismiss, in which it evaluated the sufficiency of the complaint to state a cause of action. Golden Eagle owns mineral rights in two tracts in Belmont County, 11.456 acres and 7.47 acres. Rice owns leasehold rights in the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale. Minerals from the surface to the top of the Marcellus, between the bottom of the Marcellus and the top of the Utica, and below the base of the Utica were excluded from the lease. Rice drilled the “Big Tex” well, which is in the Big Tex 6 drilling unit. The unit overlaps with the entirety of the 7.47 acres and 9.05 of the 11.456 acres. Rice produces gas from the “Utica/Point Pleasant formations”. The Point Pleasant is below the Utica and not covered by the lease. Under Ohio law a trespass is an interference or invasion of a possessory interest in property. An entity is liable for trespass if it intentionally enters upon land in the possession of another or causes a thing or third person to do so. Landowners’ rights include the right to exclude invasions that actually interfere with their reasonable and foreseeable use of the subsurface. The interest at issue was the Point Pleasant formation. How Rice invaded the property was the question. The Big Tex wellbore did not pass under Golden Eagle’s tracts, so there was no physical trespass with the drill bit. Golden Eagle alleged trespass by Rice’s improper pooling. The court concluded that Ohio law does not hold that improper pooling into a drilling unit constitutes a trespass. The central question was whether Ohio law recognizes a trespass by subsurface injection of frac fluids into the Point Pleasant formation. Rice relied on the so-called “negative rule of capture” allowing a landowner to inject into a formation substances which then migrate through the structure of the land to the land of others even if it results in displacement under such land. Ohio courts have not accepted that doctrine, said the court. Rice also argued that even if a claim for subsurface injectate is cognizable, it will fall short without allegations of physical damage or interference with use, assertions that were not in the complaint. Golden Eagle admitted that it did not specify the nature of the alleged physical invasion. The trespass claim fell short of the federal pleading standard and Golden Eagle was given 14 days to amend its complaint. Golden Eagle alleged that Rice wrongfully converted oil and gas produced from the Point Pleasant formation that should belong to Golden Eagle. Ohio courts have held that the rule of capture does not apply to drainage or seepage of natural gas caused by the injection of frac fluids onto into another’s property. The court cited Briggs v. Southwestern Energy. The court concluded that the sparse Ohio case law on this topic recognizes a conversion claim predicated on natural resources that have been acquired by fracking that invades the plaintiff’s property. That is what Golden Eagle alleged and thus it adequately stated a claim for conversion.

Ohio Oil & Gas Generated $57M in Property Tax Revenue in 2021 --- Marcellus Drilling News --According to data recently compiled and shared by the Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA), during 2021 (the most recent year available), the oil and gas industry in Ohio paid a cumulative $57.6 million in ad valorem property taxes to the state. That is separate from a severance tax also paid by drillers in the Buckeye State. The O&G industry not only provides millions in tax revenue, but it also employs “more than 200,000” people in Ohio, and of course, all of those workers pay state income tax too. The economic impact of oil and gas (largely shale) in Ohio is enormous.

Ohio Shale Counties Receive Nearly $350 Million in Property Taxes from Oil and Natural Gas -- Ohio’s top producing Utica Shale counties have collected more than $349 million in real estate property taxes on oil and natural gas activity since 2010, according to the latest data from county auditors compiled by the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. As OOGA and EID previouslyhighlighted, these revenues have empowered Ohio communities to fund local schools, new infrastructure, and other projects to increase the well-being of county constituents.The most recent data from 2021 show the oil and natural gas industry paid a total of $57.6 million to county governments, the second highest annual payment in the last 12 years behind only 2020 ($62.2 million). While many counties maintained stable tax revenue compared to record-setting 2020, Jefferson County, in particular, continued to experience robust growth.Jefferson’s oil and natural gas-derived tax revenue grew by a whopping $2.7 million over a record-setting 2020, receiving nearly $11.2 million. Compared to 2019, the county received an additional $6.3 million in 2021. Harrison County also saw increased tax revenue in 2021, bringing in an additional $1.1 compared to the prior year.The substantial tax revenue generated by the oil and natural gas industry has a significant impact on the economic health of Ohio counties. All the revenue collected is allocated directly to support counties, villages, townships, cities, and, of course, local schools. Reflecting on the benefits that the industry provides to many Ohioans, Rob Brundett, the President of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, stated:“The latest tax numbers again reinforce the positive impact our industry has in the communities where we operate. Not only does the industry employ more than 200,000 Ohioans and provide abundant and affordable energy, but we also provide millions of dollars for local governments and infrastructure projects.”These numbers come on the heels of a report from the Ohio Natural Energy (ONE) Institute finding that the state’s oil and natural gas industry paid a combined $755 million in severance and Ad Valorem tax revenues from 2010 to 2021.

M-U April NatGas Production Falls 400 MMcf/d in Ohio, SW Pa. | Marcellus Drilling News -- S&P Global Commodity Insights reports that natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica has fallen this month, in April, by some 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) from the average production seen during the first quarter. The most notable declines are in eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania. Why is production down? Falling demand (from mild weather) and high rates of storage (extra supply) are crashing the spot price for natural gas traded at the region’s defacto benchmark trading hub–Eastern Gas South.

$8 Billion in Free Cash Flow for Shale Gas Drillers “Off the Table” | Marcellus Drilling News - Free cash flow (FCF) refers to a company’s available cash repaid to creditors and as dividends and interest to investors. Companies typically use FCF to buy back shares of stock, pay fatter dividends, or pay off creditors. When the price of natural gas went through the roof last year, natural gas drillers were rolling in the FCF. Now with natgas commodity prices in the basement, FCF money has been wiped off the table. How much? For six large natural gas-focused drillers (five of them focused on the Marcellus/Utica, one on the Haynesville), some $8 billion of FCF is “now off the table” according to an article by Bloomberg.

New Study Claims Utica Shale Fracking in Ohio Causes Earthquakes -- Marcellus Drilling News -- If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times–the claim that fracking causes earthquakes. We’ve talked about this issue almost from the beginning of writing the MDN blog site in 2009. A quick summary of our own observations is that frack wastewater disposed of via injection wells (not fracking itself) is the culprit in causing low-grade earthquakes in some areas. However, the wastewater doesn’t cause an earthquake unless the injection well is located on or near a natural underground fault in the rock layer. Rarely (we can count it on one hand) have we read of fracking itself causing an earthquake. Yet a researcher from Ohio’s University of Miami claims research shows fracking itself can cause an increase in earthquakes.

Biden DOJ, EPA Announce $25M “Settlement” with Williams, Others -- Marcellus Drilling News --Yesterday the Bidenistas at the Dept. of (In)Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a “settlement” (i.e. bullying) with three pipeline companies–Williams, MPLX, and Kerr-McGee Gathering. The settlement requires the three to pay a combined $9.25 million in civil penalties and make improvements at 25 gas processing plants and 91 compressor stations in 12 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, worth another $16 million. The two federal agencies claimed the pipeline companies were violating federal and state clean air laws related to leak detection and repair (LDAR) requirements for natural gas processing plants at various facilities they own and operate across the country.

20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 10-16 -- Marcellus Drilling News --New shale permits issued for Apr. 10-16 in the Marcellus/Utica picked up two from the prior week. There were 20 new permits issued in total last week, up from 18 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Coterra Energy, with 6 new permits issued in Susquehanna County, PA. EQT was number two with 5 new permits, all of them issued in Greene County, PA. Arsenal Resources, Ascent Resources, Belmont County, Carroll County, CNX Resources, Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G), Energy Companies, EQT Corp, Greene County (PA), INR, Lycoming County, Ohio County, Pennsylvania General Energy, Southwestern Energy, Susquehanna County, Taylor County, Washington County

Appalachian Oil, Gas Production Expected to Rise in May - – Oil and natural gas production from the Utica/Point Pleasant and Marcellus shale formations in the Appalachian basin is expected to increase in May. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s most recent Drilling Productivity Report shows that the Appalachian basin – comprised of the Utica in eastern Ohio and the Marcellus in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia – is on track to produce an additional 48 million cubic feet of natural gas per day next month compared with April. The report shows natural gas output is projected to increase from 35.233 billion cubic feet per day in April to 35.281 billion cubic feet per day next month. Oil production is also expected to increase, but just slightly, the report shows. Horizontal wells across Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are projected to boost oil output by 1,000 barrels per day, according to the report. In April, these wells collectively produced 149,000 barrels per day. That number is expected to average 150,000 barrels of oil next month, EIA reports. All seven major shale plays across the country expect to boost natural gas production next month, EIA reports. Collectively, these shale formations produced an average 96.835 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily in April. In May, these shale plays are expected to produce 97.167 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Horizontal wells across the country’s major shale areas are expected to boost oil production by 49,000 barrels per day in May, EIA reported. In April, these wells produced 9.279 million barrels per day and are expected to boost production to 9.328 million barrels per day next month.

State should account for fracking waste - Lawmakers were so eager to accommodate the natural gas industry nearly two decades ago that they opened the rich Marcellus Shale gas field without an adequate regulatory regime. Now, the state continues to play catch-up. It still does not require drillers to disclose all of the chemicals that they use to drill and hydraulically fracture gas wells, for example. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised the question of long-term fracking-waste disposal, three years after a statewide grand jury identified major regulatory failures and recommended significant reforms to better inform and protect the public. That grand jury was convened by Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It followed up its findings of criminal wrongdoing against two drillers with a report on which the governor — the very same Josh Shapiro — and the Legislature now should act. According to the EPA, the industry nationally produces about 1 trillion gallons of contaminated wastewater each year, about 2.6 billion gallons of which comes from deep wells in Pennsylvania. To the industry’s credit, it reuses most of the wastewater. But according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the industry still permanently disposed about 234 million gallons of the wastewater in deep injection wells in 2022. The industry also holds about 90 million gallons above ground at any given time, pending its reuse.

Granholm backs Mountain Valley pipeline -The Biden administration has thrown its weight behind the Mountain Valley pipeline, a major natural gas project favored by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and opposed by environmental advocates.The 303-mile pipeline and other natural gas projects like it will “play an important role” in supporting the transition to clean energy and in safeguarding the energy system, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholmsaid in a letter Friday evening to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.“Energy infrastructure, like the MVP project, can help ensure the reliable delivery of energy that heats homes and businesses, and powers electric generators that support the reliability of the electric system,” Granholm said in the letter.The letter comes as the administration is planning to release new rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Those rules are expected to require coal and natural gas generators to include technologies to capture most of their planet-warming emissions (Climatewire, April 24).“I think the timing is interesting in that it’s ahead of the release of the new power plant rules, in the sense that it’s an indication that the administration is still supportive of the role of natural gas,” said Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute and a former White House climate aide.First proposed in 2015, the $6.6 billion pipeline has faced a number of legal setbacks over the years and opposition from hundreds of landowners in West Virginia and Virginia.The lead developer, Equitrans Midstream Corp., says the project is intended to address congestion on the natural gas pipeline system by delivering needed gas to mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states.Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has repeatedly called on federal agencies such as FERC to support Mountain Valley. Last fall, his office included language in an energy permitting package to direct agencies to issue all outstanding permits.That permitting package did not advance in Congress, although lawmakers are currently debating permitting issues again. Manchin has vowed to reintroduce his bill.

Biden Admin Further Endorses Disastrous MVP While Claiming to Support Environmental Justice --Climate advocates on Monday denounced the "hypocrisy" of the Biden administration, which doubled down on the White House's push for the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline late last week, just as President Joe Biden was pledging a renewed commitment to environmental justice. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Friday, reiterating the administration's support for the 303-mile natural gas pipeline stretching across West Virginia and Virginia. The $6.6 billion project by Equitrans Midstream Corporation was first proposed in 2015 and approved by FERC in 2017, but a number of legal challenges have kept it from being completed. The energy secretary wrote to the four FERC commissioners that while the panel has already "completed its regulatory authorizations for the MVP project," the White House requests that "if there is any further commission-related action on this project, it proceeds expeditiously." "Natural gas—and the infrastructure, such as MVP, that supports its delivery and use—can play an important role as part of the clean energy transition," added Granholm. "As extreme weather events continue to strain the U.S. energy system, adequate pipeline and transmission capacity is critical to maintaining energy reliability, availability, and security." "Secretary Granholm's letter is an environmental justice disgrace that arrived hand-in-hand with Biden's environmental justice executive order." While Granholm presented the quick completion of the project as part of the solution to "extreme weather events" that scientists have linked to the climate crisis, advocates across the Appalachian region and the U.S. have for years warned that the MVP will only contribute to the climate emergency as it would likely cause leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can trap about 87 times more heat than carbon dioxide in its first two decades in the atmosphere. The companies behind the pipeline construction have also committed"at least 46 narrative water quality standards violations," Bloomberg Law reported earlier this month, and have violated its construction permit at least 139 times in two years. The local grassroots group Appalachian Voices has warned that in addition to exacerbating the climate emergency through methane emissions, the MVP would endanger nearby communities, as the "steep, unstable slopes" it's being built on make it susceptible to landslides and pipe ruptures. "Explosions happened on two separate pipelines in similar terrain in 2018," said the group, adding, "The MVP would disproportionately impact low-income communities, elderly residents, and Indigenous sites." Granholm sent the letter to FERC on the same day that Biden signed an executive order at the White House pledging to coordinate "the implementation of environmental justice policy across the federal government." He also opened the Office of Environmental Justice, tasked with ensuring the government recognizes and mitigates the disproportionate impacts that pollution and the climate emergency have on low-income communities, Indigenous tribes, and people of color. The irony of Granholm's timing was not lost on environmental justice advocates, who had reacted to Friday's announcement with cautious optimism.

Why is Biden backing Manchin's pet pipeline? - The Biden administration is supporting an embattled natural gas project championed by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — angering climate advocates and prompting some Capitol Hill Democrats to question the president’s motives. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm voiced support in a letter to regulators this week for the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley pipeline, which would carry gas 303 miles through West Virginia and Virginia to mid-Atlantic and Southeastern markets. It’s not sitting well with progressive lawmakers and environmentalists, who are still burning after the administration approved a massive oil project in Alaska. They call Mountain Valley a climate and health hazard. The project, which would cross hundreds of bodies of water and private land parcels, would release roughly 40 million metric tons of planet-warming pollution — the equivalent of more than 10 coal plants’ annual emissions. Some lawmakers smell chicanery. “This has all the hallmarks of a backroom, Faustian deal with Joe Manchin,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California, a senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, told Emma Dumain and Miranda Willson. The Energy Department declined to comment on Granholm’s letter. Because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already approved Mountain Valley (though it’s held up in legal proceedings), critics say Granholm’s letter of support could be an olive branch to Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat, who chairs the Senate energy committee, has stalled the confirmation process for FERC’s fifth commissioner, leaving the agency vulnerable to political stalemates on critical decisions. Additionally, President Joe Biden needs all Democrats — including Manchin — to stand united against Republican attempts to extract concessions in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. On the GOP wish list: repealing key sections of Biden’s landmark climate law. Manchin has repeatedly trashed the administration’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. He agreed to vote for the climate bill last year only after Democratic leaders promised to pursue a permitting overhaul to fast-track energy projects, including Mountain Valley. But the deal quickly fell apart after opposition from Republicans and progressive Democrats. Granholm’s support for the pipeline doesn’t appear to be persuading Manchin, who has continued to disparage the administration’s rollout of the Inflation Reduction Act. On Monday, he said he would vote in favor of its repeal if the White House continues its “radical climate agenda.”

Granholm’s Mountain Valley pipeline support creates firestorm - Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s endorsement of the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline on Monday is putting environmentalists on high alert and stirring speculation about how the move will affect the project and congressional permitting negotiations. “This has all the hallmarks of a backroom, Faustian deal with Joe Manchin,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California, a senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said Monday. Widespread confusion — and anxiety — over what might be the motivation behind the letter Granholm sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in support of the project comes as congressional Republicans are eager to pressure Democrats into a deal on overhauling the energy permitting process as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Any such agreement would likely need to pass muster with Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He is also a swing vote in a closely divided Senate looking for any vehicle to approve the 303-mile Mountain Valley pipeline, which would carry natural through his state and has been held up by litigation. Efforts in the previous Congress to pass his vision for permitting reform — and green-light completion of the pipeline — fell short amid opposition from progressives like Huffman and Republicans loath to give Manchin a political victory. Manchin has also been delaying confirmation proceedings for the fifth commission seat at FERC, which has been vacant since January. The commission currently has two Republican and two Democratic members, which climate advocates say will hinder FERC’s ability to address grid bottlenecks stifling clean energy projects. Huffman, who is leading a new Climate Action, Energy and Environment Task Force within the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wondered if Granholm’s letter was designed to compel Manchin to “release the hostage” of that fifth FERC commissioner. “She sounds like a cheerleader for the fossil fuel industry; it’s really quite pathetic,” said Huffman to E&E News, who added that he was a “big fan” of Granholm. “But if this is what it takes for Manchin to release his hold on the FERC nominee so we can move forward with FERC reform and streamlining of electricity transmission projects, maybe that’s a necessary evil.”

N.C. House Democrats introduce bill to ban fracking, 11 years after it was made legal - The Daily Tar Heel - House Bill 676, filed on April 18 by N.C. Rep. John Autry (D-Mecklenburg), proposes a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking.” There are many potential negative health effects associated with fracking, such as exposure to hazardous materials, contamination of local drinking water, air pollution and an increased possibility of industrial accidents, according to a PubMed article. Fracking was legalized in North Carolina with the passing of the Clean Energy and Economic Security Act in 2012. N.C. Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) said the decision to legalize fracking was made during a time when other states were pursuing fracking as an opportunity for profit and officials in North Carolina were interested in following suit. “But at the same time, we as a state had been having conversations about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, and pursuing more fossil fuel-based energy did not make any sense to us,” Harrison said. “But the GOP was very interested in more offshore drilling and the potential for price gas in North Carolina. So, efforts are made to remove any limitations on both of those exploration opportunities.” This is the third legislative session in a row that Autry has filed this bill. Autry said environmental causes are one of his main advocacy platforms, as he first ran for elected office with the goal of positively impacting his community. He served on the Charlotte City Council from 2011 to 2016 and has since served in the General Assembly. “Since that time, since serving on the Charlotte City Council, I've become a grandfather,” Autry said. “And my concern for what sort of environment in the world I'm going to be leaving behind for my grandchildren is paramount for me right now.”

U.S. E&Ps Not Banking on Strong Natural Gas Prices in ‘23, but Will Rig Count Decline? - Weak natural gas prices and inflation are likely to be big topics as North American producers and midstream operators unveil their quarterly results in the coming weeks. SLB Ltd., which has its fingers on the pulse of exploration and production (E&P) customers, has revised its North American outlook for 2023 because of languishing natural gas prices. No big LNG infrastructure is set to ramp this year in the United States either, which may have a negative impact on development. NGI spoke with analysts and culled various notes to clients to provide a window into what investors are expecting in this round of quarterly results. Analysts noted that the gyrations in the natural gas market would be of particular interest. Are E&Ps going to continue to reward shareholders at a quick pace as they did last year? Is merger and acquisition (M&A) activity likely to expand beyond bolt-ons in the Lower 48? Are there any more liquefied natural gas projects likely to reach a positive final investment decision (FID) this year? And where are gas prices headed? All of the above, said NGI’s Patrick Rau, director of Strategy & Research. “LNG continues to be the driving force behind both global and domestic natural gas demand, so naturally investors want to know which projects are going to reach FID and when,” Rau said. “I’m particularly looking forward to hearing updates on the various North American projects, including and maybe especially those LNG projects in Mexico. “Developments in Mexico could very well affect natural gas activity in the U.S., and several of these proposed Mexico projects have an excellent chance at being greenlighted.”Producers are “sitting on cash,” he noted, “and investors have been concerned about future drilling inventory for a good number of publicly traded E&Ps. M&A is certainly one way to address that.”SLB has reduced its view on North America this year, but the services giant “actually reported an increase in international exploration spending, so it sounds like some are addressing the inventory equation via the drillbit as well,” Rau said. Expect to hear about how E&P and pipeline permitting delays can be alleviated too. Congressional Republicans and Democrats, along with the industry trade groups, are wrangling to reduce the red tape they claim has stalled oil and gas infrastructure.

Delfin LNG Project Said on Track for FID by Mid-2023 After Hartree SPA - Delfin Midstream Inc. on Monday announced another binding agreement to sell LNG to an affiliate of commodity trader Hartree Partners LP and said it expects to sanction its floating offshore production facility in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) by the middle of the year. Delfin Under the sales and purchase agreement (SPA), Delfin would sell 0.6 million metric tons/year of liquefied natural gas to Hartree on a free-on-board basis for a 20-year period. Hartree would pay prices indexed to Henry Hub. The Delfin floating LNG (FLNG) project would consist of four vessels offshore Louisiana with a nameplate capacity of 3.5 mmty each. The company signed another binding agreement with commodity trader Vitol Inc. last year to supply 0.5 mmty. It also has up to 3 mmty committed in tentative deals with UK utility Centrica plc and U.S. onshore producer Devon Energy Corp. that still need to be finalized. But Delfin said Monday that those heads of agreements, along with the SPAs it now has in place with Vitol and Hartree, are sufficient to make a final investment decision (FID) in the coming months. Vitol and Devon would also make equity investments in the Delfin project under the agreements. “The Delfin project’s ability to make FID one vessel at a time is attracting significant interest from buyers, and Delfin is already in advanced discussions for marketing LNG for its second FLNG vessel,” said CEO Dudley Poston. The company has appointed Citi as its financial structuring adviser and “is well advanced in securing project level equity and debt for the first FLNG vessel,” management said. COO Wouter Pastoor added that the company is finalizing construction contracts for multiple identical liquefier vessels, “which will offer material cost savings and position us to make FID on our second FLNG vessel by the end of this year.” For Hartree, which already has an outsized role in the U.S. natural gas market, the deal allows it to tap into the growing export market. Hartree’s Stephen Hendel, a founding managing director, said the SPA would “support our wider strategy of delivering low cost, tailor-made and reliable LNG supply chain solutions that meet the specific requirements of our customers.” The Delfin project has been in the works for years, but it was slowed down by the regulatory process and the Covid-19 pandemic. An FID on the project has slipped more than once. The company purchased the UTOS pipeline, the largest in the GOM in 2014, to feed the project. It also owns the Grand Cheniere pipeline system, which could ultimately be used to feed its Avocet LNG project that would add another two FLNG vessels offshore Louisiana.

DOE Denies Lake Charles LNG Request to Extend Start of Exports --The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has denied an Energy Transfer LP affiliate’s request to again extend the deadline for starting exports from its proposed Lake Charles LNG facility in Louisiana. In an order denying the application for an “unprecedented second extension,” DOE said Friday that the project had failed to show good cause for it. The agency sided with environmental groups that oppose the plant, finding the company’s arguments for the project’s stalled development were generalized. In a policy statement issued the same day, DOE reaffirmed its expectations that LNG projects should be able to start exporting the super-chilled fuel within seven years of receiving export authorization. DOE also said it would not consider applications for extending the seven-year deadline unless a project has both started construction and can demonstrate that “extenuating circumstances outside of its control” are to blame for delays. Projects with export licenses that are unable to demonstrate such circumstances could apply for a new authorization. DOE said the policy would increase transparency for license holders and “pending applicants who have not yet commenced exports, while providing greater certainty about DOE’s approvals for the LNG export market.” ClearView Energy Partners LLC said the policy would prevent license holders from deferring construction indefinitely. “As such, we consider this to be a positive policy move for projects that may be coming to market later, but with stronger commercial prospects.” Lake Charles was first granted an export extension in 2020 that expires in December 2025. It had requested another extension to start exports by December 2028. Earlier this year, Energy Transfer Co-CEO Marshall McCrea said management was “disappointed” in the pace of contracting activity for the Lake Charles project. Slow progress signing up project offtakers has delayed a final investment decision, McCrea said during the company’s year-end earnings call.

Haliburton moves three fracking fleets from gas to oil basins - Halliburton is moving three hydraulic fracturing fleets from natural gas basins to oil basins to help meet customer demands, the company said. During its first-quarter 2023 earnings call, the US oilfield services giant said customers told the company to move three of its fleets to oil basins amid a softer natural gas market. “Clearly, gas economics are challenged today, and I don’t think it’s something that service prices solve,” Halliburton chief executive Jeff Miller said during the earnings call. “I think gas is incredibly important and I suspect that it continues, and even gets stronger as we build into the [liquefied natural gas] capacity being built in the US. But along the way, we see opportunities for unmet demand in oil,” Miller said, adding that gas is forecast to recover. He added that the additional 6 billion cubic feet being added in the LNG sector within the next 24 months is expected to solve the softness of the market. In the meantime, Miller said the movement of fleets is not one sided, and that one of Halliburton’s e-fleets was just placed into a gas basin with an operator. E-fleets are hydraulic fracturing fleets that are electrically powered, usually with gas turbines, instead of being powered by diesel. Halliburton has plans to increase its total percentage of e-fleets, which will require the company to retire diesel fleets over time, Miller said. Miller said he is bullish about continued domestic an international growth, saying he forecasts 15% growth in North America year on year in 2023. “We’re even doing deep planning today for 2024 activities that we expect to ramp up,”

Halliburton Moving Some U.S. Natural Gas Fleets to Oil Basins as E&Ps Await More LNG Export Capacity - Wobbly natural gas prices did not deter Halliburton Co. from delivering a solid first quarter performance, as customers cranked up their activity in the oil basins, offshore and overseas, CEO Jeff Miller said Tuesday. Halliburton is the No. 1 pressure pumping company in North America, and as it goes, so goes U.S. exploration and production (E&P) activity. The Houston-based oilfield services giant delivered strong results during the first quarter, including in North America. However, the gains were not in the continent’s natural gas fields. They were in overseas markets and the offshore during the first quarter. Natural gas and additional LNG export capacity are top of mind for U.S. E&P customers, the CEO said. While activity may be a bit slow, it’s only going to get better as more U.S. liquefied natural gas capacity comes online, he told investors.“I firmly believe that the gas market softness will be resolved when 6 Bcf/d of additional LNG export capacity comes online in the next 24 months,” Miller said. For now, though, market conditions have led Halliburton to move three fleets from gas basins to oil basins “to satisfy specific customer demands.” One diesel hydraulic fracturing fleet also has been retired in the Lower 48 to “reduce our near-term maintenance costs and accelerate Halliburton’s transition to e-fleets,” i.e. electric hydraulic fracturing equipment.“These actions reduce our gas market exposure by about 30% and maintain financial returns,” Miller said. North American capital spending this year by the E&P customers still is forecast to “grow at least 15% in 2023.” Most of the capital is being directed to U.S. oil basins and the offshore.“At today’s oil prices, I believe that our customers will execute their activity plans,” the CEO said. “The market for highly efficient equipment and quality services will remain tight.”To be “crystal clear,” he said, Halliburton is not sitting still waiting for business to develop. It is instead improving the “performance and utilization of our existing fleet…” Investments are expanding in “new technologies, crew training and process improvements,”Miller said. “As a result, today we have seen a 60% improvement in pumping utilization across our entire North America land fleet since 2019.”

Bank Failures Add Another Wrinkle for LNG Projects Already Facing Soaring Costs -While a global banking crisis doesn’t appear to be crashing a wave of new LNG infrastructure projects just yet, finance experts say it’s adding pressure to an already tight development cycle.Through most of March, the collapse of institutions like Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Switzerland’s Credit Suisse captured headlines and dimmed market outlooks. During the same month, two U.S. companies reached a final investment decision (FID) on respective Gulf Coast liquefied natural gas projects with a combined $15 billion in financing.Rapidan Energy Group’s Alex Munton, director of global gas service, told NGI the latest FIDs show massive LNG projects can still receive financing under the right conditions, but the bar for those conditions could be moving as banks adjust to increasing risk.“Putting together financing for one of these projects is already very complex, and I think you’ll see trends that are further complicating the process will be reinforced in the wake of the crisis,” Munton said.Munton said the recent financial backing secured by Venture Global LNG Inc. for the second phase of its Plaquemines LNG project in Louisiana serves as an example of where project financing could be heading.When the Virginia based company reached FID on the 13.33 million metric ton/year (mmty) first phase of Plaquemines last year, it secured $13 billion from18 banks. With the FID for the 6.67 mmty second phase 10 months later, Venture Global secured $7.8 billion from 23 banks.When measured on a dollar-per-ton basis, financing for both phases of Plaquemines LNG equals about $1,050/ton, according to data from Rapidan. It is a more than 48% increase over Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass project, also in Louisiana, sanctioned in 2019. The 10 mmty first phase of the project was financed at around $710/ton.Munton said the comparison highlights both the precipitous rise in construction costs developers have had to adapt to since the Covid-19 pandemic and how banks have adapted to governmental efforts to fight inflation. As federal interest rates have been ratcheted upward, banks have looked to reduce their individual exposure, resulting in syndicated loan packages with more participants.While the fallout from the collapse of SVB has rattled some regional banks and likely increased caution around future big-ticket investments, it doesn’t appear to be slowing down LNG projects.

Spring Storm Drives Higher Natural Gas Demand, Nymex Futures Prices -Cooler weather ushered in by a strong spring storm over the weekend set the table for strong heating demand most of this week across the northern United States. That was enough to drive a modest increase for natural gas futures on Monday, with the May Nymex contract settling at $2.273/MMBtu, up 4.0 cents from Friday’s close. June futures tacked on 6.3 cents to $2.471. Spot gas prices also strengthened amid the near-term spike in demand. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. rose 13.5 cents to $2.265. After a mild winter, the continuation of chilly weather into early May is providing support to the gas market, which is awash in supply – both in terms of production and underground storage. There continue to be fluctuations in the weather models day to day, but the pattern of cool weather on most days this week and next week remains intact. NatGasWeather said while the northern stretches of the country should see overnight lows dip into the 30s and 40s, the cooler weather only prolongs the need to crank up air conditioners across the southern states. “We believe the natural gas markets prefer hotter patterns over cooler patterns to suggest an impressively hot summer is nearly upon us,” the forecaster said. “Essentially, for mid-late May, hotter weather patterns are going to be needed or surpluses won’t improve much.” After a high-side storage injection last week that expanded the surplus to historical norms, the gas market expects the overhang to widen further in the next government inventory report. Expectations ahead of Thursday’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) report ranged widely on Monday, but the majority of estimates clustered around an injection in the 70s to low 80s. NGI modeled a 77 Bcf build for the week ending April 21. This compares with the year-earlier injection of 42 Bcf and the 43 Bcf five-year average. The EIA said total working gas in storage as of April 14 stood at 1,930 Bcf, which is 488 Bcf above year-earlier levels and 329 Bcf above the five-year average.

Natural Gas Futures Up Slightly After EIA Storage Data Shows Ballooning Surplus - Natural gas futures continued to teeter-totter early Thursday amid little change in bearish near-term supply/demand balances. The June Nymex gas futures contract, marking its debut at the front of the curve, eventually settled 5.0 cents higher day/day at $2.355/MMBtu. Spot gas, which traded Thursday for gas deliveries through Sunday, declined as national demand was expected to soften through the weekend before a series of weather systems hits the Lower 48 beginning Sunday to drive up heating loads. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 16.5 cents to $1.990. With no major changes in physical balances expected over the next two weeks, futures traders took their cue from the latest government inventory data. As expected, the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) report showed an expansion in storage surpluses. The EIA said stocks for the week ending April 21 rose by a slightly higher-than-expected 79 Bcf to 2,009 Bcf, which lifted the surplus over last year to 525 Bcf. The surplus to the five-year average swelled to 365 Bcf. However, a closer look at the data showed continued tightening in the important South Central region. Stocks there increased by a net 22 Bcf, which included an 11 Bcf build in nonsalt facilities and a 9 Bcf build in salts, according to EIA. The agency noted that totals may not equal the sum of components because of independent rounding. The net injection lifted regional inventories to 971 Bcf, which is about 32% above the five-year average. While still stout, South Central stocks were more than 38% higher than five-year average levels at the end of March. Notably, the latest EIA report was the sixth in a row in which the surplus in the South Central contracted. Although 70-degree high temperatures have done little to bolster cooling demand in the region, robust LNG demand and a continued pull on natural gas for power generation in the low price environment have quickly tightened the balances. That said, maintenance events may keep flows to U.S. export terminals in check this spring.

US natgas up 2% to 6-week high on Mississippi compressor shutdown (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures rose 2% to a six-week high on Friday after a fire caused the shutdown of a pipeline compressor in Mississippi that had been moving gas from Appalachia to the Gulf Coast. Before Columbia Gulf Transmission told customers that it had stopped gas flows through the Corinth compressor station in Mississippi due to a fire from a suspected lighting strike, gas futures were trading down about 2% early Friday. After the news, prices soared as much as 7%. Prices were lower before the fire on forecasts for mild weather in mid May and rising output. Front-month gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 5.5 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $2.410 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since March 16. For the week, the contract was up about 8%, putting it up for a third week in a row for the first time since July 2022. That was its biggest one-week percentage gain since it rose 23% in early March. For the month, the front-month was up about 8.8% after falling about 19% in March. That was its biggest one-month percentage gain since it rose 9.0% in November. Data provider Refinitiv said average gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 14.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in April, up from a record 13.2 bcfd in March. That is higher than the 13.8 bcfd of gas the seven plants can turn into LNG since the facilities use some of the fuel to power equipment used to produce LNG. Some analysts have begun to question whether the recent collapse of gas prices in Europe and Asia could force U.S. exporters to cancel LNG cargoes this summer after mostly mild weather over the winter left massive amounts of gas in storage. In 2020, at least 175 LNG shipments were canceled due to oversupply and weak demand. Gas was trading at a 21-month low of around $12 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and at a 22-month low of $12 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia. That puts TTF down about 49% and JKM down about 61% so far this year, which is similar to the 46% drop in futures at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana. For now, however, most analysts say energy security concerns following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 should keep global gas prices high enough to sustain record U.S. LNG exports in 2023. Gas stockpiles in northwest Europe - Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands - were currently at about 59% of capacity, keeping the amount of gas in storage about 59% above its five-year (2018-2022) average for the time of year, according to Refinitiv. That is much more gas in storage than in U.S. inventories, which are currently about 22% above their five-year norm again due to mostly mild weather last winter.

Mitsui Snaps Up Gassy Eagle Ford Hawkville Leasehold, Touts LNG Export Potential - Japan’s Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has added an upstream foothold in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, with plans to serve LNG export demand, as well as low-carbon ammonia and methanol production on the Gulf Coast. The Tokyo-based conglomerate said Thursday it has completed the acquisition of a roughly 92% working interest in an unconventional natural gas-rich asset within the Eagle Ford’s Hawkville field. Mitsui purchased the asset from operator Silver Hill Eagle Ford E&P LLC, a subsidiary of Silver Hill Energy Partners LP. Mitsui is aiming for “stable gas production” of more than 200 MMcf/d from the unconventional onshore acreage, with subsidiary Mitsui E&P USA LLC as operator. “Mitsui is also promoting liquefaction and export of U.S. natural gas to global markets, and methanol production businesses using natural gas as feedstock,” management said. “In addition to proactively pursuing upstream development projects, we will strengthen the natural gas value chain, including adjacent businesses, and work toward achieving further low-carbon solutions and decarbonization” by using carbon capture and storage, or CCS, and other measures. “Mitsui believes that natural gas and LNG will play an important role as a ‘pragmatic solution’ for energy transition, and we will continue to contribute to stable energy supply, enhanced quality of life, and sustainable development of society by further promoting our global natural gas and LNG businesses.” The Eagle Ford has been attracting merger and acquisition interest among large upstream players seeking to shore up drilling inventory and secure access to Gulf Coast export markets. Canada’s Baytex Energy Corp., Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp. and Lower 48 heavyweight Devon Energy Corp. each have announced Eagle Ford acquisitions over the past year. The South Texas play saw a surge in drilling permits issued last month, according to data from Evercore ISI. The Energy Information Administration, meanwhile, is forecasting Eagle Ford gas output to rise by 55 MMcf/d in May versus April.

FERC clears way for Texas LNG projects -A recent decision from federal regulators clears the path for two massive LNG projects that could reshape the South Texas communities they plan to call home.As energy reporter Amanda Drane writes, last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved certificates for two multibillion-dollar Brownsville-area liquefied natural gas facilities planned by Houston companies. One commissioner argued local residents should have been given more time to express opposition.Analysts say the approval could help move Houston-based NextDecade a step closer to getting the financial backing needed to construct the Rio Grande LNG. It could help give momentum to another project, the energy developer Glenfarne’s South Texas LNG project, which hasn’t seen as much financial traction as Rio Grande LNG. Meanwhile, the projects have created rifts in the South Texas community. Proponents say the projects could infuse the region with jobs, while critics say it could cause environmental impacts that in turn would impact local fisherman and tourism businesses. “We're selling nature,” Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema, who opposes the LNG developments, told the Chronicle last year. “That's what we're in the business of selling. If you drive to Corpus Christi, it doesn't look like that. Unfortunately, you see a bunch of smokestacks, you see ugly industrial development, and so we don't want that type of development on the way to our city.”

Texas Natural Gas, Oil Employment Advances as Robust Production Drives Hiring -- Upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas totaled 198,700 jobs in March, up by 1,500 positions from the prior month and up by 20,000 year/year, the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) said in a new report. The gain from a year earlier included an increase of 1,100 jobs in oil and natural gas extraction and 18,900 jobs in the services sector, TIPRO said. Despite lower commodity prices – notably including weak natural gas prices so far this year amid light weather-driven demand – gas production held at elevated levels around 101.6 Bcf/d in the first quarter, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). That was up 1.4% over 4Q2022 output and was close to record levels just above 102 Bcf/d reached last year. Petroleum output throughout the first quarter hovered around a two-year high of 12.3 million b/d in the first quarter, EIA has reported. Natural gas exited the recent injection season with an estimated 1,856 Bcf in storage, a 19% surplus to the five-year average, according to EIA. In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA modeled average natural gas domestic production of 100.9 Bcf/d for full-year 2023, a 3% increase over 2022 output. Benchmark Henry Hub natural gas prices recently held close to $2.00/MMBtu – less than half the level of late 2022. However, the robust production levels are in response to strong global demand for U.S. exports of both crude and LNG, with the latter bolstered by Europe’s thirst for liquefied natural gas since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Strong production has fueled upstream activity and bolstered hiring levels. The oil and gas industry “continues to ramp up employment and production in line with growing demand for our product here and abroad,” said Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO. TIPRO crunches federal data in tandem with the Texas Oil & Gas Association to arrive at the monthly state employment figures. According to TIPRO, there were 14,491 active unique job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry in March – up 21% from February and up 35% from a year earlier — including 6,193 new job postings added in the month.

Sand in your backyard, natural gas in your kitchen - In a recent interview with Douglas Haynes on A Public Affair on WORT 89.9 FM, biologist and writer Sandra Steingraber discussed her essay, “Gas Stoves: The Fracking Tailpipe In Your Kitchen.” As Steingraber argues, not only do gas stoves produce toxic chemicals like nitrogen dioxide, but, as the title asserts, they link the intimate space of the kitchen—the anchor of US domesticity—with larger national, and even international, networks of resource extraction. To put it plainly, gas stoves function by burning fossil fuel inside your home, causing the same chemical reactions that occur in the smokestacks of power plants inside your home. Steingraber wants you to know that the dangers of gas stoves are undeniable, contributing to childhood asthma and other respiratory ailments. The fact that gas stoves have any popularity—enough now to put them at the center of the culture wars—is due to aggressive advertising by the gas industry, a tactic that dates back to the 1930s. Listening to Steingraber list the harmful effects of nitrogen dioxide, I thought, “Thank god, my apartment doesn’t have a gas stove.” I briefly felt good about my situation until Steingraber clarified that even if I do not own or use a gas stove, I nevertheless live in a state that plays a special role in the natural gas industry. Folks who have lived in Wisconsin longer than I can probably guess why: frac sand mining. Mined from sandstone formations in central and western areas of the state, Wisconsin frac sand is excavated, crushed, washed, dried, sorted, and then shipped away to be used in hydraulic fracturing. Along with a melange of chemicals and water, it is then pressurized and pumped below ground in order to break up bedrock and release natural gas and petroleum. As of 2014, Wisconsin was a leading producer of frac sand in the US, and in 2016 was home to 128 mining operations and processing plants. Though the frac sand mining industry has been in a downward trend since 2016 (about the time that I moved to the state), it is again on the rise, according to a November 2022 report on Wisconsin Public Radio. But where does all this frac sand go? And, since Wisconsin has to import the natural gas it consumes, where does that natural gas come from? It turns out that the answer to both these questions is my home state of Texas. This means that for Wisconsinites, gas stoves are not only “the fracking tailpipe in your kitchen,” they are the terminus of a circuit of resource extraction and redistribution that loops across the continental U.S. And this circuit feels very personal. When I moved from Texas to Wisconsin, I thought I had left behind the Bible Belt and big oil. There is no escaping the fossil fuel industry. But this is less a story about me than a story of how energy and resources travel, often in ways that consumers are not meant to understand.

Refinery in Superior, Wis., restarts 5 years after explosion — The Superior, Wis., oil refinery, site of an explosion that shook the city five years ago this week, has restarted operations. New owner Cenovus Energy said in an earnings call Wednesday the refinery was already producing about 24,000 barrels a day with crude oil introduced in March, and will ramp up to full production of nearly 50,000 barrels daily this quarter. Earlier this week, Cenovus shared new safety measures it will use as it produces asphalt and gasoline products. "Every step of the way we are looking to ensure a safe, responsible and reliable startup of the facility," said Doreen Cole, senior vice president of downstream manufacturing for Calgary, Alberta-based Cenovus. At the time of the explosion, the refinery, owned then by Husky Energy, was shutting down its fluid catalytic cracking unit for planned maintenance. The unit is a common piece of equipment at oil refineries used to refine crude oil into higher octane fuels. A worn valve inside the unit allowed air to mix with hydrocarbons, leading to the explosion of two outdated vessels, spraying metal fragments up to 1,200 feet and puncturing a nearby asphalt storage tank. About 17,000 barrels of hot asphalt spilled and ignited, causing multiple fires. Although it did not happen, the release of highly toxic hydrogen fluoride, also known as hydrofluoric acid, was a potential danger, with tanks full of the chemical stored near enough to the explosion to have also been punctured by debris. In a final report, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said the accident — which caused $550 million in damage and injured nearly 40 workers — was avoidable. The board laid out several safety recommendations for the new plant, which Cenovus said it will follow. The cost to rebuild the refinery grew from an initial estimate of $400 million to $1.2 billion. Cole said that number may be revised later in the year. It took five years to complete because of the sheer scope of the rebuild, with some units needing full reconstruction. The pandemic also slowed efforts, said Cole, noting the restart's economic impact would be "substantial." Cole said the Superior refinery, one of three that the company fully owns and operates in the United States, was a "key contributor" to its portfolio. Cenovus also owns a refinery near Toledo, Ohio, where an explosion in 2022 killed two workers. At the time, it was only partial owner of the refinery, operated then by BP.

Precision Drilling reports $95.8M Q1 profit, revenue up nearly 60% from year ago - Precision Drilling Corp. reported a first-quarter profit compared with a loss a year ago as its revenue rose nearly 60 per cent, helped by stronger drilling activity and price increases in the U.S. and Canada. The oilfield services company says it earned $95.8 million or $5.57 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, up from a loss of $43.8 million or $3.25 per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue totalled $558.6 million, up from $351.3 million in the first three months of 2022. Precision said the increase in revenue came as drilling rig utilization days in the U.S. rose 17 per cent compared with a year ago, while in Canada they gained nine per cent. International drilling rig utilization days were down nearly 20 per cent compared with the same quarter last year. Precision also said it has reduced its 2023 capital spending budget to $195 million compared with its initial plan for $235 million due to fewer drilling rig upgrades and lower maintenance costs.

US crude inventories fall on steady refinery runs, export surge | S&P Global Commodity Insights - US crude inventories fell 5.1 million barrels to 460.9 million barrels the week ended April 21 as refinery runs were steady and exports climbed, US Energy Information Administration data showed April 26. Crude stocks have fallen 20.3 million barrels since the middle of March as refiners have exited maintenance. While net refinery crude inputs at 15.8 million b/d the week ended April 21 were roughly unchanged, they were up 866,000 b/d from early March. S&P Global analysts on April 21 said they expect US refinery outages to decrease by another 470,000 b/d for the week ended April 28. However, crude runs could decline as over the weekend as several Texas refineries were impacted by power outages, including three Corpus Christi plants, and TotalEnergies' Port Arthur plant. The crude stock draw left US inventories at a slight deficit to the five-year average, down from a 9% surplus in mid-February, the EIA data showed. The bulk of the crude stock draw was seen in the US Gulf Coast, where inventories fell 5.4 million barrels to 259.9 million barrels. The draw would likely have been larger were it not for the release of another 1 million barrels of crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as SPR crude is either run through refineries, exported or placed into commercial storage. SPR stocks have fallen 4.6 million barrels since the week ended March 24 as part of the US Department of Energy's plan to draw 26 million barrels between April 1 and the end of June. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has said that refilling of the SPR could begin in the second half of the year, following a record 180-million barrel release last year to combat high energy prices. A rise in US crude exports also contributed to the crude stock draw last week. Exports jumped 248,000 b/d to 4.8 million b/d, the EIA data showed. Exports on four-week moving average at 4.3 million b/d were up nearly 900,000 b/d on the year. S&P Global Commodities at Sea shows the US exporting 4.9 million b/d the week ended April 21, with increased flows seen to Northwest Europe, South Korea and China. The spot arbitrage remains open for US crudes into Europe, with WTI MEH fetching a roughly $3/b premium to Forties, S&P Global refining margins data shows. In refined products, US gasoline inventories fell 2.4 million barrels to 221.1 million barrels last week, the EIA data showed. Stocks on the US Atlantic Coast fell 1.1 million barrels to 51.4 million barrels, causing the deficit to the five-year average to widen to 17%. The USAC draw was supportive for the New York-delivered NYMEX RBOB contract. While the outright RBOB price fell April 26, the NYMEX RBOB crack spread against WTI crude settled 85 cents higher at $31.23/b. US gasoline stocks fell despite a 541,000 b/d increase in production to 10 million b/d, a 209,000 b/d decrease in exports to 734,000 b/d, and a 316,000 b/d increase in imports to 838,000 b/d.

The Keystone operator says design and construction flaws led to the Kansas oil spill - Stress put on the Keystone pipeline during construction, its operator said Friday, contributed significantly to it bursting in north-central Kansas. TC Energy says an independent review shows the sequence of factors that led to the Keystone’s rupture in December that fouled a creek and spewed oil over cropland and prairie.The ill-fated segment experienced “inadvertent bending stresses sufficient to initiate a crack” during its construction in 2011, the company said in a press release about the findings.The Washington County spill was the biggest in the Keystone’s history, and the second-biggest spill on U.S. soil of dilbit, a Canadian tar sands product that presents particular environmental risks and cleanup challenges when it spills into bodies of water.The company didn’t release the document, but outlined its version of “the key findings” in it. Federal officials ordered TC Energy to commission the pipeline failure analysis. The government told the Canadian company to hire an independent contractor to help with the analysis and to “document the decision-making process and all factors contributing to the failure.”The federal agency — the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — also received the report on Friday, but it hasn’t commented publicly yet on the conclusions.TC Energy says the report found that “a progressive fatigue crack” was the main cause of the oil spill.The crack started at a welded spot in the pipeline that connected an elbow fitting to the pipe segment across a creek. “Bending stresses during construction also led to a deformation in the elbow fitting and a wrinkle in the adjacent piping,” the company said. “Further, the design of the weld transition created a stress concentration point, making the pipe at this location more susceptible to bending stresses.”

Massive pipeline spill caused by crack created during installation, third-party review concludes | Nebraska Examiner -- A third-party review of a pipeline spill that released 500,000 gallons of crude oil onto Kansas farmland and a nearby stream was caused by a crack in the metal pipe that eventually ruptured under pressure.That was the conclusion of a third-party review that was ordered by a federal pipeline safety agency to investigate the December failure of the 36-inch Keystone pipeline, just south of the Nebraska border near Washington, Kansas.It was the largest oil pipeline spill in the U.S. in nine years.The “Root Cause Failure Analysis” for the so-called “Milepost 14 incident” reached the same conclusion as an independent analysis of the metal pipeline released in February.“The primary cause of the rupture was a progressive fatigue crack that originated at a girth weld connecting a manufactured elbow fitting to the pipe constructed across Mill Creek (in Kansas),” the operator of the pipeline, TC Energy, said in a press release Friday.The company said that during construction of this segment of the Keystone pipeline, which as completed in 2011, “inadvertent bending stresses sufficient to initiate a crack” occurred on the elbow fitting.Over time, and under the high pressure needed to push the oil down the pipeline, the crack worsened, eventually resulting in the leak.The pipeline, which carries tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, was operating at a pressure of 1,153 pounds per square gauge at the time of the Dec. 7 rupture, according to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Since 2009, the Keystone pipeline has experienced three failures on similar girth welds, according to PHMSA.In March, the agency ordered TC Energy to reduce the operating pressure to 923 ppsg on the segment of the Keystone pipeline from Steele City, Neb., to Cushing, Okla., due to a “repetitious pattern of failures related to the original design, manufacture, and construction.”On Friday, TC Energy, in a press release, said it had recovered 98% of the released product and cleaned up 90% of the shoreline of Mill Creek, where the failure occurred. Previously, the company has estimated its cost of responding and cleaning up the leak at $480 million.Thousands of cubic yards of oil-soaked soil and other materials removed from the spill site were trucked to a landfill just outside Omaha.

More New Mexico land must be saved from oil and gas to prevent climate crisis, study says -New Mexico lagged behind the rest of the U.S. in protected public land, according to a recent study, meaning oil and gas operations on federal land were a key contributor to worsening pollution and climate change. The study on the state of biodiversity in New Mexico and environmental impacts, published by the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance in partnership with national climate change advocacy group EcoAdapt, reported only 6.1 percent of lands in the state was protected for wildlife management. That’s less than half the 12.6 percent of lands protected nationally, even as New Mexico and federal officials worked toward the “30x30” initiative to conserve 30 percent of public land from development by 2030. That would mean New Mexico must conserve another 18 million acres to meet the target, the study read. At stake if the lands go unprotected, the report read, was air quality and other environmental aspects of the land in New Mexico, more than a third of which is managed by federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The study analyzed 6 million acres of federally managed land in New Mexico identified as having the most benefit from conservation via biodiversity, connectivity, site resilience, carbon sequestration and storage, or potential greenhouse gases from fossil fuels yet to be extracted. Priority areas for conservation the study read, included Carlsbad Caverns, the Gila and Aldo Leopold wilderness areas and unprotected BLM lands in the Otero Mesa and Bootheel region. “Most of these public lands are vulnerable to threats like oil and gas development, hardrock mining, commercial logging, and road fragmentation,” the report read. “Additional federal public lands protections could substantially increase overall land protections statewide.”

'Extreme risk' posed by Utah oil train proposal, Colorado AG Weiser warns feds - Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is the latest state official to decry a proposed Utah rail project that could result in a daily procession of trains carrying crude oil through sensitive Colorado River watersheds and the Denver metro area.In an April 21 letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Weiser wrote that the 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway “poses an extreme risk to Colorado’s most important water source and the surrounding environment.”The multibillion-dollar project would connect Utah’s oil-producing Uinta Basin region to the national rail network, allowing 350,000 barrels of crude oil per day to be transported to refineries along the Gulf Coast — a route that would run directly through mountain communities in central Colorado and the densely populated Front Range.Backers of the project, led by a partnership between seven Utah county governments, applied earlier this year for $1.9 billion in “private activity bonds,” tax-exempt financing mechanisms whose issuance must be authorized by the Department of Transportation.“Federal Private Activity Bonds should benefit the public and prioritize moving people, not goods for a private industry actor,” Weiser wrote to Buttigieg. “Furthermore, if approved, tax-exempt bonds devoted to the Uinta Basin Railway would have taxpayers subsidize a private venture, and one with significant community opposition. Such an approval would erode confidence in an important USDOT program that has aided so many critical projects and benefited the public.”Several key permits for the new railway have already been approved by President Joe Biden’s administration, but Colorado lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse, both Democrats, havelodged complaints against the project with at least four different federal agencies, including the DOT and the Environmental Protection Agency.More than a hundred local governments and advocacy organizations across the state have announced their opposition to the railway, and Colorado’s Eagle County has joined five environmental groups in suing the U.S. Surface Transportation Board over its 4-1 vote to approve the project in December 2021.At least 21 oil train derailments have occurred in the U.S. and Canada since 2013, according to a 2021 report from the nonprofit Sightline Institute. Such incidents frequently result in fires and spills, including the 2016 derailment of an oil train in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, in which an estimated 42,000 gallons of crude oil were spilled.“This rail project to transport waxy crude oil through Colorado poses significant risk to our State, our communities, and our natural resources,” wrote Weiser in his letter to Buttigieg. “I ask that the Department reject any use of tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds — or any other source of federal funds — for this project.”

Colorado Lawmakers Looking for Consumer Relief from High Winter Natural Gas Prices -Following a costly winter for Colorado’s natural gas utility customers, two state legislators are calling to limit investor-owned utilities (IOU) from recovering certain costs and mandating utilities better plan to protect against natural gas price volatility. Democratic state Sens. Lisa Cutter (Jefferson) and Steve Fenberg (Boulder) earlier this month introduced Senate Bill (SB) 23-291. The legislation, if enacted, would require regulated utilities to remove incentives offered to applicants seeking natural gas services from rate tariffs. IOUs would also be prevented from charging customers to cut gas services. “Colorado families were hit hard this winter by unexpected and severe price shocks, which is why we convened the Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates to investigate the causes and find solutions,” said Fenberg, who chairs the committee. SB 23-291 would also direct the Colorado Energy Office to contract with a third party to investigate stranded or underutilized natural gas infrastructure investments and their impacts on rates. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission would also investigate which geographical service areas drive natural gas costs for any gas utility serving more than 500,000 customers in the state. In addition, the bill would require utilities to file a gas price risk management plan with the CPUC before the start of the winter heating season. The plan would be required to address ways the utility could protect customers from volatile fuel costs. The Rockies, as with most of the country, began the winter heating season with working natural gas in storage about 10 Bcf below the five-year average. The region was also hit with an early start to winter. Natural gas prices were as high as $45.385/MMBtu near the end of December, according to NGI’s Daily Price Index for the Rocky Mountain Regional Average.

Wyoming oil and gas production saw a decrease in spills for 2022 - Out of the three top-producing oil and gas states in our region, Wyoming was the only one to report a decrease in spills in 2022. But, some say there is still room for improvement.The Center for Western Priorities, a conservation advocacy non-profit group, recently released an analysis of spill report data for the oil and gas industry in three states – Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Wyoming saw a decrease in liquid spilled by about 40 percent from 2021, with just over a million spills in 2022. The spills include everything from oil to produced water.But, Kate Groetzinger, the Center of Western Priorities communications manager, said there is a caveat.“Although the number of spills per barrel of oil produced in Wyoming has gone down in the past couple of years, the overall number of spills per barrel of oil produced compared to other states is still really high,” Groetzinger said.While the amount of liquid spilled did decrease, the rate at which it happens compared to the number of barrels of oil produced is still high compared to the other two states. For example, New Mexico produces more oil than Wyoming, but the rate at which the spills happen per barrel of oil produced is higher in Wyoming.That is why Ryan McConnaughey, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW) vice president, said it does not show the whole picture. The actual amount of liquid spilled is still much lower in Wyoming.“All of the spills that occurred last year total less than one-one hundredth of a percent of all of the production in Wyoming,” he said. “So we're talking about a very minute amount of spill, when compared to the total amount of production in Wyoming.”Groetzinger said Wyoming still has room for improvement. For example, in Wyoming, industry self-reports spills, and she would like to see more oversight. She added that she would like to see Wyoming have to report the distance of spills to water sources, which some other states require.“So Colorado is a great example,” she said. “They collect information on the distance of surface water and well water from these spills. So when you've got an oil spill, or toxic produced water spill, near a well or near a place where people are pulling water for livestock, or even human drinking, this can really impact the health of people, livestock and wild animals.

Huntington Beach oil spill settlement wins final approval - A federal judge in Santa Ana signed off final approval of a $50 million settlement of a lawsuit involving the pipeline oil leak that gushed thousands of gallons of crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach in 2021. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter gave final approval to the lawsuit against Amplify Energy. The agreement won preliminary approval in September, but the attorneys and judge waited for any objections before final approval and there were none. Aitken told Carter during the hearing that while they couldn't solve all of the issues that led up to the rupture of the pipeline -- such as where cargo ships are allowed to park off the coast -- but, he added, "We can heighten awareness" to the authorities who can do something about it. Another significant improvement was that when a leak is observed a notice will go out to everyone involved all at once instead of relying on a chain of people, Aitken said. Another key to the settlement is the way claims will be paid out, Aitken said. A system was worked out so that the fishers and other merchants affected by the oil spill will get checks directly without having to fill out a claim form, Aitken said. He said that it was easy to do with the fisheries because "they keep such detailed records." But it will be more challenging in the tourism industry. For hotels it was easier because they can count rooms not rented, but for other small businesses they will have to fill out some sort of claim form and the deadline for that is June 9, so more notices will go out again soon, he said.

Supreme Court deals blow to oil companies by turning away climate cases — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed lawsuits brought by municipalities seeking to hold energy companies accountable for climate change to move forward in a loss for business interests.The court turned away oil company appeals in five cases involving claims brought by cities and municipalities in Colorado, Maryland, California, Hawaii and Rhode Island as part of efforts to hold businesses accountable for the effects of climate change.The relatively narrow legal issue is whether the lawsuits should be heard in state court instead of federal court. Litigants care because of the widely held view that plaintiffs have better chances of winning damage awards in state courts."Big Oil companies have been desperate to avoid trials in state courts, where they will be forced to defend their climate lies in front of juries, and today the Supreme Court declined to bail them out," said Richard Wiles, the president of the Center for Climate Integrity, an environmental group.Business groups expressed disappointment, with Phil Goldberg, a lawyer with the National Association of Manufacturers' legal arm, saying climate issues should be dealt with at the national or international levels."The challenge of our time is developing technologies and public policies so that the world can produce and use energy in ways that are affordable for people and sustainable for the planet. It should not be figuring out how to creatively plead lawsuits that seek to monetize climate change and provide no solutions," he said.The Biden administration urged the court not to hear the case, and in a change to the legal position taken by the Trump administration, it said the lawsuit and others like it should be heard in state courts.Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted in the brief order that he would have taken up one of the cases. Justice Samuel Alito did not participate, most likely because he owns stock in oil companies.

‘Like a dam breaking’: experts hail decision to let US climate lawsuits advance --Cities bringing climate litigation against oil majors welcome US supreme court’s decision to rebuff appeal to move cases to federal courtsThe decision, climate experts and advocates said, felt “like a dam breaking” after years of legal delays to the growing wave of climate lawsuits facing major oil companies.Without weighing in on the merits of the cases, the supreme court on Monday rebuffed an appeal by major oil companies that want to face the litigation in federal courts, rather than in state courts, which are seen as more favorable to plaintiffs.ExxonMobil Corp, Suncor Energy Inc and Chevron Corp had asked for the change of venue in lawsuits by the state of Rhode Island and municipalities in Colorado, Maryland, California and Hawaii.Six years have passed since the first climate cases were filed in the US, and courts have not yet heard the merits of the cases as fossil fuel companies have succeeded in delaying them. In March, the Biden administration had argued that the cases belonged in state court, marking a reversal of the position taken by the Trump administration when the supreme court last considered the issue.The Rhode Island attorney general, Peter Neronha, said his state was now finally preparing for trial after “nearly half a decade of delay tactics” by the industry. A joint statement from the California cities of Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Richmond and Marin county said the oil companies knew the dangers of fossil fuels but “deceived and failed to warn consumers about it even as they carried on pocketing trillions of dollars in profits”.The cases have been compared to tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s that resulted in a settlement of more than $200bn and changed how cigarettes are advertised and sold in the US.“It was a really amazing feeling to see that the supreme court was ruling in a very logical way by continuing with the unanimous decisions that have been made in the previous courts to not [grant petitions for review] and to allow these cases to move forward,” said Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation.“It removes this dam that industry has been building to prevent these cases from being heard on their merits,” she said. “We can finally have the real conversations about what the industry knew and what their actions were despite that knowledge.”

For Many Young Voters, Biden’s Support of Drilling in Alaska Casts Pall - The New York Times — In the past three weeks, President Biden’s administration has proposed regulations to speed the transition to electric vehicles, committed $1 billion to help poor countries fight climate change and prepared what could be the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. And yet, many young voters alarmed by climate change remain angry with Mr. Biden’s decision last month to approve Willow, an $8 billion oil drilling project on pristine federal land in Alaska. As the president prepares to announce his bid for re-election, it’s not at all clear that those voters who helped him win in 2020 because of his commitment to climate action will turn out again. Alex Haraus, 25, said he and other young people felt betrayed by the Willow decision, after Mr. Biden had pledged as a candidate that he would end new oil drilling on public lands “period, period, period.” Mr. Haraus, whose videos on TikTok opposing the Willow project amassed hundreds of thousands of views, described his reaction as “mad and frustrated and disappointed.” About a dozen young climate activists interviewed said they were not assuaged by the other actions by the Biden administration, even if they significantly draw down greenhouse gas emissions that are dangerously heating the planet, Mr. Haraus said. What they want, he said, is for the president to rein in oil and gas companies, which enjoyed record profits last year. “I don’t think any of those things encourage people to forgive the Biden administration for projects like Willow,” said Mr. Haraus, who lives outside Chicago. “Young voters see our future getting thrown out the window. We need Biden to take on the industry, otherwise there’s not much for us to hope for.” Young voters overwhelmingly — about 62 percent — support phasing out fossil fuels entirely, said Alec Tyson, an associate director of research at Pew Research Center. There is broad support among registered voters of both parties for a transition to a future in which the United States is no longer pumping carbon emissions into the atmosphere, Mr. Tyson said. But most are not willing to break with fossil fuels altogether, he said.

Private Equity Funds, Sensing Profit in Tumult, Are Propping Up Oil - These secretive investment companies have pumped billions of dollars into fossil fuel projects, buying up offshore platforms, building new pipelines and extending lifelines to coal power plants. As the oil and gas industry faces upheaval amid global price gyrations and catastrophic climate change, private equity firms — a class of investors with a hyper focus on maximizing profits — have stepped into the fray.Since 2010, the private equity industry has invested at least $1.1 trillion into the energy sector — double the combined market value of three of the world’s largest energy companies, Exxon, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell — according to new research. The overwhelming majority of those investments was in fossil fuels, according to data from Pitchbook, a company that tracks investment, and a new analysis by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit that pushes for more disclosure about private equity deals.Only about 12 percent of investment in the energy sector by private equity firms went into renewable power, like solar or wind, since 2010, though those investments have grown at a faster rate, according to Pitchbook data.Private equity investors are taking advantage of an oil industry facing heat from environmental groups, courts, and even their own shareholders to start shifting away from fossil fuels, the major force behind climate change. As a result, many oil companies have begun shedding some of their dirtiest assets, which have oftenended up in the hands of private equity-backed firms.By bottom-fishing for bargain prices — looking to pick up riskier, less desirable assets on the cheap — the buyers are keeping some of the most polluting wells, coal-burning plants and other inefficient properties in operation. That keeps greenhouse gases pumping into the atmosphere.At the same time banks, facing their own pressure to cut back on fossil fuel investments, have started to pull back from financing the industry, elevating the role of private equity.The fossil fuel investments have come at a time when climate experts, as well as the world’s most influential energy organization, the International Energy Agency, say that nations need to more aggressively move away from burning fossil fuels, said Alyssa Giachino of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.“You see oil majors feeling the heat,” she said. “But private equity is quietly picking up the dregs, perpetuating operations of the least desirable assets.”

Exxon scrambles to save investments before Colombia bans fracking (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp is in talks with Colombia's government in hopes of recovering its investment in a fracking pilot project as the U.S. oil major prepares to ditch upstream operations in the Andean country where the government is pushing through a fracking ban, two sources close to the discussions told Reuters.The company had planned to develop the Platero pilot project for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, eyeing an investment of $53 million, under a contract awarded two years ago. Colombia's congress has been preparing to pass a fracking ban backed by leftist President Gustavo Petro, who took office nearly nine months ago. The proposed bill would ban development of non-conventional energy projects including fracking. It has already passed the Senate and is expected to get final congressional approval in the coming months. The law would leave companies with few options to recoup investments, according to the text of the proposal, including options such as the chance to transfer their investments elsewhere or be awarded rights over other conventional blocks. Exxon is "reviewing the mechanisms to reach a solution regarding the investments for exploring unconventional" energy resources it has in the country, an Exxon source in Colombia told Reuters. "We will continue to have constructive dialogue with the Colombian government on a comprehensive assessment of our unconventional investments," Exxon spokesperson Michelle Gray told Reuters. The term "compensation" does not exist in technical or legal terminology used by the ANH in its processes, the agency said, but Exxon is advancing an "accreditation" process regarding the Platero pilot project. Exxon has held eight exploration and production contracts in Colombia, including the fracking pilot. All either have been or are being ended, suspended or liquidated, Colombia's National Hydrocarbon Agency (ANH) told Reuters.

Transandino Oil Pipeline Bombed In Colombia -The Transandino oil pipeline was bombed on Sunday, Ecopetrol has announced, noting that the 85,000-bpd piece of infrastructure was not carrying oil at the time.Per a Reuters report, the attack on the pipeline has yet to be attributed to any one group but the area where the blast occurred is known for activity from the National Liberation Army, a guerilla group, and FARC—another guerilla army that has rejected a peace deal with the Colombian government.FARC is the biggest guerilla formation in Colombia and although a certain percentage of its members demilitarized after the 2016 deal with the government, the majority remained active.Guerilla activity has had a devastating effect on Colombia’s oil industry, with the head of the country’s industry association estimating back in 2016 that it would take $70 billion to keep the industry going over the ten years to 2026.Meanwhile, the current president of Colombia wants to shrink the country’s oil production in anticipation of peak oil demand and the energy transition. As things stand today, Colombia’s oil industry does not have a very long life anyway, even at current rates of production, which average about 700,000 bpd.Even so, the new chief executive of Ecopetrol said this week that the company plans to improve exploration results by using the latest technology available, including AI. This, according to Ricardo Roa, could boost Colombia’s oil output to 1 million barrels daily, Reuters reported. Recovery rates could improve by at least 2 percent, Roa also said, from the current unimpressive 19 percent.Meanwhile, however, the challenges that guerilla groups pose to infrastructure remain. Ecopetrol loses thousands of barrels of crude from thieves who siphon off crude from the Transandino pipeline to use in the production of cocaine or as fuel for illegal mining, Reuters reported after the latest spill caused by oil theft..

Is Argentina Poised to Become a Regional, Even Global, Natural Gas Energy Hub? - Argentina’s natural gas segment has been transformed by the Vaca Muerta shale formation and the country might well again become a net energy exporter. The country is undergoing a massive natural gas infrastructure buildout in an attempt to make that the case. Vaca Muerta is the second largest shale gas resource on the planet, with an estimated 308 Tcf of dry, wet, and associated shale gas resources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Executives who spoke at the Latin America Energy Summit in Santiago, Chile, last week, estimated that the first phase of the Nestór Kirchner natural gas pipeline in Argentina is set to come online by late June or early July. It will stretch from the town of Tratayén in Neuquén province to Salliqueló in Buenos Aires province. A second phase should be online by December and would increase takeaway capacity from Vaca Muerta on the line by 22 MMm3/d. A future phase of the project would reverse pipeline flows on the Gasoducto del Norte and allow the country to start supplying the fuel to Bolivia, long the region’s main exporter of natural gas. Bolivia’s resources are dwindling and the country will need to import gas by 2028, according to Alvaro Ríos, director of consultancy Gas Energy Latin America. “There is infrastructure for regional integration and Argentina is going to be the provider,” Ríos said. “The demand is there.” He said that he saw a need for 62-73 MMm3/d of Vaca Muerta pipeline gas in places like Bolivia, the north of Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Argentina would be able to meet Bolivia’s current contractual supplies to Brazil through existing pipelines that are already showing capacity openings, Ríos said. “It’s a very complex situation in Bolivia,” he said. Executives said natural gas production growth in Argentina was being driven by the contract scheme known as Plan Gas which guarantees producers long-term price stability. Javier Di Prisco, regional oil and gas sales manager at Pampa Energía SA, said Plan Gas has been “the principal driver of the Argentine market.” Pampa produces 64,000 boe/d, of which 92% is gas. He said that since the Plan Gas program was instituted in 2021, his company’s production has doubled. “It provides mid-term certainty,” with 60% of Argentine internal demand now under contract. Vaca Muerta production meanwhile keeps breaking records. Natural gas output from Vaca Muerta was 52.4 MMm3/d in February compared to 43 MMm3/d in the same month last year. It now accounts for about 40% of total gas production in Argentina. Overall, natural gas output in Argentina was 129.9 MMm3/d in February compared to 127.3 MMm3/d in February of last year.

Councillors vote for new Lincolnshire oil site – A new oil site got the go-ahead from Lincolnshire councillors, despite local opposition. The site, proposed by IGas near the small village of Glentworth, was granted planning permission to operate for up to 21 years. Seven members of the county council’s planning committee voted in favour, with two abstentions and no opposition. The scheme, for one vertical appraisal well and up to seven production wells, has been opposed by the parish council, local county councillor and villagers. The chairman of Glentworth Parish Council, John Latham, told the meeting in Lincoln: “There is no support whatsoever for this development in the village.” The construction and drilling phases of the scheme, lasting nearly five years, are expected to generate up to 100 lorry movements day, or an average of one every 6 and a half minutes. Cllr Latham described the impact on the village of the 24-hour-a-day drilling phases: “This is nothing less than industrialisation of the countryside with no direct benefit to the village or its residents. Once it is lost it is gone forever and we urge you to refuse [the application].” He said Kexby Road, on the proposed lorry route, was a “quiet country residential road”. It was not a heavily trafficked street that experienced heavy goods vehicles on a regular basis or an industrial area, he said. “We are concerned about the noise, air pollution, vibration and safety. The mental health impact of these 100 lorry movements a day on the residents living on Kexby Road cannot be lightly dismissed.” The increased traffic would have an impact on pedestrians, dog walkers, horse riders and cyclists, he said. The road also had school bus pick-up points. Mr Latham said the IGas proposal contravened two policies in the National Planning Policy Framework: paragraph 152 on supporting the transition to a low carbon future and paragraph 185 on protecting tranquil areas. The meeting heard that 62 people had objected to the proposal. But it was supported by county council planners. The council’s highways department had been concerned about the proposed lorry route. But the meeting heard that IGas had agreed to a legal agreement requiring four new passing places, widening an existing passing place and improvements to the road surface.

Brexit row erupts as Marina Purkiss and Jacob Rees-Mogg clash in fiery exchange on fracking -- Marina Purkiss has clashed with Jacob Rees-Mogg during a fiery debate on culture wars in the UK.Purkiss joined Rees-Mogg on GB News to discuss Oxford University’s LGBTQ+ society calling for feminist Kathleen Stock to be deplatformed, but the debate quickly turned to the larger issue of Brexit and the Government’s delivery of it.Purkiss accused Rees-Mogg and the Conservatives of “lying to people” about what the outcome of Brexit would be, adding “what you lot are doing in government is disgusting”.Rees-Mogg pointed out that Brexit had happened as a result of a democratic vote by the British public. Purkiss asked: “Why are energy bills the highest on the planet?” Rees-Mogg responded: “The energy bills in the UK have gone up because of our green policies, that has led to a very significant increase. It's nothing to do with Brexit.“I was trying to reduce prices by by fracking. By shale gas fracking, using our resources.”Purkiss pushed Rees-Mogg to “tell people how long it would take to get any sort of benefit from fracking” to which he pointed out that the UK is “potentially sitting on trillions of cubic feet of gas underneath us”Rees-Mogg called Purkiss out for not putting forward a “proper political argument”, exclaiming: “All you say when you disagree is that somebody is lying, but this isn't a proper political argument.“You disagree with me, but that's not the same as somebody lying, disagreement is perfectly reasonable.” Watch the debate in full above.

Dutch government confirms plan to halt gas production in Groningen -- The Dutch government said on Tuesday that it will invest 22 billion euros ($24.24 billion) in the earthquake-stricken Groningen region while confirming plans to halt gas production there no later than 2024."This is the last chance to make things right for the people (who live in) the earthquake zone," Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at a press conference. "We cannot reverse what went wrong, but we are determined to do things differently." The Groningen field, operated by a joint venture of Shell and Exxon Mobil, still holds massive reserves of natural gas but production has been wound down in the past decade as quakes caused by extraction caused widespread damage and mental anguish.

'Europe may need to cut gas demand by 55bcm to mitigate supply risks' - Europe could be at considerable risk if it fails to immediately cut gas demand by 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas. That’s according to new analysis from McKinsey, which suggests there could be a rebound in Asian demand or a further reduction in Russian imports, which could potentially exacerbate the situation. The authors of the report estimate that in the wake of the Ukraine war, a total cease of Russian imports could lead to a 25 bcm reduction in Europe’s supply. Additionally, an increase in Asian LNG demand could lead to a 35bcm reduction while a colder winter could boost European gas demand by 15 bcm. The research also shows that nearly 57% of EU manufacturers would not be able to reduce gas consumption further while maintaining output over the next two years. This could indicate that further gas rationing measures could have a substantial impact on the EU economy. According to the McKinsey report “A balancing act: Securing European gas and power markets,” even if Europe meets its RePowerEU targets to reduce gas consumption and improves energy efficiency across buildings and industry, volatile gas prices and potential supply disruptions still pose a risk to many economic sectors. Namit Sharma, Senior Partner at McKinsey suggests that businesses may need to consider diversifying their energy sourcing and managing demand, investing in natural gas substitutes or storage, and closely monitoring movements in the energy market to mitigate risks. Thomas Vahlenkamp, Senior Partner at McKinsey, added that “If Europe can sustain and accelerate several gas-demand reduction measures, the market is likely to remain balanced without significant price spikes in the coming years.”

Steady Stream of LNG in Europe, Muted Demand in Asia Keeping Lid on Prices – LNG Recap - Sendout at French LNG terminals has returned to normal levels as labor strikes that started early last month have for now ended, boosting European import capacity and helping to keep the lid on natural gas prices there. Eleven cargoes have unloaded at France’s four import terminals over the last week, according to Kpler vessel-tracking data. That’s helped keep a steady stream of liquefied natural gas flowing to the continent, which has also limited the impact of cold weather across much of the continent on natural gas prices. Cold is expected to continue throughout the week, but LNG arrivals are maintaining a record pace at the same time as Russian, Norwegian and Algerian pipeline supplies are steady and storage inventories are strong. Kpler data shows LNG imports are on track to reach 47.72 million tons (Mt) through the first four months of the year, up from 42.94 Mt over the same time in 2022. “Summer is approaching and Europe is in a healthy, safe position as injection season begins, boasting storage levels in the top range of the five-year average,” said Rystad Energy analyst Nikoline Bromander. The May Title Transfer Facility (TTF) contract shed three cents Tuesday, while June inched upward slightly, but both contracts continue to trade below $13/MMBtu. Meanwhile, the glut of cargoes arriving in Northwest Europe has pushed delivered ex-ship (DES) prices there to $1.93 below TTF, according to the latest assessments from Spark Commodities. Similar discounts were seen in Southwest Europe, where Spark assessed DES LNG cargoes at $1.86 below TTF. European natural gas prices still remain high compared to historical averages. As a result, the European Union’s (EU) statistical office said last week that natural gas consumption dropped 17.7% between August 2022 and March, compared with the same period over the previous five years.While EU storage inventories are at 58% of capacity, compared to the five-year average of 38% for this time of year, the pace of injections remains below historical averages. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said Friday that inventories built by roughly 24 Bcf over the prior week, compared to the five-year average build of 42 Bcf. At this point, the pace would need to accelerate to meet the bloc’s target of filling storage to 90% of capacity by winter. Fears of Asian buyers returning to the market to compete more strongly for cargoes also have the market on edge. The EU’s new tool for aggregating natural gas purchases opened on Tuesday, allowing buyers to submit gas demand projections for the next year that can be met by sellers. The EU is aiming to start joint gas purchases to help fill storage before the summer starts, but it’s targeting just a fraction of the bloc’s overall demand.

Planned LNG terminals could cause 32% of EU CO2 emissions - – A major new study by Greenpeace International finds that EU governments are planning to build so much liquefied fossil gas (LNG) import capacity that, if constructed, it would increase the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to the equivalent of 950 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year, or 32% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions in 2019. In the report “Who Profits From War – How Gas Corporations Capitalise from War in Ukraine” [1], Greenpeace International tells the entire story of a broken energy system that serves the interests of polluters, not people. The report shows all parts of the system, from the communities that suffer because of fracking in the USA, to the middle-men of the gas industry (the European Network of Transmission System Operators, ENTSO-G) who manipulate and undermine climate and energy policies, to the households who will once again have to pay for it all while fossil fuel companies rake in record profits.The report analyses developments in US-EU trade in LNG. It shows that the USA has plans to double its export capacity while the EU is more than doubling the amount it can- collectively import. Eight new LNG import terminals have already been approved in the EU and 38 more are pending. These developments threaten to create a massive structural over-supply of fossil gas in Europe which will accelerate the climate crisis, create dependencies which weaken European energy security, and create billions of euro worth of stranded assets. Greenpeace EU climate and energy campaigner Silvia Pastorelli said: “The fossil fuel industry has cynically capitalised on the invasion of Ukraine. The middle-men of the gas industry use their scandalous proximity to decision-makers to push for favourable treatment. And politicians go along with them. Is it any wonder that there’s still no phase-out date for fossil gas, or that the EU’s gas demand reduction targets are merely optional? Governments must lead in the climate fight, not be puppeteered by gas operators who sacrifice the health and safety of communities simply to boost their profits.” European countries have banned the controversial gas drilling method of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, at home, yet many EU governments and banks encourage these methods in the USA to satiate European demand for gas. The extraction and transport of LNG in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico has resulted in worsening air quality, contaminated water, respiratory diseases, birth issues, and elevated cancer rates for communities living near the gas fields and export terminals. Many of the affected communities are predominantly Black, Brown, Indigenous, and have low incomes. John Beard, a community advocate who lives within 10 km of the biggest US export terminal (Sabine Pass LNG), another terminal under construction (Golden Pass LNG), and the Port Arthur LNG project said: “These LNG projects will result in a massive increase of CO2 emissions. This would lead to disastrous consequences for the planet and for people. There is no such thing as ‘freedom’ gas. It comes with a cost. That cost is the lives and health of people in the Gulf South and deadly climate consequences worldwide.”

Greenpeace slams plan to abandon wreckage of offshore rig in Adriatic – Croatia’s national oil and gas company INA announced their plan to permanently abandon the site of the sunken gas platform Ivana D-1 in the northern Adriatic on Monday, leading to opposition from environmentalists. The unmanned platform, located some 50 kilometres off the coast of Pula, sank in an unusually strong storm in December 2020. INA’s largest single shareholder is Hungary’s oil and gas firm MOL which owns 49% of the company, with the Croatian government retaining a 44% stake. The company operates several offshore gas rigs in at least eight gas fields in the northern Adriatic. Ivana D launched operations in January 2001, and the incident which sank the platform in 2020 was the first recorded incident of its kind. According to INA’s press release, an Italian company called CNS was hired to shut down the drilling site and make the wreckage “permanently safe.” This will include nearly 30 divers spending some two months working at a depth of 41 metres to secure the remains of the sunken oil platform and permanently seal off the drill shaft by pouring layers of concrete into it. According to the plan, the wreckage of the sunken 500-tonne rig would be converted into an artificial underwater reef. Although it is not unusual for derelict rigs and ships to serve as artificial reefs providing a habitat for marine life, experts say this is normally done at depths of 50 metres or more. However, Greenpeace Croatia issued a press release in response, questioning the decision’s legality and slamming the plan as “merely a cosmetic solution which allows INA to avoid its obligations,” which they say includes the complete removal of the wreckage. Although INA claims that an automatically activated emergency shutdown has successfully prevented environmental damage or potential gas leakage into the open sea, environmentalist groups and at least some regulators remained unconvinced. According to Greenpeace, at least three Croatian state agencies dealing with maritime affairs have issued opinions arguing for removing the sunken rig, citing “safety, human health, and protection of the marine environment” as key concerns. INA does not seem to have received permission to leave the wreckage at the accident site, Greenpeace added. The group also voiced concern that the case of Ivana D might set a precedent for industrial-scale littering of the Adriatic seafloor.

Deal struck to make sustainable jet fuels mandatory for all EU flights --Every plane departing from an EU airport will have to partially run on green jet fuel from 2025, according to a deal reached by the European Parliament and EU member states late on Tuesday (25 April). The regulation will reduce the carbon footprint of flying by replacing kerosene with cleaner alternatives, according to an announcement by Parliament and the Council of the EU, representing the bloc’s 27 member states. A compromise was reached on issues that had divided the two sides since the so-called ReFuelEU Aviation law was first tabled by the European Commission in July 2021: the percentage of green jet fuel that must be uplifted and the type of feedstocks permissible for the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Under the final agreement, the percentage of SAF that must be blended with kerosene will start at 2% by 2025, moving to 6% by 2030, 20% by 2035, 34% by 2040, and reaching 70% by 2050. A dedicated sub-target for synthetic fuels derived from green hydrogen will also come into force from 2030. Starting at 1.2%, this will be scaled up to 5% by 2035, reaching 35% by 2050. Parliament had originally pushed for an 85% share of SAF by 2050, while the Council stuck with the Commission’s proposal of 63%. As of 2025, an EU “eco label” will also be added to flights, outlining the carbon footprint of the journey. Revenues from fines for non-compliance with the new rules will be funnelled into researching the production of innovative forms of SAF. The European Commission is also required to prepare a report by 2027, and then every four years, examining the impact of the regulation on the fuel market, and the competitiveness and connectivity of the EU’s aviation sector.

Faroe Islands warns Denmark not to probe Russian ships’ presence --It is up to the Faroe Islands to react to the presence of Russian fishing ships in its harbours, Faroese Foreign Minister Høgni Hoydal warned Copenhagen following accusations that Russian fishing ships docking there were being used for espionage. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory of Denmark, with its own government and legal system, but are still part of Denmark. Copenhagen is responsible for the Faroe Islands’ foreign affairs and defence, but they have the right to negotiate international agreements in areas of their competence, namely regarding trade and fishing. “The Faroe Islands are fully capable of assessing what is happening in their territory,” said Faroese Foreign Minister Høgni Hoydal. Hoydal’s statement came after a group of Nordic media reported that two Russian fishing vessels with military radio equipment on board were discovered to have docked more than 200 times in Faroese harbours between 2015 and 2022. These ships are suspected of having been used for espionage. Søren Pape Poulsen, leader of the opposition Danish Conservative Party, declared that the ships carrying Russian military equipment fall under the foreign and security policy areas and are, therefore, a matter to be dealt with by Copenhagen. In his own words, he is “completely indifferent” to the fisheries agreements the Faroe Islands have with Russia and wants the Faroe Islands to put an immediate stop to the docking and presence of all Russian ships. However, the Faroese chair of the Faroese government’s foreign affairs committee disagreed and declared that statements like Søren Pape’s could be seen as an attempt to disable democracy in the Faroe Islands by trying to make Russian ships in the Faroese seas a Danish matter. “I would say to Søren Pape that we know this automatic reaction, where you play the imperial card, and I can’t quite see what good it does,” he told P1 Morgen Monday morning, adding that “the rumours about the Faroe Islands’ naivety in major political matters and in the world situation we are in are greatly exaggerated.”

With Russia's role in the global energy system falling, a select few nations are set to benefit -Russia's role as a global energy player is set to diminish, and the U.S. and Qatar are among a slew of nations ready to fill its shoes, analysts told CNBC. "Russia's global LNG supply share will almost certainly decline this decade," Henning Gloystein, a director for energy, climate, and natural resources at political consultancy Eurasia Group told CNBC. He noted that its role in the liquefied natural gas space was retreating even before the country's invasion of Ukraine last year. Western sanctions, which resulted from the onslaught of its neighbor, further sapped most foreign investment out of Russia's LNG sector. Russia's inability to purchase liquefaction modules (which enable natural gas to be converted into LNG) will hamper its ambitions, said the Director of South and Southeast Asia Gas of S&P Global Commodity Insights, Zhi Xin Chong. "In this decade, it will be extremely challenging for Russia to expand its liquefaction capacity given the broad sanctions that have been imposed on the country," Chong said in an e-mail. He added that the total capacity for Russia's LNG facilities to produce natural gas will remain flat at 37 million tons over the next few years. By 2030, the total global LNG capacity will grow by 50% to 671 million tons per year — and Russia's share of this pie is expected to fall to 5% from the current 6.7%, S&P further projects. In 2021 before its invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the world's largest gas exporter, as well as the fourth largest LNG exporter after Australia, Qatar and the U.S. And these countries are expected to fill the gas gap — alongside others. "We're going to see much more emphasis on other places like the U.S., Mozambique and Australia," Chong said. In the first half of 2022, the U.S. overtook Qatar and Australia to become the world's largest LNG exporter, according to the Energy Information Administration, citing data from not-for-profit organization Cedigaz. By 2030, Chong expects the U.S. to take up 25% of global LNG capacity, and Qatar to make up 19%. Eurasia's Henning also cited the U.S. and Qatar as being the "main beneficiaries" as Russia falls back from the world's LNG ecosystem. "New projects and expansions to existing facilities in the U.S. as well as Qatar's massive North Field expansion have been significantly accelerated as Europe piled into the LNG market last year," he said. Asides from the U.S. and Qatar, the Eastern Mediterranean is also on his list as the region is geographically well suited to replace Russian pipeline gas to southern European countries, especially Italy, Greece and Croatia.

Global refinery margins lose steam as Russian oil finds new outlets --Global diesel margins have slumped by about half since February, dragging on refiners' profits, as Russian exports continue despite sanctions, helping output from China and India reach all-time highs in March. Western sanctions and price caps on Russian crude and oil products introduced in December and February had been expected to tighten oil supplies globally. However, Russia continues to ship out low-cost oil, enabling its biggest clients - India and China - to boost their refining output and exports. Russian oil products, meanwhile, are being sent in high volumes to oil hubs to be stored and re-exported worldwide. In addition, several new refining complexes are coming online this year in the Middle East and China, churning out more oil products for export and further depressing refining margins. India's Reliance Industries, operator of the world's largest refining complex, said in its earnings call on Friday gasoil margins dropped as Russian diesel supplies have remained firm, while an unusually mild winter in Europe led to a build-up in inventories. Demand for gasoil to replace natural gas in power generation has also fallen after spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices eased from all-time highs, the company said.

India Accounted For 70% Of Urals Shipments In April India's oil importers sometimes experience delays in paying for the Russian crude when it's above the $60 a barrel price cap set by the G7, but most of the current Indian imports from Russia are priced below that cap, a senior Indian official said on Monday. "Nobody stops us from buying Russian oil at above the price cap level provided. We are not using western service," India's oil secretary Pankaj Jain said at an event as carried by Reuters. The EU and G7 banned on December 5 maritime transportation services, including insurance and funding, from shipping Russia's crude oil to third countries if the oil is bought above the price cap of $60 per barrel. India and the other key Russian oil buyer, China, haven't joined the so-called Price Cap Coalition of mostly Western nations that imposed the price cap on Russia's crude oil if the cargoes are using Western insurance, shipping, and financing. In case of purchases above the $60 price cap, Indian importers are arranging themselves the payment settlements, the Indian oil secretary said. India will buy the oil it consumes from "wherever we have to" if the economics are beneficial for the country, Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told CNBC earlier this year."Today we feel confident that we'll be able to use our market to source from wherever we have to, from wherever we get beneficial terms," the minister said. So far this month, India and China have snapped up Russian cargoes at prices above the price cap, according to Reuters estimates on trading source data. India is estimated to account for over 70% of the Urals shipments in April, and China is receiving 20% of those shipments so far this month, according to Reuters estimates.

Russian oil slashes OPEC's share of Indian market to 22-year low -OPEC's share of India's oil imports fell at the fastest pace in 2022/23 to the lowest in at least 22 years, as intake of cheaper Russian oil surged, data obtained from industry sources show, and the major producers' share could shrink further this year. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), mainly from the Middle East and Africa, saw their share of India's oil market slide to 59 per cent in the fiscal year to March 2023, from about 72 per cent in 2021/22, a Reuters analysis of the data that dates back to 2001/02 showed. Russia overtook Iraq for the first time to emerge as the top oil supplier to India, pushing Saudi Arabia down to No. 3 in the last fiscal year, the data showed. OPEC's share shrank as India, which in the past rarely bought Russian oil due to high freight costs, is now the top oil client for Russian seaborne oil, rejected by Western nations following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. India shipped in about 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil in 2022/23, the data showed, about 23 per cent of its overall 4.65 million bpd imports. The decision by OPEC and their allies, a group known as OPEC+ to cut production in May could further squeeze OPEC's share in India, the world's third largest oil importer, later this year if Russian supplies stay elevated. "Russian crude is already cheaper than the similar Middle Eastern grades and it seems OPEC is harming itself by a reduction in output," said Refinitiv analyst Ehsan Ul Haq. "It will further erode its market share in Asia." Higher intake of Russian oil boosted the share of Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.) countries to a record 26.3 per cent, and reduced that of Middle Eastern and African nations to a 22-year low of 55 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively. In 2021/22, Middle East's share was 64 per cent while Africa's was 13.4 per cent, the data showed. Latin America's share declined to a 15-year low of 4.9 per cent in 2022/23. India's oil imports in 2022/23 rose 9 per cent from a year earlier, as state refiners cranked up runs to meet rising local fuel demand after private refiners turned to exports instead of selling fuel at below-market rates domestically, the data showed. Local refiners together processed about 6 per cent more crude in 2022/23 at about 5.13 million bpd, government data show.

Assam: IGGL completes Asia’s largest underwater hydrocarbon pipeline across the Brahmaputra river to connect Majuli with Jorhat - The Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL) has completed the largest underwater hydrocarbon pipeline in Asia (24-inch diameter and above), which is also the second longest in the world and connects the river island Majuli with Jorhat in Assam. Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) was used to successfully carry out the difficult task of constructing the pipeline beneath the mighty Brahmaputra river, marking the achievement of a significant milestone in the building of the North East Gas Grid (NEGG), which connects North East India to the National Gas Grid. The total length of the pipeline in this single HDD crossing is 4,080 meters across the main water channel of the Brahmaputra River. It was laid after overcoming several obstacles, many of which were caused by monsoon rains and flooding. In order to complete this one-of-a-kind river crossing, two HDD rigs simultaneously began drilling from opposite sides of the Brahmaputra, with the junction of the two drilling heads taking place at 30 meters below the river bed. The Brahmaputra River HDD crossing spans a total of 5,780 meters when all major and smaller water channels are taken into account. The pipeline was installed in three distinct portions that are 1000 M, 4080 M, and 700 M in length, with the first and third parts already finished. The engineers and workers were seen celebrating and congratulating one another on completing the herculean task.

Global Shipping Is Under Pressure to Stop Its Heavy Fuel Oil Use Fast – That’s Not Simple, but Changes Are Coming -Most of the clothing and gadgets you buy in stores today were once in shipping containers, sailing across the ocean. Ships carry over 80% of the world’s traded goods. But they have a problem – the majority of them burn heavy sulfur fuel oil, which is a driver of climate change.While cargo ships’ engines have become more efficient over time, the industry is under growing pressure to eliminate its carbon footprint.The European Union Parliament this year voted to require an 80% drop in shipping fuels’ greenhouse gas intensity by 2050 and to require shipping lines to pay for the greenhouse gases their ships release. The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency that regulates international shipping, also plans to strengthen its climate strategy this summer. The IMO’s current goal is to cut shipping emissions 50% by 2050. President Joe Biden said on April 20, 2023, that the U.S. would push for a new international goal of zero emissionsby 2050 instead.We asked maritime industry researcher Don Maier if the industry can meet those tougher targets.Why Is It So Hard for Shipping to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels?Economics and the lifespan of ships are two primary reasons.Most of the big shippers’ fleets are less than 20 years old, but even the newer builds don’t necessarily have the most advanced technology. It takes roughly a year and a half to come out with a new build of a ship, and it will still be based on technology from a few years ago. So, most of the engines still run on fossil fuel oil.If companies do buy ships that run on alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, methanol and ammonia, they run into another challenge: There are only a few ports so far with the infrastructure to provide those fuels. Without a way to refuel at all the ports that a ship might use, companies will lose their return on investment, so they will keep using the same technology instead.

Oil-spill damage could reach P7B | The Manila Times -- DAMAGE to the environment caused by the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro may reach P7 billion, Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said on Wednesday. In an interview with ANC's Headstart, Loyzaga said the amount was based on an initial calculation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the damage to exposed areas including mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs and fisheries. "The possible exposure area for us is about P7 billion," she said, referring to the damage caused by the sinking of MT Princess Empress. "What we have to do now is verify on the ground how much of these reefs have actually been touched by the oil, how many of the mangroves have actually been destroyed and how much of the seagrasses have actually been affected," she said. Loyzaga mentioned that one of the important things being considered now is that the oil is being moved not just by the wind, but also by the current. Based on projections of the UP Marine Science Institute, using maps provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, oil is moving toward the Verde Island Passage. Verde Island is situated along the bodies of Verde Island Passage (VIP) between the islands of Batangas and Mindoro, a declared marine reserve and recognized as the center of global shore-fish biodiversity. According to the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), the estimated P7 billion potential damage include the overall area of all the three habitats in the affected provinces. "The actual value of the habitats affected by the spill will rely on ground validation, thorough habitat impact assessments and further economic valuation exercises," the DENR-BMB said, adding that the actual value of affected environmental areas will be determined once the oil spill has been "permanently contained and terminated." Meanwhile, Loyzaga said the DENR will need to "actually go underneath and verify" once it is safe to dive in waters severely affected by the oil spill. "We're not allowed to fish in the area. We're also not allowed to dive yet, but we want to do that immediately because we want to observe what the physical impacts are," she added. The Environment chief explained the role of the DENR in the oil spill containment. "The DENR is responsible for offshore and nearshore contamination and impacts," she said. "The general operation is legally under the direction of the Philippine Coast Guard. So they are onsite right where the source is happening. We are left to actually work on the forensics, what is happening, where the hazards are going, what will be affected, and our area is nearshore and offshore," Loyzaga added. The MT Princess Empress tanker was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial oil when it sank off the coast of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, on Feb. 28, 2023.

IMO Asks States For Equipment For FSO Safer Oil Spill --The IMO is urging Member States to contribute equipment to help UN-led efforts to prevent a possible catastrophic oil spill from the FSO Safer, an ageing and rapidly decaying floating storage offshore (FSO) unit moored 4.8 nautical miles off the Red Sea coast of Yemen. A converted super tanker, the FSO Safer contains an estimated 150,000 metric tonnes (approximately 1.1 million barrels) of crude oil, four times the amount spilled during the Exxon Valdez incident in 1989. It has been moored at Ras Isa since 1988 where it had been receiving, storing and exporting crude oil flowing from the Marib oil fields. But in 2015, due to the war in Yemen, production, offloading and maintenance operations were suspended. FSO Safer has not been inspected since then, but all assessments of its structural integrity suggest it has now deteriorated to the extent that it is beyond repair, and at imminent risk of breaking up or exploding. The danger is of a significant oil spill that would surpass Yemen’s capacity and resources to effectively respond. One critical gap identified in Yemen’s preparedness to respond to an oil spill is the lack of specialized equipment within the country. Because of lengthy lead times for the manufacture and acquisition of oil spill response equipment, the IMO is seeking contributions of used or near end-of-life spill response equipment that can be transported to the region within weeks. An indicative list of the required equipment annexed to Circular Letter No.4714 includes items for the containment and recovery and the resource protection aspects of the operation, such as booms to contain any spill and oil skimmer brushes, as well as oil dispersants and rapid erection, self-standing storage tanks. The IMO is providing expertise in oil spill preparedness and response in line with its mandate set out in the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC). An oil spill from the FSO Safer would be a major humanitarian and environmental disaster likely to heavily impact the north-western coastline of Yemen, including the Yemeni Islands in the Red Sea, and Kamaran Island in particular - an area that encompasses vulnerable ecosystems. There is also potential for oil to drift and impact neighbouring countries, including Djibouti, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia. Many Yemeni coastal communities that could be affected already rely on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs, and a significant oil spill would seriously impact on the health and livelihoods of the people relying on resources from the sea. It could also severely disrupt operations at Yemen’s Hudaydah port, the point of entry for essential imported food, fuel and life-saving supplies. UNDP estimates the cost of clean-up alone would be $20 billion.

Sudan’s Conflict has its Roots in three Decades of Elites fighting over Oil and Energy - Sudan stands on the brink of yet another civil war sparked by the deadly confrontation between the Sudan Armed Forces of General Abdelfatah El-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hemedti”).Much of the international news coverage has focused on the clashing ambitions of the two generals. Specifically, that differences over theintegration of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces into the regular army triggered the current conflict on April 15, 2023.I am a professor teaching at Columbia University and my research focuses on the political economy of the Horn of Africa. A forthcoming paper of mine in the Journal of Modern African Studies details the strategic calculus of the Sudan Armed Forces in managing revolution and democratisation efforts, today as well as in past transitions. Drawing on this expertise, it is important to underline that three decades of contentious energy politics among rival elites forms a crucial background to today’s conflict.The current conflict comes after a decade-long recession which has drasticallylowered the living standards of Sudanese citizens as the state teetered on the brink of insolvency.Long gone are the heady days when Sudan emerged as one of Africa’s top oil producers. Close to 500,000 barrels were pumped every day by 2008. Average daily production in the last year has hovered around 70,000 barrels.In the late 1990s, amid a devastating civil war, President Omar Al-Bashir’s military-Islamist regime announced that energy would help birth a new economy. It had already paved the way for this reality, ethnically cleansingthe areas where oil would be extracted. The regime struck partnerships with Chinese, Indian and Malaysian national oil companies. Growing Asian demand was met with Sudanese crude. Petrodollars poured in. Billions of dollars were channelled to the construction and expansion of several hydro-electric dams on the Nile and its tributaries. These investments intended to enable the irrigation of hundreds of thousands of hectares. Food crops and animal fodder were to be grown for Middle Eastern importers. Electricity consumption in urban centres was transformed; production in Sudan was boosted by thousands of megawatts. The regime spent more than US$10 billion on its dam programme. That’s a phenomenal sum and testament to its belief that the dams would become the centrepiece of Sudan’s modernised political economy.Then, in 2011, South Sudan seceded – along with three-quarters of Sudan’s oil reserves. This exposed the illusions on which these dreams of hydro-agricultural transformation rested. The regime losthalf of its fiscal revenues, and about two-thirds of its international payment capacity.The economy shrank by 10%. Sudan was also plagued by power cuts as the dams proved very costly and produced much less than promised. Lavish fuel subsidies were maintained but as evidence shows, these disproportionately benefited select constituencies in Khartoum and failed to protect the poor. Amid these overlapping energy, food and political crises, Sudan’s Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces have been violently competing for control of the political economy’s remaining lucrative niches, such as key import-export channels. Both believe the survival of their respective institutions is essential to preventing the country from descending into total disintegration. In view of such contradictions and complexity, there are no easy solutions to Sudan’s multiple crises. The political, economic and humanitarian situation is likely to worsen further.

Four Scenarios That Could Send Oil Prices To $200 -It was the talk of the town last year. Traders bet on oil hitting $200 by March this year. Hedge fund managers warned it could even reach $250 before 2022 was over. None of that happened, and in hindsight, it’s easy to see why: global oil markets have time and again proved they are a lot more resilient than traders give them credit for. But is oil at $200 still a possibility? It always is, under certain scenarios.

• #1 Major Ukraine escalation. It was because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year that people started talking about $200. Pierre Andurand went even further, warning that oil could rise to $250 because “I think we’re losing the Russian supply on the European side for ever.” It turned out that the European side is not losing Russian supply but is simply getting it through third countries now, so that’s saved the global economy from a major oil price-induced headache. Oil always finds a way. Yet a major escalation in the conflict, possibly through more direct NATO involvement, could send prices flying high.
• #2 More OPEC+ cuts. As far as chances go, this scenario is less likely than the first one. To get prices to $200, OPEC+ would need to cut much deeper, but more importantly, the group would have to want it. It doesn’t. Because $200 is way too high a price, and it would sap demand. OPEC+ has suggested with its latest moves that its sweet price spot is around $80-90 per barrel, so it is trying to keep prices around that level.
• #3 Russia production cuts. All the $200-per-barrel forecasts from last year had to do with Russian oil. Most forecasters who saw oil rising to $200 cited European and U.S. bans on Russian oil imports as the basis for their forecasts, and at the time, it did seem like a sound basis. Of course, those forecasts never considered the option that Russia would simply switch buyers and Europe and the U.S. would switch sellers, which is exactly what happened. Whatever the case with those cuts, the simple fact is that Russia can reduce its production deliberately. And if it does, prices will jump.
• #4 Underinvestment comes to bite. The scenarios outlined so far are more of a mental exercise than realistic scenarios. None of them are particularly likely, even though at least a couple seemed so likely they made traders buy $200 Brent options. Yet there is one more scenario that is a realistic one. It’s not as bombastic as a war, but that makes it all the more dangerous. It is the scenario where consistent underinvestment shrinks supply so much, that prices have nowhere to go but up. Saudi Arabia has been warning about it. U.S. shale producers have been warning about it. And the G7 just declared they would fight “unabated fossil fuels,” which essentially means discouraging more oil and gas production.

Oil prices fall 1 percent on uncertainty over global outlook, rate hikes Oil prices fell more than 1% on Monday as concerns about rising interest rates, the global economy and the outlook for fuel demand outweighed support from the prospect of tighter supplies on OPEC+ supply cuts. Brent crude slipped 91 cents, or 1.11%, to $80.75 a barrel by 0627 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $76.96 a barrel, also down 91 cents, or 1.17% lower. Both contracts fell more than 5% last week, their first weekly drop in five, as U.S. implied gasoline demand fell from a year ago, fuelling worries of a recession at the world's top oil consumer. Weak U.S. economic data and disappointing corporate earnings from the tech sector sparked growth concerns and risk aversion among investors, CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said. The stabilising U.S. dollar and climbing bond yields are also adding pressure on commodity markets, she added. Central banks from the United States to Britain and Europe are all expected to raise interest rates when they meet in the first week of May, seeking to tackle stubbornly high inflation. China's bumpy economic recovery from COVID-19 also clouded its oil demand outlook, although Chinese customs data showed on Friday that the world's top crude importer brought in record volumes in March. China's imports from top suppliers Russia and Saudi Arabia topped 2 million barrels per day (bpd) each. Still, refining margins in Asia have weakened on record production from top refiners China and India, curbing the region's appetite for Middle East supplies loading in June. Nevertheless, analysts and traders remained bullish about China's fuel demand recovery towards the second half of 2023 and as additional supply cuts planned by OPEC+ - the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers including Russia - from May could tighten markets. "Planned output cuts by the OPEC+ alliance and a strong demand outlook from China could provide a fillip to prices in the coming days, where Brent is likely to find key support around $79 a barrel, while for WTI crude support is aligned at $75 a barrel,"

Oil Edges Up After the Vast Weekly Loss | Rigzone - Oil recouped some of last week’s slump in lower-volume trading as many investors took a pause while awaiting further clues to demand. West Texas Intermediate rose to trade near $79 a barrel, swinging in a $2.50 range during a volatile session throughout the day. Last week, the commodity experienced the biggest weekly drop since the banking crisis in March amid signs of shrinking refining margins in Asia. “There are a lot of traders sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out a direction,” “Traders are looking for a dip to get into; if we hold $75, we can start making a way higher.” Crude has wiped out nearly all of the rally seen earlier this month after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced surprise new production cuts. Citigroup Inc. said it was taken aback by the magnitude of the pullback in Asian refining margins, which is partly attributable to the ramp up of new Middle Eastern refineries. WTI for June delivery rose 89 cents to settle at $78.76 a barrel at 3:13pm in New York. Brent for June settlement rose $1.07 to $82.73 a barrel. Later this week, the Federal Reserve will release the last of its major reports on US jobs, inflation and consumer spending before its May policy meeting. Additionally, some of the world’s biggest oil majors, including Chevron and Exxon, will report their first-quarter earnings on Friday.

The Oil Market Traded Lower on Tuesday After Two Sessions of Gains The oil market traded lower on Tuesday after two sessions of gains as concerns over the global economic outlook and a firmer dollar countered optimism about demand in China. The oil market posted a high of $79.07 in overnight trading. However, as the market failed to test its resistance at its previous high of $79.18, the market erased its gains and sold off more than $2 as it posted a low of $76.50 by mid-morning. The market was weighed down by the strength in the dollar amid worries about corporate earnings and the global economy. The market later bounced off its low and retraced some of its losses ahead of the close. The June WTI contract settled down $1.69 at $77.07 and the June Brent contract settled down $1.96 at $80.77. The product markets also ended the session lower, with the heating oil market settling down 7.99 cents at $2.4511 and the RB market settling down 4.32 cents at $2.5886. S&P Global Commodity Insights is estimating global refinery capacity offline will be reduced by 50,000 b/d to 8.3 million b/d for the week ending April 21st, as a result of the recent restarts in the U.S. and Europe. Motiva Enterprises plans to restart a 54,000 bpd coker at its 626,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery on Wednesday. The unit had nearly completed restarting on April 19th when a malfunction shut it down.Platts is reporting that PDVSA’s 955,000 b/d Paraguana Refining Center was operating at just 150,000 b/d or 15.7% of its capacity as of April 24th, down 6.1% from the previous week. Low crude oil inventories and unscheduled plant shutdowns were reportedly behind the reductions.Colonial Pipeline Co is allocating space for Cycle 26 on Line 1, its main gasoline line from Houston, Texas to Greensboro, North Carolina. The current allocation is for the pipeline segment north of Collins, Mississippi. Colonial Pipeline Co is also allocating space for Cycle 26 shipments on Line 2, its main distillate line from Houston, Texas to Greensboro, North Carolina. This allocation is for the pipeline segment north of Collins, Mississippi. Refinitiv clean products analyst, Raj Rajendran, said gasoline shipments across the Atlantic originating from Northwest Europe rebounded in April after hitting a nearly three-year low in March, adding that shipments to West Africa have been hit by lower demand and remain well-supplied from shipments last month. Transatlantic and West Africa-bound shipments stand at 1.27 million metric tons so far in April, down from 1.79 million metric tons exported last month and 1.84 million metric tons shipped this month in 2022. Separately, according to Refinitiv data, diesel exports to Europe are set to increase to 7.37 million tons in April, their highest since January. Exports from the East for arrival in April are set to reach a new record high of 4.39 million tons.

WTI Oil Falls to 3-Week Low on Signs of US Consumer Pullback -- Oil futures fell sharply in afternoon trading Tuesday, sending West Texas Intermediate to the lowest settlement since March 31. The decline came on fresh signs U.S. consumers are pulling back on spending ahead of the summer travel season. The U.S. consumer confidence index fell to a nine-month low 101.3 in April, reflecting persisting worries over a recession and concern over the labor market. "Compared to last month, fewer households expect business conditions to improve and more expect worsening of conditions in the next six months. They also expect fewer jobs to be available over the short term," said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at The Conference Board. Interestingly, April's decline in consumer confidence reflects a deterioration in the outlook for consumers under 55 years of age and for households earning $50,000 and over. U.S. macroeconomic data for the month of April have been mixed so far, showing marginal rebounds in regional manufacturing activity but a broader pullback in consumer spending. The Dallas Federal Reserve's Manufacturing Survey released Monday showed industrial activity in the region turned choppy in April after a slight upswing recorded in the prior month, with business outlook remaining deeply negative. In a note released Monday, Goldman Sachs said American households continue to rapidly draw down excess savings to offset inflationary pressures, and that is being one of the major factors depressing overall economic growth. The investment bank forecasts U.S. GDP growth to ease to 0.6% for the second and third quarters before rebounding slightly to 0.9% in the final three months of the year. At settlement, NYMEX June WTI futures fell $1.69 to $77.07 per bbl, while international crude benchmark ICE Brent futures for June delivery declined $1.96 to $80.77 per bbl. NYMEX May RBOB futures eroded to $2.5886 per gallon, down $0.0432, and May ULSD futures dropped back $0.0799 to $2.4511 per gallon.

Oil Prices Slip As Banking Fears Return --Oil prices dropped early on Wednesday after another banking sector scare and after U.S. consumer confidence fell for the third time in four months. As of 8:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, ahead of the EIA’s weekly inventory report, the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude was trading down by 0.47% at $76.71. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was barely hanging onto the $80 a barrel level – Brent was down by 0.85% on the day at $80.09.Oil continued the slide from Tuesday when prices fell by 2% to the lowest level so far this month. Prices were dragged down by renewed concerns about the U.S. banking sector after California-based lender First Republic spooked the financial markets on Tuesday, saying it had lost 40% of its deposits in the first quarter. First Republic shares plunged by 49% on Tuesday, reigniting fears of another banking sector crisis after the collapse of SVB in March. A stronger U.S. dollar also weighed on oil prices on Tuesday. Estimates provided by the American Petroleum Institute (API) of a large crude oil draw and a drop in gasoline inventories failed to offset fears about the economy. U.S. consumer confidence declined in April to 101.3, down from 104.0 in March, the Conference Board said on Tuesday, the third drop in consumer confidence in four months. “Consumers became more pessimistic about the outlook for both business conditions and labor markets. Compared to last month, fewer households expect business conditions to improve and more expect worsening of conditions in the next six months,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director, Economics at The Conference Board. “The oil market has already seen a fair amount of weakness over the last week as falling refinery margins raised concern about demand,” ING strategists said on Wednesday. “With little in the way of oil-related releases this week, oil price direction is likely to continue to be dictated by external drivers,” they added.

WTI Bounces Off OPEC+ Lows As SPR Draws Down For 4th Straight Week - Oil prices are extending losses once again as weak durable goods (under the hood) and growing banking crisis fears prompted WTI to erase all of the post-OPEC+ production-cut gains.“Concerns about the outlook for demand seem to be the main culprit” for lower prices in recent days, and are countering the effects of lower OPEC+ output, “For the market in general, including the oil market, it’s now wait-and-see before next week’s Fed and European Central Bank meetings which will set the tone.”For now, confirmation of API's large crude draw could trigger a rebound off this key support level...API

• Crude -6.083mm (-700k exp)
• Cushing +465k
• Gasoline -1.919mm (-700k exp)
• Distillates +1.693mm (-400k exp)

DOE

• Crude -5.05mm (-700k exp, BBG -3.6mm whisper)
• Cushing +319k
• Gasoline -2.408mm (-700k exp)
• Distillates -577k (-400k exp)

The official data confirmed API's report of a large crude draw last week (and we also saw product inventories drawdown once again). Stocks at the Cushing hub rose for the first time in 8 weeks...The Biden admin drew down from the SPR for the 4th straight week...The so-called "adjustment factor" on crude stocks jumped again...why is the adjustment 'always' to the upside?Graphics Source: Bloomberg. US crude production was flat at 12.2mm b/d despite the trend lower in rig counts...WTI was trading around $76 ahead of the official print, having erased all of the post-OPEC+ production-cut gains... And bounced higher after the official data reported the draws...

The Oil Market Continued to Trend Lower on Wednesday, Extending the Losses Seen During Tuesday's Session The oil market continued to trend lower on Wednesday, extending the losses seen during Tuesday’s session as weak economic data raised concerns over a recession. The market retraced some of its previous losses in overnight trading as it traded to a high of $77.93. However, the market erased its gains and sold off sharply to a low of $74.05 ahead of the close after completely backfilling its gap from early this month at $75.83. The market retraced almost 50% of its move from a low of $64.58 to a high of $83.38 as it extended its losses in afternoon trading. The oil market was pressured despite the EIA report showing draws across the board, with a larger than expected draw in crude stocks of over 5 million barrels. Demand concerns and renewed recessionary fears overshadowed the supportive EIA report. The June WTI contract settled down $2.77 at $74.30 and the Brent contract settled down $3.08 at $77.69. The product market ended the session in negative territory, with the heating oil market settling down 7.81 cents at $2.3730 and the RB market settling down 3.92 cents at $2.5494. The EIA reported that U.S. product supplied of gasoline increased in the latest week to the highest level since December 2021. U.S. product supplied increased by 992,000 bpd to 9.51 million bpd in the week ending April 21st. The EIA also reported that crude oil stocks held in the SPR fell by 5.1 million barrels on the week to 460.9 million barrels, the lowest level since October 1983.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that OPEC+ remains an efficient tool for coordination on global oil markets and added that there are risks to energy security without OPEC+. He said the group was not regulating oil prices but rather was closely watching the balance of supply and demand. He said that he hoped there would be an opportunity for in-person meetings of the OPEC+ oil-producing group. He said that reaching agreement among the organization's membership was sometimes difficult. Separately, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister said that the Russian energy sector had successfully coped with severe Western sanctions imposed on it after Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He said that 20% of Russian oil previously supplied to Europe had been rerouted to other markets such as Asia, showing the resiliency of its energy sector. He said the total balance of oil supply and demand has not changed.IIR Energy reported that U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 1.08 million bpd of capacity in the week ending April 28th, increasing available refining capacity by 34,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to fall to 479,000 bpd in the week ending May 5th.The Association of American Railroads reported that its weekly railcar loadings on major U.S. railroads in the week ending April 26th increased by 5.1% on the year to 240,584. It reported that the number of railcar loadings transporting petroleum and petroleum products fell by 2.3% on the year to 9,855.

Oil Shrugs Bullish EIA Report, WTI Slides below $75 a Bbl -- Oil futures fell sharply in afternoon trading Wednesday, with both crude benchmarks erasing all OPEC-fueled gains as traders look to deterioration in refining margins over the last few weeks that have prompted some refiners in Asia and European Union to lower processing rates. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes have now erased all the gains triggered by the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by nearly 1.6 million bpd beginning next week. Concerns over the demand outlook and health of the global economy seem to be driving oil prices lower, countering the effects of restrained supplies from OPEC+ producers. Refiners in Northwest Europe and Asia are suffering from weak profit margins, particularly for making diesel fuel that has taken a hit from reduced manufacturing activity across major economies. Diesel margins for European refiners halved since the start of February, according to Bloomberg News, with speculators amassing their biggest bearish position in Europe's diesel benchmark since 2020. Gasoline margins have also slumped. Against this background, bullish inventory report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration did little to backstop the slide in oil prices on Wednesday. EIA data this morning revealed U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 5.1 million bbl from the previous week to 460.9 million bbl, 2% below the five-year average. The outsized draw was realized despite a 1 million bbl transfer of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the commercial side. Similar sales will continue through June, according to the Department of Energy. Domestic oil production decreased 100,000 bpd in the reviewed week to 12.2 million bpd, according to EIA.In the gasoline complex, EIA data showed stockpiles fell by a sizable 2.4 million bbl to 221.1 million bbl, about 7% below the five-year average. Gasoline demand shot up to the highest level so far this year at 9.511 million bpd, up 992,000 bpd from the prior week. Distillate fuel oil supplies fell 557,000 bbl to about 12% below the five-year average at 111.5 million bbl. Distillate supplied to the U.S. market, a measure of demand, remained little changed from the prior week at 3.728 million bpd. Total products supplied to the domestic market over the last four-week period averaged 19.8 million bpd, up 2.2% from the same period last year.At settlement, NYMEX June WTI futures fell $2.77 to $74.30 bbl, while international crude benchmark ICE Brent futures for June delivery declined $3.08 to $77.69 bbl. NYMEX May RBOB futures eroded to $2.5494 gallon, down $0.0392 on the session, and May ULSD futures dropped back $0.0781 to $2.3730 gallon.

Oil steadies after Russia says global oil markets in balance -- Oil prices steadied on Thursday, paring losses from the previous session, after a top Russian official said global oil markets were balanced. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said OPEC+ does not see the need for further oil output cuts but is always able to adjust its policy. Russia is part of the OPEC+ group of oil-producers that this month announced a combined reduction of around 1.16 million barrels per day, a surprise decision the U.S. described as unwise and which sent oil prices higher. "The small increase in crude oil prices has been caused by short-covering from the sell-off over the last several days," On Wednesday, the benchmarks dropped almost 4% as jitters about a U.S. economic downturn overshadowed a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. crude inventories. Investors are watching economic data for any directional cues on energy demand. U.S. economic growth slowed by more than expected in the first quarter, although jobless claims fell in the week ending April 22, data showed. On Wednesday, U.S. data showed capital goods spending fell more than expected. Oil prices were also pressured as weak risk sentiment spread from the banking sector due to First Republic Bank's continued slump. Analysts see weak refinery margins as a major drag on oil prices, with heating oil and gas oil as "the main possible culprit for the outsized weakness". "Inventories in this product are somewhat reluctant to deplete, possibly due to resilient Russian exports," Russia has increased exports of refined products despite an EU embargo and oil price cap, sources told Reuters. Falling refinery profit margins could lead to cuts in runs and a further reduction in crude demand, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. Backwardation in the Brent futures curve has eased to just about $2.20 per barrel, having touched $4 a barrel on April 12. Backwardation, when prices for the front-month contract are higher than contracts for later months, typically indicates tight supply. Markets will look for direction from the first quarterly print of euro zone gross domestic product growth, due on Friday. The data could affect monetary policy decisions by the European Central Bank when it meets on May 4.

Oil Mixed as US Growth Slows Amid Persistent Inflation -- Oil futures settled Thursday's session mixed, with RBOB and ULSD contracts softening on expectations for weaker demand growth this year after U.S. gross domestic product slowed more than expected in the first quarter, leading to lower refining margins and muted demand for petroleum products. The U.S. economy has been caught between slowing growth and still-high inflation, showed macroeconomic data released Thursday, highlighting the tough challenge faced by the Federal Reserve. U.S. GDP grew at just 1.1% during the first three months of the year, easing sharply from 2.6% seen over the final quarter of 2022, according to data released Thursday morning from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Economists were mostly expecting a more robust reading of 2%. In the meantime, the Fed's preferred inflation metrics -- Personal Consumption and Expenditures -- picked up the pace to 4.9% in the January-through-March period, the quickest pace in a year. PCE index had fallen for three straight quarters from 7.5% recorded during the first quarter 2022. High inflation is underscored by a still-tight labor market that continues to show signs of strength despite a slowdown in the broader economy. A separate report released Thursday morning showed applications for unemployment benefits fell for the first time in three weeks as the nationwide unemployment rate hovers around a 50-year low 3.5%. The number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the week ended April 22 fell 16,000 to 230,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Thursday's macroeconomic data strengthened the case for the Federal Open Market Committee to raise the federal funds rate by yet another 25 basis points at their May 2-3 policy meeting. Two-year Treasury yields climbed on that bet Thursday morning, while U.S. dollar strengthened to 101.252, up 0.046% against a basket of foreign currencies. As the economy slows, refiners in the United States, Northwest Europe, and Asia have suffered weaker profit margins, particularly for making diesel fuel amid lower consumption due to reduced manufacturing and trade activity. Diesel margins for European refiners halved since the start of February, according to Bloomberg News, with speculators amassing their biggest bearish position in Europe's diesel benchmark since 2020. In the U.S., refining margins have fallen sharply to the lowest level in a year. At settlement, NYMEX June West Texas Intermediate futures advanced to $74.76 per barrel (bbl), up $0.46 per bbl on the session, while international crude benchmark ICE Brent futures for June delivery gained $0.68 per bbl to $78.37 per bbl. NYMEX May RBOB futures eroded to $2.5328 per gallon, down $0.0166 on the session, and May ULSD futures edged $0.0188 lower to $2.3542 per gallon.

Oil Prices Head For Second Consecutive Weekly Loss - Oil prices were on course early on Friday to post a second consecutive weekly loss as concerns about the economy trumped larger-than-expected draw in U.S. commercial oil stocks.Brent Crude prices fell this week below the $80 per barrel threshold as negative sentiment in the market prevailed due to concerns about a recession with rising interest rates in major developed economies.The Fed, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Bank of England are all expected to continue raising the key interest rates at their upcoming policy meetings. The Fed’s decision will be announced next week after the May 2-3 rate-setting meeting. Early on Friday, WTI was trading a bit above $75 and Brent at around $79 a barrel.Oil has now fallen back to the levels from before the surprise OPEC+ announcement of additional cuts in early April. The shock announcement sent prices rising for four consecutive weeks as short sellers ran for the exits and traders opened fresh long positions.But last week and this week, fears of recessions returned and underwhelming U.S. consumer and GDP data further weighed on oil prices.Data showed this week that U.S. consumer confidence declined in April, the third drop in consumer confidence in four months. In addition, U.S. economic growth slowed sharply to 1.1% in the first quarter from 2.6% growth in Q4, as companies curtailed investments amid rising interest rates and borrowing costs.The large crude draw and a drop in gasoline inventories in the U.S., which the EIA reported on Wednesday, failed to offset the gloomy mood on the oil market.“There was little in the way of fresh developments to justify the sell-off, but clearly sentiment in the market remains negative as a result of the macro outlook,” ING strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said on Thursday. “The prompt ICE Brent timepsread has also fallen back into a small contango, suggesting a more comfortable prompt market in terms of supply,” they added.According to Saxo Bank’s strategists, “The technical break below $80 in Brent may attract additional short selling from momentum focused traders, with weak risk sentiment spreading from the banking sector.”

Crude prices up 2% on rising U.S. oil demand and lower output - Oil prices rose on Friday after energy firms posted positive earnings and U.S. data showed crude output was declining while fuel demand was growing. On its last day as the front-month, Brent futures for June delivery rose $1.13, or 1.49%, to $79.50 a barrel. The more actively traded July contract was up about 2.8% at $80.40. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 2.7%, or $2.02, to $76.78 a barrel. Brent and WTI notched their second straight weekly declines, with a fourth straight monthly decline for Brent as disappointing U.S. economic data and uncertainty over further interest rate hikes weighed on the demand outlook.. "The market was down much of the week on worries about a looming economic recession and an expansion of the banking crisis with First Republic," "But, today there were headlines showing there may be a solution to the First Republic problem, and there was data pointing to a rise in oil demand and a decline in output," U.S. officials are coordinating urgent talks to rescue First Republic Bank, as private-sector efforts led by the bank's advisers have yet to reach a deal, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are among government bodies that have started to orchestrate meetings with financial companies about a solution for First Republic, the sources said. U.S. crude production fell in February to 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd), its lowest since December. Fuel demand rose to nearly 20 million bpd, its highest since November, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. was unchanged this week at 591, but inched down by one in April in their fifth monthly decline, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said. Oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp are riding a wave of strong demand and have held the line on cost-cutting implemented when fuel demand collapsed during COVID-19 lockdowns. Crude prices have been lower in recent weeks and months due to uncertainty over further interest rate hikes that could reduce demand for oil. For the week, Brent fell about 2.6% after falling 5% last week, and WTI dropped 1.4% after falling 6% last week. For the month, Brent finished 0.3% lower, and WTI rose about 1.5% in April after falling during the prior five months. U.S. consumer spending was unchanged in March, but persistent strength in underlying inflation pressures could prompt the Fed to hike rates again next week to slow inflation, feeding fears of a possible recession.

Oil Posts Sixth Monthly Loss as Demand Fears Offset OPEC+ Cuts -- New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange settled the final trading session of April higher, although all petroleum contracts suffered their sixth consecutive monthly loss as investors look to a sharply slowing economy in the United States and Eurozone, while China's reopening had failed to boost global oil demand, with refiners in Asia seen cutting run rates amid poor margins. Diesel and gasoline markets in Asia have weakened significantly over the past month despite the reopening of China -- the region's largest economy, according to trade sources. In Singapore, profits from producing middle distillates more than halved in recent weeks to the lowest level this year -- another bearish sign for the outlook on the market. Bloomberg News reported that some refiners in the region have already cut run rates as margins sink and China's exports of refined products surged amid weak domestic demand. China's industrial sector had not fully recovered from the COVID-induced slump before trade tensions with the United States flared again, leading some analysts to forecast that the long-awaited rebound might never come. . Domestically, investors are fixated on a sharply slowing U.S. economy that eased to just a 1.1% annualized growth rate in the first quarter and likely dipped below 1% at the start of the second quarter. Goldman Sachs forecast GDP growth would average 0.6% for the second and third quarters before rebounding to 0.9% in the final three months of the year. This outlook doesn't bode well for fuel consumption either from businesses or consumers. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, Personal Consumption and Expenditures, picked up the pace to 4.9% in the January-through-March period, the quickest increase in a year. High inflation is underscored by a still-tight labor market that continued to show signs of strength in April despite a slowdown in the broader economy. Weekly unemployment claims fell for the first time in three weeks as of April 22, delivering an unwelcome surprise to the Federal Reserve that has tried to slow the red-hot labor market for more than a year now. Against this backdrop, OPEC+ production cuts of 1.6 million bpd announced on April 2 did little to backstop the slide in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes have now erased all gains fueled by the OPEC+ cuts as traders fret over the health of the global economy and potential recession in the United States. On Thursday, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that "OPEC+ considers global oil market balanced that requires no further production cuts." At settlement, NYMEX June WTI futures advanced to $76.78 bbl, up $2.02 on the session, while international crude benchmark ICE Brent futures for June delivery gained $1.17 bbl to expire at $79.54 bbl. Next-month delivery July Brent contract settled the session at $80.33 bbl. NYMEX May RBOB futures expired at $2.5780 gallon, up $0.0452, and next-month delivery June contract settled the session at $2.5301 gallon. May ULSD futures expired $0.0245 higher at $2.3787 gallon, and the next-month delivery June contract narrowed discount to just $0.0016 to settle at $2.3771 gallon.

Iran seizes Texas-bound oil tanker, Navy says -Iranian forces on Thursday seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker that was bound for Texas, according to the U.S. Navy. The Navy’s 5th Fleet said the oil tanker Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman, which lies between the Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. The American naval fleet said the merchant ship issued a distress call, and the U.S. is monitoring the situation. “Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” the 5th Fleet said in a statement. “The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker.” It was not immediately clear why the IRGC seized the vessel, but the U.S. says Iran has seized five commercial vessels in the Middle East in the past two years. The Gulf of Oman lies in the backyard waters of Iran. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated after indirect talks over reviving a deal to halt Tehran’s nuclear buildup have largely failed. Washington has also accused Iran of supplying explosive drones to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine. The U.S. deploys boats and forces in the Middle East region to protect oil tankers and other traffic. Lately, those deployments have also included unmanned vessels, or drone boats.

Iran TV airs footage of commandos seizing US-bound tanker (AP) — Masked Iranian navy commandos conducted a helicopter-borne raid to seize a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, footage aired by Iran’s state television showed Friday. The capture on Thursday of the Turkish-managed, Chinese-owned Advantage Sweet represents the latest seizure by Iran amid tensions with the U.S. over advancing nuclear program. While Tehran says the tanker was seized over it running into another Iranian vessel, it has provided no evidence yet to support the claim — and the Islamic Republic has taken other ships as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. The footage showed the commandos descending on the deck of the Advantage Sweet by ropes from a hovering helicopter. A photograph showed one commando with his fist in the air after apparently taking the vessel. The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet has said the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years. “Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” it added. The vessel’s manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was “being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute.” All the ship’s 24 crew members are Indian. “The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority,” the firm said. “Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger.”

Senators urge Biden to enable agency to seize tankers of Iran oil (Reuters) - As Iran's oil exports rise despite U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program, senators from both parties urged President Joe Biden to enable a federal government agency to seize Iranian oil and gas shipments. Senators Joni Ernst, a Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said in a letter to Biden that the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office has not been able to seize an Iranian oil shipment for more than a year. HSI's enforcement has been curtailed by policy limitations within the Department of Treasury's Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture, the senators said in the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since the activation of HSI's enforcement program in 2019, it has seized nearly $228 million in Iranian crude and fuel oil linked to Iran's Quds Force, the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the senators said. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes while the United States suspects Tehran wants to develop a nuclear bomb by enriching uranium. Iran's mission to United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Iran's oil exports have reached their highest level since the reimposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018, Iranian oil minister Javad Owji said last month. He said that 83 million more oil barrels were exported in the last year than the previous year. The letter, signed by 12 senators, was sent on the same day that the U.S. Navy said Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman, the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels. Iran's army said it had seized the tanker after it had collided with an Iranian boat.

Saudi Petrochemicals Giant Sabic Tilting Toward Circular Economy with Like-Minded Peers - Saudi Basic Industries Corp. is taking its petrochemicals manufacturing business full circle, using innovation and more than a dash of technology to help global customers achieve their sustainability goals. Some of those goals are designed to use less natural gas and oil. Maughon, based in Houston, is often at one of more than a dozen research and development (R&D) centers around the world, whose 2,000-member workforce has set ambitious goals. The end goal is to create a circular economy manufacturing products to be reusable, like recycling plastic into pellets to make new plastic products.“There is a recognition, certainly in the Kingdom, that low-cost solar and wind, carbon capture capability, incentives by the government, and directives over renewable energy use etc., are really driving a lot of us,” Maughon said.“Saudi Arabia’s leaders definitely understand that despite the historical footprint of oil and gas, they are also sitting on a large opportunity in renewables and other technologies…It’s all about timing and how you manage the transition, but they definitely understand where their future needs to be.” State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., aka Aramco, which owns 70% of Sabic, set a target in October 2020 to cut direct and indirect emissions by 2050. That goal complements the Kingdom’s ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. Aramco already has signaled that it intends to develop significant hydrogen export capability and become a global leader in carbon capture and storage (CCS), renewable energy and nature-based solutions.Investments are earmarked to build out a blue hydrogen and CCS market and become a “critical supplier” of low-emissions fuels. Blue hydrogen is manufactured from natural gas, with emissions reduced through CCS. The petrochemicals business is tied to the Kingdom’s ambitions. Efforts now are centered on converting some chemicals manufacturing to “fully renewable power,” Maughon noted.

Taliban take out 'mastermind' of bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan - The terrorist leader responsible for planning the attack on Abbey Gate during the evacuation from Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members was killed in a Taliban operation in Afghanistan, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed Tuesday. The U.S. government had no part in the Taliban raid, which took place in recent weeks, said a senior administration official, who like others interviewed for this story who were granted anonymity to speak ahead of a formal U.S. announcement. The officials declined to say exactly when the raid occurred, or name the terrorist killed, citing “sensitivities.” “The ISIS-K terrorist who was the mastermind of the horrific attack at Abbey Gate that killed 13 brave American servicemembers and many others has been removed from the battlefield,” Kirby said in a statement after POLITICO published this story, referring to the Islamic State Khorasan, the branch operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. “He was a key ISIS-K official directly involved in plotting operations like Abbey Gate, and now is no longer able to plot or conduct attacks.” After U.S. officials learned of the Taliban operation, the intelligence community worked with the military in recent days to independently confirm the terrorist’s death with “a high level of confidence,” the official said. The Biden administration is holding off on announcing the news until the family members of the victims of the Abbey Gate attack have been notified. “We are not partnering with the Taliban, but we do think the outcome is a significant one,” the senior official said. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized the chaotic withdrawal after the rapid collapse of the Afghan government in August, 2021. They have also questioned whether the Biden administration has the ability to prevent another terrorist attack on the homeland without a presence on the ground in Afghanistan.

Oslo, the Capital of Norway, Announces boycott of Goods Produced in the Israeli-Occupied Territories -- The city council of Oslo, Norway, the Scandinavian country’s capital, has passed a decree boycotting the importation of goods from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories seized in 1967. The city will also boycott Israeli companies involved in exploiting the resources in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza.The Oslo city council announced, “foodstuffs coming from Israeli-occupied areas must be labelled with the area from which the product comes and must indicate that it is from an Israeli settlement, if that is its source.”The Norwegian government had already made a rule in 2022 that goods from the Occupied Territories could not be marked “Made in Israel,” only those produced inside Israel within its 1949 borders.It may not be an accident that Oslo made this decision now. Daniel Boguslaw at The Intercept raised the question of whether the far, far right government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which is filled with open racists, fascists and Jewish supremacists, might be the best ally the movement for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel has ever had. Global headlines have been full of the hate filled comments of cabinet ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Smotrich urged the ethnic cleansing of a Palestinian hamlet.Israeli authorities have since the 1970s assiduously ignored international law and have subsidized the settling of hundreds of thousands of squatters on privately owned Palestinian farms, orchards and town property. At the same time, the Israeli state permanently locked some 300,000 Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza and has exerted various forms of pressure on them to emigrate abroad. They have also illegally annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem and part of the Palestinian West Bank near it, into which they are also putting squatters. Israeli squatter settlements are Jews-only and discriminate against Palestinian residents in Palestine itself.

Russian jets are dropping bombs rejigged with guidance systems that are delivering 'devastating hits' upon Ukrainian lines, report says -Russia is modifying simple bombs to equip them with guidance systems, turning them into cheap and effective substitutes for expensive guided missiles. The regular bombs appear to be being converted to smart ones using UMPK (unified module for gliding and guidance) systems, according to Illia Ponomarenko of the Kyiv Independent. Ponomarenko wrote that the upgraded guided or gliding bombs pose "an especially serious threat to Ukraine" that can "deliver devastating hits upon Ukrainian lines and the rear front." This system can be used to equip old Soviet FAB-500М-62 gravity bombs, which Russia has an abundant supply of, with a simple satellite guidance system and "wings," according to the outlet. In March, Russia effectively used the modified bombs to bombard Ukrainian defenses of Avdiivka in Donetsk. The kit costs less than 2 million roubles, around $24,000, to produce, making it far cheaper than missiles and other weapons purchased from overseas, according to Russian media. By comparison, a single Kalibr cruise missile, which Russia had been using widely in its invasion of Ukraine, is worth nearly $6.5 million. The system is similar to the JDAM-ER kits that the US has sent to Ukraine, which converts existing unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions.

How Russia could spot Ukrainian F-16s before they even got off the ground, according to an air-warfare expert -- Should Ukraine ever receive F-16 fighters from the US, the jets might not last very long. The F-16 is so fragile that it requires specially prepared airbases — and those bases can be identified and targeted by Russia, one expert says. The F-16 has a large air intake under the nose that "sucks everything from the ground directly into it," Justin Bronk, an air-warfare analyst for Britain's Royal United Service Institute (RUSI) think tank said during a recent episode of the Geopolitics Decanted podcast. "So F-16s typically require very clean, very well-maintained air bases." The F-16 has "fairly lightweight" landing gear because it is designed to have a good thrust-to-weight ratio and "there is no more weight on the jet than there needs to be," Bronk said. Russian fighters are built to operate on more primitive airfields, while Western carrier-based jets like the F/A-18 are designed to absorb the shock of hard landings on a floating runway. "You would have to do a lot of work to get those Ukrainian, old Soviet-pattern runways to a clean enough state to use an F-16 without high risk of foreign object debris going in and damaging the engines," Bronk said. In addition, a lot of Ukrainian airfields are too short to be used by a fully loaded F-16. "So you'd be looking at resurfacing work on runways and potentially extension work, all of which is highly visible" to Russia's satellites as well as to sources Moscow has on the ground, Bronk added. Despite being numerically and technologically outmatched by Russian aircraft and air-to-air missiles, Ukraine's air force has proven remarkably resilient and resourceful. But so far, Russia has chosen to not to use its limited stockpile of long-range missiles against Ukrainian airbases because Ukrainian airpower "doesn't pose a massive threat," Bronk said.

Zelensky Holds ‘Meaningful’ Call With China’s Xi Jinping -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, marking the first time the two leaders spoke since Russia launched its invasion last year. On Twitter, Zelensky said the conversation was “meaningful.”“I had a long and meaningful phone call with President Xi Jinping. I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations,”Zelensky wrote.According to a Chinese readout of the call, Xi expressed to Zelensky Beijing’s position on the war and called for diplomacy. “President Xi pointed out that the Ukraine crisis is evolving in complex ways with major impacts on the international landscape. On the Ukraine crisis, China always stands on the side of peace. Its core stance is to facilitate talks for peace,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.Xi emerged as a potential mediator between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin after Beijing released a 12-point peace plan for the conflict in February. Xi told Zelensky that China will “continue to facilitate talks for peace and make its efforts for early ceasefire and restoration of peace.”According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China will send officials to Ukraine and other countries in the region to have “in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.” The ministry added that Beijing has provided Ukraine with humanitarian assistance and will continue to do so.The Biden administration has discouraged peace talks throughout the war and rejected the idea of China as a mediator when it released its peace plan. Ahead of Xi’s trip to meet Putin in Moscow last month, the White Housecame out against a ceasefire in Ukraine. Despite the US position, the White House said Wednesday that it was a “good thing” Xi and Zelensky spoke. “Now, whether that’s going to lead to some sort of meaningful peace movement, or plan, or proposal, I just don’t think we know that right now,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Kremlin Says It Welcomes Any Steps to Resolve War After Xi-Zelensky Call -The Kremlin said Thursday that it would welcome any steps toward a settlement to the war in Ukraine following the call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese President Xi Jinping.“We are ready to welcome anything that could help bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine closer and, actually, also help Russia achieve all of its goals. We are ready to welcome that,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.“As for the fact of their communication, it is a sovereign matter for each of the two counties that pertains exclusively to their bilateral dialogue,” Peskov added.During the call, Xi stressed to Zelensky that China will work to push for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Beijing announced it will send a seasoned diplomat to Ukraine to speak with “all parties” in the region to resolve the crisis.The envoy China is sending is Li Hui, Beijing’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, who served as the Chinese ambassador to Russia from 2009 to 2019. “The Chinese-appointed special envoy will be the candidate best able to handle the progress of the peace talks,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Thursday.Also on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Beijing wants to work with Central Asian nations to bring Russia and Ukraine to the table. “China and the Central Asian countries share a similar view and stance on the crisis in Ukraine,” he said after meeting with the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.While Russia and Ukraine are expressing openness to China’s efforts, both sides’ demands remain very far apart. Zelensky and his top aides have maintained peace talks can’t happen until Russia is expelled from all the territory it controls, including Crimea. For their part, Moscow says any settlement must recognize the territory it annexed last fall as Russian.

Is Zelensky’s International Charm Offensive, Backed Up With US Bullying, Finally Paying Dividends in Latin America? -- Over the past couple of years, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (aka AMLO) has tried to steer a more independent course for his country, both in the realms of economic and foreign policy, and has been facing ever increasing pressure and interference from Washington as a result. Mexico already had a long, albeit interrupted, history of neutrality dating all the way back to the early 1930s. In 1939, a neutrality clause was even added to its constitution by the government of then-President Lazaro Cardenas, which also nationalized Mexico’s oil and gas a year earlier. In May last year, AMLO reiterated that position in relation to the Russia-Ukraine/NATO conflict: The policy stays the same, we do not want to get directly involved in sanctioning any country. We want to have a position of neutrality, we have been expressing that in the United Nations so that dialogue can be sought in this way. If we lean in favor of one position or another, we lose authority and therefore cannot, if requested, participate in the possibility of reaching an agreement, of conciliation.” But on Wednesday last week, reports began emerging in Mexican and international media that Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies had invited Zelensky to speak to the Mexican nation in a video conference, becoming just the second legislative chamber in Latin American to do so since the war began. On the surface, it represented a significant turnaround. After all, the AMLO government has steadfastly refused to endorse sanctions against Russia while AMLO himself has repeatedly criticised NATO’s relentless arming of Ukraine as well as Zelensky’s own role in the conflict. But the event turned out to be a lot less than met the eye. In reality, just a small group of opposition lawmakers called the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group* had invited the Ukrainian president to speak. The event was not held in the Chamber of Deputies but a much smaller side chamber where roughly 100 of the Chamber’s 500 deputies, all from the opposition PAN, PRI and Citizens’ Movement parties, were gathered. That didn’t stop the Chamber’s President Santiago Creel, who presided over the conference, from condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and expressing Mexico’s solidarity with Ukraine. This takes some chutzpah given that: a) it is the executive, not the legislative, branch — and more specifically, the Foreign Ministry — that sets foreign policy in Mexico; and b) only around one-fifth of all the Chamber’s deputies were actually present at the event, and those who were absent included all members of the governing MORENA party.

After visiting China, Lula hosts Russian foreign minister in Brazil - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers Party - PT) concluded a four-day trip to China on April 15. Two days later, his government hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brasilia. The context of both diplomatic encounters could not have been more explosive, coming in the midst of the escalating NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and the intensifying US provocations against China over Taiwan, threatening the world with a nuclear catastrophe. At the same time, Washington has come to see Latin America as one of the front lines in US imperialism’s confrontation with China, which since 2009 has overtaken the US to become the top trading partner of the region’s largest economies, including Brazil. Xi Jinping and Lula in Beijing. [Photo: Ricardo Stukert/Presidência da República] The China trip was chosen for the launching of the Brazilian government’s “reconstruction of bilateral relations”. It was carried out under the slogan that Lula stressed upon his 100th day in office: “Brazil is back” on the international stage after four years of “isolation” under former President Jair Bolsonaro. The fascistic Bolsonaro, echoing his political ally, Donald Trump, issued a series of provocative anti-Chinese statements that had soured relations between Beijing and Brasilia. The PT government’s stated goals were to make the trip to China a milestone in the recovery of the “active foreign policy” of the previous PT governments (2003-2013), to strengthen “South-South international cooperation” and to “build a more multipolar world,” in the words of the Brazilian presidency’s special advisor, Celso Amorim. To this end, the PT spoke of strengthening the main trade blocs to which Brazil belongs, MERCOSUL (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). After Lula’s return to power, Brazil has rejoined the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUL), both inaugurated under the bourgeois nationalist regimes of the Latin American “Pink Tide” of the 2000s. Chinese President Xi Jinping also declared his plans to strengthen Beijing’s cooperation with both CELAC and MERCOSUL. Dozens of government officials and members of the Brazilian political establishment, as well as more than a hundred businessmen, mainly from the agribusiness sector, travelled along with Lula to China. A total of 35 cooperation and trade agreements were signed between the Brazilian federal state and companies and their Chinese counterparts in numerous areas, such as communications, aerospace, infrastructure, research and innovation, industry, fighting hunger, renewable energy and climate change, agriculture and livestock, ports, and mining. These agreements are expected to generate Chinese investment of US$ 50 billion in Brazil, further strengthening the economic ties between the two countries. The Lula government also took advantage of the trip to China to advance its intentions to “re-industrialize” Brazil on new technological and environmental bases with Chinese investments. The possibility of Chinese company BYD, the world leader in electric cars, opening a plant in the state of Bahia, possibly utilizing the sites of a recently shut Ford plant, was discussed. This year, the Chinese company Cherry announced the construction of an electric car factory in Argentina, and Chinese companies are investing in lithium extraction projects in Bolivia and Chile, which has sounded alarm bells among US and European leaders.

UN: By month's end, India population to be world's largest (AP) — India will be the world’s most populous country by the end of this month, eclipsing an aging China, the United Nations said Monday. The milestone raises questions about whether India can repeat the economic success that has made China central to the world’s economy and a leading global power. The news comes at a moment whenIndia is promoting itself as a rising international player as the host of this year’s G20 Summit. It’s also becoming a more attractive destination for multinational companies seeking to reduce their reliance on China. By the end of April, India’s population is expected to reach 1.425 billion, which means it will match and then surpass mainland China’s, the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs said in a news release. The forecast is based on their latest estimates of global population. It’s not clear exactly when India’s population will pass China’s. It may have already have done so. Demographers say the limits of population data make it impossible to calculate a date. Another U.N. report last week projected that India would have 2.9 million people more than China by mid-year, but that was based on snapshots of the populations at the beginning of the year and the middle of the year. Monday’s announcement is based on an analysis that tried to estimate when the population crossover will take place. The Indian government, which hasn’t done a census since 2011, has not officially commented on the estimates. The timing of when India surpasses China in population will likely be revised once India conducts its next census, John Wilmoth, director of the United Nations’ population division, said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. “The precise timing of this crossover isn’t known, and it will never be known,” Wilmoth said. “There is uncertainty in the data.” India and China are neighbors and have a complicated relationship, including robust trade ties and a long-running border dispute. The United States and its allies increasingly see India, the world’s largest democracy, as a counterweight to China. But their interests don’t always align. India, unlike much of the West, has refrained from condemning its Cold War ally Russia over its war in Ukraine, instead adopting a neutral stance even as India’s purchases of Russian crude have soared.

Europe leads record rise in global military spending to $2.2 trillion as governments prepare for world war - The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) “Trends in Military Expenditure” briefing for 2022 is a chilling document, charting the gathering storm clouds of a third world war. A global military spend of over $2.2 trillion—the highest level ever recorded by the organisation—shows the world’s governments are preparing for conflict on a scale not seen since 1945. The combined arsenals of artillery and tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft, warships and missiles, including nuclear weapons, are enough to raze society to the ground several times over. And they are being readied for action. Military spending increased by 3.7 percent in real terms over 2021, the sharpest rise in 30 years, despite high rates of inflation. SIPRI writes, “Without adjusting for inflation, spending grew by 6.5 percent in 2022—the biggest year-on-year nominal increase in global military spending since 2010.” United States spending of $877 billion—39 percent of the global total, three times the spend of second-place China—confirms Washington’s place as the world’s leading warmonger and instigator of military aggression. But by far the fastest increase in spending (13 percent) was among US allies in Europe. At the centre of two world wars, the continent is once again being turned into an armed camp. The scale of the proxy war being waged by NATO against Russia through Ukraine is enormous. Ukraine’s own military spending for 2022 catapulted the country from the 36th largest armed forces budget in 2021 to the 11th largest in 2022—at $44 billion, 34 percent of its annual GDP. But this is only half the story. SIPRI says it is not able to provide “an accurate assessment of the total amount of financial military aid to Ukraine,” giving an estimate of “at least $30 billion in 2022.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced this month that the current nominal figure was over $70 billion. Whichever figure is closer to the truth for 2022, Ukraine’s military budget last year not only outstripped all NATO powers except the US, it was at least close to and potentially significantly higher than Russia’s $86.4 billion budget, even following Moscow’s 9.2 own percent increase.

Brexit red tape to send UK food prices soaring even higher – — A new system of border checks on goods arriving from Europe is expected to force rocketing U.K. food prices even higher as businesses grapple with hundreds of millions of pounds in extra fees.British business groups last week got sight of the U.K. government’s long-awaited post-Brexit border plans, via a series of consultations. One person in attendance said the proposals will “substantially increase food costs” for consumers from January.That could spell trouble in a country which imports nearly 30 percent of all its food from the EU, according to 2020 figures from the British Retail Consortium, and where the annual rate of food and drink inflation just hit 19.2 percent — its highest level in 45 years.Government officials told business reps at one consultation that firms will be hit with £400 million in extra costs as a result of long-deferred new checks at the U.K. border for goods entering from the EU.Ministers have argued that the full implementation of the new post-Brexit procedures — which will eventually include full digitization of paperwork and a “trusted trader scheme” for major importers in order to reduce border checks — will more than offset these costs in the long-run as they will also be rolled out for imports coming from non-EU countries as well.Supply-chain disruption caused by the Ukraine war, poor weather and new trade barriers due to Brexit have all been blamed for the U.K.’s surge in food prices.A member of a major British business group, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that incoming post-Brexit red tape will mean “some producers on the EU side will find it is no longer possible to trade with the U.K.” and that “some small businesses will find themselves shut out.”“It will add to the costs, and probably inflation, but I think we need to go through this so we can work with the EU to find advantageous improvements,” they said.